Road Atlanta -- Who's Going???

[dalyduo]

Your going to qualify?! You usually just show up, start DFL and podium. That 18 minute qualifier should be all you need to get up to speed.

Good luck with the flight and qualifying.

Originally Posted by ML Peter Ludwig

I see I'm missing all the fun sitting here on the runway in Detroit Thursday night at 7:30pm. Delta and I are now officially divorced. I'll see you all tommorow where I will need to qualify cold turkey.

This could be ugly..

[GregS]

Originally Posted by ML Peter Ludwig

I see I'm missing all the fun sitting here on the runway in Detroit Thursday night at 7:30pm. Delta and I are now officially divorced. I'll see you all tommorow where I will need to qualify cold turkey.

This could be ugly..

that sucks - sorry :/

[dalyduo]

OK Boys...

The good, the bad and the ugly... Fess up.

Not a peep from anyone including Harsha who was reportedly lapping national kids.

Inquiring minds (that weren't there) want to know.

[WatertownNewbie]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

OK Boys...

The good, the bad and the ugly... Fess up.

Not a peep from anyone including Harsha who was reportedly lapping national kids.

Inquiring minds (that weren't there) want to know.

Starting from pole, Dalytrio stormed to a nine-car lead after the first lap on the way to her first victory ... Um, ..., sorry, ..., got a bit ahead of myself there .... Guess that story is for next year.

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by dalyduo

Not a peep from anyone including Harsha who was reportedly lapping national kids.

Inquiring minds (that weren't there) want to know.

"Not a peep" likely due to too many adrenaline-soaked heat cycles on the brains out there. Neurons are people too, you know. Woke up this a.m. a bit unsure of my own twenty and spent most of the day in a predominantly vegetative state. Starting to feel a little human now after a leisurely ride on the bike through verdant Bluegrass countryside in mid-80's weather not wrapped head-to-toe in a Dupont thermal blanket, plenty of water and fresh fruit, a good old-fashioned Dagwood ham and pastrami sandwich, half a bar of Milka, and a nice late afternoon nap.

I came a long way this week. When struggling to get back into rhythm after a year-and-a half layoff, there is no cure like seat time. I've had a fair number of laps at Atlanta in prior years, but they were all in a differently-driving version of myself. In the first session on Tuesday I realized, despite knowing the corners well, 1) how little I knew about how to drive them so that they flowed, and 2) I was not anywhere close to carrying the speed through there that was possible. Laguna is still the no.1 technical track in my book, but I realized on Tuesday that the front half of Atlanta from 2 through 7 is a close second. The best line through Turn 3 is not intuitive, your eyes have to be on unusual landmarks (the telephone pole and trees into 3, the entry to five through the esses, the top of the hill into 5, the "other side of the corner" into 6, and the apex kerbing you can't see until you are right on top of it into 7. You are always trying to see over crests and around things, and there is no reference for braking and turning in consistently into 7, you just have to feel it. When carrying proper speed, the track throws you from one side to the other and up and down kerbs pretty much the entire time-- really physical. KnightRider has the bruises to prove it.

My main priority was staying cool and fully hydrated through the week. We didn't quite hit the stunning high temps of the Northeast, but it was mid 90's and 60-70% humidity pretty consistently. We had one wet session due to a passing thunderstorm on Lapping Day 2 (requiring an hour to change to treads) but it was dry (and hot) running the rest of the time. Not bad in the car with the airflow, but sit around in the sun (and there was a lot of that on race days thanks to track cleanup after incidents), and the moment you kill the engine at the end of the session and stand up, the adrenaline drains away and you realize that your heart rate is 150, your blood pressure is a vaccuum, you have the same core body temp and internal fluid content as freshly-overdone meatloaf, and you are no longer capable of coherent thought. Drenching oneself in icewater was a really effective and immediate antidote. Kelly graciously agreed to serve as official Mechanics' Fund umbrella girl (not only easy on the eye, but capable of supplying highbrow entertainment with an impressive arsenal of Broadway show tunes and Shakespearean soliloquys and dialogues--simultaneously) for $100 a session--with that resume I couldn't believe she was not spoken for on Race Day 2, so I grabbed her (figuratively speaking, of course). Thank you Kelly for being a good sport for a good cause!

Progress was slow and steady, but due to the car issues alluded to elsewhere, could not generate a representative lap time. I knew I wasn't getting off the brake early enough and back to gas soon enough and so kept working on that. Didn't quite have it down by qualis, but Ryan Garcia and I worked together to put together a decent banker lap, and then I went looking for possibly more speed with a different strategy. Unfortunately I braked a little late into 3 and didn't get off the brake quickly enough to allow the car to turn in, and so had to jump the grass verge and take the motorcycle chicane to the esses-- technical 4-off and to the back of the grid, 15th in a 16 car group (actually, Pat, I consider I was nearly a lap down to the National kids up front when the green fell- you feel like you are in another county back there, especially on restarts). For the first time in a while, I had a really good car (the 88 that SeaBass put on pole at RA but whose cooling system let go during the National race and toasted the engine) so it had a new engine with, most importantly, no holes in its torque band, and tires with not many laps on them. For the first time in a Skippy car I could feel the car hook up and "bite" out of slow corners (7 and 10). It was fun. I focused on staying patient and systematically trying pick my way through the field. I had to bridge 2 ten-second or so gaps to catch the kids+Lugnuts in the lead pack, which I finally did at the final corner as they were running 4 seconds slower than their quali times due to all the popping and weaving they were doing, while I was running pretty consistently a few tenths slower than quali. Thought I might sneak up on them and possibly sneak past one or two on the way to the flag, but just not enough road to do it. Still, finishing with the lead pack after starting next-to-DFL, with no cautions to bunch up the field, was great.

Race Day 2 didn't work out quite as well. Starting P5, with a great car, and a good drive under my belt from the previous day, all the possible stars were in alignment for a chance at being in a podium-paying position at the end. But my lack of recent experience running in a large pack worked against me. Dropped a position to Greg at the start, but took it back on the back straight and then stayed right on Peter's gearbox for the second lap, popping for P4 coming into 10A. P3 popped late on P2 in the brake zone, and hung P2 out to dry, leaving a gaping hole from turn-in to apex. I guess my brain saw this hole and started to lighten on the brake pedal a little more than it should have, not realizing in that microsecond that P2 could still close the door from far driver's right, which, to my great chagrin, he proceeded to do. I tried to get as far over the apex kerb as I could, but got understeer, enough that I couldn't drop my left side tires on the other side of the apex kerb, and the space at the apex disappeared. One more foot of clearance, or not releasing the brake as much, and I would have gotten through unscathed. Instead, someone's left rear made sure my right front pullrod didn't make it through the corner, my right front turned right, and I went straight over the grass luckily not collecting anyone. But my race was unfortunately done just as it was getting started. I limped back to the pits, and all the hopes that I had for an exciting battle and a great finish evaporated. I'm still frustrated with myself for putting myself into that position, but aside from that I had a solid weekend, made a ton of progress, and have a cool race vid from the first race.

The wonderful energy and fellowship between sessions with good friends is what we all miss when we're away from Skippy for any length of time. I hung out with Strelzoff, KnightRider, WTNewbie (who broke into sub-40 times), GriffDogRacer, (who drove very well on Saturday for as little seat time as he is able to squueze into his busy schedule), Gus Doppes, the Hindmans, Ryan and his beautiful wife and adorable baby daughter, my buddy Kieron from Panoz days who was driving an MX5, and 2 blasts-from-the-past: the lovely Julia Landauer dropped in for a lapping day with her father and younger brother, who is excitedly starting his own fledgling racing career --Julia is currently at university and also working for Ganassi in PR while plotting how best to launch an assault on the oval world of fendered racing-- and Michael Sauer stopped by to see what was going on and said hello. Fit and not a day older despite the passage of 4 years. Finally got to meet Andor in person, like Julia Landauer (and Trio) refreshingly down-to-earth and personable in spite of his youth. As well as the usual cast of thousands of instructors in our traveling roadshow. Off track watched the dramatic mountain stages of the Tour and F1 quali while chilling between sessions, Newbie and Slonaker introduced me to the tasty cuisine at AquaTerra in historic downtown Buford, enjoyed a great Osso Buco at the Cafe Elan with Kieron, and a tranquil evening on a pontoon boat on glassy Lake Lanier courtesy of Stevie D's buddy from Skippy Past, Jim Davis and his lovely wife. A fabulous summer week of the special blend of racing and camaraderie that only Skippy seems to provide.

[KBruSBRS]

I'm currently going through the photos from the weekend and can't help but laugh at them. I'll be sure to post some on SF for your enjoyment.

Also, after all of our talks about umbrella boys (and girls), those who weren't in attendance, David and Harsha had a GREAT idea that we use umbrella-ing as a fundraiser for the mechanics fund! Big thanks to Doug Tuttle and Harsha Sen who purchased yours truly as an umbrella girl to hide from the Atlanta sun!

[cdh]

Thanks for that report Slowhands, a weekend with steady, real progress each day is a winning weekend. Looking at lap charts it appears there were some big incidents out there (3 lap FCY in one race), glad to hear only wallets injured.

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by cdh

Thanks for that report Slowhands, a weekend with steady, real progress each day is a winning weekend. Looking at lap charts it appears there were some big incidents out there (3 lap FCY in one race), glad to hear only wallets injured.

Yes, fortunately no driver injury. Speaking of which, has anybody heard how Marc Martinez is doing since his big shunt at RA for which he got taken to the hospital?

[knightrider]

I had a great time at Road Atlanta dispite disappointing results. It is amazing how we can feel completely let down just after a race because we think we could have finished better only to look back after a day or two and realize that there were amazing corners conquered, clean passes made and lap times that kept coming down. I am still relatively new at this game and I feel great satisfaction with every grain of improvement I can muster. My weekend ended up just fine. I had a race long battle with Paul Fisk in race 1 that was close, hard fought and clean. He is truely fun to run with. My P1 Masters position was stolen by a late entry by the one and only Lugnuts who beat me by lightyears. Race 2 evolved into another battle with Fisk, right to the bitter end where, on the last lap, I outbroke him into 10a then he outsmarted me out of 10b to win by a car length. Congratulations to Paul for his Masters win! I have to thank Chris Meredith, Rob Slonaker, Travis Washay and all the other coaches who are directly responsible for me chipping 10th's off my lap times all weekend. A special thank you to Kelly B. for her inaugeral umbrella girl weekend, she was great. I got to know Harsha better and can tell that his dedication to racing has really paid off just by looking at the smile on his face after a good session. It was hot but bearable if you stayed hydrated. Apparently the powers that be didn't think it was hot enough though, so they parked us on the back straight for what seemed like 20 minutes to see if they could actually kill one of us from heatstroke...didn't work, we all continued. Perhaps Skip Barber would consider stocking umbrellas with the Skippy logo on them to keep there customers from passing out in pit lane. They could also sell these umbrellas for marketing and gain a twofold benefit.
Lime Rock in two weeks... I'm already lapping in my head!

[cdh]

thanks Dave, sounds like a great time. Glad you had such fun battles out there

[ML Peter Ludwig]

RA was a GREAT weekend IMO. The cars were in excellent shape and for the most part very equal thanks to the likes of RB, Mike Miller and Chris Wilson. Keith did a fab job in regionals while Randy kept the national kids in check (for the most part).

I was really impressed with how many new fast guys SBR has in the series, tons of fun and keeping the racing going till the very last lap and turn in most cases.

Thank you to all the crew, hospitality, mechanics and racers for making it such a great event. See you all somewhere again and thanks again for a awesome time.

[KBruSBRS]

Given recent changes, it may be a while until Diana or I can work on the summer series race report.

Until then, here are the photos:
NATL: http://bit.ly/rr9YwR
Summer Series (organized by group and also a candid album): http://bit.ly/nASAXO

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by KBruSBRS

Given recent changes, it may be a while until Diana or I can work on the summer series race report.

Until then, here are the photos:
NATL: http://bit.ly/rr9YwR
Summer Series (organized by group and also a candid album): http://bit.ly/nASAXO

There are so many fantastic photos there, capturing the personalities and special moments of the pit lane and paddock. I was smiling the whole time. Kudos to you and your "staff," you guys are talented.

One of my favorites of me: This is what happens when your umbrella girl serenades you with rapid-fire show tunes...

[GregS]

Originally Posted by Slowhands

There are so many fantastic photos there....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skipbar...7627285474078/



but this one is even better
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skipbar...7627285474078/

i was full lock to stop from hitting jack jr at 7
what a shot there kel!!

[KBruSBRS]

Originally Posted by GregS

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skipbar...7627285474078/



but this one is even better
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skipbar...7627285474078/

i was full lock to stop from hitting jack jr at 7
what a shot there kel!!

Thanks! What what's with the finger?? Jealous you didn't have your own umbrella girl?

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by KBruSBRS

Thanks! What what's with the finger?? Jealous you didn't have your own umbrella girl?

He was ticked off he didn't get picked to be your umbrella boy like he had hoped.

[cdh]

New decals in place

[GregS]

Originally Posted by KBruSBRS

Thanks! What what's with the finger?? Jealous you didn't have your own umbrella girl?

yes i was

[Slowhands]

Originally Posted by GregS

yes i was

You coulda had her. I got her because no one else had asked her. Can't understand why, that was SWEET.