Those of you that missed it- you missed a great event!
Even though the Hyperfest activities were cancelled (because of Hurricane Isabel wiping out the Hyperfest offices back east), this event was one of the best times I've had at the track. Despite the requisite mechanical failures and long tow, the weather was awesome, the track was great and there was close, fun racing.
This was my first time to Sears Point, now Infineon Raceway. It kinda reminds me of Fontana- big, corporate buildings and nice facilities. I've heard it used to be a more quaint track, but it sure has changed. (Rob and I took the elevator up to the top of the 5 or 6 story grandstands.) The track has a lot of elevation changes and while it does have some undulations, the pavement is new and smooth. (We didn't get that much tire wear considering the long sessions.)
I drove up Friday, towing the NX and 2 CRXs with the truck.
Monster Tow It took a while, but even though I managed to get lost I did arrive at 8 pm. After the long haul I wasn't up to fixing the one lingering problem we had with the new suspension setup, so Sheening came to pick me up and take me back to their new house in the city.
Well rested and glad to not have to drive the truck, Sheening and I headed out to the track. There were a few last minute adjustments to make and we had to install my custom threaded perch spacers. We went to shorter, higher rate springs and the threaded perch was not long enough to get back to our same ride height so I made 2" spacers from muffler tube. We missed morning practice getting them fitted and installed (I had to hammer down the diameter of the tube so it would sit on the perch better), but everything else seemed good when Sheening went out for qualifying.
Qualifying went well, but we still needed to dial in our struts to match the new springs and we were getting a little bit of unwelcome motion in some turns. Phil qualified on the pole and I think we were third with Tom putting his car in second. In qualifying, Phil set the Infineon lap record I believe with a 1:59.218 (Sheening later laid down a 1:59.404 in the race). I didn't check Sunday's race lap times, but I think they were slower than Saturday.
The Saturday race was a flying start with HC, USTCC and us all bunched together then the Spec Miatas in the second pack getting a second green. (On a side note- those that went to THill and missed this event- this event was so much cleaner, more fun and more organized than the last race. And we were done by 1:30 both days- good for the long tow back. It really was a joy.) Phil leapt out to a quick lead in SR, but only got 3/4 around the track before he mis-shifted and sent valve parts flying. He pulled off track and jumped out of the car, behind a wall and had to sit baking in the sun for the rest of the session. By lap two Sheening had caught up with Tom but a loose coil wire forced Sheening to pull off track. A la Sterling Martin, he hopped out of the car and secured the wire and got back on track. He managed another 4 laps or so before the rigged up perch extension collapsed and he came in. Tom had an easy ride to the win- his 5th podium in his last 5 races. Both Sheening and Phil failed to get half of the laps of Tom, so they DNF'ed and got 50 points each.
Sunday I re-rigged the perch, crafting the metal with a hammer on the hitch of our trailer. Practice went ok, but our slotted strut on the driver's side was slipping giving variable camber on that one side. We tightened that down, made some more dampening adjustments and Sheening managed to put the still-unhappy NX on the pole. Saturday afternoon Rob managed to put the #00 back together again and ran it for a few laps in HPDE to make sure it was ok. It ran, but was down on power and qualified third, as I recall. Sunday's race was going to be a standing start grouped by class (all of the USTCC at the front, then HC and us at the back. The Spec Miatas would get a second green in a flying start after us. It sounded a little crazy to me, but there was a grid official out there placing the cars for the standing start and the Miatas had a pace car to make sure everything went smoothly. It did except the CRX in front of Sheening stalled and he wasn't able to get around him before Phil and Tom roared past. Sheening eventually caught the two of them and Dr. Lin got a schooling from defending champ Tom Paule in how to make an SE-R as wide as a Cadillac. After a few love taps and some excellent close and clean racing, Sheening squeezed by Tom taking the win. Thankfully, our ugly wood splitter was damaged and will be finally put to rest.
Friendly Bump Phil's motor started its slow death, but he managed to finish and get 2nd place points.
I know Sheening and I had a blast. Things broke, but they were fixed in time to have some good old-fashioned racing.
Driver's Meeting
But now the Showdown at Buttonwillow is upon us. It is mathematically possible for any of the top four drivers to take the season championship, but it looks like a two-way battle between the #12 and #00 who are separated by just a handful of points. I expect to see good, clean, close racing like we saw at Sears and I'm sure we'll be in for a fun and exciting finish.
