1 (edited by pat244ti 2016-12-05 01:03 PM)

Topic: Arse Freeze thoughts

No Sunday morning drivers meeting which seemed to happen the past few Sonoma races.  Still some incidents & sketchy driving but not as much as races past.

I built a car for this and future races to stick my noob drivers in [#264 Volvo/Crazy Taxi] and other than my dad making contact with a car parked in the track coming out of 4 [blind turn coming down the hill, BAD place to park it] I felt they did a good job.  The trans lost 3rd gear and was popping out of 4th and 2nd with an hour and a half to go Sunday but I sent it back out the last 20 minutes to make the finish.  Sorry in advance if it got in anyones way.  I just wanted both cars to take the checkered.  I stayed up all night Thursday getting that car done.

The car I have been running for many races now [#411 Volvo/Daytona USA] ran great on Saturday but broke the wastegate bracket on Sunday and was puking oil out of the breather [40+ race hours + 250k street miles] so it was slower than usual.  Had some intense battles as a result but no contact or spins.  Sorry if the ass end stepping out a few times might have frightened anyone.

All in all a good weekend I think

Patrick
-#411 Gallop Racing/Hornet High-Class Volvo 244 Turbo Daytona USA tribute car
-#264 Crazy Taxi Volvo 245DL

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

I think there was enough carnage and non-sense on Saturday to justify much hand-wringing and hollering on Sunday morning, but that's just my 2c.

The Old Fast Auto Racing Team & Sons (Old FARTS)
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Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

Too many cars.

Period.

'96 Dodge Neon, a.k.a. "Neon Pope" - 20 Lemons races - 1 Class B win

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

Ditto on the too many cars on track statement. Having to stop on track multiple times during a stint is ridiculous.

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

Our team is pretty inexperienced w/ 6 races. The traffic wasn't so much of an issue - frankly Sonoma is always a parking lot for the first half of Saturday. The drivers who drove on Sunday afternoon reported the aggression ramping up as the remaining cars thinned.

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

Hey O.P.
Had a lot of fun battling with your #411 on Saturday. We went back and forth a few times in traffic while also chasing a Crown Vic. Seemed to go on for quite a few laps. I was in the Cavalier. Seemed like good clean close racing to me. Hope your driver had fun as well.

7 (edited by stupenduzzman 2016-12-06 01:23 PM)

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

I thought there were too many cars this time. In my 4 hours of driving I got clear track from turn 7, through the esses, a total of four times.

5 time winner, many time loser
#920 Risky Whiskey Racing
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Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

I wasn't at this race, but can totally understand the comments about too many cars. At what point does it just not make sense anymore?

After doing 10-12 Lemons races, we have been running more races in the other series, where the car counts are much lower. At our last race I ran a 90 minute stint and there were ZERO yellow flags (and no reason for yellow flags) during my entire 90 minutes.

In my opinion, cars having to come to a complete stop on the track (unless under red flag) is a recipe for disaster. When is the last time you saw that in any form of auto racing?

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

craZee1 wrote:

I wasn't at this race, but can totally understand the comments about too many cars. At what point does it just not make sense anymore?

After doing 10-12 Lemons races, we have been running more races in the other series, where the car counts are much lower. At our last race I ran a 90 minute stint and there were ZERO yellow flags (and no reason for yellow flags) during my entire 90 minutes.

In my opinion, cars having to come to a complete stop on the track (unless under red flag) is a recipe for disaster. When is the last time you saw that in any form of auto racing?

I wasn't there either. I guess the way it will stop making sense is when people stop entering the race and the car count falls to a more reasonable level. I'm doing my part- our last three entries were Inde, Miller, BFE. See a pattern? I'm a class C driver at best but I haul that far to RACE, not sit at a standstill or have three FCY a stint. I've said that I drive harder on the freeway in my 540i, and at Sonoma it's actually true.

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10 (edited by m610 2016-12-08 01:46 PM)

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

There were a lot of cars but it didn't feel that much different than at past Sears Point races. Then again, I drove the last stint both days. Things would have thinned a bit by then.

The racing at the end was more determined but not as crazy as past races at Sears Point and other tracks. There was an E-36 I had to get out of the way of, but other than that, much fun.

I do appreciate the track being dry all weekend.

We got hit, which sucks, but it was at least half our fault.

Our car drove great. Zep had a 2:07 lap and I had a 2:10, all due to improved handling after front end repairs. After 25+ races things were starting to fail.

I finished the race on 3 cylinders, but the engine still seemed happy revving to 6,000 approaching T2, T6, and T9. Our open diff probably entertained a few teams with the smoke screen we laid down coming out of T11.

Flagging was good, I thought, except perhaps at start/finish where the black flag was waving so early and long that our driver, several times, thought the whole field was being called in. When they did point at a specific car it looked to me, from the stands, like it was too late for the driver to see it.

People seemed to think a white flag was the same as a yellow flag. At first I stayed in line to stay out of trouble. Passing a slow conga line of cars at speed is not safe. Eventually I'd pull out and start passing them, cautiously.

Mike

Re: Arse Freeze thoughts

Wendell34 wrote:

Hey O.P.
Had a lot of fun battling with your #411 on Saturday. We went back and forth a few times in traffic while also chasing a Crown Vic. Seemed to go on for quite a few laps. I was in the Cavalier. Seemed like good clean close racing to me. Hope your driver had fun as well.

If it was the last hour or so that might have been me driving!  I had so much going on the last hour other than the final chase with the Cannonball Bandits and the Depends Porsche I don't remember much.  Otherwise I heard there was a lot of close, contact free racing going on from both my teammates that were running the car too.

m610 wrote:

There were a lot of cars but it didn't feel that much different than at past Sears Point races. Then again, I drove the last stint both days. Things would have thinned a bit by then.

Ditto.

Patrick
-#411 Gallop Racing/Hornet High-Class Volvo 244 Turbo Daytona USA tribute car
-#264 Crazy Taxi Volvo 245DL