How was road Atlanta?

[mwilson7]

Car count? Results?

[johnbasf]

Mark Dandurand won AI both days.

3 AI
6(?) AIX is what I heard

Congrats to Mark!!!!

[95cobraR]

A great weekend. Cool weather in the mornings and night. The track was a liitle hot and slippery in the afternoon.

The staff did a great job keeping everything on time and giving everyone alot of track time. No incidents in the racing groups. Two school guys blew up and oiled the track.

Sunday had 24 big bore cars. A Viper won OA in a Viper Comp car (but he was running 6-8 seconds slower than what the car is capable of). David won AIX in Gary's #9 car (1:40 fast lap). Scott (#75-1:41-my pick for most improved), Terry (in that beatiful red #12 car-1:41's). Mark D. (#5-1:47) out-placed Mark R (#00-1:45 [spun?]). My old car (#2) had problems all weekend, and I lost my brake pedal pressure on the 1st lap (it's time to build a real AI car). Total count on Sunday 7 AI/AIX cars and 1 CMC car. Mark's #00 car picked up 3 seconds a lap from June and will be a big force.

The NASA SE is going to have a great future here. They have a huge school with alot of students. This gives a good feeder to the race groups which guarantee it's future success. A few SCCA racers were poking around the pits asking questions about AI/AIX. They are getting tired of all the SCCA AS politics and rules. I think you'll see them show up soon. A few of my vintage buds are planning on a few AIX races next year. I did some instructing and noticed 3-5 guys that are ready to graduate and move to the big bore group.

Great job to Jim's staff (Jim, Jim, Tom, et al)! A great and fun weekend.

[wildhorsesracin]

Thanks for the kind words, we are doing our best to build the race series and it does seem like we have many, many cars in HPDE getting ready to leap to CMC/AI/AIX - it's going to be a growing year in 2005!

See you all at Roebling!

That Viper was supposed to go 6-8 seconds FASTER?!?!?!

[racercosmo]

Originally Posted by wildhorsesracin

That Viper was supposed to go 6-8 seconds FASTER?!?!?!

What was he running? The fastest Viper at RA last year in Speed GT was doing 1:29s. If he was on slicks add 2-3 seconds and he probably didn't have the restrictor in so add another second.

[wildhorsesracin]

He turned 1:36.216 - not bad for a rookie!

Results here:

Hotlanta Challenge

[racercosmo]

Definitely. There are quite a few Speed GT guys driving brand new cars that are 6-7 seconds off of the leader's pace.
Are you up in Ohio Jim? After my business reasons for going got canceled, my real boss put the foot firmly down that my quota for being a spectator at races has been filled for the year.

[95cobraR]

Originally Posted by racercosmo

What was he running? The fastest Viper at RA last year in Speed GT was doing 1:29s. If he was on slicks add 2-3 seconds and he probably didn't have the restrictor in so add another second.

I agree. The Comp Vipers run in the high :20's at Rd Atl with the restrictor. At the NASA SE event in June. the big bore class had a T/A running a :35 and a M3 running a :36, and the track was hot and slick. I suspect you'll see more AIX cars running in the :30's soon. The SCCA AS cars run :40, and those cars have a book full of rule restrictions. I've seen those guys have to tear down their motor in the tech shack on Sunday afternoon after the final .

I just pulled my motor. I had a blown head gasket between 5-6. I couldn't find any cracks. The bearings, valves, springs, and cam looked good which is a heads-up to the durability on the Ford small block (the motor had 29 races on it). It should be ready for Savannah.

A heads-up on Savannah. The track is tough on tires (they have sea shells mixed in with the payment). The noise restrictions can get you black flagged (track personnel monitor it). I've seen alot of guys go with both exhaust pipes turned to the right side of the car since they measure the exhaust sound on the outside of the track (between the start/finsh and T-1). If you go off the track, do NOT try to immedately get back on. It has plenty of run-off. Slow down and then get back on the track. The soil has alot of sand. If you try to quickly turn back onto the track, your tire will dig into the sand causing the car to flip. The last turn into the main straight is very fast. I've seen many cars drop a wheel, and the sand will catch the tire which causes the car to flip or will send you into the inside wall (look for the scars on the wall).

Anyone interested in the school should sign up early. The school groups fill up fast. The head instructor is very good. He has alot of experience in many different cars and is a good communicator.

[wildhorsesracin]

Originally Posted by racercosmo

Are you up in Ohio Jim? After my business reasons for going got canceled, my real boss put the foot firmly down that my quota for being a spectator at races has been filled for the year.

No, I am at home, my real boss put her foot down too!

We had an event last weekend and I have events five (5) of the next six (6) weekends