John@Fabspeed

After autocrossing and racing shifter karts in sprint/road race setup for many years, the opportunity finally presented itself to hit the track in a car. This opportunity happened to be in a competition setting at this past weekend's AER 18hr Endurance Race at Watkins Glen (9hr Saturday/9hr Sunday) with Rust Bucket Racing in a Class 3 88' CRX. Fellow drivers were Geoff Ehrman, Russ Ehrman, and David Wollman.

What an unbelievable experience. When I first arrived it was like walking into Motorsports Nirvana. Racing history oozed out of every inch of the place to say the least. I could bore you with all the details but on to the results.

Friday was practice/qualifying on a relatively damp track. End of the day we pulled the valve cover to adjust the valves, and lucky us...a rocker arm had come off and had been messing about. A few phone calls later and the tools and the spare parts were driven through the night to us and the repair began at 3am. With 10 minutes before cars were called to grid on Saturday, it was started up for the first time. Ran like a champ until 3hrs left when the car starting running rough in the low RPMs (we later found cylinder 4 to have 0 compression with a stuck valve), but we were able to take home a 1st in class, and 17th overall out of 70 racing that day. Despite the urge to continue (seemed to run great over 3800rpm) we took Sunday off to prevent further damage to the engine.

The main reason I posted up in the section is to get feedback from my GoPro footage. Not only was this my first time at the Glen, this was my first time on a road course (in a car), and therefore my first time racing in a competitive setting in a car as well. It was with full approval from my fellow drivers, extensive autocross experience, and success racing shifter karts with the NESKS and WKA that allowed me to enter the event. That being said, I am told I did well and was invited back to the remaining events this year. However, I was hoping to get some feedback on where I did well and what I can improve on for future events in regards to overall driving technique and this track in particular.

The GoPro footage below starts from the moment I heard Green after entering the track on full course yellow, to the point 50 minutes later when my battery died. Let me know your thoughts


Part 1


Part 2

John@Fabspeed

Gator996

I have no constructive criticism or tips but it looks like it was a hell of a great weekend! 👍

John@Fabspeed

ProCoach

Congrats! Randy Pobst is a wonderful resource!

kk2

Randy drove the e46 for our team. One of the owners is floating around here somewhere.

Fun to hang out with him and a few other pros all weekend.

John@Fabspeed

One of the best I've ever had, that's for sure haha.

Had the opportunity to chat with him on several occasions, and he is just as influential in person as he is on paper and video. Very modest and down to Earth. I definitely consider him an idol of mine.

No kidding! That E46 was the loudest "get the hell out of my way" car on the track haha. Always made sure to check my mirrors and keep out of their way. Very jealous you were able to get some quality time with him and some other pros. Were you out driving in that car? If so what stint? I was on track around 11:30-1:30, would be neat if I caught you flying by me.

By the way, congrats on your 2nd on Saturday and 1st on Sunday! Still think you guys deserved the win on Saturday...that RFID pit fiasco was a shame.

kk2

It was too bad they took win away. Everyone was pretty confused.

I was in its e36 sister car and was out there from 10:30-12:30 on Sunday. A little later in the day on Saturday. We had issues pop up all weekend that kept us from finishing on Saturday and had us make an extra stop on Sunday.

dgmark

Hope your kids like community collage, your done.

Veloce Raptor

Well done!

mehoff

Rust Bucket is my cousins car and one of the most fun race cars I've ever run (you used to have to turn right when braking before they found the dead trailing arm mount)! You looked smooth and aware out there, which is the most important thing in these enduros, especially for a rookie....well done. Next time you'll have to remember one of my and Russ's pet peeves -- don't get passed my a motherf%*king BMW!!!

John@Fabspeed

Sorry to hear you had so many issues. Part of racing of course. I still can't believe we were able to pull through on Saturday given the mechanical failures we had. Damn Hondas just wont quite haha

No kids, we are good

Thank you! Very glad I went and will be back for more

I appreciate the kind words, and it was certainly adrenaline pumping to have eyes on the mirrors constantly as class 4 and 5 cars (they had them backwords in terms of classing that weekend) were screaming by haha. Tell Russ to put a K20 in it and take on Randy in the E46 M3 lol