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Thread: Race Report - National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park

  1. #1
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    Race Report - National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park

    Last weekend several Challenge Series regulars and I got to try out the new National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, KY. The weekends schedule included a Test and Tune on Friday and Races on Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t arrive until Friday evening but as I understand it Brian, Greg, Mike T., Mike D. and Eric took to the track on Friday; Eric may have been the only who has been on the track before this weekend. Greg fought fuel delivery issues all day ultimately fixing it with a new fuel filter so he only saw a few laps of action all day. Also on Friday, Brian had a master cylinder that wouldn’t build any pressure ending his weekend early.

    Saturday brought on the heat and the fun. Mike D., Mike T., Greg, Eric and I took to the track first thing Saturday morning for practice. Now, in preparation for this weekend I scoured youtube for any and all incar footage to get an idea of the track lay out. It didn't work; I was totally lost on the first few laps driving mostly in the middle of he track but at least I was doing it slowly. They had to break out the sundial to time me. Qualifying was a little better but still pretty slow. At some point I put a hole in my radiator as was evidenced by the water pouring from under my car. Uh-oh.

    More to come.
    Last edited by avgjoe; 07-27-2015 at 03:10 PM.
    FFR Spec Racer

  2. #2
    Senior Member johngeorge's Avatar
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    Nice Joe! cant wait to read more (yes that means hurry up writing it)
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  3. #3
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    Well before it stopped spitting water Greg brought over a spare and offered it to me. We had a few hours before the race so my dad and I had it changed out and ready to go w/ a few minutes to spare. Thanks Greg! I have no idea where anybody started for the race except I’m pretty sure I started last in our group. This was my fourth race and would be the last one to complete my provisional license so keeping my nose clean was my priority. Well that I did and ended up finishing 4th. I’m not exactly sure how the race went for everyone else but I think Eric ran away with it (he also set the track record at 2:25.716). I know there was a bit of a shamazel into turn 1 on lap 1 so the group may have been split up in the aftermath. After the race Greg found out that he probably had a head gasket about to lose it gasketing properties. We figured it would be a short weekend for him.

    Sunday brought more sun and more heat. Greg decided to soldier on until his motor gave up the ghost. He and I were the only ones to go out for the first morning session which would be qualifying for Race 2 of 3. Things went smooth for me until the last lap where I found out how low I can run the fuel. Oops. Before Race 2 Eric and Mike changed rear brakes on Eric's car while the rest of us watched on providing emotional support when needed. Eric had about 3 corners left in the rear pads. No really one of his pads was down to a paper thin thickness of friction material. We’re figuring out that this place is fairly hard on brakes as there are few places for them to cool down before the next corner. My race went pretty well. I started 2nd and was feeling pretty comfortable in the car, just need to not overdrive the slow corners and under drive the fast ones. I think that may be a never-ending goal. Eric however noticed on the warm up lap that his Brake Reservoir cap located on his dash was wiggling. Damn! After replacing pads it didn’t get tightened up. Ooops. It fell off into the cockpit before we took the green and he retired for the race. Meanwhile Greg and Mike T. were having a heck of a race. I don’t know how many times they traded the lead but Greg was in the lead as the white flag flew. I think Mike took Greg in one of the last few turns and held on for the win by a 0.592 second margin of victory. In the process Greg set a new FFR Track record of 2:24.941 and his head gasket continued to fight the good fight.

    For Race 3 four of us took the green as Mike D started his LONG tow back home early. I think the Grid was set by lap time in Race 2 and I stated 3rd. I had put on a new set of tires for the final race of the weekend and I won’t lie I hoped for more. I thought I’d achieve some Mario-like skills, but alas, I was still slow, but a faster slow. Even to me the tracked seemed a bit slippery after basking in the near sun-like temps. This time it was Greg and Eric putting on the show as it was Mike T.’s turn to have stuff moving around in the cockpit. Something came loose and was rattling around in his footbox. Not good. Eric edged out Greg at the end after another close battle. I set my fastest time of the weekend on lap 1.

    Also enjoying the weekend at NCM was Jeff driving in HPDE. He used to share a car w/ Mike T. but got a Spec Racer of his own when Mike bought him out. Not sure when he’ll be joining the rest of us on track but I hope it’s soon. Thanks for the shade Jeff.

    Overall a good weekend for me. I drove it off the trailer and drove it back on at the end of the weekend. I started out completely lost at a 2:55 and got that down to a 2:35.957 which is still 11 seconds off the leader but it’s progress. I’m not complaining as I know it’s a matter of seat time and experience in the car.

    I can’t say enough about the group camaraderie in the FFR series. Again, thanks Greg. And thanks to Brian for taking care of the Series Director role.

    Hope to see you all at the track soon.
    FFR Spec Racer

  4. #4
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    Video from the first race on Sunday :





    Hope to have some of the few pics I took posted soon.
    Last edited by avgjoe; 07-31-2015 at 06:56 AM.
    FFR Spec Racer

  5. #5
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    Any help embedding photos from Google Photos or Drive?

    Spec racers aplenty: https://goo.gl/photos/wUNf9Ji4FudL1dBN6

    Harriet's new shoes: https://goo.gl/photos/a9zprCEbr9nGRnQG7

    Holy radiator: https://goo.gl/photos/QiMBRYXNURgqH4xX7



    FFR Spec Racer

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