Nelson Ledges BMWCCA 7/30-8/1

Heading to Nelson Ledges now, today is the test day for the Sat & Sun races. The weather, at least today, is PERFECT! Hoping to get some testing and sort out the car a little today. Went to McB early yesterday afternoon and loaded up, aligned the car, mounted new tires, etc. Hoping for another good weekend and good mechanical luck!

Ready for green flag!

Time to start! Marc starting and will do a 1:10-1:20 stint, then I’ll get in for our second stint, probably 55 min or so! Cars are rolling!!!

Race day morning, final prep

Car is ready, we just did 30 minutes of practice driver changes in the paddock. We got them down to under 45 seconds, which is a huge improvement from where we were on Thursday. The weather is clear, sunny, crisp and cold, lots of wind. Supposed to be a high of 55 or so today, and get into the mid-30′s again overnight. But the forecast is dry and clear as of now – not calling for overnight fog, which was the problem last year. We grid in 30 minutes and green flag is in 2 hours, at 11am PT.

Race Day!

Well, the big day is finally here – dawn has arrived and I’m getting ready to head to the track for a team breakfast and then opening ceremonies at 9:30. VJ qualified us last night, we are in a solid position in E0 and should be fine. Marc will start and run a slightly longer first stint. I will drive second, around 12:15 or so, and do a 1-hour stint. My next stints will be at night. Likely one at 9:30 and then again at 12:30, then we’ll see how things are going. I’m happy I’m not scheduled to drive at dusk (4:30-6:00), that is when it is hardest to see well. Hopefully we will have speed and good luck!!

Friday Test Day and Qualifying

Beautiful weather again today, our second test day and qualifying. I got one session in today, about 15-20 min, and it went very well. I was able to get right on our desired team pace, so I’m thrilled. I feel pretty confident now. I was only driving the car at 5, maybe 6/10′s, and barely using the brakes, maybe only 3-4/10′s on the brakes. To get the car to survive a full 25 hours on one set of brakes, we have to barely use them, conserve momentum, conserve fuel, etc. So I was thrilled to get down to a few 2:02′s in a strange car, on a new track, without using the brakes hard. I can easily get 2:00 flat laps with a little refinement. The 2:02 is already on pace with everyone, so I’m thrilled. So now I’m just hanging out and relaxing. Marc will be qualifying soon. My next stint will be race stint #2 at around 12:15 pm tomorrow, and my next stint after that will be after dark – should be interesting!!

Thursday Test Day, Arrival

Arrived in Sacramento, uneventful Frontier flight thru Denver. Met up with Bob Read, one of the other drivers, at the Alamo counter as planned to share a car to the track. We’re hoping to make it to Thunderhill early afternoon. A decent portion of the team arrived either last night or this morning and are planning to test all day. I have never been on Thunderhill, so some seat time for me is important to the team. I’ve been doing my homework though

25 Hours of Thunderhill

Heading to CA this morning for this weekend’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill. I’ll try my best, time and AT&T coverage permitting, to keep my blog updated with this weekend’s events. I’m racing with the Achilles Motorsport team, last year’s E0 class winners and 2nd overall. I feel honored to have been asked to race with them, they are a first class team and I can’t wait to team up with them.

9/30-10/4 Road Atlanta BMWCCA Oktoberfest

This will be a very quick and brief update, because I’ve been trying to catch up on work and other things after being out for 10 days.  But BMWCCA Oktoberfest 2009 at Road Atlanta was a HUGE success for Anderson-Anderson Racing!!  Out of three races, we had two class wins and a second!  Here is the basic chronological story…….

The tow down on Tuesday 9/29 was uneventful and enjoyable (diesel dually’s just ROCK – they make long tows with a big trailer easy and smooth), and we got a good paddock spot with an electrical supply, etc.  We slept in the trailer all week, which was great and actually more convenient than a hotel.  We had AC, heat, lights, bathrooms nearby and hot showers.  Whenever we can do that from now on we are going to go that route, because you can sleep in, and you don’t have to take time and hassle to secure and clean up your paddock area every night.

Wednesday 9/30 and Thursday 10/1 I instructed in BMWCCA Club Racing school.  That was very enjoyable and not only allowed me to contribute back into the CR program in a wonderful way, but also gave me some good seat time at Road Atlanta.  The car ran great, the ABS worked fine, and the only minor problem was a leaky left rear stainless steel brake line.  We replaced it with a spare SS one and we were good to go.  That was the only repair we had to do to the car all week/weekend!!

Friday 10/2 was the first actual race day, and was the feature sprint race, worth 200% in points.  I qualified 12th on the grid, second in class behind Bill Heumann, who was 9th.  I got a great start (I LOVE starts!!!), and got right behind Bill on lap one.  A C-Mod car wrecked on lap one on turn three, and then in turn 5 on that first lap, I got a great run on Bill and got by him.  I held that class lead for that lap and the next, and then at the end of lap 2 they threw a BFA (Black Flag All), and wanted everyone to come back into the pits so they could safely clean up the CM wreck in turn 3.  So we went in and waited for a few min.  That BFA has caused a large controversy, as the first few cars in the lead pack were already passed pit entrance when the BFA came out and were unable to make the pits, and received a 1-lap penalty.  That issue is being sorted out, and that penalty may be repealed based on video evidence, but it didn’t affect I-Prepared at all, as Bill and I both came in, as did the rest of the field.  Anyway, on the restart, I kept the lead, and pulled away a bit.  Then Bill got bottled up behind a B-Mod car and allowed me to check out a bit, and I won by several seconds.  So the #186 IP M3 took the IP win in the big Feature Race!!!  We were obviously very excited, because it is the only 200% race of the year, and helped make up for our recent frustrations at Mid-Ohio, BeaveRun and Nelson Ledges.

Saturday 10/3 was a 150% points race, a 60-minute enduro.  I would not have to fuel, so it was really just a long sprint race for us, with a 5-minute pit stop to grab a drink.  But it actually did end up to be nothing more than a sprint, as I will describe.  I again qualified 12th overall, as I would all three days/races (weird….), Bill was again 9th overall and first in IP.  I got a decent, but not great, enduro start, and tried to work my way up to Bill.  Not too far into the enduro, a mechanical problem (oil housing came apart or broke) on a car led to a massive oil dump at the end of the front straight and into turn 1.  Because it was a very fast and dangerous part of the track, they decided to pull everyone into the pits for 15 minutes while they cleaned it up.  So we all came in and took a break for 15 min while the track crew cleaned up.  The restart went OK, but I was unable to make a move on Bill, and settled in to see what I could do.  Bill pitted a few minutes later, and I stayed out and kept hammering away.  I had clean track for several laps, and was able to run off several 1:36 laps, then pulled into the pits for my mandatory 5-min stop.  We did a perfect stop, exactly at 5:00, and I got a good exit out of the pits.  As I accelerated up the hill out of the pits, I came out from the blend line right on Bill’s rear bumper.  On the clock, I still had 7-8 minutes left to try a pass for the lead, so I began to set up a strategy for a move.  Traffic began to play a factor, and then coming up the hill out of turn 1, Bill put two wheels off driver’s left, but I was unable to pass him, but I closed up on him.  I was pushing pretty hard on that lap, and then I made two minor bobbles on that lap (pushing too hard!!!), in turn 5 I got loose and had to lift a hair, then put two wheels off coming out of turn 7, and Bill pulled a little gap on me.  I was closing up a little on him again at about the 55 minute mark, but amazingly the checkered flag flew and the race was over.  I was obviously very upset that it had ended early, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.  So I had to settle for second in class and 13th overall, about 1.2 seconds behind Bill.  Saturday night was a great party by BimmerWorld (thanks guys!) with good beer and BBQ.

Sunday 10/4 was the final race of the weekend, a 150% points sprint.  It was a 40 minute window, which meant that the green-to-checker race length would probably be at least 35 minutes.  I again qualified 12th overall and second in class, but this time Bill was 7th on the overall grid, so I definitely had my work cut out for me.  The start was uneventful, and I settled in to try to work on getting up to Bill.  I spent the first 11 laps behind Bill, staying about 3-4 seconds behind him, hoping for a mistake, traffic, or something.  Then on lap 12, Bill spun in turn 10a, and I came around to find him sideways on the driver’s left between 10a and 10b, and went by to take the class lead.  I had clean track in front of me at that point and Bill was about 6-7 seconds back of me.  Unlike BeaveRun, I kept hammering away this time, and was able to maintain the lead between 5-7 seconds.  The last 8 laps of the race were uneventful, and it wasn’t until the very last lap, when Dad radioed in that the checker was out, that I backed off slightly to avoid a last-minute mistake.  I cruised in that last lap, taking care not to make any errors, and let the class lead bleed down to about 3 seconds.  But I was thrilled to grab the class win, especially when it seemed that I was going to have to be content with second.

So we ended the weekend with two class wins and a second, a great result.  The car ran perfectly, other then the brake line the only other thing we had problems with was the power steering lines kept coming loose.  But those are easy fixes, and overall the car was fantastic.  We loaded up Sunday afternoon after the final sprint, and were on the road by 3:00 pm.  The trip back was long but again uneventful, and we pulled into McB Autosport at about 1:45 am and unhitched.

Overall, a great weekend and a wonderful Oktoberfest!  The weather all 5-6 days was sunny, pleasant and 75 degrees.  We’re back in the points hunt now, even with the 20-point 2009 penalty from BeaveRun, so hopefully with a good event at Mid-Ohio we will have a shot to repeat in IP.  I’ll post some pics and videos here this weekend when I have some time.  Cheers!

9/26-9/28 – Final Prep for Road Atlanta BMWCCA Oktoberfest

We spend the last few days doing some final prep work for BMWCCA Oktoberfest at Road Atlanta.  The car didn’t need anything significant – no serious repairs, no major changes, etc.  I made some minor cockpit changes – I added a 32mm (1 ¼”) spacer to the steering wheel in an effort to increase the legroom in the car.  The added spacer allowed me to move the seat back the same distance (1 ¼”) which not only makes getting into and out of the car much easier, but also gives the driver more legroom.  I also added a dead pedal, using the two factory threaded holes that were originally used for the hood release.  And the final driver comfort thing that I did was adding a drink bottle.  It has a fairly long hose and a valve that you bite down on to get the liquid.  Should be very nice for long stints and enduros, there have been many events that I would have killed for a cold drink during a session.  I mounted it over on the passenger’s side near the dash, plenty of room and out of the way of everything else.

 

We’re taking two new sets of Hankooks and two partially worn sets of Hankooks, in addition to the set of Hoosier rain tires.  Should be plenty of tires not only for O’Fest, but also for Mid-Ohio later in October, which will be my last event in my car this year.

 

I also installed a new Traqmate GPS antenna, the old (original) one was causing us more and more problems as this season progressed.  Apparently, they wear out, from weather and such.  So a new one should fix the problems we have been having, with the system not seeing the GPS signal, etc.

 

So the car is cleaned, loaded, and the trailer packed, organized, and hitched up, some pics below:

 

The weather forecast looks great – sunny and 70’s the entire time, with a small chance of rain Saturday.  Hopefully that will be accurate and stay that way.  I borrowed a mobile broadband card for my laptop (thanks Mark!), so I plan on making at least daily updates on our progress here as the week progresses.  I usually don’t like long tows, but I’m looking forward to this one.  It will be good to spend some quality time with Dad, and we won’t be rushed at all, so we can enjoy the journey.  Cheers all!!

Nelson Ledges BMWCCA 7/31-8/2

Anderson-Anderson Racing ran in the BMWCCA Club Race this past weekend at Nelson Ledges.  Overall, it was a success with us taking second overall both days, but to be honest we felt we should have accomplished more – the two overall wins were easily within our grasp and we let them both slip away.  Despite having pole both days and being the only car in the 1:12′s, we were unable to win.

 

Nelson used to be my “home” track, from 1999 thru 2002, until BeaveRun opened.  I used to spend lots of lapping days at Nelson, well over 25 intense days with probably over 2500 laps total over the years.  But I hadn’t been there since 2003, mainly because I moved to Fort Lauderdale, then Tulsa, and finally St. Louis, where I live now.  I had planned on racing there with BMWCCA last July/August 2008, but a very important work event prevented me from making the event.  So this event marked almost 6 years since I had been to my old home track.  I was really looking forward to the event, I had always enjoyed Nelson and I had always been quick there.  My first ever HPDE was at Nelson, back in July 1999.  That event was a huge success, although my car was BONE showroom stock back then, that first track school was the first time I truly appreciated what an ///M3 could do on a track, and because of that I always had a fondness to the bumpy Nelson Ledges circuit.  And make no mistake, the track is unique and memorable – it is BUMPY, NARROW, and FAST.  My fastest lap was a 1:12.663, which equates to over 99 mph average speed – easily the fastest track (as far as average lap speed, not top speed) that I’ve ever been on.  The track is 2.0 miles long, and they claim it has 13 turns, but in reality it only has 7 turns.  Turns 1-2 are only one turn, 4-5-6 (called Oak Tree) is just one turn, and 7-8-9 (the Carousel) are also just one turn.  Turn 10 on the backstretch isn’t really a turn, but turn 11 is definitely a turn, called “The Kink”, and it is Nelson’s signature turn.  I found that The Kink hasn’t lost any of it’s magic or difficulty, and it took me quite a few sessions to work my way back up to going through there full throttle again without lifting.  Back in 2003, the last time I had been to Nelson, my car has stock cams, no aero, and not nearly as much capability.  So this time, I was approaching the Kink at a MUCH higher speed, and although the new race car aero helped a bunch, it still takes nerve to go through there flat out.  That turn has high consequences if you do it wrong, because you enter it at 120+ mph, and it is not flat nor smooth.

 

But the track was just as much fun as I remember, even if now I was lapping about 5-seconds per lap faster.  It is a track that takes an extreme amount of concentration, because at the 95+ mph average speed range, you have ZERO time to do anything, there are no long straights to rest or make cockpit adjustments.  Friday I spent the day refreshing my memory on the racing line (it really hasn’t changed), and softening my shocks to make the car compliant accross the bumpy surface.  The car worked flawlessly, and we were looking forward to a good weekend.

 

Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful.  The schedule was a practice, then qualifying, followed by a 4:30 pm 30-minute sprint race.  My main competition was two other fast IP cars (Jeff Negus and my McB teammate Kevin Ogrodnik) and also an E46 M3 C-Mod car.  Qualifying went great, and I was able to rip off a 1:12.7 to take the pole by over 0.5 seconds.  Jeff was P2, Kevin was P3 and the CM car was P4.  Jeff’s car is very well set up and he is an amazing driver, but I have a little horsepower on him, so I was confident I could pull him down the front straight at the green flag.  However, I had been successfully starting a lot of races in second gear in order to get a really good jump on the field, and although I knew the risks of that strategy (missing the tricky 2-3 upshift), I had been executing it very successfully recently.  So I decided to try it again, but it was really a stupid strategy in hindsight – I knew I could pull Jeff into turn 1, I had the pole and the inside position, and there was really no reason for me to need the 2nd-gear start and the associated risk.  But I decided to do it anyway, and when the green flew, I launched, and then promptly missed the 3rd gear shift, and ruined my start and wasted the pole position.  I was able to get the car into fourth, but I was obviously flat, and Negus and the C-Mod car got around me, and I also unfortunately pinned Kevin behind me.  A few other cars in the third row got beside me, but I was able to fight my way back into 3rd place by the entrance to turn 1, with the C-Mod car taking the lead and Jeff in 2nd.  So now I had a lot of work to do, and Nelson is a narrow and difficult place to complete a pass, especially in a 13/13 series, and ESPECIALY if you are already on probation….  The race unfolded OK, and I was able to stay with the two leaders, as I formulated a plan of attack.  A full-course black flag came out early in the race due to an incident which sent a car into the tire wall.  They brought us into the pits while they figured it out, and after a 20 minute delay, they informed us that we would have a full 20 minutes of green flag racing, which was good news for me.  We did a single file restart, but I was unable to pull Jeff down the straight to take 2nd, and again settled into 3rd behind the CM car and Jeff.  The race wore on for a while, and I made several attempts to take second from Jeff, and almost pulled it off many times, but was unable.  The CM M3 leader seemed to be having problems in certain turns (going into Oak Tree, and 12) and we found later that his transmission was failing and he was unable to get the car into 3rd gear.  Eventually, he pulled in when it became apparent that Jeff and I were going to get around him anyway, and so then it was just Jeff and I fighting it out for the overall win.  I tried multiple times to get around him, even once I faked him to the outside of The Kink, but nothing was successful.  On the last lap, I got a GREAT run out of the final turn, and almost got him at the line, but he held me off and he took the overall win bby only 0.129 seconds, only about half a car length.  It was a great battle, one of the best I had ever had, but I was very upset with myself because I had blown the start and lost the clean opportunity for the win.  Regardless, Jeff did an amazing job, and deserved the win – he never once blocked me or drove dangerously, and I felt very good about racing him.

 

Sunday was scheduled to have a combination practice/qualifying session then a 90-minute enduro.  I was viewing Sunday as my chance for revenge, and I must have been pretty geared up for the day, because qualiying went amazingly well.  The track was slightly damp due to sprinkles of rain and some light showers, and my ABS wasn’t working.  But I was able to turn in another 1:12.7, and that gave me pole by over 1.2 seconds.  My car has been leaking power steering fluid all weekend, and right before qualifying we found the main culprit, loose AN fittings/lines on the bottom of the PS res.  We tightened those, but because of the enduro length, we decided to check them and fill the tank up during the mandatory 5-min stop.  That decision, and the decision to put a full 5 gallons of fuel in, proved to be my undoing in the enduro.  I don’t care for 90 minute enduros personally, because my car is right on the border of if can make it or not.  60-minute enduros are no problem at all, but 90′s are close and depend on the track.  I assumed that I would have to fuel to make it, so we planned on putting a full can in.  It turns out that I really only needed a few gallons, or maybe none at all.  Anyway, the green flag flew, and I got a good launch (this time in 3rd gear!!) and went into turn 1 in the lead.  I was able to open up about a 2-3 second lead after a few laps, and everything was going well.  I had planned to come in around the 60-minute mark, unless I saw something that may bring out a full course caution.  Sure enough, at about the 20-22 minute mark, Bob Wright’s left rear wheel came off his car (broken wheel studs) and we went into the tire wall at the exit of the carousel.  Those of us at the front decided that a FCY was going to come out, so we all dove into the pits.  I don’t think my Dad was ready for me yet, so we didn’t start the pit stop off on the right foot.  Then I decided to put the entire 5 gallons of fuel into the car, and by the time we got all of that done, we were almost out of time.  The disaster happened when Dad was checking the power steering fluid level while I buckled in.  He accidentally dropped the cap under the car, and couldn’t reach it.  Since I officially couldn’t move the car until 5 min were up, by the time I backed up, we got the cap back on, and closed the hood, I had lost well over 40 seconds, perhaps as much as 50 seconds.  I tore out of the pits and began to chase down Jeff, hoping maybe he would make a mistake, or have a problem.  I was lapping about 0.5-1.0 seconds per lap faster than him, but it wasn’t enough.  I got the gap down to 20 seconds, but I needed another 30 minutes at least to catch him.  So I came home in second place overall again.  Overall though I was pleased with my driving and the car’s performance.  Even with hot greasy tires and some traffic, I was consistently ripping off lots of 1:12′s and 1:13′s in a row, and driving very solidly.

 

And we ended the weekend without any major problems, and with the car intact.  We need to fix the PS leak, both the chronically loosening AN fittings on the res, and the leaking and splashing out of the top cap, but that is minor.  The car did work great, was handling beautifully and the motor ran cool and strong.  So although the results didn’t reflect our speed, I’m not too upset really.  My incident at BeaveRun and 2009 points penalty that comes with that has effectively doomed my chances to repeat as National points champion, so I’m not nearly as upset about results as I was last year and earlier this year.  It was great battling with Jeff, Kevin and others, and it was a fun weekend.  I know my Dad is upset with himself about dropping the PS cap, but in reality, it was my fault because of the decision to fuel so long and it was also my fault to decide to mess with the PS at all.  And the Saturday sprint start was TOTALLY my fault, so I will take the burden of blame for the weekend and the lost opportunities.

 

We’re going to get the car ready for O’Fest in late September, I’m really looking forward to that event.  I’ve never been to Road Atlanta before, should be fun.  I’m instructing in the Club Racing school Wednesday-Thursday 9/30-10/1, then racing Friday-Sunday 10/2-10/4.  I’m hoping to get some seat time in the CR school, so I can learn Road Atlanta a little before we start to race on it.  Mark Connolly may head down to Atlanta Friday for the race weekend to crew for us.  Should be fun!!!