top of page

2022 ChampCar: "H2R - Fall" 8+7

Updated: Oct 1, 2023

I'm back at Harris Hill with Love Racing for the second time this year! Following our last great finish at the Spring race, we were optimistic about walking away with several trophies.

Love Racing #647

'90 Miata NA (1.8L VVT, full aero)

ChampCar Endurance Series: “H2R - Spring”

Harris Hill Raceway - San Marcos, TX

Sept. 24, 2022 - Sept. 25, 2022

​

Race 1 - Saturday

Race 2 - Sunday

Class || Overall

2nd || 2nd

4th || 9th

Starting Position

3rd

14th

Stint 1:

Nicholas Love

Nicholas Love

Stint 2:

Tommy Love Jr.

Tommy Love Jr.

Stint 3:

Sean Suputra

Sean Suputra

Stint 4:

Nicholas Love

Tom Love

TLDR (more below):

​Touchstone Racing had a similar build with RS3-R's.

Nick led the race until we lost LF wheel hub.

Official Results:

https://speedhive.com/Events/2055514

(same link)

 

Event Preparation & Overview

Since I started with Love Racing, it's been my goal to close the speed gap between me and the rest of the team. Nick and Jacob have been miles ahead of me, but I've been bringing it down, year after year. For the couple weeks leading up to the practice day, I spent some time on both the simulator and YouTube watching on-board video from previous races. One thing I might have realized is that I prefer watching on-board video to prep for races. This event, I really wanted to focus on specific areas of opportunity in my driving ability, mainly focused around Mechanics and Traffic Management.

  • Braking: Transition between throttle and brake should be faster. Use more braking before downshifting. Don't always have to use maximum braking.

  • Shifting: Be easier on the car. Blip lower on the downshifts.

  • Traffic: Plan more ahead and give up early to set up a smart overtake.

Regarding the car, Nick decided we were going to swap hubs and brakes between days! Last year, we lost from a failed hub and had faced hub/brake issues at other races in the past. Also, an alignment was done to accommodate the OEM ball joints.


Practice Day

The plan was to play with Tom's turbo Miata along with the #647. Unfortunately, the turbo ran into clutch issues and we couldn't do any laps with it. We spent the day running laps in the #647 with the new alignment and there was noticeably more understeer. Overall, the car felt strong, fast, and I was getting up to speed nicely. My goal was to see if I could match Nick's pace during the race.


Race 1 (2nd Overall)

The lineup for the day was Nick, Tommy, myself, then Nick was going to bring it in for a second stint. My dad ended up coming to the race and had a great time. He got to see how fast we are and there were plenty of fun overtakes to follow. Luckily, Harris Hill is a great place to spectate all the action since you can see 90% of the track from the paddock. Also, he brought all this food that everyone loved. It was like we had our own fancy Arrive & Drive set up...luxurious!


As far as the actual racing went, we drove a very clean race with no huge mistakes and the car held up like a champ. Throughout the day, I started to appreciate a lot of the characteristics of an Under-Steering car. It forced me to really push the weight forward and trail brake deeper to get the car to rotate. It also forced me to wait to get on throttle until the car was going to make the corner. Otherwise, it would push like hell.


A weird thing about this race is that they started doing Purple 35's. This ended up being really bad for us, because they were not enforcing the rule, which led to a loss of 30-60 seconds every time it happened.


Endurance racing leaves opportunities for anything to happen, and with all of our preparation, we got 2nd Overall! That's the best finish that we have ever had. If the leader didn't have RS3-R tires, we would have had a chance to fight for a win. There's just nothing we could do to make up 2-4 seconds a lap. Unfortunately, we don't have video because I elbowed the camera while putting Tommy in the car for his stint.


Overall, Nick was the fastest in Average and Fast Lap, but not by much. I really think I am getting close! My traffic management was so much better this time, my braking was improved and confident, and my shifting didn't upset the car. Very happy with my progress.

  • 1.5 sec off the Fast Lap from Nick's first stint

  • 1.7 sec off the Average Lap from Nick's first stint

  • 0.3 sec off the Fast Lap from Nick's second stint

  • 0.8 sec faster on the Average Lap from Nick's second stint


Race 2

Time to see if I can repeat the same results and maybe even give Nick a run for his money. The Touchstone team that won Race 1 ran out of cheaty tires, so we are looking for a win here. Today we are starting 3rd from the back, but it's a long race and our competitors are right next to us.

On the first few laps, there was a SUPER DANGEROUS smoke screen on the "Dam" turn from the Gulf Porsche. By the middle of Nick's stint, he was leading a race for the first time, and we were on track for our very first Overall win if nothing happened...


Unfortunately, towards the end of Nick's stint, in the lead, he noticed a failing Front Left hub...which meant the end of our running for a podium. Although this was the case, the team still mobilized and did the swap in about 10 minutes...Tom is a champ! After Tommy drove, I hopped in to get us up to 7th place, from more than 20th place.

  • 0.3 sec off the Fast Lap from Nick

  • 0.8 sec off the Average Lap from Nick

  • Efficiency represents the number of valid laps below the threshold times.

  • In this case, the data might show that I was extremely consistent in traffic and had consistent raw pace to match Nick.

Even though we were out of a trophy, we were still got a "win", because now Tom didn't have an excuse to sit another one out. He finally raced his first stint and did great! He had a few funny moments, though hahaha! Overall this weekend was one filled with firsts for me and the Love family:

  • We swapped brakes and hubs

  • Nick led a race

  • Tom raced a race

  • Team's highest finish

 

Driving Analysis

Both days had great battles:


Braking: Way better braking and waiting on shifting, too. I could still work on my vision to improve my transition between throttle and braking. I was starting to brake for each scenario, rather than 100% threshold brake every corner. This allowed my speed to stay up, trail brake deeper in to the corner, and keep my rpm's up for the corner exit. Also, I am still not necessarily getting 100% braking when I do need it. Practice, trust, feel.


Throttle: Something to add to the corner event...consider smooth maintenance throttle mid-corner.


Shifting: Overall shifting improvement from waiting until I did most of the braking and cleaner upshifts. I did notice that my upshifts were getting slower and slower. Need to stay focused and pointy for the whole stint, down to the shifting. I could still work on my downshift feel.


Traffic: I was moving through the pack like crazy...so much better than before. There are some things to work on. I have a tough time overtaking on the outside. I don't really have the line/concept figured out yet. I need to do some more film review on my mistakes. Another item here is to keep getting closer to the car in front and tighten up my "comfort zone". I can't take lifting so lightly. I must stay on throttle through the corner exit at all costs.

 

Photos & Media


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Paypal
  • Venmo
bottom of page