Kinda glad you brought this up..ive not said anything about the video before now.


Its the passer's job to make the clean pass...and im not 100% convinced that Randy made a good decision to...as a MUCH faster car...attempt to force a pass right there..with a whole straight away available to him in about 5 more seconds.

The NSX was where he was..and not a factor in Randys decision...his issue was the Camaro in the middle, which was making a VERY wide pass on the NSX which was not exactly on the line at all..but still not doing anything wrong..or punishable by any rule.

The Camaro in the middle has no duty to be aware of faster traffic attempting to pass him...technically. He CAN block in one direction, not two..and im not absolving him of a duty to maybe give way to a faster car coming from behind...because exercising your right to the real estate the you own on track, can lead to sad outcomes...maybe thats what he was doing, or maybe just not aware of Randy starting a pass thru that pinch spot that he didnt think he would attempt to do right there.


But..being in a silly fast car, that pass could have clearly waited..and being down on the inside of the entry into 10 with THAT much speed after passing someone THAT far left..I dunno, I would not have...id have to stop & signal to make that turn, it'd be so slow...or dive hard right, and make a 90d turn a 120d turn..which is still slow as you would be entering THAT much of a turn downhill and off camber before center apex of T10.


This is a result of a couple people making some decisions, around cars of vastly different speeds..and any ONE of the decisions made would have been fine..but all three (nsx being NOT on the far right, the camaro wandering track left passing the nsx, Randy rushing a pass) together, resulted in bent metal. Heck, any TWO decisions, would have been fine most likely.

Ultimately, theres no fault here, it was 'just racin'..but big things often come from a chain of small things.

Only once have I had to help determine 'fault' in racing terms..to an injury/death, and I dont wanna do it again..the end results are generally from some simple decision that met fate with others at some bizarre intersection in space & time.

Randy will be back..**** he was fun to watch....

 

Qualifying went well. the car is just fantastic. 1:36.4 for qual time, got up to 2nd in V8 supercar class.
Group 3 has a lot of action! Transam, cup cars, etc
Rylan was even out there in his 500rwhp s2000, but now, everyone is running slicks. he put on a set of brand new goodyear slicks. 1:35s going down to 1:32.

 

 

Glad to hear it, Mark. Sorry I can't be there.

Oh, and I understand Jeff's comments. If both were aware of the crippled NSX sitting there, they both should have slowed down and done no passing, as you would expect under a yellow flag condition, whether there was a flag or not. If the Camaro was not aware of the crippled NSX and there was no yellow flag, then his pass at that time was an unfortunate accident.

 

Mark:

How'd the races go?

 

The races went well. We had a double header (kind of a new, one off format) of two races in one day.

First race I was gridded on the front row,but we also let in a 67 mustang with over 650hp and 14" goodyear slicks as well as the Viper which is a V10 and really doesnt fit the bill of the series. BUT, they needed the car count to get over 10 fo the class and the group had near 25cars with all the GT1,2,3 superproduction, etc.

got out behind the Viper, trailed by our lap time differnces of about 1-2 seconds a lap. 3 laps later, the mustang that started in the back because he qualified as GT1, but wanted to run with us, passed me and the Viper a few laps later down the main straights. I battled with Vince's new monster mustang. I think its powered by a Vet LS3 pumped up , and the best of everything with 6 laps to go, he got around me down the main straight under power I tried to get close enough to make a pass in traffic, but the power was just too much.

However, in the next race , it unfolded in the same way, but Vince got around under power on the approach to turn 6. (reminded me of the camaro power!)
and I spend the race waiting for traffic, and his tires to go away , which they did, (and mind did too, running on 12 heat cycle A series hoosiers) with a few laps left, i got a pass completed under braking at turn 2, and was actually holding him off. I wanted to take turn 6 faster than ever to get a gap knowing there was only 2 laps left, and ended up drifting too far on the exit and dropped two wheels in the dirt. If anyone knows this turn, you dont want to try and get back on track here , too fast, so I burned "dirt" all the way up the hill and got back on track , but Vince got by there. stayed close for a couple of more laps and was on his bumper for the finish. techically, 2nd place, but wtih the added illegal cars, 4th.

IN the end, not bad for a car driven to the track , both ways. I didnt even open my tool box all weekend! I think i put in 1/2 a quart of oil and that was it.
1:36.4 for a qual time, near my best time from the GTGP race , made me happy as well.

one interesting thing that happened. on Left turns, the oil temp guage which is in the dipstick, showed wild peaks of well beyond full scale, 300F degrees. as soon as the car was straight, or turning Right, the temp went to the pretty hot 260F (normal for all out no slow down, racing) . I dont think I have ever seen that before, but then i might have never looked at the temp in turns before. (only pressure) pressure was full 5 bar when this was happening, so i bet the oil was uncovering the oil temp sensor at the bottom on the dipstick.

 

a couple of more pics.

rylans SP S2000 turbo with near 470rwhp now, and also the push for pass button. the american V8 supercar series runs with the group 3 folks.
we also have a split start with them.

 

Cool pics Mark! Didn't get a chance to come over and say Hi (fighting car setup/tires over the weekend), but seen your car on track and in the paddock!

Was definitely a fun couple races with all the different cars out there! Those GT1/SP cars are fast!

Here's the in-car on youtube from my car in both races:

#1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOp6n7Yc4NA

#2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn2jXiyA6ic

Laguna Seca is definitely more fun in faster GT style cars versus the Skip Barber formula cars.

-mike

 

Hi Mike! Hey, i didnt put 2 and 2 together to figure out that was you!

Sorry I didnt come by also! I had a lot of time.

anyway, great video. what happened to rylan on the 2nd race? that cup car just flys through laguna. Interesting to see how it stacked up on pure power down the turn 4 to 5 straight with my competition , Vince in the mustang. I think he is over 500hp and you two were pretty even, but you killed us both in handling and braking. Ill have to figure out a way to be able to stay in your video longer! I like the video from 22min, onward .

pretty funny how you past us at the same point in the race in both races, due to the split start.

Lets talk next time at the track

Mark

 

He had some issue with his radiator cap. It started leaking and then on the second lap it apparently popped off and sprayed water onto his front window coming out of T9 (and onto mine!). He got it fixed for the second race though.

Ya it was interesting running with the higher HP cars. I think I might have been getting on the gas a little sooner in the middle of the corner which would let me hang with them for the first part of the straights... by then end of the straight they'd be pulling away. Frank and I basically drag raced from T11 @ the 15 minute mark of Race #2 to Turn 2... and he blew my doors off. LOL!

See you next time!

-mike

 

Yeah, thats Frank for you ! Thats a brand new TransAm C6 vet! maybe if you get an '11 cup car, you might have a chance!
Poor guy in the first race, he started in the back of the pack, and his car died and couldnt restart due to a dead battery.