It is a full field this weekend at the Glen! I got up here to Watkins Glen, NY Thursday night. Friday morning I signed up for practice and realized that because of the numbers I would only have 3 - 20 Min sessions to learn this track, since I have never been here before. Went out and learned the track the best I could with the time I had. Since both NASCAR and IRL run here they have special fencing and corner worker setups that means no workers come on to the track if you break down etc. So whenever someone breaks down on track they throw a black flag and send eveyone to pit lane while they clear it. Lets just say that really blows the concentration and burns already limited time. Regardless, by the end of the day I felt good about giving it a go in the morning.

First of two sessions was 8:30am as the first cars on the track. 52 cars in the run group ranging from Corvettes and Vipers to Hondas and Mini Coopers. The sky was clear and the temp was ~60, so the signs were good. Once again the traffic was tough...not really a clean place on the track to get by someone without costing you time. Never really got a clean lap but put 7 hot laps in and my best was a 2:16.7.

Second session I decided that I needed to cut at least a second off my time to get into the hunt. I went up to the Hoosier trailer and layed down my Credit Card and told them to give me the good stuff. In this case I was speaking of a set of those utra sticky A compound 'Autocross' tires. Normally these tires are good for a second or two, so I'm figuring this should give me what I'm looking for, on top of the fact that I felt more comfortable on the track and knew where I left the time I lost in the morning session. A's safely secured under my trusty steed and off we go... Running just behind the Subie of Bryan Viviani we run a comfortable warm-up lap and then start winding up as we head back for the start of the first hot lap. Hanging close to the subie and felling pretty good we run a descent lap, but had some trouble with a vette that decided he wanted two warmup laps...so go for it on the third lap and it feels good until I see my traqmate reads a 2:16.9...how can that be? Well the rest of the session goes by with only slower times. As it turns out everyone else except Bill Zeigler and I ran more than a second slower as the temp had increased to near 80 and the track got slick from the heat and the various types of rubber layed down on it. I ended up 5th of ten T2 cars. Bill Z. (WTZ) took the pole in his Evo 8 (Good show Bill!) and the other Evo was driven by SCCA Nationals first race rookie (that went out to qualify without ever driving on the track before! ... and I complained about my test day) took up the rear in 10th (respectable seeing as how it is his first race and on a new track). Below is the break out by starting position within the overal group. Should be a good race so stay tuned and I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow night when I get home!

11. Bill Z. (wtz) 2:12.9, Evo 8 (Evo 9 drivetrain)

12. Sam S. 2:13.2, BMW M3 (Will Turner's 3rd place at the Runoffs Car)

13. Bryan V. 2:13.4, Subie STI (Former National Champ. Car)

16. Dominic C. 2:16.0, SRT-4 (Dominic is a Pro and runs Daytona prototype cars in the Rolex Series)

18. CJ Moses (Me) 2:16.7, Evo 9 MR

21. Al N. 2:17.0, F-body (Camaro I think)

22. Dave B. 2:17.2, Lotus Elise or Exige

23. Seg Q. 2:17.3, F-body Camaro

25. Guy P. 2:18.2, F-body Camaro

37. Charles K. 2:25.3, Evo 8 (First National Race)

Wish all us Evo's Luck!!!

 

Good luck CJ, keep us updated!!!

 

Nice read. Hope you get that second plus... good luck!

 

Nice write up! Good luck CJ and Charles!

 

Just heard from CJ, he got 4th place in a competitive field. Ziggy took first with viviani in the STI taking second and Shultz in the Turner bMW taking 3rd. Im sure CJ will tell the tale when he gets home.

Congrats, Marty

 

Well, Sunday morning came with an eerie calm in the western finger lakes region of NY. It was cloudy, yet comfortably warm for the early hour, but the likelyhood of rain was pretty high. I had prep'd the car the night before so all that was left to do was go through the pre-flight checklist just to make sure nothing loosened overnight etc. SCCA had setup a 10 minute practice to warmup and checkout the cars prior to the race day so I took advantage to put a light scrub on the sticker BFG R1s I was using for the very first time and get a look at the green track from the heavy rain that had fallen overnight. I ran a few laps and all felt right, so the stage was set.

My run group was first up, it consissted of Touring and Street Stock cars that all lined up together, 45 in total would take the green flag, not all of them would be so lucky as to take the checkered one. I qualified 5th in T2, which set me up 18th overall. Shortly after 9am we rolled off the grid on to the track and did the zig-zag tire warmup until we came around and the pace car ducked in to the pit....

This is where all hell breaks loose... we do a rolling start, so we come around the last corner and cruise at about 60mph until the green flag is waived...or that is how it is supposed to go. Best I can tell the starter had the flag hanging out there when we all came around the corner...so some in the back took off, but then the flagger started waiving it and then the rest of us including the front guys took off...what a cluster! So on the start we damn near wreck about ten times and I get jumped by a handful of cars including a couple of F-bodies I had out qual'd. I'm thinking, Damn, this isn't how I planned it! So I put the hammer down and by the time we went past turn 1 again I had passed all the T2 cars that jumped me plus the SRT-4 that started just in front of me.

The only problem is that all that messing around let the front three guys get out on me... that is not good, I'm supposed to be chasin a Subie and Bimmer! So keepin my nose down I look forward and there is a T3 Cobalt (who also jumped me at the start...in fact I think he lead the beating) and a T1 Vette, so it is on. A lap later I'm on their bumpers while they have their own little duel going on. Now normally you shouldn't see a T1, T2 and T3 car fighting this hard, but in this case you essentially had a backpack T1 a front pack T3 and a midpack T2 car. Going down the back straight in to a bus stop brake zone the vette had pulled forward of the T3 car, but the T3 car tried to out brake the vette and kablam...the colide side to side...the vette spins out and the Cobalt puts his foot in it and lets the FWD pull him out...with me a couple inches from his bumper. We collect ourseleves and let our shorts air out for a few turns...then it is my turn We go in to turn one and I deep brake him on the inside, but got in a little hot so he pulls the switchback on me. Guess what this sets up... yeah you guessed it... I'm gonna pass him in the same exact spot she did ... but I'm not dummy and I late brake like crazy and pound my car over the burms making sure that is the last I will see of him...pesky little yellow bumble bee buzzin chevvy.

From here on I settle in to a clear track trying to lay down fast, consisitent laps waiting for a miricle to happen...maybe like that rain I talked about earlier Well I got a little sprinkles here and there but not enough to slow the BMW down in to my sights... actually I look in the mirror and that SRT-4 I passed on the 2nd lap is slowly creeping back up onme. Dominic is a Pro that drives Daytona Prototypes etc. so he's no fool. I step it up to ensure he doesn't get right on my bumper... I could see him watching my line and looking to set me up in my weakest area. I knew where he was looking, becuase it was where he could get the closest...So coming around onthe last lap he is on a charge and I just want to keep him from getting a run on me. Going in to the turn he had planned to get me...I changed my line from and outside turn to an middle to inside line that took away his turn. Once I did that he was close, but the grunt of the Evo pulled me away to a 3 sec lead at the checkered flag.

Bill Z. (WTZ) ran a great race from what I hear... his margin of victory was 10secs over the 2nd place Subie and nearly 34secs over 3rd place... Maybe it is all those AMS decals he has now Even though it didn't play out exactly as I would have liked I was pleased to see I dropped another 2 seconds off my best lap time, down to a 2:14.7. Charles K. made it through his first race with a respectable 8th place finish, especially when just finishing this one was an accomplishment.

Thanks to the crew at VIP Garage for getting the car back together in short order, Jon at TRE for a slick 6-speed tranny and of course AMS for all the support and go fast parts (actually the slow down parts, brake pads/rotors, and lots of them!).

 

well done CJ. I think with all things and recent events considered this is a big win for all of us.

 

Congrats Bill on another great win, I tried to get out of your way at the end figuring that the STi and M3 would be close behind, but it turns out you walked away with the victory, great job!!

Congrats on your success CJ and the great race also, wish I could say the race was better for me, I had a crap qualifying time but in the race I was gaining lots of ground until I got hit and then just couldn't get back in to it, I wasn't sure if anything major broke so I was at half concentration the whole time.

Anyone want to donate a spare fender and headlight?

Oh well.

 

who hit you?

 

An SSC Honda, the Hankook car. I was trying to get out of traffic and up with the Touring group, passed him on the inside in the bus stop and he plowed in to my front. Came at me screaming after but the guy behind us said I had a clean pass on him and the hit was his fault. Either way I feel bad it happened.

 

First and foremost, Robi is the best crew chief any racer could ask for. The car was set up perfectly as usual. Hell, he even wiped it down so it would look good for the race! Having Hoosier as a tire sponsor is awesome. Bruce Foss makes the fastest and most consistant DOT tires out there. Congrats to all the Evo drivers for putting on a great show. Thanks to Pruven Performance for getting a new tranny in the car in a hurry, and thank-you Martin at AMS for a great tune. I wish I could say something exciting about the race, but it was just plain boring. Just the way Robi likes it.
Cheers,

 

Boring meaning we had the field covered! Bill thanks for the comlement and driving the car to it's #'s...the Glen is SOOOOOOO easy to overdrive the car at....but you didn't even let the subi "pressure" you in to over driving......and once he lost the advantage of your draft he started backing up 2 seconds a lap....It sure is nice to see fast (qual level) race laps!.....Glad we're helping you fill out your "first's" column....lol KICK A** at Lime Rock in two weeks!CJ nice talking...."T" sorry I missed you...and remember it's "never" the other guy's fault! lol :-) I might have some of the parts (like all)but the freight is a *****!

 

Did I just read that??

Robi hasnt wiped anything off in the last 45 years...... ha ha


congrats bill & robi on another win!

n

 

Awesome job, CJ, and great job, VIP!

Very interesting.

 

Hi Robi, we actually met briefly, I was the kid who desperately needed a haircut, I came to say Hi to Bill before the qualifying. P.S. I'll gladly pay freight on parts!

Also CJ, I can't believe you got another 6 speed, I can't wait until I have an excuse to replace mine.