Monday, October 10, 2011

Road America - End of Season

The last event of the season couldn't have gone any better! Two first place finishes and a new track record!

This was our first time at Road America, and it was quite the track. First, there is the scale of the track, 4 miles track on almost 650 acres of land. Then there is the intensity and speed of the course. Three main straights which we were reaching 140mph or more followed by tight 60-80mph corners. 

Friday was a test and tune day. So, we just spent the day learning the track and building up speed. The car felt great. The power band was amazing with our smoothed out tune from last time, the rebuilt transmission was shifting buttery smooth, and the Hoosier tires were sticking like glue.

Saturday, we started off first thing in the morning with Time Trials being the first run group out at 8am for a warm-up session. Four laps later, we set a 2:33.716 lap time, almost 3 seconds faster than the rest of the TTB group. We were shocked by how fast the car was running, as was everyone else. After a quick post-session meeting and a short break, we were back on the track. This time we were even faster, we posted a 2:32.894 and setting a new TTB track record! The next session of the day was a hot one, nobody was able to beat their previously posted lap time. Now since this was the last event of the season, and the championship banquet was that night, NASA split Saturday into two events. Saturday morning being the first event and the afternoon being the second event. This was so the final championship points could be earned and added to decide the winners before the banquet. So, the first session of the afternoon event, we posted a 2:34.748. Not quite as fast as we were in the morning, but still enough to put us at the top. At this point, the track was hotter, the car was hotter, and the tires had taken quite the beating. Road America is very tough on the cars. The second session of the afternoon, last of the day, we pushed as it as fast as we could. We put down a 2:34.350 and squeezed out first for the second event, with second place putting down an almost identical 2:34.354. 



Check out the pictures and videos pages as they have been updated with stuff from Road America

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