NHMS 2014 Halloween Hooptiefest from DNF Racing

Glad you guys had a great time, that's what Lemons is all about.  Appreciate the candid post.  Thankfully we didn't have direct contact with your car, but just to give some hopefully constructive feedback, you definitely were one of the more aggressive cars out there.  Not that aggression can't be a good thing, but it needs to be kept in check.  I was driving the #41 Honda Civic hatch on Saturday and "The Boat" on Sunday...both fairly slow cars.  Saw several not-such-a-good-idea passes from your car.  On Sunday, sometime between 11am and 1pm, whoever was in the car got into turn 1 way too hot.  It was misty/light rain and the track was slick.  They went off track into the grass on the right.  That wasn't a big deal...shit happens...lots of cars were spinning in the wet.  But whoever was driving didn't check to see if the track was clear before pulling back on between 2A and 2B.  I was in the boat and if I hadn't planned on them to pull out blindly AND I had some damn good brakes, the driver would have been eating the pointy nose of the boat. 

Not a big deal, no bent sheetmetal (or fiberglass).  Hope to see you guys out there again.  Just make "red mist" a type of drink, not a driving style.  Oh, and if you're getting driving advice from the famous Fox...take it.  Tom ran with us and was a huge help, we all learned a lot.  Whenever the Fox passes me, I try to follow the line...well, at least for the 2 or 3 turns until it disappears from my view.

Blend line infractions are a very bad thing, but the blend line at NHMS is also very bad if you're not used to it.

I think that's just the script

This is usually caused by a new driver. The cones were fine at the start of the race. But I've seen new drivers plow through some of those cones because they were watching oncoming cars, not how sharp that track on turn is, and then it looks like you merge out much earlier than you're supposed to. I've been bitten by this before at one of my first races. Got tricked by the large gap when I didn't really know the track well, and then tried to correct back into the track on lane and nailed another cone.

Yeah we definitely were more aggressive than our first race; in Jersey. And I think we are getting more used to the car TBH. AS such we found the limits of our driving... and well it won't happen again.

Appreciated.  We will let that particular driver know.  It was our first race at Loudon so some of that "Blend line" was not seen by us.  We will know better for next time.  Those darned cones..

As above. Noted.  The blend line sucks there. 

Yes we are learning.  We will gladly take any help from Tom or other people..  Please if you see a problem or minor issue, come to our area and explain it to us. We all are competitive so we will have to work on this red mist drink you talk about .

I know that as a team we want to be regarded as clean racers, and we will attempt to do that.

And for my caveat.. our car is set up for late braking.. so it does lend us to push the braking zones so we can make up for our lack of horsepower.. but that excuse is so played out it is making a comeback.

Tom, as you know we are there to race and have fun.  Thanks for stopping by Saturday night and confirming and assisting us with our lines.

We are going to have some internal talks on how to manage black flags, and may put in a team policy so that it makes the driver think a little bit first. 

Again thanks to all of you for letting us know how to race, and helping us out overall.

please stop by our car if you want to talk to us.  I'll be glad to hear your Constructive criticism, and advice.
Sparky

Don't take this as gospel, but I think we are going with a 2 strikes and you are out for the event policy... Based on whether or not you got called in by the judges but not dependent if you did/did not do what they said you did. 

Refuted only by unanimous agreement among the other drivers or video evidence that totally exonerates them.

This is designed so that drivers think first about what they are attempting before doing something high risk.

Ours is simple...Black Flag means your stint is over unless the whole team just waves you back on the course from the penalty box.  Since our team's only black flags that seem to happen from overdriving the driver's or the car's ability are from yours truly, I am usually the one who suffers. 

Get tagged because you were boxed in and someone dive bombed you...why were boxed in?
Tag the Camaro in front of you because he spins taking out 90% of the track...team waves him out?
4-Wheels off due to a course-long oil slick and you self-reported...team waves you on?
Spin the car in the same corner that gave you trouble yesterday...your an idiot, get out of the car for while?
Passing under yellow is the one we all struggle with...normally we wave them back out because no driver has ever gotten more than one.

Guess which ones were the team captain and author of this post.

Because of our incessant warnings about no speeding int he pits including a reminder on the radio as you leave and another when you turn in, I think if one of my drivers got a penalty for that...we might have make up our own team-based punishment for them alone in addition to the black flag penalty.

Thankfully my drivers are generally good, and no threats are necessary. We had more black flags at this past race than normal, but most were not an issue.

Saturday
1- called in because our exhaust jumped a hanger
2- Self report for my driver putting 4 off to avoid others being idiotic in a corner - he could have left more space, but i'll give credit for avoiding contact
3- called in for front bumper hanging off. - this one we talked about. driver got cut off by someone who didn't wait to complete a pass to move in front of him. Avoidable

Sunday
1- called in for contact. both my driver and the driver of the other car admit to being close, but neither thought they touched. Was ruled a corner worker mistake by the judges
2- Contact. very minor contact, other car took responsibility instantly and we were both let on our way.

Of all of those the only one i was even remotely concerned by was the bumper. Driver said it was unavoidable due to a car blocking his ability to move over and avoid, and I believe him. Still could have tapped the brakes during the pass to ensure they got by.

I think I was the other person on the Sunday contact.. They said I went four off when the Shelby came close to shutting the door on me when I was door to door in the rear chicane.  I it was the last corner of the chicane and I normally go over the bump anyways.  But I didn't go four off. to be honest it was a bit miffed but considering our track record for this event I have no legs to stand on.  Maybe he didn't see me, and most likely it was paired with me trying to get around him in a tight situation which I should not have done.

When I was flagged I asked them what I had done.  When they told me four off I was flabbergasted. Trust me if I went off I would have known... but that is for another time.  I need to see you guys to establish a better report with you.