Race Series Results: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

[TJR News Bot]

Event Name: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Organization: Skip Barber Racing School LLC.

More...

Click on 'Post Reply' below to discuss

[GregS]

Was a crazy weekend at LS this past few days.

Rain came off and on during the practices wrecking a lot of possible computer time.

I got to see some familiar faces like Harsha and I got to meet someone I have known virtually for many years in Peter Ludwig.

In the first race, I started to finally resolve some of the issues I had with the new tires that are being run on the west coast and dropped my times during the race by .75 of a second and cruised to a fairly easy 4th as the gentlemen I was racing with, Stephen Hill, went wide and 4 off at turn 5 early on. I was too far behind the kids of Kyle, Kyle and Scott to catch up so I just consolidated.

Due to the heavy rains during practice, they bent the rules and allowed computer cars even after the first race. I have to say, I really like bending this rule and I hope Todd will make it so that people can use computer cars even after a race has been run.

It allowed me to fix a slew of issues and in the race on the next day I improved by nearly a second and smashed my own lap record there (with the previous tires which were slightly better) by another .75 seconds.

I was locked in heavy warfare with the same gentlenmen and I had a chance to pass him back and I chickened out stupidly. This created a gap that I could never reclose. I set my scorching laps trying to narrow the gap down and I kept getting faster and faster every lap by a tenth here and there. This made me feel great and I could really feel everything coming together.
The bad news was was that so was Stephen, I did a 1:41.7 and he replied with a 1:41.6. Very frustrating but an epic battle. Near the end, I was doing 1:41.9 and he dropped to 1:42.3 and I could see the gap getting smaller, but I was running out of laps and then ...

boom, at the bottom of the cork screw I hit so hard that I bottomed out (I was on line but I had such a massive run off the edge that I generated too much energy coming down and the springs couldnt handle it.) and just spun into the mud!
I tried to recover but going to turn 10 I had to much mud and I just spun again.

I was able to again get out, but alas I lost all the time I had built up and finished 8th after running 2nd and 3rd for 90% of the race. OUCH THE PAIN!

This now hurts me in the winter championship


In the memorial, we had a blast with an Australian rules shoot out. We sent the slow cars out first and then seperated them by time so that everyone would get to the start at roughly the same time.

The bad news was was that the slow folks in a panic, kept throwing themselves off the track. We had 3 pace car situations and on the 3rd one, Randy gave up and just did a single file start, which resulted in pure mayhem!!!!

We went 5 wide into turn 2, and it was 3 wide after that.

I was un real

cars were all around and I honestly could not keep track of all that was going on.

Going to 6 I had 3 cars in front of me - all side by side and I was also 3 cars wide as well with 2 cars wide behind me.

i had wheel to wheel contact as I went through that corner.


Finally with 2 laps to go I set my sights on passing harsha who I could see up ahead, and I was able to get close but then he fished his way through a back marker with remarkable aplomb which I could no reproduce. He gapped me hugely and i was lucky that there was a final pace car event. I was able to pass him on the restart but he wasnt done with me. Conrad - the computer car coach extradonaire was coming up from behind and i was mesmerized by how close he could run behind another car.. It was amazing. and going into the final corner of the final lap he passed someone going to 11 in an amazing move.
meanwhile harsha was in my blind spot, and I didnt see him till i turned in for 11. It was a great move and he pulled off the pass.

I guess this was Harsha's revenge for me passing him in the last memorial we ran in. Great job Harsha.

Sorry for the long rambling nature of this post

ps. I made my flight by 2 minutes - I was shocked that they let me on. With all the pace cars, the memorial took WELL over 1 hour to complete. We had two red flag situations to reset the distances between cars.

Was a blast all in all.

Greg

[Slowhands]

Finally made it back out West after THREE years away. Hard to believe so much time has passed! Nice to be back in Monterey-- classic track, great places to eat, drop-dead scenery. Wednesday night for dinner on Cannery Row with Ted Jewell, it was cold and blustery so we sat inside, but fortunately the next days got warmer, and after a rainy Friday afternoon (luckily got both my sessions in before the rain came) the weekend was picture-postcard perfect.

And what a great track!! It schooled me seriously... I fortunately did not fall into my old habit of overdriving the technical stuff, and got much more comfortable in my old nemesis corners, especially intimidating Turn 6, (which I finally realized you have to go to the gas and start your turn-in before you actually see the corner in order to carry any decent speed) but unfortunately never quite got into rhythm to put a good flowing lap together. I guess it's like that sometimes. Still a great weekend, that track is such a blast to drive. The elevation changes are epic and from the Corkscrew down to 11 I feel like Franz Klammer on his downhill run.

Quentin Wahl and Peter Ludwig showed up to run in the Southern group, enjoyed dinner with them at the Monterey Fish House (wow, was THAT good), glad I could get to know them better-- 2 really nice guys. They were a second quicker than me all weekend, but on Saturday the last lap shenanigans I was hoping for came to pass, and they gifted me with a couple of positions and a podium spot. You'll have to ask them who was at fault, the story differs depending who tells it. Let's just say Quentin was not happy. Sunday, unfortunately for me, they played nicer and left me well in their wake. Gotta find that second, dammit--

The new BFG SuperSport tires took some getting used to,-- all-season tire with a softer compound, more progressive, more forgiving. You can get pretty sideways on it and still bring the car around, and easier to modulate out of lockup. On the downside, they were less crisp, less responsive, less demanding of good technique, and it took me a while to figure out how hard I could lean on them, and how much was too much, ie scrubbing too much speed. I finally decided optimum slip angle was when they just started talking, too much squawk and I was losing time. Apparently, a benefit of the switch has been a reduction in crash damage due to it being easier to "catch" big moments without going around. Not sure if these tires are destined for the Summer Series but I guess we'll find out.

Randy's "Australian Rules" Memorial was, as they say on the Left Coast, hella fun. I think more Memorials ought to be run this way. Inverted grid, cars released at intervals based on their best lap time of the weekend, calculated to bring everyone together on the last lap. Didn't quite work out that way due to people suddenly freaking out and driving straight off the track (can't remember any full course cautions in the official races all weekend, and then 3 in this race, the first two within the first 3 laps -- I guess that's what happens when you know everyone else is chasing you down, heh heh), but it still ended up being awesomely fun. I was in traffic nearly the entire time, sometimes at the tail end of a chain of cars, some who were moving up, some who were moving backward, 2 and 3 wide at turn in. It was like Nascar for single seaters! Learned a lot about making decisive and creative passes on a track where there are few opportunities to get around someone who is close to you in speed. My buddy Greg capitalized on a terrible restart and missed shift on my part to pull off a hellacious outside pass through Turn 2, I was lucky he was "mesmerized" by Conrad's track record run through the field (admittedly a thing of beauty, everybody else looked like they were standing still) while he was watching I got a great run out of 10 and took the opportunity to stick my nose in beside his in Turn 11 and beat him to the stripe. Wheel-to-wheel racing with yer buddy-- it don't get any better than that!

And the icing on the cake was a Sunday afternoon WLFCFC junket in a 172 with NickNick at the controls, with Ricky Schmidt and his lovely wife, across the bay and down the coast to Point Sur in gorgeous weather.

All in all a great weekend of racing, catching up with old friends not seen in a while, a nice way to welcome spring. Greg, great to see you, next time I'll try that Kobe burger...

[Slowhands]

p.s. I forgot to mention-- Laguna was Kelly Deneen's last event as a SB employee. We sent her off with dinner Sat night at the Baja Cantina in her honor. She is going back to school to finish her degree, in marketing, I think. I know we will all miss her infectious enthusiasm, energy, cheerful presence in timing and scoring, and ability to get things done-- she was the face of Skippy in many ways-- and I will definitely miss her iconic greeting of "HarshaHarshaHarsha" which raised me out of obscurity and made me a household Skippy name-- nothing better than having cute girl give you a nickname you can sing! Now I will lapse back into obscurity and fade into the woodwork. We will all feel her absence, but I am very excited about this important next step in her life, from which she will rise to bigger and better things. I know she will do well and wish her the best of luck.