RUNOFFS DIARY
21st September: ALL THAT HARD WORK....got us to the green flag at 10:55am, in the middle of a pack of 40 Formula Vees. Ian made a decent start into the first corner and surprisingly all 40 cars made it through without incident. By the end of the first lap Ian had already taken three places to claim 21st spot. Meanwhile at the front Steve Oseth, Brad Stout and Roger Siebenaler began the hard fought battle that would eventually decide the race. Ian was in a group of about seven cars dicing for 15th to 21st place. Gradually Ian got quicker and started to move towards the front of the group. By the halfway stage he was holding 18th place and still wasn't done yet. Coming down the back straight towards turn four, the two cars in front went side by side when Ian got the draft and dove down the inside to take both cars and move up to 16th place.
Up at the front, Brad Stout had a small off that left him in third and unfortunately gave Steve Oseth in 1st a chance to pull out a small gap on Roger Siebenaler, after all three had once held the lead. Ian was battling hard with Michael Vrchota for 14th place. Ian took the place but couldn't hold it for long. After going very hard in the early stages of the race, Ian had overcooked his tires and couldn't keep the same pace. On the final lap, Ian crossed the line in 15th place to bring it home with his fastest time of the week, setting a 1min41.818. Steve Oseth won his first National Championship with two-time winner Siebenaler in second and last year's winner Brad Stout taking the last spot on the podium. Colin Cross took 10th place as the highest ranked west coast driver.
We achieved our goal of finishing in the top 20 in our first runoffs at the difficult Mid-Ohio track. None of this would have been possible without the help of some very special people. Our thanks goes out to Blake and Chuck from Crusader Racecars, Marty and everyone at DogBrain Studios/Team Elf, Ron Chuck Engineering, Larry at Fiber Dynamics, the folks at Formula Car magazine and Speed Channel and American Racer for some very competitive tires. A special thanks to Sue at home and my crew(and brothers!) for all their hard work. The race will be aired on Speed Channel next month, so check back for the exact time and date, this one is well worth watching.
Things will be quiet till November when we head out again for the Western States Shootout(formerly Pacific Coast Roadrace Championsip, PCRRC), which is also the 40th anniversary of Formula Vee for the west coast....we're out to win this one. On the road already to stop in Chicago tonight before we go our separate ways tomorrow. Conor flies back to Ireland to resume college, Gavin goes back to work in Chicago and Ian begins the drive back to California. Well done to all the other drivers and goodbye to all the people we met(till next year), we look forward to seeing some of you at the Shootout.
18th September: FINAL QUAL....was not quite the success we had hoped for. A slightly windier day meant a lot of runners slowed. However those who had problems previously also ran better. At the head of the field times slowed by 6 tenths of a second. Ian's fastest time was 1 tenth slower than he achieved previously but resulted in him dropping back to 25th. On a positive note we had a busy day on the PR side of things - We started the day with a TV interview and finished the day with a photo shoot! The star of the shoot was the Crusader - keep an eye out for a the F-STOP feature in Formula Car Magazine - thanks to Rob Howden and Curtis Boggs!
17th September: FASTER AGAIN....: 5.15pm was the rather late starting time for today's second qualifying. After extensive work done aligning the car as well as some large adjustments to the rear suspension, we were expecting some improvement in our time. Ian didn't disappoint. He took 1.7 seconds off his time moving up to 23rd place with a time of 1min42.3.Tomorrow's 11.40am session should see yet more improvement. The track is quickest during the morning and our set up has been corrected after some errors in today's session. Check in tomorrow to get the final qualifying results and don't forget to sign the Guestbook.
16th September: FIRST QUALIFYING....: 3.15pm local time 41 Vees rolled onto the mid-ohio racetrack. With just over 15 dry laps of the track under our belts we set ourselves a modest goal of breaking the 1m44 mark. The order we went onto the track was decided by lottery and Ian lined up 6th behind a couple of fast guys. The session was a clean one with no red flags but lots of traffic. Ian lost out a little in the drafting battle and managed a best time of 1min43.9 (Not quite representative of our outright speed but satisfactory) The time is good enough for 30th place but we are confident we can improve.
Tomorrows session is at 5.15pm Eastern time and you can watch the times live at www.scca.org . We line up third for the session so are sure to have a clean track. Wish us luck!
15th September: FIRST TIMED SESSION....: So finally we are able to give you the news after a couple of very busy days at the track. We arrived into the circuit at about midnight on Friday. We found a site in the dark and set up so we could keep our spot and relax a little the next morning. The next morning we unloaded the car and realised there was still alot of work to be done before we could hit the track for testing the next day. We cleaned things up over the course of the day but the car still didn't quite look the part. This was fixed up the next day when we received our numbers and stickers courtesy of Dogbrain Studios(thanks Marty!), and the car is now looking better than ever.
The 3rd generation Crusader, in its first appearance at the runoffs, has received many compliments from fellow competitors and spectators alike.
The test day allowed Ian to familiarise himself with the track and get back into racing mode after a long layoff. The only mishap we had was when we lost a session due to a loose throttle cable. Much to our delight, the first timed session was in extremely wet conditions. Ian performed well taking 16th place from the 32 cars that chose to run the session. Although he was 6 seconds off the pace, we aren't too worried. Ian was running an overweight car, with 10 year old tires and wasn't pushing too hard because of the wet conditions. Tomorrow's session will be on brand new American Racer tires so we hope to climb up a few places. P.S. Don't forget to call into the Guestbook and leave us you messages.
11th September: DAY 2....: Conor here again and after a less than comfortable sleep in the back of the pickup we are back on the road again. After a minor set back going through Salt Lake City where our exit ramp was closed, we are making good progress. Through the rest of Utah as well as Wyoming today and Omaha, Nebraska is tonight's target. From my interpretation of the map, I think that we may roll into Mid-Ohio Raceway tomorrow evening but only time will tell. Check in tomorrow when our journey hopefully ends!
Sept 10th: Conor here and I'm delighted to say that at last we're on our way and our first day of driving is nearly over. We're through California, nearly through Nevada and hope to be well into Utah, around Salt Lake City by late tonight. As the sun sets we can feel the day slowly catching up with us but have a few hours to go yet.
Sept 9th: The car is finally finished thanks to hard work from so many people - Blake and Chuck Tatum of Crusader cars especially (and Blakes family for putting up with us for so long!). Special thanks to Mike Bagnell, Marty of Dogbrain Studios, Larry of Fibre Dynamics, Blake's neighbor Larry and of course Sue and Conor.
We'll hit the road tomorrow morning for the challenging drive out to our first runoffs. We hope to be rolling in to Mid Ohio late on Friday / early on Saturday. Saturday will be spent putting the finishing touches to the car - we'll take some pics and post them! All going well we'll be able to update the website ont he road so check the site! Thanks again to everyone for their help...
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With support from American Racer (aka McCreary Tire) Sweeney Racing arrived at Laguna with high hopes. MCCreary had made available a new National Tire which promised to provide improved performance and offer a better chance against the Hoosier and Goodyear National rubber.
The drive from San Francisco to Portland is about 12 hours non stop with the trailer. Due to some other commitments Sweeney Racing left San Francisco at 7pm on Thursday evening. Mnay hours of driving and a couple of hours of sleep had us arriving at Portland 10am on Friday morning. At 11am we were on track!
The race on Saturday morning was set to run in the morning with the Formula Continentals and Mazda's. As soon as the flag was waved a train of vees including Brian McCarthy, Marj Lundberg, Quinn and Bob Posner drafted around the fast Portland Circuit. Ian struggled a little with grip as his tires were from the March THunderhill Double National! Sticking at the back of the draft he hung comfortably. Laury Lundberg slowly caught the train and joined at the back. Laury drafted passed Ian on the main straight. Unknown to the train of vees a Formula Mazda had spun in the Festival Chicane. THis resulted with cars dodging left and right. Unfortunately for Ian he was unsighted and slammed straight into the stricken Formula Mazda. That was the end of the run although he did get running again to at least finish, albeit a lap down. NOt exactly the result we were looking for at least we registered another finish to get us qualified for the Runoffs.
For March, the weather was suprisingly hot for this double header. We had hoped to test on the Firday morning but due to a busy week we didnt get the car fully prepared before we got to the track. We spent the morning tidying up the car, getting a Tech Annual and trying to locate our missing tires! At one stage it looked like we would be racing on the tires from the Runoffs last year! First practice went off ok and it was good to be on the track again for the first time since November of last year. After the practice session we went through the car again and made some minor adjustments. The weatehr stayed warm enough that we were able to sleep outside the trailer that night.
Saturday was more of the same weather with lashings of sun cream for all Sweeney Racing members on the freckly irish skin!A draft is absolutely critical for a good qualifying time at Thunderhill. Unfortunately with all the traffic Blake and Ian were not successful in putting together a decent lap. Ian languished back in 9th and Blake in 7th...not a great start to the year. Some more changes to the car for the race inspired some confidence and Ian made a flyer of a start to get up to 5th by turn 2. Pretty soon it became clear that the Hoosier and Goodyear runners had an advantage in the hot weather with their extra grip. Ian battled with Mark Edwards a little back from 3rd and 4th placed Marjorie Lundberg and Dennis Andrade. Mark and Ian slowly reeled Dennis in and at about hte halfway mark Marj had engine problems which allowed Ian to pass. Heading in to the last couple of laps Ian was battling with Mark for 3rd place when 2nd place Skip Streets had to drop out with mechanical probs. All of a sudden we were in with a chance for 2nd place.....having started 9th! It wasnt to be however when the lead FFords lapped Ian and Mark allowing Mark to draft passed Ian at the line on what should have been the penultimate lap. Still 3rd wasnt too bad and we were the 1st Northern Pacific driver.
Qualifying for race 2 didnt go much better with Ian and Blake having a get together with a Ford and Blake suffering from a bad case of LTFT (less than full throttle!). This time Ian qualified 7th and Blake 9th. Ian had another good start moving up a place and tagging onto the back of the 6 car lead pack. Pacing himself a little better this race Ian moved through the pack over the course of the race to the point that he was in 4th with 2 to go. Colin Cross has made a break and Ian was battling with Skip, Mark and Dennis for 2nd. With 1 to go Marks engine lost power and allowed Skip a bit of breathing room before Ian could get by Mark. Dennis got a good run on Ian then and passed him for second going into turn 10. Knowing he could bide his time and draft passed Dennis on the start finish line Ian was content to follow into the last corner. Unfrotunately a slower Ford locked up in front of Dennis necessitating Ian to check up just enough for Dennis to break the tow. And thats how it finished Colin, Skip, Dennis and then Ian.
This was our last race weekend before the runoffs and we decided to make the most of it by entering the regional race as well. The weather was pretty good and there were 4 fast Crusader Drivers present all vying for the win - Blake Tatum, Kevin Malkin, Brian McCarthy and Ian. Unfortunately due to budget constraints we had to run older tires and we really suffered as a result. The first qualifying session was for the national and Ian qualified 4th within a couple of tenths of 2nd placed Ron Wake and 3rd placed Brian McCarthy. Pole man Colin Cross was a second clear though and showing us all up.
The second qualifying session was for the regional which was a lot more hotly contested and even though Ian went faster he only qualified 8th. Blake took pole with Kevin qualifying 3rd. After the session we went through the car to see if we could find the problem. Everything checked out fine so we made some fine tuning adjustments to the suspension to see if we could find some more grip.
Saturday afternoon was hot and the track had gotten quite greasy as the temps went up for the National Race. We got a good start to take 3rd place going into the first corner with a big field of cars including F500s. Throughout the race we had multiple safety car periods and after each restart both Colin and Brian pulled away from Ian who was really struggling with lack of grip. Although he battled with Ron Wake and Marjorie Lundberg he prevailed to take 3rd place at the flag - somewhat back from Colin and Brian who won the race.
The regional race proved to be a barn stormer with some great action. Starting from pole was Blake who has had a lot of bad luck lately losing two motors in the last two events. Ian got a great start and got up to 4th by the first corner. Unfortunately Rick Schick, Jim Petrek and Kevin Malkin got together in the first corner and Kevin and Rick spun in front of Ian who had came to a halt in avoidance. This dropped Ian to the back of the field along with Rick Schick. THe rest of the race was spent battling with Randy Harris and Marjorie Lundberg for 6th position. Going into the last lap Ian was in 7th behind Marjorie when they came across Scott Shelley (who had been battling with Blake for the lead) travelling very slowly. The four car battle then caught a slow formula ford and got bunched up heading into the last corner. This slowed Ian's exit and allowed Randy through to take the place and left Ian in 8th at the line! Brian took the win (#2!).
It was over 6 weeks since the last race and we were eager to get back on track. As usual we spent the break doing the routine maintenance and making sure the brakes were in good shape for the rigours of Sears Point. This weekend was also the debut of our new Trailer and awning. It was quite a novelty to go home from the track on Sunday without sun burn! The race weekend also marked the return of Conor to US racing with his College exams finished...and passed! (another novelty!!)
Confidence was high for the race. With some shock adjustments made for the bumpy track Ian made good headway getting into sixth place and reeling in the lead group. He was momentarily in fifth place when the lead balast on the floor broke loose. 5lbs of lead floating around the floor of the car does not inspire confidence so Ian backed off at that point and settled for 6th!
As soon as the flag dropped the "Crusader Freight Train" (as one competitor called it!) got going. At one stage Blake was sideways in the pit lane exit passing a car! Ian and Blake worked through the traffic up to the top ten sometimes passing two cars at a time. At just the right moment the safety car came out to allow them bunch up with lead group of seven cars. At the restart fellow Crusader driver Kevin malkin spun out with a broken droop limiter moving the duo up another spot onto Jim Petrek. A great battle ensued with Ian, Blake and Jim all leading the group at one stage. Unfortunately for Jim he made a mistake at the last corner and allowed Blake and Ian through to finish a commendable 5th and 6th respectively - not bad form the last row!!
It is a quite a trip between San Francisco and Seattle - it took us 17 hours in total including a couple of stops here and there. The scenery is beautiful and it is interesting to see the landscape change over the duration of the journey. At one point we climbed over 4000ft - not a whole lot of fun with the weight we were carrying! Nonetheless it was an enjoyable trip and we did get to see snow topped Mount Shasta for the first time. 
The first session on Friday for us was a 45 minute practice session which we shared with many other cars. We hit the track at 9am running the same settings as Buttonwillow. The first reaction was that the track was very exciting, fast with little runoff area in the back section of the track which is tree lined. Running on old tires and without pushing hard or making any changes Ian was running consistent 1min 44s.
Preparation for the first qualifying session consisted of completely stripping down the rear shock and rods and rebuilding with some different adjustments. Thanks to Crisco Kid Racing for helping out with all the work! We also mounted a new set of American Racer Tires which we decided to revert to after not being able to tune the car for the Hoosiers in previous events. We joined the pre grid full of local racers and Instinct Racing's Colin Cross who had also made the journey north.
Going into race 1 Ian knew he needed to make a good start in order to have a chance of running with the lead pack. A good start got him up to 7th place battling with Leroy Coppedge and Quinn Posner for 7th position. Ian managed to make a break and close the gap to the next pack of racers fighting for 5th position. Leroy managed a monster draft on Ian and helped further close the gap on the next pack. For the last few laps of the race Ian fought for position and the final draft to the line resulted in Ian claiming 5th position by a fraction from local driver Mike Thomas in his Mysterion.
Race 2 was shaping up to be a real battle with everyone getting their cars tuned in. Ian made a blazing start when the lights went green to take the lead going into turn 2. It stayed that way for the first lap until the pack got back onto the main straight. With no one to draft Ian was swamped and dropped back to 4th but still with the lead pack. An errant F500 broke the pack up and Colin drove away in the lead to eventually take the win. Ian battled with Dennis Andrade, Quinn Posner and Mike Thomas throughout the race for podium positions. About midway through the race Dennis spun out having over compensated when adjusting for a push he'd had earlier. The battle went down to the wire for the podium positions on the last lap and Quinn took second with a good draft with Ian finishing on the last step of the podium.
To stem the boredom we decided to enter the SF regional race to keep race ready by cometing against some of the best racers in the country like Blake Tatum, Rick Schick, Ron Wake and Randy Harris. It was also the first race for three rookie Crusader drivers Russ Meagher, Nick Schweizer and Kevin. All in all, 7 crusaders were entered.
Unfortnately we lost two in the first session as John Lease blew his motor and Kevin spun into the wall on John's oil. Kevin was lucky to escape injury but was back in action the next day in Blake's Lynx. Qualifying went well for the Crusaders with blake taking second and Ian sixth. Unfortunately the race didnt last too long for Ian with a wheel losing air due to a leaking valve - three laps in and the tire rolled off the bead. Blake however went on to win from Ron Wake in a great battle.
We were under pressure from the get go, arriving with a freshly rebuilt car at a new track at national level competition. Throughout the first day we worked through oil leaks, binding suspension and bad brakes. By Saturday afternoon we entered the race with a setup that we felt would get the best from our not quite fresh American Racer tires.
For race 2 the team had to use a new set of tires - we chose Hoosiers. Unfortunately they did not suit the setup of the car used for the American Racers. Ian had to scrub the tires for qualifying so this did not become apparant until the race. The car developed a bad push (understeer) which meant Ian found it extremely hard to get the car turned in and hit the apexes. Starting 14th he still made good progress to finish a respectable 11th place after surviving a lurid spin in turn 1 coming off the oval.
Driving up to Thunderhill we were afraid we'd get blown away, but miraculously the weather cleared up as we neared the track. We just made it out in time for the first session and were able to do some installation laps for the new engine. WE had no problems and worked a little on setup for the first qualifying session in the afternoon.
The damage to the car is quite comprehensive with a lot of exterior damage. We will be stripping the car down this week to inspect it. The beam is bent, shcok broken, transmission case is broken, rocker cover broken, spindle bent.....Hopefully the chassis is salvageable. Regardless we will be racing next year and the speed is definetly in the car as we showed throughout the weekend.
As we changed cars we were obliged to start from the back of the grid unfortunately. One of the nice things about starting from the back of the grid is that you have nothing to lose. Also, if you're at the back of a field of vees there is a big hole in the air which makes for some great drafting! Ian showed this in spectacular style by drafting up to 7th place by the first corner. By the end of the second lap he was up to 4th place and closing on 3rd place. Just a lap later Ian took 3rd place and was closing on Colin Cross and Rick Schick. Unfortunately the oil pressure gauge on the backup car was not working so Ian decided to backoff and hang onto his third place.
It became apparent staight away that our brake problem was back to haunt us. Ian had virtually no brakes in the first session and a sticking throttle. Marty Cameron got it a little wrong in turn 2 (see pic) about the same time Ian's throttle decided to stick which made for some exciting times! After the session we managed to find the throttle problem and located a bad wheel cylinder which we replaced with the help of Rick Shick before the next session. We also noted that intake manifold stud had taken the threads out of the head and was leaking fuel all over the head (rather than into the motor!). We came up with a McGyver style fix and hoped it would hold out till the weekend was over.
For the race we made a couple of minor setup changes in the rear and were confident of a good performance. Colin Cross was on pole and he kept us all on our feet with his erratic start procedure resulting in a poor start for Ian with Americo Cabal taking 5th from Ian into turn 2. Next time around Ian carried more speed into turn 2 and went around the outside of Americo and they exited side by side. Americo decided that there wasnt enough room for Ian and edged him onto the dirt, resulting in Ian losing 3 places.
As usual the weather in Monterey was overcast and dreary when we arrived. Practise went off perfectly and the car seemed more steady with the new shock. We did make one mistake though! we never dropped the air pressures which resulted in some odd handling as we got some heat into the tires!!
We were pretty excited about our chances and spent the rest of the day tweaking the car and helping Blake prepare for the National Race in which he had qualified 5th. The National was a great race and Blake romped home with a 17 second victory from his nearest rival...Blake's first National Win and the first for the Marque this year!
All in all, we had a brilliant weekend with excellent performances with all three Crusaders finishing in the top 10! Special Congrats to Mike Bagnell and Crisco Racing who are ironing out the bugs of their new Crusader chassis and are improving greatly every race. Roll on Sears Point in three weeks!
Unfortunately the brake changes didnt work and Ian was only able to manage a 1min57.7 which meant he languished back in 14th place for the race. Overnight we fitted fresh brakes and managed a hardship lap to bed them in. They seemed ok but one lap was insuffucient to really tell. At the start, rolling up the main straight Ian was excited with it looking like the brakes were better and knowing he would be faster than the guys in front. It wasnt to be however, as it became apparent immediately that the brakes were better, but not much better.
Ian made a reasonable start and managed to make up a place or two on the first lap. Although the car was handling signifiganlty better than previous sessions Ian couldnt outbrake anyone to make the vital passed to move up the field. Halfway through the race Don Manthe and a visiting National driver collided bringing out the safery car. The group bunched up again which allowed Ian to get a run on Bill Dean. Bill got the place back at turn 11 under brakes on the second last lap. Ian managed to retake Bill heading into the caracel and stayed there to finish the race in 9th.
The team arrived at the track on Friday evening and set up camp alongside fellow Crusader Team Crisco Racing and the works team Crusader Racing who are providing support to Sweeney-Racing this season. After setting up the first thing on the agenda was to walk the track. Conor, Ian and Crisco driver Mike Bagnell, commandeered some bicycles and set off! We returned an hour later with lots of valuable knowledge, not least the fact that we all agreed "those hills are f**kin steep!"
Saturday morning dawned clear and warm and we went out for our first practice session at 10am. Everything went well and Ian was able to comfortably set 1min48 times with under ten laps on the circuit. The fastest guys were setting 1min46s. With some minor changes to the car and some more familiarity Ian was able to run with team mate Blake and they got straight down to low 1min 46s. Rolling out for qualifying with a new set of tyres Ian was quietly confident of a good showing. Unfortunatley it wasnt to be, with a brake problem restricting Ian's ability to go deep into turns 7 and 11. His fastest time was a 1 min 46.5 placing him sixth on the grid and 1 second off pole.
The race was at 1.50pm on Sunday and again the weather was good except for a strong head wind that we would hit heading up to turn 9. The rolling start went off trouble free and the leading pack including Ian immediately made a break from the rest of the group. With the race lasting 30 minutes Ian was content to sit at the back of the pack and watch the other drivers lines and work out where they were slower. About 15 minutes into the race Ian was preparing to start moving up the order when all hell broke loose. As the six car train headed off the front straight towards turn2 the Mysterion of Rudy Torres clipped the right rear of Colin Cross. Colin was spun into the oncoming traffic with Rudy getting airborne immediately. As soon as he landed Rudy hit the back and came to a halt after multiple rolls. Luckily Rudy was ok but the race was stopped. In the melee after the incident Ian was seperated from the front group by some backmarkers. This meant that when the race was restarted under the safety car and with Ian struggling to get past the backmarkers to stay with the lead group. As the race progressed the brakes were getting increasingly worse so Ian decided to back off and keep his well deserved 4th place.
We arrived bright an early to overcast skies. Our hopes for rain disappeared though as we hit the track for practise at noon. THe sun came up and temperatures began to rise. Having completed a lot of maintenance we were eager to shake the car down. The session went off trouble free with Ian setting times in the 1 min 48 range.
Qualifying took place late afternoon with the sun still shining. Ian ran with Rick Shick for most of the session and despite some traffic set consistent time througout the session. Towards the end of the session Colin Cross also joined the party (see photo). The session finished with Ian in an excellent 3rd postion. The first race of the weekend is at noon tomorrow followed by qualifying for race 2 at 3.30pm. Check out the video footage from the Corskscrew...>>
Day 2 started hot! There wasnt much to do on the car prior to the race as the crew has done most of the preparation the night before. We rolled onto the dummy grid at midday with 20 cars making the start. Ian was lucky to stay out of trouble at the start selecting 4th instead of second for the rolling start. He managed to grab 3rd before the pack got up to speed, only losing one position to Rudy Torres. Within one lap the first four guys had make a break from the rest of the pack with Ian in 4th position.
As the lead group settled into a rhythm Ian set about reeling Rudy in. He set Rudy up for the pass at the fast turn 5 right hander. He got by pretty smoothly (
Day 3 was the hottest we had experienced so far and without a breeze it felt even hotter. Over dinner on Saturday night we discussed some ideas on setup to try to remove the bad understeer Ian experienced in qualifying. We spent Sunday morning measuring, remeasuring and adjusting to see could we fix the problem. We never got the chance to find out did it work!
For the first time this season we arrived at a track where we had raced before - Thunderhill. Hopes were high of a good showing for the double header with considerable work having gone into the car between races.
We arrived at Laguna to lashing rain and puddles in the paddock. Luckily it dried out for our first practice session and the track was completly dry. Over the break we stripped down the rear suspension and had made some modifications that we hoped would eliminate the unpredicatable snap oversteer we experienced during round 1. It worked! Even on old tires the handling proved significantly better. The first session was spent getting to know which way the track goes and it is some track! The legendary track is made for vees with plenty of "balls out" corners.
We unloaded the car and completed some final checks before fueling up the car and hitting the track late in the afternoon for a shakedown run. Being the first run for the team in this car every thing ran well with nothing falling off or breaking! Turn in was extremely good, the engine was strong. However the car was suffering from mid corner over steer quite badly through the high speed corners. This proved to be a problem that persisted through-out the weekend. Saturday morning's warm up session was spent trying to dial the car in to remove the oversteer. We only succeeded in reducing the oversteer somewhat through shock adjustment
The cars lined up in the paddock at 1pm in blazing heat in the 90's (30C+) - a bit of a shock to the system for Ian who was designed for gray skies and rain! Belting up in the paddock the team discussed the process of a rolling start one last time (we did standing starts in Ireland). The cars were then sent out on the track for the warm up lap. Coming down the back straight the pace car slowed the field down and the cars lined up side by side in their qualifying positions. At the last second the pace car pulled in to the pits and the field idled up the start finish straight waiting for the starter to wave the green flag. As soon as the flag appeared the field started racing!
Coming onto the main straight starting the last lap Ian elected to stay in Bill's draft rather than overtake him into turn 1. Being as smooth as possible throught turn 2 Ian stayed with Bill and hung onto his tail all the way to the start of the back straight. Ian launched onto the back straight within feet of Bill's car allowing him to catch Bill at the end of the straight. Diving in on the inside Ian took the place from Bill, exited the corner smoothly and took the checkered flag in 5th position! and Russ got it on video here >>