Week 10: CMS Grand AM Prototype at Barber Motorsports Park (July 6)

[JMH714]

[JMH714]

For some reason I kept forgetting to add number of laps on the flyer...

[davidan]

Love the Flyers John!!!!

[JMH714]

Reminder - race tonight.

[Troy Dalton]

Huge storm rolling through the Tidewater area this evening. Hopefully I'll be able to make the race. [crosses fingers]

[JMH714]

Session now up.

[Charles Stout]

Sorry guys - i couldn't make it tonight. Had some things to take care of tonight and ran late doing them.

[Troy Dalton]

Sorry guys - i couldn't make it tonight. Had some things to take care of tonight and ran late doing them.

It was a fun race, but we missed you Charles. Cya next week!

[Charles Stout]

Was a good track for me too Will def. be there next week!

[Troy Dalton]

The car was pretty fast, but I knew I was going to be chewing through front tires, so I tried to take it easy the first fifteen laps, but Devin was really, really, good under braking. Especially down to turn 5 and the 7/8 chicane. I'd open up a small gap in 9/10 and 11/12, but he'd make it all back up by the time we got back around to turn five again.

I was trying a four gear setup, using 2nd gear to get through the slow bits and I figured that if Devin got the chance, his best opportunity to pass would be in T5. So, I decided to try shifting down to 1st gear, to see if I could use a little extra engine braking, in hopes of shortening my braking distance. Since I'd setup 1st gear for just such an emergency, it worked fine...but...it screwed up my rhythm and when I went into turn 7 I missed third gear. I know, how do you do that with a sequential gearbox!?! Well, needless to say, I was carrying WAY too much speed into the chicane, put a wheel off and needlessly through away a perfectly clean race. arg!

So, back to the race. After the experiment gone awry, I went back to my normal shifting and braking marks. Of course, Devin was not letting me get away and I figured it would only be a matter of time before he made his move. With about ten to go, he made a small mistake in 14a and I was able to get a couple second gap again. Then a few laps later, he was gone from my mirror with a spin. I breathed a sigh of relief and cruised home.

At the end of the race, my left front was 35%! Like I always say, better to be lucky than good.

Looking forward to Silverstone!

btw - Barber is exhausting. There's no where to get a breather and it's impossible to take a drink without missing a gear or spilling it all over yourself. I know, I did both last night.