209 – Racer on Rails: High Performance Track and Race Car Shop and Race Team based in Renton, WA

Posted on June 5, 2017August 15, 2017 by Gama Aguilar

Days 16, 17 and 18 – 30 Days of Racing in a row

This is a combo article because I frankly fell behind righting as the race weekend took over.

Back to PIR to get the bad taste out of my mouth

The last time we were at Portland International Raceways (May 2017), the weekend was going great but on the main points race Sunday afternoon, the race was over by turn 3. A couple of Spec E46’s were tussling ahead, one got pushed off and insisted on getting back on track, immediately spun when the front tires grabbed and got side-swiped. While it sucked for the team, we fared much better than two other PRO3 cars which were nearly totaled.

As an aside, another example of how important it is to know how to properly go off track and apply those techniques, every time – even in racing conditions. The reality is that going off will happen and applying those techniques will save you and everyone else a lot of money in the long run.

That race was run without a chicane (usually reserved for endurance races) and this would be the first of two race weekends with the chicane, aptly named the “Chicane Challenge” and I was really excited to see how the investment in simulator time would pay off.

Friday Test and Tune Day – .5 seconds faster right off the trailer

This isn’t a perfect comparison because of differences in weather conditions but when I looked at my first session off the trailer this Friday versus the same first session, in August 2016 (the last time I ran PIR with a chicane), I was ~.5 seconds faster and broke the 1:30.000 barrier for the second time.

What happened? Softer braking, which lead to higher min-speeds through each corner.

Looking at the data comparison below, it’s clear to see that I was able to use less brake pressure and carry more mid-corner speed AND get on throttle (and full throttle) sooner than a year ago. On this specific session, I remember letting the tires warm up and then attacking the corners and surprising myself that I had so “easily” hit a 1:29.xxx lap time. On the following lap, I tried to repeat it but found that while carrying more speed through the turns 4-5 transition area, the bumps in the road unsettled the car too much while I was on throttle, causing the left rear corner to break loose.

A comparison of my off the trailer, 1st session on a test and tune in August 2016 versus June 2017. Look at the brake pressure differences and the delta chart.

Also, I was driving on relatively old tires (Toyo Proxes RR 225/45/15’s) that were on their third race weekend and their 12th heat cycle. There is an urban legend that PIR “likes old tires” and my personal interpretation is that PIR is a very smooth and grippy track and thus older tires still work well but newer tires are still going to be optimal.

The rest of the day I stayed on the old tires and struggled to break 1:30.xxx as the day got hotter and grip went away but we focused on helping that rear left corner take the beating. With PIR being a 12 turn, clockwise track and only 3 of the 12 turns being left handers the car left rear tire is under constant heavy loads, trying to get out of nearly every corner as quickly as possible.

Saturday Qualifying, Points Race 1 and 1-Hour Enduro Race

This was a unique weekend with the Saturday Group 1 race being a championship points race, along with the Sunday race. So each day we would start with a clean slate, qualify in the AM and race in the PM.

First up was Group 1 qualifying, which went ok but I couldn’t find good track position, to get me a solid draft on laps 2-4, where the fastest lap times would come happen. I ended up with a 1:30.092 and qualified 4th. Not bad but not great, being .5 seconds clear of 5th place but almost .7 seconds from pole – ouch.

In Group 8 qualifying, we strapped on some new tires so I could scrub them in for Sunday’s race and boom, 1:29.635! New personal best and, it didn’t seem too hard. The big difference? Carrying a tiny bit more speed into the chicane, more speed into turn 7 and through turns 10-12.

Group 1 Points Race: 3rd Place

At the start of the race, I got a really good start and was behind a the Spec E46 of Dan Rogers, who has a ton of race craft. We were on the inside for turn 1 and more importantly, the outside of turn 2, which is the chicane. On these low speed, high G-force turns, in traffic, it is generally best to be on the outside, because you have less steering input and can get on the throttle sooner. This is because when going two or three wide, we aren’t going at normal speeds, we’re going 10-15 mph slower and thus nowhere near the traction limit.

This gave me a solid run through the chicane and coupled with an incident where another PRO3 car tried to squeeze through where there was no room, spinning both cars – I was in the lead by turn 3 and leading my first PRO3 race?!???!

Leading my first PRO3 race ever, holy crap! Maintain, maintain, maintain….

I lead for a few laps but eventually, Brian Bercovitz got me and pulled away. Then the PRO3 who spun the other car, caught up and when we were going around slower traffic, he got a clean run out of a corner while I had to check up and he got past. I ended up in P3 but further improved my personal fastest lap time.

Group 8 1-Hour Race: 2nd place for being greedy

The 1-hour races are basically more practice for me – I like doing them by myself because I can just focus on hammering out laps and hard-coding improvements. I always strap on the oldest tires I have on-hand and try to set fast and consistent laps.

This was no different and from the start I was battling with a regular foe and friend, Jeff McAffer. I was in the lead the majority of the race but Jeff was able to stick with me the entire time.

After the mid-way pit stop, I decided to try to push a bit more as I was hitting 1:29 lap times, on crappy tires and a greasy track. Suddenly, 1:29.7xx! I felt like that lap time wasn’t too hard to get, so I went for a repeat but the tires didn’t agree.

This could have easily been just my inputs but my hypothesis is that I over-pushed the tires and I was asking them to do a qualifying lap when they were in lap 35 of a race. I had the win in the bag and Jeff about 5 seconds behind but I got greedy, went off and ended up in P2.

This is not a good POV at turn 12 at Portland International Raceways

Now I know there is a reason for the saying…

“Go only as fast as you need to finish where you’re going to finish.”

Sunday Group 1 Race

One thing that I started doing this year is running just Group 1 and Group 8, which means I get a solid amount of track time and on Sunday, I only have one group to worry about. This way I’m rested and not rushing on the day that usually counts.

Sunday Group 1 Qualifying: 1:29.874 P4

Coming off of the Saturday’s lap times, where I got a 1:29.466 in the afternoon Group 1 race, with fresh tires but loaded up on weight for race trim, I felt that I had the potential for a very low 1:29 in qualifying and thus in the running for pole. I just needed to have good track position on laps 2-4, where I could get a draft on at least one of the straightaways. But it wasn’t to be – I went out and was stuck in “no man’s land” for the first part, then I slowed down and waited for a group of PRO3 cars to come by so I can get behind them. I was able to finally do so and had a low 1:29 going but got behind a PRO3 car that slowed down way too much for turns 10 – 12. It was still good enough for a P3 but I knew I had the pace to battle for the podium and possibly the win. If I would have had an average sector time for turns 10 – 12, I would have been easily with a 1:29.4xx with my rolling best lap being a 1:29.522.

Purple cells = rolling fastest lap and yellow cells = fastest segment times

Sunday Group 1 Race: P7 finish due to a late race off-track excursion

The race started well and hard for most everyone, with a clean first lap. I tried hard to make up at least one spot on the start but it didn’t happen, so I was stuck behind the #81 of Brad McAllister, who is a strong driver and PIR is one of his strongest tracks. He’s also a pretty tough pass, with a strong racing history in the SCCA Playboy MX-5 Cup, PRO3 and recently the TRANS-AM TA2 series.

Brian Bercovitz, one of the regular competitors I’m trying to best started from the back because he had a mechanical during qualifying and eventually caught up to us. The couple laps leading to Brian catching us, I had to brake harder than normal to not ram Brad going into the chicane, which over-heated (I think) my front tires. Going into turns 5 and 6, my front end washed out, and as I was waiting for the fronts to grip, the rear-end swung out and I went-off track.

It was not too bad but just enough time for a couple cars to pass me and by then the tires were too hot and the distance too great for me to catch up and make up the spots.

I ended up finishing 7th and I think if we can do a better job of tire pressure management (to give me more life towards the end of the race) and I can do a better job of not screwing up, there was a 3rd place finish in the stars and maybe better.

Overall, a great weekend and new personal bests!

While I’m not terribly happy with the Sunday result, overall we made a ton of progress on the car and my driving. There is one more race at PIR with a Chicane in August and I believe we’ve gathered the knowledge to fight for poles and a win. We know what we can do to drop some low 1:29’s and maybe even get into the 1:28’s, which is encroaching on track record territory. Let’s cross our fingers for some sunny and not too hot, weather in August!

Posted on May 21, 2017May 28, 2017 by Gama Aguilar

Day 9 – Going for the win!

It’s race day! Although I had races yesterday, today was the big race – the race that counts towards the PRO3 Championship, one of the most contested and desired club racing crowns in the pacific northwest and if this series was national, I think it would be up there with a Spec E30 or Spec Miata national championship. Big fields, hard racing and really needing to drive these cars to the limit, without losing momentum to go fast.

Taking the green flag on race day at Pacific Raceways

The plan of attack

Yesterday, I improved some of my personal best lap times by over a second and in worsening conditions. I turned a 1:37.2xx in the afternoon, which was nearly 10 degrees warmer than during qualifying in the AM and repeated that almost exactly, in the second half of the 1-hour endurance race… with tires going on their 11th and 12th heat cycle!

So today my goal was to keep improving and try as best as I could to crack the 1:36.xxx range of lap times, of which in my going back through official race records on the ICSCC.com website, there are less than ten people who have ever gone under 1:37.000 in a PRO3 car, at Pacific Raceways on official record.

Part of this is that up until a few years ago, the track surface turns 8 and 9 were absolutely horrendous. They were the original concrete or whatever the surface type was, full of bumps, pot holes and smoothened over years and years of beatings.

It got so bad that a few track day organizations essentially boycotted holding events there because they had customers, with really nice cars, suffer bent wheels and damaged tires. The reality was that it wasn’t great, not the worst ever but because it was deterring people from coming to the track, it needed to be fixed. Here is a video of Cody Smith, of Code Red Racing, who also won the PRO3 Championship in 2013, flying through Pacific Raceways. Cody is fast and smooth!

How’d it go? 1:37.104!

This time, we decided to start towards the back of the field and use the first few laps to warm up the tires, build tire pressures, get a solid lap in and then adjust track position. We did just that and towards the middle of the session, I fell back to latch on a to pack of PRO3 cars running together. Though I didn’t know for sure, I felt like I was faster than the whole group, so I fell back, created some space so that ideally, I’d be catching them the hardest at the end of the lap and getting the tow from them on the main straight away.

And it worked! I actually had a 1:36.9xx going for most of the lap but on the turn 8, I got just the tiniest bit of sideways and I think that caused the lap to not be better. Regardless, I was happy to get it and in the end, it would have been a stretch, in that session to go faster. The consolation for me was that in that session specifically, I made an improvement but the competition ahead and behind did not.

So how did I make the improvement?

Data and video. I recorded the video below to go into more detail but essentially, I focused on three things (see below the video):

Comparing with a faster driver: I had the benefit of getting a hold of data and video from another driver, who was faster than me (and won the PRO3 championship last year) and leveraged an alpha tool we’ve been working on with Track Attack. Essentially, with Track Attack, we’ve figured out how to make data from different systems, comparable with each other. Olivier uses RaceLogic’s Video VBOX and I use AIM or Track Attack on iOS. In the video below, you can see how I used this tool to compare the data and see where Olivier was gaining the advantage. Conclusion? Corner entry and mid-corner. Oliver was consistently able to roll more speed into a corner, maintain it mid-corner and then carry that advantage on the straights. He was and still is, much better under braking and controlling the slide of the car.
Understand the line and what the differences looked like: Similar to Olivier, I am also a very visual learner. Though I understand data, graphs and tables, I have an athletic background, where muscle memory and training are critical. So being able to see what a faster lap time and specific segments look like from outside the car and from the driver inputs, was incredibly valuable. I was able to see in the track map comparisons, the differences in the lines taken. He would usually brake earlier and turn in later for most corners, trying to carry as much speed as possible. You could visibly see how he had to dance with the car in mid-corner and be more precise getting on throttle, to not light up the tires.
Theoretical fastest lap: Lastly, one awesome feature we have in the Track Attack alpha product, is the ability to generate segment times AND the video associated with each of those segments. Further, we stitched together all of those segments, to show what the theoretical fastest lap time actually looks like. I generated this video and watched it over, and over, and over and over again, trying to program the muscle memory of that lap into my eyes, mind, hands, feet and core. I wanted that low 1:36.xxx lap time infused into every fiber of my being.

When will this be available?!?!?!

Soon! Racer on Rails is intended to be un-biased about products, so I won’t talk about it much here but know that we’re working on this with the Track Attack team and that this summer, this type of analysis and capabilities will be available to everyone and support all major data acqusition system file types (AIM, MoTec, Bosch, RaceLogic, TraqMate, Alfano and Unipro).

Race Result: Qualified P3 and Finished P3

This was an awesome race, see the video below. The high points are that I got a decent start, positioned myself exactly where I wanted to be and was able to make a really fun overtake on lap 2, turn 2 to get into 2nd position. I knew that if I got behind Brian Bercovitz, I would have to stay with him and pressure him into making mistakes because he is a good driver and has a rocket ship car (not that mine is a slouch).

I found myself in just that position a couple laps in and determined that I had an advantage on him under heavy braking (for turns 2, 3a, 3b and to a lesser extent, 8) but he did a great job through 5a, 5b, 6 and 7. So at the end of each lap, we’d end up about the same distance and with me being close enough to tuck under his draft. Trying to go for an overtake going into turn 2, I decided to try to get an incredible run out of turn 8 and while doing so, carried too much speed into the corner, got sideways, saved it but let two cars by.

That was just under halfway through the race and while I had a better pace than those to cars, with the rear tires getting lit up during that drift, I had to baby the tires and by then, the gap was too big to overcome. I technically finished 4th but due to the 2nd place finisher being disqualified for being under-weight, I inherited 3rd place.

Although I was disappointed a little with my mistake, overall, the weekend and day was a great success. We made improvements on the car, the driver and lap times. We established that we can compete for wins and just need to be more consistent. Thanks to the whole crew for all the work before, during and after the weekend. This hardware is for you all!

Posted on May 20, 2017May 28, 2017 by Gama Aguilar

Day 8 – First Real World Race Day

As I mentioned yesterday, today was the first official day of the race weekend, with four sessions on the schedule:

Group 1 Qualifying
Group 8 Qualifying
Group 1 Non-Points Sprint Race: ~20 minute race with results not counting towards the PRO 3 championship but your fastest lap counting towards the final qualifying grid)
Group 8 Race: 1 Hour mini-endurance race that counts towards the 2017 Mini-Endurance championship (I’ve won the championship the last two years in a row!)

Yesterday, I felt like I had established a new level of performance with the car and my driving, by improving my personal best lap time at Pacific Raceways by nearly .5 seconds and being able to repeat it, though in just one lap, with a set of brand new tires on a ‘heat cycle’ run.

Today, my goal was to take those new tires, and do a qualifying run in them for Group 1, improve on my personal best lap time and then put them away until Sunday. Then swap back on the older set of tires, which would be going on their 10 – 12th heat cycles and while still good from a tread standpoint, I fully expected the performance to start wearing off towards the end of the 1 hour endurance race.

How’d it go?

Group 1 AM Qualifying

Time of Day: 9:26 AM

Conditions: Mostly sunny, 61 degrees Fahrenheit

Result: 1:37.617 (new personal best by ~.2 seconds)

Similar issue as I had during qualifying for Group 1 in Portland but I didn’t position myself best in the pack during pre-grid. I got out early in the line up and while I was at the front, I didn’t have the benefit of a draft like when running in a pack. I did about 4 laps but not cracking the 1:38 barrier. So I decided to back off a bit and get behind a pack of PRO3 cars to catch their draft. After a couple laps, I was able to get a 1:37.766 but then was too close to them and basically started ‘racing’, so I tried to back off a little before the start of a lap and then make a run but I’d get too close about halfway through the lap and the lap would get ruined. Either way, minor improvement and felt like I at least collected enough data of several low 1:38’s, which used to be my personal best and figure out what to do.

Group 8 (Mini Enduro) AM Qualifying

Time of Day: 11:30 AM

Conditions: Mostly sunny, 68 degrees Fahrenheit

Result: 1:37.533 (new personal best by ~.1 seconds)

With the field being lighter for Group 8, track position wasn’t as important, so I just went out and tried to put down fast laps immediately after doing more of a warm up lap on my out-lap. Since these were the old tires, we were trying to make sure we’d get them up to temperature and pressures for the race in the afternoon. I did two fast laps of 1:37.855 and then 1:37.533. BOOM! Another personal best. What was I doing? Just focusing on having next to no transition period from ending trail-braking to throttle application, especially on the longer corners like turn 2 and turn 8. I came in to the hot-pits for a pressure and tire temp check and was out but was only able to put down a 1:37.792. The good news? 1:37’s were starting to feel like the new normal!

Group 1 – 20 Minute Non-Points Race

Time of Day: 1:50 PM

Conditions: Mostly sunny, 75 degrees Fahrenheit

Result: 2nd place finish and 1:37.258 (new personal best by ~.3 seconds)

These races are interesting. It’s racing but it doesn’t count towards point, so this year they changed it so that the laps count towards qualifying. So, you should never try to win at all costs but the goal is more to get into a flow and go for some fast laps. I qualified 4th but started third in class, because the pole setting car decided to start from the back OR they were late to grid. Either way, my goal was the same – get a good start and stick my front bumper to the rear-bumper of the fastest PRO3 this year, Brian B in the Blaupunkt liveried car.

And that’s what happened! Man, I am so happy about how this race went (video link below soon). I knew at least at the time that I would have to work really hard to get the start I wanted and then work even harder/smarter to stick with Brian. I pushed myself even more to be on maintenance, plus a little more, sometimes mid-corner and I found myself using throttle to get that final phase of rotation going in the slower corners of 3a and 3b.

2nd Place and a new personal best lap time!

The best thing? Mid 1:37’s became the new normal, even in greasier but not horrible conditions.

Group 8 – 1 Hour Endurance Race

Time of Day: 4:30 PM

Conditions: Sunny, 78 degrees Fahrenheit

Result: 1st Place finish and 1:37.364 (only .1 seconds off of personal best)

The fields aren’t typically super-stacked for the endurance races, usually only about 10-15 cars per class and with the SCCA Majors Tour happening in Portland this weekend, the overall field was much lower, with only about 19 or so total cars on the grid. There would only be one strong competitor battling me, Jeff M in the newly painted green and black #24. Jeff and I have shared many battles the last couple of years and he and his car are a rocket. With tires nearing the end of their top end performance life, my goal was to just drive clean, consistent laps and hopefully win but not do anything stupid.

Enduro’s are an opportunity for more seat time for me, in a racing environment and over a long period of time to try different things. I also like that one mistake won’t kill you and there is a strategy aspect to the race.

In the end, Jeff and I traded spots a couple times. I was able to get him in the beginning and get in front but a mistake in turn 8 gave him the position back and I had to work to get it back. After the mandatory pit-stop, I was able to get him back but due to traffic, worsening track conditions and his driving, I wasn’t able to pull away. Aside from winning, what I am incredibly happy about is being able to put down a 1:37.364 in the second half of the race! Man, I am so happy about that.

1st Place and almost matching my personal best!

Takeaways? A new normal and 1:36’s – here I come!

Today was an absolutely awesome day and from a driving standpoint, I believe the reason is that I have fresh in my body and mind, what it feels like to drive, look at data, see what to do differently, visualize what that looks like and make it happen. I will create a separate post that looks only at the data analysis I did over the whole weekend and what I did to prepare myself to do things differently.

The last thing here, especially from the lap times from the endurance race, if I am getting near my personal best lap times on a nearly 80 degree day, in the second half of a 1-hour race and on 11 heat cycle tires, that means this car is capable of so much more. If the driver can get it together or with a pro-level driver behind the wheel, today, this car could have probably turned a low 1:36.xxx. Lots of progress but so much more to go!

Posted on May 19, 2017May 28, 2017 by Gama Aguilar

Day 7 – Driving in the real world!

Today is the first day I have driven in the real world since I started this 30 day challenge. As I mentioned in the race reports for the April 6 Hour Endurance race at the Ridge Motorsports Park and the sprint season opener at Portland International Raceways, I primarily compete with ICSCC in the PRO3 racing series. It’s like Spec E30 but with more room for modifications to the car, which translates to them being slightly faster. Today was Test and Tune Friday, a regular part of a race weekend where can test things out on the car, get the setup all dialed in and practice ourselves.

The goal: Running solid, get a baseline set and scrub in new tires

It’s been since last July 2016 that I’ve driven at Pacific Raceways, a track that is a throwback to the old days of race tracks. Walls, trees, earth and not much run off are the characteristics of the track. We’ve made some significant changes to the setup and balance of the car from last year, where we saw big improvements at The Ridge Motorsports Park and PIR after the changes. So the expectation was that those changes would also benefit Pacific Raceways and coupled with driver development, we’d make some big gains in lap times and overall pace.

Here is the video last year’s August race, where I finished 4th in class

Setting a baseline

During the test and tune, we had four sessions for the day and unfortunately, I would have to miss the 3rd session because of a work conflict (jumping on an important conference call). That left three sessions to make sure the car was running well, I was back up to speed with the track, make some progress and scrub in some sticker tires.

Session 1: After the first few laps of feeling confident the car was running well, I started to pick up the pace but a driver that was taking out his new (to him) PRO3 car out for the first time, had a mechanical issue, which caused a black flag all. On top of cutting the session short, I did not see two of the black flags and was later given a talking to and I promised to be more watchful. 🙁
Session 2: Go time! I was able to get make my way through traffic and on the second lap, back in the 1:38’s! My personal fastest had been a 1:38.2xx during the race above. More 1:38’s and finally – BAM! 1:37.766 – now we’re talking! I only got one lap in the 1:37’s but I knew I had figured something out and the rest were in the low 1:38’s. A new normal!
Session 3 (the last session of the day): As much as I wanted to keep the other tires on, I had to be disciplined and put on some sticker tires, knowing that the only goal was to get a healthy heat cycle on them and dial in the tire pressures so that they could be used during qualifying tomorrow. So I put them on and despite them being new, still easy 1:38’s and a 1:38.064. KABOOM! Insert super excited emoji here!

So how did I shave .5 seconds off of my personal best lap time?

There are likely more than this but here’s my take:

The weather: Today was mostly sunny, light breeze with a high of 71 degrees Fahrenheit. It was 81 degrees Fahrenheit on July 24, 2017. Warmer weather usually results in less power and a slippery track.
Car balance: Last year, we noticed that I was struggling with rear wheel spin getting out of almost all corners, so we made a late-season change by lowering the ride height of the rear and artificially putting more weight back there, to get more traction. That made a huge difference immediately. Over the off-season, the folks at Advanced Auto Fabrication installed an absolute work-of-art fuel cell, in conjunction with the OEM fuel tank. This had two benefits:
1. Endurance ready – We now had a fuel system with enough fuel to run 3 hours straight!
2. Weight balance/distribution – due to the new hardware, we could remove the nearly 100lbs of ballast in the passenger seat area and moved all that weight back, where we need it for more traction. We also can add fuel to the fuel cell, along with ice and water to the cool suit which was moved back there too, to make sure we’re at minimum weight. More weight backwards is a good thing!
The driver and the driving: My goal was to carry over the learnings from iRacing and Virtual Racing School analysis to the real world. Brake earlier, softer and longer to carry more speed into the corners, mid-corner and get on the throttle sooner. And I think it worked!

Specifically, here is a comparison of my speed trace from last year’s fastest lap and today. Note, this is an alpha product of Track Attack that won’t be released but something similar is coming out soon and super excited to share more about that. Note, Racer on Rails is a completely separate entity from Track Attack, but I am also on the Track Attack team as a co-founder.

Comparing a 1:37.761 from today to a 1:38.215 from July 2016

Notice how in segment one, in the red line, I braked earlier, softer and carried more speed into the corner and it also translated to a higher top speed at the end of that zone.

In segments 2 and 3, I also braked earlier and got on the throttle sooner. In segment 4, I carried more speed into the scariest part of the track (turns 5a and 5b) but I lost a little bit in the exit. Lastly, in segment 5, I braked earlier, got the car turned and back on throttle sooner.

This is what lunch looks like for me. Burritos + data + video. All FTW!

So what change corresponded with how much of the improved times? I have no idea but I think all three helped and since I’m not doing any more major updates to the car, I’m going to believe in the driver changes and continue grinding on the data and video.

Posted on May 9, 2017May 12, 2017 by Gama Aguilar

Rose City Opener 2017 – Race Weekend Recap Portland International Raceways No Chicane

What: First sprint race weekend of the year, shaking down the car with new upgrades, testing and experiencing the highs and lows of racing.

If I knew then, what I know now:

Make no assumptions on communication! Make sure everyone on your team knows exactly what is happening and when. We lost a day to shake down the car and found an obscure issue with the new transmission resulting in more lost track time on Saturday.
Make sure you know what kind of qualifying is happening, open session or pressure style and adjust tire pressures accordingly.
Plan where you want to be on pre-grid for open session qualifying wisely so that you can benefit from drafting other cars in class and even faster cars.

Products that made life easier in this post:

Harbor Freight 2-in-1 Convertible Hand Truck 600lbs – this bad boy made loading and unloading the trailer with three sets of tires a breeze. Our backs are still thanking us!

Kick off to the sprint season

As I mentioned the 6 Hours on the Ridge post, I primarily race with ICSCC, which is a sprint race focused sanctioning body. Aside from the endurance races that bookend the start and end of the season, each race weekend is made up of the following elements (for the most part):

Friday test and tune – usually for race cars only but sometimes includes High Performance Driver Education (HPDE drivers).
Saturday – Practice, qualifying, non-points races and a 1 hour endurance race.
Sunday – Final qualifying and points races

Here is a picture of the announcement for the race weekend of which if you do a couple of groups, that is plenty of track time. This weekend and for the full year, I did Group 1 (the main group for the PRO3 annual championship) and the Mini-Enduro.

The schedule for the first sprint race of the season. I’m in Group 1.

Shaking down a refreshed car

Initially I was supposed to get the #209 Track Attack PRO3 car back from Advanced Auto Fabrications at the 6 hour race but when they were doing final checks on it, they found that the newly rebuilt transmission wouldn’t go into third gear. So we decided to have that fixed and bring it down for this weekend, where I would shake the car down and ‘take delivery’ from all the repairs and upgrades they did.

What I did not make explicitly clear was that I expected AAF and crew to be there on Friday, which they would do more often than not, but not always. I even checked in the Monday prior to make sure all was on schedule but I did not explicitly ask about Friday.

Big mistake because when we drove down on Thursday night, so we could be all unloaded and ready to drive on Friday AM, the gigantic black AAF hauler was nowhere to be seen. AAF and crew decided to skip the test and tune due to the limited amount of track time and forecasted rain in the morning. They’re not scared of rain, just that if it isn’t supposed to rain on Saturday or Sunday, the risk of damage is higher than the benefit.

Regardless, we made the most of the day by working on odds and ends in the RV, spend some quality time with the family, caught up on work and chatted with folks up and down the paddock. The AAF crew showed up on Friday evening and by Saturday AM, was all set for the first on-track session.

As I got going in the morning practice run, it took me a few laps to get into the groove of things, remember the course and get up to speed. Initially letting several cars pass me but then quickly catching and passing them again. Lap times were solid, with nearly a .8 second improvement from the year prior. SWEET!

When we came off the track, a fellow PRO3 driver mentioned that they saw smoke coming out of the back of my car, a light smoke but consistent. We checked the car and sure enough, the rear and under body was coated with transmission oil. We were leaking somewhere from this newly rebuilt transmission that aside from this, seemed to be running great.

That is transmission oil – note that it is everywhere.

Over the next several hours, we went step by step, replacing the main rear transfer seal and then the shifter seal. We thought we had it addressed but after the non-points race, still had oil.

Long story short, it turns out that when the transmission was sent for a rebuild, they took my old transmission in as a core and sent back a different transmission, from an older model of the E30, which had a different kind of shift mount assembly. This assembly had two bolts that mounted to the top of the transmission, which served the purpose of securing the assembly and sealing two bolt holes into the transmission itself.

We don’t run the OEM shifter assembly, opting instead for the incredibly awesome CAE shifter assembly, which meant those holes were completely exposed and the source of the leak. This obscure situation had never come up with this crew of people who have been racing E30’s for over 10 years and built and rebuilt dozens of PRO3 cars.

We didn’t figure this out until Saturday early evening, after we opted to not run the 1 hour endurance race, to save the transmission (if it kept leaking) for the Group 1 qualifying and racing on Sunday. We felt the risk was too high to run low on transmission oil in the 1 hour and potentially damage the transmission itself.

In conclusion, lack of communication and shaking down the car resulted in a completely lost Friday of running and 1 hour of endurance racing. Sigh.

Qualifying

For the weekend, we had two qualifying sessions, one for the 1 hour endurance race and qualifying times for the Group 1 race.

1 Hour endurance race pressure qualy

Something unique to the Cascade Sports Car Club, which I love is pressure qualifying. One out lap, one flying lap and one in lap. Unfortunately, we did not realize this until we got to grid and didn’t adjust the tire pressures accordingly to compensate for the much fewer laps we’d run. At least everyone else was in the same boat. I love this type of qualifying because it eliminates the ‘draft’ variable – this is all on you as a driver, to make a fast lap happen there and then. Not relying on getting a draft from a faster car or following and learning from a faster driver. At a track like PIR, especially with no chicane on the front straight, a draft can make a HUGE difference, in the order of .25 seconds or more if you can get the right draft on the front and back straights.

Here is the video of my ME2 qualifying lap, which put me on pole for ME2 class but was a solid one second slower than my fastest laps in a regular qualifying session.

Group 1 qualy

Qualifying for Group 1 was spread across the fastest lap times in the Saturday non-points race and Sunday AM qualifying. The fastest time across those two sessions would count towards the final grid placement.

In the Saturday AM race, I qualified 4th with a mid-1:22 lap time and finished the race in 3rd. It was an excellent race, where I got a great start and was running in 2nd before turn 2 of the first lap. I tried to hitch myself to Brian Bercovitz, the eventual race winner but he got away and was stuck battling with Corey Peters for 2nd place. I ran in 2nd for about half of the race but I ended up going too hot into turn 1, went wide and that was enough of a mistake for Corey to capitalize. That meant Kyle Byers in the #55 PRO3 car was on my tail. We ended up battling pretty hard, exchanging some bumper paint but nothing serious – just good, solid, respectful, hard racing. He ended up getting a little sideways on the second bump he gave me and that was enough for me to pull away and finish in third, with a lap time of 1:22.274 and a new personal best.

Sprint non-points race results and qualifying 1 times

I would normally post the video here but I forgot to hit ‘record’ – I’ll try to get the videos from Corey and Kyle to share.

Sunday AM qualy brought out excellent conditions; dry, sunny and a cool breeze in the low 60’s. I got on the grid early and was the lead PRO3 car on track but after a few laps, I realized I was reproducing low 1:22 lap times while everyone else was running in a pack and getting help with drafts. So I came into the hot pits, checked tire pressures and waited for the right pack to come by and tail them.

I eventually got behind the pack with Corey Peters coming off of the back straight but he quickly picked up on my game and pulled off on the main straight away. No issues, there was still another couple of cars to get behind. On a decent flyer though, another driver, who I used for a draft and got by on turn 1 decided it was time to race and dove in to overtake in turn 7. Why?!?!?! What makes this more frustrating is that he then pulled off and slowed down that same lap, in the following straight away. I can’t confirm but I think he also picked up on what I was planning and decided to ruin my lap.

No issues again and finally, I saw Brian Bercovitz and got behind him for one last final flying lap. All looked good, with the predictive lap timer showing a 1:21.8xx for the first part of the lap but then I missed a downshift to third on the only left hand turn on the course. This ended up still producing a solid lap time but I ended up qualifying in 5th place, where as if I would have executed, I would have qualified third and possibly 2nd in class.

The Main Race

The goal was simple: get a solid start, make up a couple positions in the traffic and be in the top three by the end of lap 1. This would give me a fighting chance to get near the front and try to stick with Brian, who was on pole for our class. I found during qualifying that if I could get behind him, I was able to keep the gap nearly the same.

Below is the race video and note, it has no data overlay. The reason? I didn’t complete a single lap. I got a solid start and wedged myself in a position to go after 2nd, 3rd and possibly first by turn 7. Unfortunately, up ahead, a Spec E46 car went off to the left and tried to get themselves back on the track without waiting for the pack to go by (my opinion). When his front tires, who were turned to the right, hooked up on the track surface, they gripped and shot him across the track and into the on-coming pack of angry PRO3 cars.

I saw it happening, moved to the right but still got a glancing blow on the rear quarter panel. Initially I thought all was well because it didn’t really knock me anywhere but as soon as we hit turn 7 (right hand turn leading to the back straight), I saw and heard heavy tire rub and then the cabin was engulfed in tire smoke. I went into the hot pits, got checked for fire but the damage was too much. We could have swapped tires and rolled the fender in the hot-pit but we would have gone a couple laps down and I didn’t think it was worth it and called it a day.

Conclusion

It was a tough way to start the sprint season but when you sign up to go racing, this is a potential outcome that can happen any weekend. I take 100% accountability for what happened and don’t blame the Spec E46 driver in any way. All things considered, had a great time with friends and family, personal best lap times, fixed teething issues on the car and was still able to take it home, running and with some cosmetic repairs needed before the next race. There were three other cars involved in the incident and they would take my place in an instant as their cars did not fair as well.