Thursday, July 10, 2008
Still Plays With Cars (Sunday Race at Roebling Road)
The weather for race day dawned...iffy. In keeping with the weather throughout the weekend it looked like we were in for a day of random weather patterns. True to form, the first race was run under a beautiful Georgia sky only to have some of the day's later races take place during a deluge. The weather for our Formula First Challenge Cup race was clear with overcast skies. It appeared that it would rain shortly after our race but we thought we could sneak our race in under the wire.
I rolled off the grid fourth and proceeded to get a great start. I powered down the front straightaway literally inches from my 2nd place teammate's gearbox. Unfortunately, all of the top six cars got amazing starts and we rolled through turns 1 and 2 nearly in pace lap formation. That was difficult on those of us who started on the outside (2nd, 4th, and 6th) and I briefly settled in at the back of the lead pack.
I was running seventh at that point but you could have laid a blanket over the 4th through 7th place cars. By the halfway point the 4th and 5th place cars had spun off the track and left a two-way battle between myself and Dmitri Mariutto (in my old BRD chassis). We both had places on the track where we were faster (and slower) than the other one. As you might imagine, that led to a race that the fans said they enjoyed watching - but they didn't enjoy it half as much as Dmitri and I did sitting behind the wheel. We traded 4th position several times throughout the race. Unfortunately, my Nicci Gilland Photography Evolution wouldn't get down the straightaway as well as I would have liked. While that led into some exciting dices down the front straightaway, it was frustrating to be able to pull a gap, albeit small, in some sections of the track and then give it away down the straightaway.
After losing the battle down the front straightaway, I slipped back to 5th with about 4 laps to go. However, on the next lap I was able to slip past Dmitri using a lapped car as a pick in the twisty bits on the back side of the course. While the fans enjoyed my pass, I yielded fourth yet again down the front straightaway. I begin plotting my final move for the final turn on the last lap so I could prevent Dmitri from returning the favor!
I ran a solid last lap and could see that Dmitri's car was struggling with grip as we neared the last two corners. Unfortuately, as I tried to coax every ounce of speed out of my Evolution I put the left side tires in the marbles on the left edge of the track. The car began to fishtail and, while I nearly kept the car on track, I made a fairly dramatic 90 MPH slide through an enormous mud puddle on driver's right. I immediately straightened the car out and motored to the flag with a solid fifth place, despite the fact that mud had invaded every corner of the car, the cockpit and my firesuit.
Everyone in attendance got a big kick out of my dramatic, muddy finish but what mattered is that I landed a solid top five finish at a track that I had never been to in my life. That weekend gave Jaygo Racing a solid start to a (hopefully) championship season. Check back in soon for more updates on Jaygo Racing's 2008 season!
I rolled off the grid fourth and proceeded to get a great start. I powered down the front straightaway literally inches from my 2nd place teammate's gearbox. Unfortunately, all of the top six cars got amazing starts and we rolled through turns 1 and 2 nearly in pace lap formation. That was difficult on those of us who started on the outside (2nd, 4th, and 6th) and I briefly settled in at the back of the lead pack.
I was running seventh at that point but you could have laid a blanket over the 4th through 7th place cars. By the halfway point the 4th and 5th place cars had spun off the track and left a two-way battle between myself and Dmitri Mariutto (in my old BRD chassis). We both had places on the track where we were faster (and slower) than the other one. As you might imagine, that led to a race that the fans said they enjoyed watching - but they didn't enjoy it half as much as Dmitri and I did sitting behind the wheel. We traded 4th position several times throughout the race. Unfortunately, my Nicci Gilland Photography Evolution wouldn't get down the straightaway as well as I would have liked. While that led into some exciting dices down the front straightaway, it was frustrating to be able to pull a gap, albeit small, in some sections of the track and then give it away down the straightaway.
After losing the battle down the front straightaway, I slipped back to 5th with about 4 laps to go. However, on the next lap I was able to slip past Dmitri using a lapped car as a pick in the twisty bits on the back side of the course. While the fans enjoyed my pass, I yielded fourth yet again down the front straightaway. I begin plotting my final move for the final turn on the last lap so I could prevent Dmitri from returning the favor!
I ran a solid last lap and could see that Dmitri's car was struggling with grip as we neared the last two corners. Unfortuately, as I tried to coax every ounce of speed out of my Evolution I put the left side tires in the marbles on the left edge of the track. The car began to fishtail and, while I nearly kept the car on track, I made a fairly dramatic 90 MPH slide through an enormous mud puddle on driver's right. I immediately straightened the car out and motored to the flag with a solid fifth place, despite the fact that mud had invaded every corner of the car, the cockpit and my firesuit.
Everyone in attendance got a big kick out of my dramatic, muddy finish but what mattered is that I landed a solid top five finish at a track that I had never been to in my life. That weekend gave Jaygo Racing a solid start to a (hopefully) championship season. Check back in soon for more updates on Jaygo Racing's 2008 season!
