Jim Child

I would have happily traded with you. I was supposed to start somewhere near the front for the enduro, but I guess Gary and I got down to the grid too late. We waited more than 5 minutes for someone to grid us before watching with disappointment as they let everyone go with us at the tail end of the field. At least coming up from the back made for some interesting video.

The conditions were something else. It was by far the worst rain I've ever seen on a race track. If it had been a practice session instead of a race I probably would have brought the car in. Thank goodness for the Hoosier rain tires. But even with good rain tires the conditions were extremely treacherous. There were major puddles all over the place, and in some places they got pretty deep. Hydroplaning was a major issue. There was a lake at the entrance to turn 2 that got so bad during the middle of the race it was almost impossible to turn in for the corner. There was serious puddling at the exit of turn one; the apex of turn 9 was completely under water, and there was lake about one third the width of the track in Thunder Valley. If you hit any of that water it felt like it would just grab hold of the car and not let go. The back straight was also awash in puddles particularly in the Kink and the braking zone. Normally the Kink at Mid Ohio is a flat out no-brainer in any car, but in these conditions it was a real white knuckler. I saw a 944 lose it there in front of me at around 100 mph, sliding sideways down the track and then the grass on the right, its speed completely unabated. I nearly lost it there myself a couple of laps later, but luckily managed to catch it. After that I decided that taking the Kink flat out probably wasn't a good idea.

That said, I enjoyed the race a lot, and I'll be raring to go the next time it rains at Mid Ohio.

Cris Brady

I concur with Jim, he was one of those passing me on the Hoosier wets who I was greatly envious of. I've written up my race report complete with my spin in the kink.

Mid Ohio Race Report

Enjoy!

analogmike

hard to pick me out as there were three carbon copies of my car running. Mine was the one with asymmetric side graphics (new right side after getting punted at the Atlanta IMSA race).

Rick Deman was there yesterday, we rented out the track and he rented time in one of our cars. I beat your qualifying lap yesterday. Oh we did bypass the chicane



Note to self after reading Cris' writeup : DONT RACE IN HEAVY RAIN.
See my Watkins Glen 2002 pictures
for more proof (hit a puddle on the straight, just like Cris but not so lucky)

John H

Chris,
I was right behind you when you took your ride. I have a video of it that I will be happy to show you. My battery died right AFTER your "incident". I was glad to see you weere gone when I got back around. That looked like a hell of a ride. Can anyone host the video for me? I can get the camera and convert it to mpeg later this week.

I looked over and you were going backwards parallel to the track with the wheels not moving. It was surreal. You did not seem to be slowing down at all.

Cris Brady

John, I got plenty of bandwidth and can host it on my website, so send it on over. I'd love to see it anyway. As it turns out, my tape ran out just before the spin, so I don't have a copy from inside the car.

And I got to tell you, it certainly felt like I wasn't slowing down in the car. It just kept going and going and going.

jerome951

Well,
Here's my brief contribution to the Mid-Ohio Hydro-Enduroplane. This is what happens when you start a race without your webbed feet on..

I was on the front row on the outside of Chris at the start (hey Chris, if the pole sitter peels off, don't I become the pole sitter? ;-).

Chris had the concrete in turn 1 (much grippier when wet than the asphalt) so it was all I could do to keep the car on the track. As Chris mentioned before (and you can't see in the video), someone passed us on the inside just before 1. Realize that I was running Toyo RA1s that had a little tread on the front and only a couple circumferential grooves on the rear.

One of the red 911s that passes me on the back straight ends up in the wall on the left of the track. Unfortunately, you can't see the accident because of the spray.

On the video, you really can't see the amount of sliding the car is doing, but trust me, it never settled down. I ran about 5 slow laps and brought the car into the pits to put on my rain tires, which helped considerably, but there were still periods of hydroplaning.

Sorry it's a little hard to see out of my windshield but I don't like wipers flashing in front of my eyes while I'm driving.

Hydro-Enduro Start

Here's hoping for a drier enduro next year.

Jerome
E #301
Silver 951

ngoldrich

Mike,

Cool car thanks for the pic. How did Rick do on Monday?

Norm

APKhaos

Jerome's video tells the tale! Those were some nasty conditions. I had my first "race in the rain" experience at CMP two weeks ago. There was as much rain falling, but not as much standing water as you guys had, judging from the video. We had a large number of cars off, but CMP has plenty of run-off, so not too much damage. Congrats to all who fought and survived.

Jim Child

Jerome's video is from the start of the race. Believe it or not, the rain and standing water actually got much worse midway through the race.

RJay

Yikes! That splash from the 911 at the apex of the last corner was scary! Cool vid!

Greg Fishman

Good job Jim! Congrats on the good finish, to beat Terry, regardless of conditions is an accomplishment.

BrandonH

Could you give a summary of what happened in G/H/I John? I was moping around all weekend about missing MO having done a dozen quattro club DEs there but never raced. Although the rain reports are easing the disappointment!

Cris Brady

Jerome, cool video! Mine is still locked up in the car behind the scales at MO. That car that passed us at the start pushed me wide and I was fighting to stay on that concrete patch, because I knew if got off it I'd be right into your door. That turn was scarey all Saturday, I got loose many times in that corner. Glad you avoided that red 911 that crashed a lap or two later. The conditions were so bad from the spray that Mark Weining was in the middle of that on the right side and didn't even knew it happened until he came around the next time and saw the cars on the side.

jerome951

Hey Chris,

I agree about the concrete at turn 1. It was actually kinda fun once I had the rains on.... Turn into 1... car slides sideways.... hit concrete... car hooks up... hit asphalt.... car slides sideways.... lather, rinse, repeat on the next 2 concrete patches. The rule for the race was 'own the concrete'...

I think that red 911 hit the wall on the first lap. It's hard to see in the video, but if you look really closely you can see it resting on the left. I remember seeing it as I passed, then seeing Bruce (the black 911) next to him on the following lap.

When they drug the red 911 back on the track, they also brought some large rocks onto the racing surface. I hit 2 of them late in the race that actually dented my fender lip behind my left front wheel enough to push the bottom portion of my fender out several mm. I'll have to see if the body man can do anything (cleaply) about it. Considering the conditions, I'm happy to escape with only that damage...

We also forgot to mention the wind. You can hear it blowing sideways through the car when I'm in the keyhole. It was so strong, I had water droplets on my rear-view mirror!!!

I also posted some video of drier running from Sunday's sprint race:
Sprint Race Start

John H

Cris

My video camera is in my car on the trailer in storage until Thursday. I'll try to send it to you on Friday. My camera actually had a water drop on it from the wind/rain/spray. I have the tape in my truck. If I can, I'll get my sister's camera and download it earlier.