Race Report: November Infineon

This is really part 2 of the weekend race report. The first race of the weekend was on Saturday in the rain, and was a non points race. Sunday there were 2 races, both for points, and both in our new run group with the Spec Miatas.

On Saturday I was fighting with wheel spin when lifting a wheel up over turn 2 and coming out of turn 11 (the hairpin), so I decided to try out disconnecting the rear swaybar to see if the car would hook up better in those spots. I went out for practice with no sway, and a few laps in I decided I was happy with the new set up. There's a little more understeer at turn entry, and the rear of the car is a little more squishy, but it felt better.

Next up was qualifying for the 2nd race of the day, since we already qualified for the first race on Saturday. This was our first qualifying exclusively with the spec miatas, which threw off my usual strategy of "put down a hot lap or two, then go screw up play with my competitors". Instead, I put down a compromised first lap due to traffic, built up a gap and tried to put down a fast lap or two, then I cruised for a few laps and decided to try for another fast lap. The timing data shows I did my fast lap in lap of 2:01.373 in lap #9 for a qualifying spot of 6th. The next 2 cars were right behind me with a .630 (AJ) and .655 (Scott C) so it was sure to be a fun race.

For the first race of the day I started 6th, but blew the start and managed to drop a few spots in the first lap. I spent the rest of the race fighting with 3 other cars and my own demons. I eventually pushed my way past the 3 other cars to lead the pack into the final lap, where I melted down and gave away 3 spots in the last half of the last lap for an 11th place finish. While I had a great time mixing it up with the other cars, I was pretty mad that I let a bad first lap get into my head and wreak havoc on my driving for the rest of the race. Here's some blurry video for you to enjoy:

NASA Norcal @ Infineon 2008-11-09 Race #1 from Adam Lazur on Vimeo.

Our 2nd race of the day was postponed due to a race car flying off track and landing in the grandstands outside of turn 1. After gawking at that for a while, we hustled back to grid up for the 2nd race. I put the previous race out of my head, and started fresh. This worked out for me. I started 6th, and finished 6th. I spent most of the race trying to catch AJ, but he kept up a pace that left me a few car lengths behind. Since the race was delayed, the race only lasted 7 laps. If you look at the timing data, specifically my lap times versus AJ's, AJ kept up a pace that was slightly faster than me but lost a lot of room on lap #6. I haven't gone back to the video to see what slowed him down that lap, but it made for a much more exciting last lap for me. Here's the video (not blurry!):

NASA Norcal @ Infineon 2008-11-09 Race #2 from Adam Lazur on Vimeo.

All in all I've had a good season racing in Spec E30. I'm looking forward to next year, when the field will be bigger and I'll be faster.