Rain, Race, and Time Trials.

NASA Northeast’s first event of the 2017 season kicked off this past weekend at NJMP Lightning race track. In attendance the usual ST2 contingency (although missing Pat McMahon, he is installing a dry sump oiling system) and also making a return to racing fellow FFR Challenge series driver Wayne Patterson racing his Ford 427ci powered FFR Challenge car in SU. Scott Chambers in his AIX Mustang also made the long haul from MA and paddocked with us.

Driving the long trip down from NH with me was my mom Mihaela, meeting us at the racetrack was crew chief Mark Dougherty and his wife Wanda. We were set for an exciting and productive weekend testing which size tires work best on the Daytona Coupe. The tire testing selection for the weekend were the old 245 Hoosiers, same as I ran on the Cobra, and 275 Hoosiers. Well, the weather decided Friday no slick tire testing. A massive storm system stretching the east coast rained buckets of water on us.



So, we hung out the entire day Friday entertaining ourselves in the RV.



Wayne, Mark and Wanda.



The rain coming down.



Saturday brought much better weather, although it threatened to have pop-up showers throughout the day. Carl Thompson, a fellow FFR Challenge series racer came to spectate and hang out at the track. It was awesome to get the Northeast crew back together! Brings back great memories.



Me, Carl, and Wayne (shortest to tallest)

I changed my Friday test day entry to run Time Trial Saturday/Sunday so I was very busy on track trying to make up for the lost tire testing time. Early on I went out on old 245 tires, getting familiarized with the track, and setting a respectable time. Practice went without issue, Wayne in the Cobra matched my times in the session! We compared data and Mr Horsepower (Wayne) was 10 mph faster on the straightaway then me in my car, a whopping 150 mph. Scott Chambers in his Mustang got towed in after practice with a broken rear end. His day was done, packed up and towed back north to MA.



Qualifying on new 275 tires mid day was hectic with people scrubbing tires and coming to a complete stop at the start of the session, then fellow ST2 competitor John Gatzemeyer spinning with me and Doug Winston trying to avoid him, unfortunately Doug and John got together along with the metal barrier. Even with all the chaos I managed to better Adrian Wlostowski’s time putting my car on pole, Adrian 2nd, Mike Kuna (new addition to ST2) 3rd, Mark Petronis 4th, Alan Cohen 5th getting disqualified after the session for some reason. John and Doug both had cars to fix and missed the race Saturday. Wayne starts 4th overall in between the ST2 field.