Finally got my first real sprint race in the books! Finished P2 (P12 overall) in class T1 yesterday at the SCCA Hoosier Super Tour races at COTA. Been a long journey getting this car together but we finally got there!
We have been sorting through new build bugs for the past couple of weeks. Would run great for a couple of runs and then the bugs would come back. Got a few issues sorted out and headed up to COTA for the testing on Friday. Didn't get much testing done - still had issues. Ended up not even completing one lap that day. But the car did finally show us a misfire & we were able to track & isolate the issue. Looked like the car was running good so we gave qualifying a go the next morning. Ended up having a good run and qualified P2 (P19 overall) for the Saturday race with a 2:24.35. Unfortunately the gremlin popped back up before the race that afternoon and we were a DNS.
Saturday afternoon was spent troubleshooting again. After another late for the guys we felt like giving Sunday morning qualifying a go. It was wet so the session wouldn't help improve my starting position but would let us know if we could try to race later that day. Got in a few decent (albeit sketchy laps with A7's on a wet track) but was able to run it hard enough that prior would have angered the car. So we were a go for the race on Sunday.
Swapping out the A7's for some Hoosier wets we gridded at P21 overall. I was a little over cautious at the start and ended up getting boxed in pretty bad. It took me a couple of laps to clear that traffic and was 13 secs behind the leader at that point. Was able to knock that down to 2 secs with a couple of laps to go but got a bit unlucky behind some lapped traffic around the carousel & wasn't brave enough to leave the dry line to pass him around the curves. P1 got out too far in front of me and I wasn't able to catch back up. Didn't help that I ended up spinning at the exit of 12 on my last lap after getting a bit over zealous with the throttle. No harm, no foul but it did spread the final gap to the leader to 10 secs. Was trying to beat my fast lap for the race
Didn't cost me any places, just a little pride, and ended up P2 in class and P12 overall.
All in all was a long, crazy weekend but we had a lot of fun. We got proof of concept - the car has some serious potential. I was actually on a low 2:23 flyer in qualy 1 but got slowed up a bit in some traffic. The car definitely has promise beyond that as well - I know I'm not close to its potential as a driver. With some proper slicks, some front aero, getting the suspension dialed in, and some serious work on the driver - I think we could be pushing 2:20 out at COTA at this power level. Also - the car is an absolute blast to drive. Just an absolute blast. We still have a lot to do to finish out the car & get it where we want - but really happy with what is has shown us so far.
