WDMS - Chapter 293 - Sept 2021

NASA NATIONALS 2021 DAYTONA

Focusing our effort on one entry...and not the one we preferred!

(Still, FULL SEND, of course)

So, if you've been paying attention and read the previous two chapters you've seen the prep pictures of Scraps (I didn't post the pics of Sledgehammer since the car didn't make it) and you've also seen that Scraps got DQd for a non-performance enhancing modification. I'm totally fine with folks who think it was the right call, and I'm fine with folks who disagree with the call. As I've stated, this is not my circus or my monkeys and although I run a (much) larger event than this and I'd never DQ a competitor for a non-performance enhancing violation, NASA gets to do what they want and they also get to deal with the consequences. 

That being said, we'll start this recap with the trip to Daytona. As a favor to the Nationals Staff, I again helped haul stuff from Texas to the event. In 2019 I did the same thing and so on the way out of town, I went to Houston and picked up boxes and headed East. Right into a flipping tropical storm! Oof. At times, going across East Texas and into Louisiana, I was going a blazing 35mph on Interstate 10 simply because that is all my vision allowed! Still, I kept moving and eventually when I got to Florida the rain eased off. I don't think I'd ever driven so many hours with my wipers on without getting at least a bit of time where I could turn them off. Crazy. 

Grant installing hood pins and the GSpeed crew getting stuff done! 

Pulling into the track I got to go to the head of the line since I was hauling goods for the National Staff (whee!). Once inside on Wednesday afternoon, I quickly unloaded and got to work. My real work, lol. I had taken some days off, but being with a rapidly growing company means that sometimes work has to be done and it has to be done now. Thankfully the GSpeed crew showed up later in the day and jumped in. They were there to support Oakes, but his rig had an axle problem and so his misfortune was my good luck since I temporarily gained a very experienced and capable crew. 

While I was slowly getting odds and ends done, the GSpeed crew dramatically changed that. Things were getting crossed off the list ten times faster than I could have done and it was a huge blessing. At this point I also learned Louis wasn't going to make the trip and Sledgehammer would remain in Texas as well. Ooof. #TheRightCall #FamilyFirst 

More prep/tuning work and the #22 getting one of several trans swaps!!

Thursday rolled around and the test day went pretty well. I'd NEVER driven this car more than the few hundred yards to the dyno at GSpeed and I'd never even got out of second gear! Time to see how she did on the track! Thankfully Chris flew in to crew. Originally I knew I'd desperately need help if we were running two cars, but even with one, he was busy quite a bit and was (as usual) a freaking life saver. 

THE BUILD: So, ST/TT4 is an interesting class and while they allow full race tires, an entrant can get more power by running a 'street' tire. An entrant can also get more power by NOT running add-on aero (wing or splitter) and running "BTM" (base trim model) aero package. This means you take the base trim model (in our case, a base C6 corvette) that does not have any aero-doodads and away we go. Now, GSpeed had been kicking this build about in our heads for MONTHS. Basically since Daytona Nats was announced because Daytona is damn unique. Top speed is life here, and it is the only track in North America that the 'top speed is life' approach works. Even at COTA, we are not WOT (wide open throttle) a majority of the time, but at Daytona we are WOT for 75% of the lap. Think about that, because it is huge. For COTA when we won in TT3, we ran max downforce and while we got crushed in top speed, we still crushed in lap time. This would not work at Daytona because the small gains that a lot of downforce gives you in the few corners just isn't enough if a guy can run 10mph faster than you 75% of the time. I think we were one of the few to grasp this. 

Rental cars make the best haulers and one of the fast but draggy ST4 cars. 

So Thursday went well and we did 5 sessions, learning a ton each time. I had to quickly learn all the aspects of this tire. How hard could I push it? What were the grip curve characteristics? How long would it take to recover if I over drove them? How was the balance and was it drivable? We had adjustable dampers and we made some adjustments (dampers, toe, bars, etc) and, oh by the way, we left the transponder unplugged just as we had at Mid-Ohio Nationals with Sledgehammer. Why advertise? 

Every front seam taped, most of the grill blocked, flat bottom till front axle, side vents covered. No exposed mirrors, rear of hood unsealed.

Rear wall of cabin ducted down. Note rear lexan...it is NOT popped out, it is sucked IN. What does that tell you?

That's not rhetorical....we didn't want to advertise because Thursday would have been PLENTY of time for some of our competitors to jump on the "BTM" bandwagon. Had I had a car in ST4/TT4 and I knew how fast Scraps was running (we ran 2:08s easily) I would have scampered over to the GSpeed garage (5 corvettes all together!) and thought long and hard about changing my approach. Had I known this was Scraps' FIRST time on track I'd have REALLY been interested!! For example: In an e46, pulling the front splitter and removing the rear wing, blocking off any unneeded holes in the front would have gained BIG mph for sure, ditto for the lone NSX with the splitter/wing combo. Heck, had I been driving one of those cars, I'd have at least TESTED a session with no splitter or wing just to compare the data....but most folks don't think like we do. So, we 'flew under the radar' and would show our hand later in the week. 

Grant made steady progress and got onto the podium on the last session Sunday! #AwesomeDrive 

Two more key points: The Braintrust had vented the inside of the cabin with HUGE holes in the back wall of the hatch (covered by coolers) to eliminate a huge chunk of the drag caused by open windows. This air was shunted down inside the rear bumper and charged the free stream air underneath to help eliminate the 'drag pocket' directly behind us, and we STILL were not pushing 100% on the tires because we only had four of the darn things and I wanted to ensure we had plenty of tire left for Sunday! We actually did a few other key aero tricks, but we'll keep them to ourselves.  

Setup checking and tweaking and fouled plugs means rich out the pipe. Doh!

We were on Goodyear Supercar 3R tires and I'd ordered 4 of them 3 weeks before Nats. TireRack was supposed to get more (and they did the week of Nats, but with Monday/Tuesday so darn busy I forgot to order in a spare pair to be delivered to Daytona). The 265/18s were as wide as we could go and still fit the ST4/TT4 282mm template when mounted on borrowed 9.5" wheels. The GYSC3R tire is a "100tw" tire that is REALLY good. It honestly felt a lot like an R7 that had maybe 6-8 heat cycles on it. Definitely not quite as grippy as a fresh R7, but it was really good. The problem was wear. I had NO IDEA how long they would last. While you'd be hard pressed to tax our knowledge on race tires (A7/R7, Pirelli, Michelin, etc), when it gets to the "100-200tw streets" we simply don't have a ton of in-house experience here and so it was time to "phone a friend".

Lee helping Miller get a better dial in...and yeah...#6 and #1....issues. 

Andy Hollis and I had a looooong coversation a few weeks before Nats because he is a tire testing machine. We both speak the same language and him being 100% sold on the SC3R sold me in a heartbeat. He primarily tests 100 and 200TW tires and is a fixture at local Texas tracks either in his McLaren or one of his Hondas. He and I crossed paths decades ago when he and his also-driver wife had moved to Austin from California and came down to San Antonio when Fertitta and I were putting on autocross events for the San Antonio SCCA. Since then, we'd see each other at TAMU events or TWS or some other random track in Texas. He tests for GRM magazine and is also methodical in his testing and his confidence told the story. While the SC3R would rock in the dry, one glance at the solid-endcap told me it would skate in the wet and so another call to a Texas racing fixture, Mark Martin of W2W racing, got us lined up on wets. They field all manner of cars for endurance and sprint racing out of their shop in Austin and he was happy to "loan" us six 265/18 Hankook RS4s. They were duly mounted on a backup set of MFWs SSR-Type C wheels (18x9.5) and they, of course, never saw the track. Honestly, I love rain and would have  been happy to have raced in the rain, but it was not meant to be so they'll go right back to W2W with the stickers still on them and the wheels back to MFW. 

Ben had a tough fight between transmission swaps and the competition, but he snagged a podium!!!

Friday rolls around and it is time to get serious. The team pulled plugs and saw two were fouling a bit so we put in new plugs and I went off to grid for the first "race". Basically, ST4 would race Friday and Saturday and your average finishing position set the grid. I wasn't too worried since ST4 was pretty small and even if I started last, we'd all be there together. On the outlap, Scraps starts missing and I pull back in as the group takes the green. A plug wire gets reseated but it was still not right and I pulled off track partway through the race to not do more damage. Had to miss the TT sessions as we sorted out what was going on.

Crew got pretty good at plug changes...and wire testing....and coil testing...and swapping...

Saturday I got to grid and slotted into the wrong spot (doh!) and got held to the end...even behind the classes after ST4. Car was running better and I was starting to feel it out but all I was doing was beating up the only set of tires I had and I was short-shifting to still not show our hand. Partway through the race the shifter balked and we threw the belt. Later digging into the shifter to change it back to a stock one revealed a small 1/4 drive socket hanging up the linkage!! We pulled the socket and left the short throw shifter in and never had another problem (and ran TA race in a few weeks and no problems there either! Whew!!).

Porsche / Mustang / Ben / Mustang / Porsche

Now we are up to Sunday and it is for all the marbles. I'll start last in ST4, but in reality that is only a few rows back since the class is pretty small. Prior to the race, I went out in the last TT session and threw down a 2:06.7 to sneak onto the third step of the podium behind the winning 2:06.2 and the second place time of 2:06.3, With the engine FINALLY running right, my approach speeds were higher and I didn't quite get all of the time I should have...because if you screw up you forfeit the entire session. My 2:06.7 was not fully fangs out, but with all the issues we'd had, I was darn happy to finally put up a decent time and I knew we'd go faster in the race in a few hours. In the meantime, we go over the scales and on the dyno and we're declared legal and get to spray champagne.

Miller won TT1 nicely!

And right after that we take the car back and double/triple check everything and top it off with fuel and swap the tires left to right. They have a good bit of tread left (thankfully....remember this is my only set!!) and I'm feeling good about the race now. I know there is a 2:05 in the car, I just need to hit my marks and make it happen. The crew checks everything over one last time and we head VERY EARLY to grid and I triple check my gridspot and have Rivas do the same. We can't mess this one up, the car is finally working right! 

Above: Justin podium'd in ST1 (more drama) and Cory (below) had ignition issues but did well in ST1!

The race group heads out and I'm at the end of our small group, which is the second of three groups for this overall race group. There is only seven cars in our group, so there are three pairs and then me. At this point I'm pretty glad we didn't run the two races hard and we saved the one set of tires we had because I might just need them! The green flies and we all settle in, but the BMWs are going two wide and creating a HUGE draft and I can easily scoot by. Sometimes if I don't get enough gap on the straight, they get back by in the corners and then I'll walk further away the next time we're on the banking. This is playing out exactly how Louis and I thought, with our dramatically lower drag allowing me to rule the banking. And, on cue, post race comments stated exactly what was predicted: "We killed that corvette under braking and in the corners, but they were cheating". No, we did our homework. Not running hoosiers gave us power and dramatically reducing drag means we walked everyone in our class on legal power. #Science #DoTheMath

First one to grid...and in the right spot!!!

About the halfway point of the race and I had just passed the P2honda and was going after the p1BMW and the clutch pedal stuck to the floor and my 3-4 shift didn't happen. The honda got back by and I got my foot under the clutch and it popped back up and worked. Weird. I put my head down and ran the honda down again and then over the next few laps ran down the leading bmw. Literally the same lap I finally got by the BMW coming onto the banking headed for the bus-stop the clutch pedal stuck to the floor coming out of the bus-stop and it stuck for good. No amount of lifting it with my foot would help and I simply popped the trans back into 4th and completed the lap. I completed the last few laps only using 3rd and 4th and the team calling gaps behind me. The BMW had stopped so I had a decent gap and there was no way I'd catch the honda without a working clutch. The few shifts I did were painfully long and I was not going to abuse the trans further for a club race. In short order, the honda was too far away anyway, even if the clutch pedal decided to work again.

Beginning of Sunday's race. Red BMW leads, Scraps in back. The banking is the only place we shined, but it was very bright!

So we finished with the honda in 1st since both the BMW and Scraps had mechanicals. Thankfully I could continue and I finished in second. Again, we went across scales and had the podium ceremony and then the real fun began. My best time, a 2:05.4 wasn't much quicker than the 2:06.7 especially considering the big drafting that took place. When you get behind two boxy bmw's side-by-side (or two spec944, etc etc) and get a bit of a run, it is a huge gain.

Yes, please run side-by-side and give me a HUGE tow and I'll walk by ya'll.....

Since most of you have read the previous chapter, I'll only hit the high notes. We were dyno'd many MANY times and never put down an illegal number. We sat in tech for HOURS while folks crawled over the car, the tech folks dug into data, and finally with one-of-ten traction control setting giving us a few hundred more rpm (but way less hp!) we got DQd. This is NASA's circus and they make the rules, so I did not argue. I was also exhausted from sitting in tech for hours, Finally, hours into this, Tech had questions about 30 minutes after the GSpeed team (who built the car and could have answered any question, showed any data, etc) left to fly home, but I could not help them. I don't know why the team was not questioned instantly or at least when the car was on the dyno, but oh well. Again, I run an event that dwarfs this one, and I do not understand the logic at all, but I'm merely a participant.

Note the deep air dams, splitters, big wings....all great on the infield....not so much on the banking

So we got tossed and they took both the ST and the TT finishes. Later, we had some communication with the higher-ups and although the wording of the DQ got corrected (we never had multiple engine maps, only traction control maps...like a ton of cars did) the DQs still stood even though we never made "illegal power". Afterall, this is their sandbox and they make the rules and enforce them (or not) as they see fit and our team respects their right to do so. Interestingly, the honda that won didn't go on the dyno post-race. At the national championships. For the win. But no dyno. I would think if you're married to a NASA official that the organization would want to, at the least, make sure all the protocols are followed lest the win be tainted, but apparently not in this case. I asked in tech and asked later, but the only answer was silence.

This looks like our weekend felt. Doing great until we weren't. Lost the clutch for 2nd then DQd for technical.

Regardless, I'm glad we went and bummed Louis could not make it. Family first, for sure, but it was the first time I've raced a GSpeed car without him there and it felt odd. The rest of the crew was awesome and Rivas was a life saver. Next year's nationals is at Laguna Seca and maybe we'll make the haul to the other coast. I just hope more competitors show up, but that's not in my hands.

Spoiler alert: The following weekend I raced with the Pontini team running ChampCar to a sold-out event in Texas. We had some non-performance issues and were told to "fix it before next race, no biggie". A few weeks later I'm again in a GSpeed corvette at COTA running with the Trans-Am series and again, non-performance issues are simply noted to be fixed at the next event. What a blessing those events were!