Lime Rock PCA Club Race Recap

[304065]

Last weekend was the Connecticut Valley Region's annual Club Race at Lime Rock Park. This year it was held in September so as not to conflict with Rennsport Reunion II, which ordinarily isn't bad weather in Northwestern Connecticut. However, Hurricane Ivan's fallout basically hit the Northeast, resulting in some serious rain.

Back in June I was preparing for the Watkins Glen race and needed new tires. I called Bob Woodman, who informed me that Hoosier had discontinued the R3S03 and had not yet begun production of the 15" sizes of the R4S04. I called Tire Rack and a few other suppliers, but unfortunately couldn't come up with any old tires in my size, so I bought a set of Kumho Victorracer V700's and had them shaved down to 4/32 tread depth. These proved to be heavier than the Hoosiers at the Glen, and also have a smaller diameter, resulting in a higher number of revs per mile, which made me redline-limited at the top of the Esses.

But they worked out to be pretty good rain tires at Lime Rock this past weekend. Friday's practice was beset by steady drizzle and mist pretty much all day long, overcast skies with temps in the 60's.

I didn't get around to buying a set of scales this season, so the corner weight for the car was who-knows-what, and I knew from The Glen that the car was running too much nose-up pitch due to some weight reduction up front. At Lime Rock, this was manifested by a pretty noticeable oversteer condition if I even slightly eased out of the throttle.

Unfortunately, I eased out before the apex of the downhill and spun to the right, toward the INSIDE of the track, at probably 80 MPH. The car made a screeching rotation on the pavement and then hit the wet grass and took off toward the pit-out area. I remember thinking, "Isn't this where that poor guy was killed a few years ago?" as the car slid. It came to rest with the tailpipes against the grass embankment about 100 yards down-track. I pulled in to see the Stewards and fortunately there was no damage.

So I figured I would back out of it a bit. The next practice session was black flagged because somebody totaled his beautiul G-Class SC by rolling on No-name straight. Then in the next session, I took too tight of a line through the UPHILL, and spun THERE, too. The car slid over the top of the hill on the grass with brakes locked, going basically straight, but when I got to the crest, I slid onto the concrete chicane the NASCAR guys use. Unfortunately, the chicane is separated from the main track by a 12" concrete curb with green and white stripes covering orange paint. I struck the curb with the left torsion bar cover and the car launched into the air, making a 90 degree left turn before coming to rest, fortunately out of the way of traffic. Again, I was lucky, all that happened was that the alignment was off a bit.

Friday ended without incident with me determined to dial it back even further and keep the car on the track. Lime Rock, as many of you know, leaves precious little room for error, and I had used up as much luck as I wanted.

Saturday morning arrived with severe rain and flooding on most of the streams in that part of Connecticut. Lime Rock was built on the site of an old gravel pit, and so is prone to flooding itself. We were paddocked down near Big Bend, and there was about 6" of standing water under us, with a decent sized pond inside of Big Bend. Over by the esses, outside of the Left-Hander, I swear the water was about 18" deep.

Practice was postponed for an hour or so, and then incredibly, the rain began to slow. There was very little standing water on the track, only pooling in the low spots near the dry line apexes. One HUGE help was that John Colasante took me for a drive around the "rain line" in his tow vehicle, showing me for the first time the correct line to use in the wet. This would prove INCREDIBLY helpful during the race.

Qualifying was pretty lousy, I ended up getting stuck in some traffic, and there were a number of offs that showered the track with mud. The rain was pooling pretty heavily on the second apex of Big Bend, and the right apex on no-name. Also, there was a RIVER flowing across the middle of no-name straight roughly perpendicular to the track, everybody who crossed it hydroplaned a little, but fortunately, it wasn't that wide, so as long as you hit it perpendicularly, it was OK. Of course, crossing the river threw up a shower of water droplets going into the entrance to the Uphill, which made it pretty interesting.

By the start of the race the track had dried out in some spots but was still wet in others. I had what I consider to be a great start: often times guys will be in the wrong gear, forget to shift, or are so stuck in the two-lane mentality that they stay in a double file after the green. I passed a couple cars on the start and made it through the first corner three-wide in heavy traffic. The traffic continued all the way around for the first lap, until the field began to stretch out a little.

On about the third lap I noticed that the extreme outside of Big Bend was basically dry, while the inside line, including the puddle at the second apex, was extremely wet. Because of this, it was possible to pass guys taking the inside line: I passed about 4 guys doing exactly that.

On one such lap, a 944 was inside, and either deliberately, or because he was sliding, did NOT have overlap, and barged me out onto the turtles on the outside of the track opposite the apex. Had there not been a 13/13 rule in effect I would have held my line (an off-track excursion there is pretty grim, as there's about a 3" lip on the track and another 18" deep POND where the water accumulated) and there would have been contact.

A few months back I got into a discussion with none other than Hayden Burvill (nee Wevoid) who proposed that PCA racers use the 13/13 rule to gain an advantage they otherwise wouldn't have. I scoffed at this, claiming that in all my experience it hadn't happened. Well, Hayden, it happened: you were exactly right, that's just what the guy did.

Anyway, the track continued to dry out. There was a TON of attrition in this race, with guys colliding, running off-track, and spinning out everywhere. Many of the fast guys in my class were held back by incidents. As a result, I ended up with a third-in-class finish and 20th overall out of a field of 41, that included classes E, F, G, H, I, J, GT5 and GT6. Certainly a lot of the faster guys elected not to race but hey, I'll take a podium finish any day of the week.

It was, without question, the most challenging, exciting, and fun club race I've EVER done. I learned incredible things about the handling of the car in the wet, and it actually seemed more balanced,-- giving me a few clues to suspension setup for next time. BIG shout-out to John Colasante's last-minute rain line instruction: he pointed out, for example, in West Bend, that the rain line braking zone is a few feet inside the track's edge, and you actually start braking with decent traction, then transition across the smooth pavement of the DRY LINE, during which the car slides, but you stay on the brake pressure, because as soon as you cross the dry line, traction is regained and the car turns in. Ordinarily, when I feel the wheels slide I back out of the brakes to modulate a little, but here was just the opposite- it took an act of faith to watch the edge of the track (and the tire wall beyond) coming up and hold the car in a slide.

Times? Forget it. In the rain, something like a 1:14, in the dry, like a 1:10 with those Kumhos and the suspension all screwed up. Last year with everything aligned and Hoosiers I was turning 1:08's, and the fast guys were down in the 1:03-1:05 range, an eternity quicker.

But it was one hell of a fun race, that's for certain.

[Jim Richards]

did NOT have overlap, and barged me out onto the turtles

Sounds like you're describing yacht racing, John.

Great write up! And congrats on your podium finish!

[304065]

Jim, you're right! Old habits die hard.

Anyone else who was there have their own impressions?

[Tim L]

I was in that race also; it was a very exciting race with all the lapped traffic and the constantly changing track surface from mostly wet to mostly dry in the course of the race. I was able to get some good traction at the start on the wet line, as the race went on the dry line became better on most corners corners. All this made for some fun racing with lots of passes; I also used Kumho’s that turned out to be perfect for the conditions.

Tim Lynn
278 F

[Jim Richards]

John, Tim, either of you have / can get pics from the event?

[Bill Verburg]

I got there just in time for the last(only?) 2 races. Great stuff. Especially Mike P's charge back to the front and the Savino/Cox dual that resulted in Savinos GT1R blowing up in a spectacular blaze just before the finish line.

I don't know how I missed the altercation between 2 competitors at the food concession

[analogmike]

Originally posted by Bill Verburg
I got there just in time for the last(only?) 2 races. Great stuff. Especially Mike P's charge back to the front and the Savino/Cox dual that resulted in Savinos GT1R blowing up in a spectacular blaze just before the finish line.

Glad you enoyed it, a fun race! I almost gave up after I was black flagged for a non-latched hood after I got in the lead, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

I have a writeup on my web site but looking for pictures, anyone with pics please send them!

[304065]

[Bill Verburg]

I saw John and John down in the swamp by bigbend, but didn't feel like wading thru the mire to get to them to say hello

JCs car sinking into the ooze