2023 ChampCar: "Lake of the Ozarks" 8+8

Gloria and George came for the #racecation! We got an RV from a cool lady...passed Nick a bunch of times on the way there...like 4 times. New gloves!!!! First race since crash and personally had a flawless race...but I can't say as much for the team results on both days. Still, we got a lot of respect from the field and had a blast.

Love Racing #647

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

ChampCar Endurance Series: Lake of the Ozarks 8+8

Ozarks International Raceway

April 22, 2023 - April 23, 2023

Event Preparation & Overview

A few months earlier, I booked a round trip just to make sure I had a way to get to St. Louis. With that plan, I could wait for Charles and drive to the track. I didn't think too hard about it since the flight could be canceled at any time. Eventually, Gloria showed interest in another road trip! She found a reasonable Outdoorsy pick-up on the way to the track, about 2 hours out. It was an 18-ft RV trailer that slept 5 and I joked about bringing George. It was time to go and we decided to take him for the ride...Georgie's first road trip!!!

Off we went on Thursday at 5 in the morning, all three of us. It didn't take long before everyone got settled in for the 12 hour trip. We made about 3-4 stops along the way, some for food, pit stops, and meetings. Pit stops were eventful, filling up the truck while everyone was emptying out. We would throw George in the truck bed and Gloria would watch him do his business...he didn't skip a beat! When we got to the track and set up the trailer, it was only a matter of time before George felt at home. After he got acclimated, he quickly became a Pit & Paddock Cat. He really was a good boy all weekend and Gloria was a big part of that, making sure he was taken care of the whole time.

Also, big shoutout to Chris Taylor Racing for hooking me up with sweet gloves and some comms equipment just in time. Everything worked better than expected during the race!

Let's talk racing. Assetto Corsa was the platform for preparing for Ozarks International Raceway...that and watching a bunch of YouTube videos, like usual. I put pretty good laps in and got down to high 2:51's but settled into the low 2:52's. We got to do a few group sessions with the boys and Nick was dipping into the high 2:50's, if I remember correctly. Based on the practice sessions and the YouTube videos, it would be a success to break 2:50 in real life.

Areas of focus from last events at Harris Hill and Sebring:

• Focus: Generally, I wanted to set myself up for success mentally by being physically prepared. During down times in Yellow Flag conditions and lonely laps I've caught myself getting tired and/or wandering.

• Line: n/a

• Braking: Trust lateral grip and drag out trail-braking. Also, threshold braking isn't required everywhere.

• Passing: When overtaking, give less room. Do this by planning further ahead. Furthermore, knowing the section can go a long way subconsciously and impact things like first-move reactions.

Now that Nick lives in Texas again, he's just in range for me to help out. I spent a few weekends with him and the family getting the car ready for the race. There were a ton of cool updates to the car planned for the race, like Tires, Fenders, Lights, Big Brakes, Hubs ($$$), Brake Bias adjuster, Rear Bumper, Radiator Protection, New Wing Cables, New routed Splitter, cleaner Electronics, fancy Window Net, Weight Reduction (angle grinder!), and Alignment. I am happy to say that most of these were long awaited upgrades for low-hanging performance and reliability. I was particularly excited about tires and weight reduction/aero. Unfortunately, upon rules investigation, the brakes put us over the points limit. Nick was forced to put the OEM front sway bar back on and make it as stiff as he could.

Practice Day

The experience in real life was substantially different than in Assetto Corsa. So much more cajones were needed to cut down the lap times. In real life, confidence in track familiarity and confidence in the car were essential, for lap times and to keep the car out of the walls.

By the end of the short session, I felt comfortable enough with everything to be able to work the rest out in a race situation and push the limits. Everyone did a few laps, including Nick, Tommy, and Charles. As such, we had the line up chosen as Nick to start, Tommy to follow, and me to start the second half of the day. If Charles was feeling ok, he would close out Saturday, otherwise Nick would step in for a double stint.

Tires:

We took tire temps and pressures now that we have new tires and an alignment. We wanted to get the most out of the expensive stickies and start learning more about dialing in a race car. I made a sweet lanyard notebook...the design could use improvement. Ultimately, we learned that the stickies like less camber and take more heat to get meaningful data. For the track, it was clear that the frost left tire does the most work. Further analysis in progress.

Race 1 (4th Overall)

Started basically at the back of the field...our pit stall was 19 and they drew 21-22 or something. Nick had a strong push towards the front in the first 45 mins, getting pretty far up the field. He was going back and forth with the 350z Donut car for a while, and eventually put in the fastest laps for our team. Meanwhile, the GBU Corvette was walking away, putting in a lap down in the 2:44's.

Perfect driver change and fuel pit stops through to my stint, and Tommy did a solid 2 hours without too much for us to do on the sidelines. The car was making 2 hours pretty easily.

I hopped in the car for the 3rd stint and started up in 3rd place overall. It took about an hour to find a good battle. It was with Touchstone, 901 Motorsports, and Autospec. The 3-4 of us ran around for a good half hour before I made it through, 901 dropping off about halfway through. Although it was fun, I could have made quicker work of all of them.

My battles from other car On-boards:

• #800-A Mazda Miata NA - Touchstone Racing

• #903-C BMW E30 - 901 Motorsports

• #901-C BMW E30 - 901 Motorsports

For the last stint, Nick decided to change tires to the RS4s with cost us an additional minute in the pits. These are significantly worse but he was not confident in the life of the Potenzas. After the competition went in for extra fuel stops and our near perfect race execution till now, we found ourselves leading the overall race! We held this lead of about 2.5 minutes for a while, nursing fuel and the gap behind. With 15 minutes to go in an 8 hour race, it was near impossible for P2 to catch up from the now 2 minute gap, even with the 5-10 second pace difference.

Nick buzzes by on the front straight, just having passed Open Throttle, basically lapped traffic. Again with clear air ahead, he brakes and turns in over the crest of turn 1 out of sight from the pits, business as usual. As I turn away, in the corner of my eye, I see the station worker on the inside of turn 1 pull out yellow flags. It takes only a moment for it to register, but my gut tells me it's Nick.

No one can understand and some think it's a joke, but after confirmation, we feel the reality of the situation. I couldn't handle it so I took my stuff and walked the million mile walk of shame up the giant hill by about 35 pit stalls to the paddock. We were all devastated and I'm sure Nick felt the worst of all of us, but it was a fun chase for that first win.

• Fast Lap: +1.8s to Nick

• Average Lap: +0.3s to Nick (so close!)

• Efficiency: High - Traffic went well

• FTD: 2:44.1 (GBU-Corvette)

Looks like my pace is getting closer and closer to Nick. The average is basically the same so mainly can focus on skills to get more raw pace.

Race 2 (4th Overall)

After a rough finish on Saturday we were optimistic about Sunday. We had the pace and the strategy to pull off a podium and maybe a win. We had another set of tires...the Coopers...and a fresh alignment. On top of that, it was our first race to start in the very front!

Here's how it went...

Nick:

Net wasn't all the way on.

The splitter wasn't mounted and shook like crazy.

We took an extra pit stop to fix it.

Tommy:

Splitter vibrated the rest of the time.

Sean:

Vibrating got worse.

Ducting folded in and I had to nurse temps.

Charles:

Had to fix the ducting during the stop.

Cooper tires rubbed and blew with Charles in 3rd with 30 minutes to go.

Pushed the car across the line in the pits for last lap.

We ran into a lot of issues but managed a decent result.

• Fast Lap: +3.5s to Nick

• Average Lap: +3.2s to Nick

• Efficiency: Poor - Managing splitter

• FTD: 2:43.6 (GBU-Corvette)

Hard to get much from this day because of all the issues.

Driving Analysis & Areas of Opportunity

Focus: Felt really in the zone for the entire stints. Still have trouble with the P35s, but I can snap back in pretty quick. There is probably a better way. The weather was beautiful so I was physically well. One area of opportunity is preventing leg and hand cramps through strengthing and hydration.

Ramp Up: Newly added. Think about how to get up to speed faster to get more out of seat time.

Line: I had a lot of confidence in my lines for the weekend. I felt some flexibility in changing it up, but can still deepen my understanding of the tracks and the sections. This can lead to more line options in various situations. Watching the other car on-boards validated my lines are getting better with later turn in. I can find more in tighter corners by extending my vision and getting on throttle sooner.

Braking: Top thoughts that come to mind are that I got a better feel for getting lateral grip during trail-braking, specifically on T11 and the last right-hander. I also felt the difference of getting the car slowed before getting it set in a corner, compared to trailing it into a corner. There might be more to be had in braking/turning during the high-compression areas and in the threshold braking areas...I still think I am far from the limit.

Throttle: This track really gave me the chance to feel how important and significant the throttle is for settling the rear end of the car. I had to put a lot of trust in car dynamics to keep momentum for climbing up the hills.

Passing: I was smooth in overtaking, but maybe too conservative. I can make passes sooner and trust the pace differences. When planning overtakes, it might be better to get the move done quick and dirty sometimes, rather than waiting for a smooth overtake. The anticipated traffic can be used to help, not just be a burden for the other drivers to punch through for me. I will also not have to wait for my competitor to punch a hole, especially if they are not confident with passing lapped traffic.

Car & Team Opportunities:

• Check Splitter Bolts and other random fasteners

• Check Tire clearances in all dimensions, especially with different tires

• Check Radiator Ducting on every pit stop

• Fire Extinguisher guy is also Fuel Cap guy

• Have a full plan for pit stop events, like tire changes

• Double check window net after install

• Pay close attention to strategy all the way to the end of the race

• Tire temperature/pressure procedure

• Create checklists for everything

Photos & Media