GT400 Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta

[fndrbndr]

How's everyone doing prepping for this?  With a legal line in turn 3, I'm running 1:22.948 for a PB.  After a little tuning, I've scared 1:22.8xx, and will probably turn in a lap under that mark for the enduro at this rate.  A good average lap seems to be about 1:23.3 or so.  Tires are heating evenly (within 5 degrees on left tires, rights are still a bit problematic), so that's an improvement.

[BarbecuePete]

Race Pro has been keeping me busy so i've not had time to practice this week but I know pre season my car was able to get very close to my Missile Charger ghost here @ 1:22.4xx

In the race i'd like to be running consistant mid to high 1:22's.... the Ferrari does seem to like it round here.

[Spiny Anteater]

I can't remember off the top of my head - was it a 1:22.5 or a 1:23.5 I was getting in the shakedown after Maple Valley? All I have to do is stop myself getting the turn wrong on the transition from short to long course

[fndrbndr]

I'm finally starting to get a good feel for that turn.  In my car, maintenance throttle helps, believe it or not.

[Open2nd]

Men,`I'm well and truly behind the curve here.

[Snyder005]

My fastest is a 1:21.5xx in the INGS, don't think I can go much faster than that, but it can run consistent high 1:21's.  However it needs an open track to do this cuz of the lack of top end. 

I'm hoping for a 1:21.4 in the endurance race.

[Spiny Anteater]

I did a bit of testing - first impression was that there was no way that I set a 1:22.5 so it must have been a 1:23.5 I set. But, as the laps mounted and the tyres warmed up things improved to the extent that I got a 1:22.2 best lap (I was actually a tenth up on that then ran out of fuel down the back straight!!!). I guess that's the penalty for running Firestones.

But, and this is a big but, I can't run anywhere near there consistently. When we're racing I'll more likely be running low 23's as I have to hit everything just right to get into the low 22's. I have found one area where I am consistent though - and that's in throwing it off the track I really need to train myself to not attack that kerb at the transition from short to long track - the Miura just doesn't like hitting that. That and a tendancy to bite back when there is a rapid change of direction (this thing is just one big pendulum really) and I can see the phrase "Yellow flag for Spiny" being uttered at some stage.

[fndrbndr]

Pre-game Show:

Intro:  Last week, a combination of luck and skill made a second straight win for Open Second Racing.  Join us this week as we head back down South for Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Next on Speed!

CF:  Welcome to the Speed Channel's coverage of the GT400's Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.  I'm Calvin Fish, here with Dorsey Schroeder and Brian Till.  What's the grid look like this week, Dorsey?

DS:  Well, Snyder has been running almost a second faster in practice than the rest of the field, but he's down on power.  With Atlanta's long straights, he's going to have a challenge getting into space to build the kind of lead you usually see from that sort of advantage.  I think his key will be getting the top spot in qualifying and hoping there are no cautions. 

CF:  What about this track?  It's got a reputation for being a bit difficult.

DS:  Well, there are a couple of very difficult lines.  The first complex, especially turn 3, can be rough.  Also, the left hander moving from the short ribbon section to the rest of the full course can be rough, and every driver has to take it differently, because every car is set up a little differently.

CF:  On that note, Brian has caught up with one of the drivers down in the pits.

BT:  Thanks, guys.  I'm here with Fndrbndr of Tiny Terror Racing.  Last week brought a better result for TTR.  Anything in store for this week?

Fndr:  Well, the car feels good, and it's consistent.  We won't set any blazing laps out there, but we should be within a couple of tenths of our top time for most of the day.  Last week we had about the fifth-best top lap, and came in second.  Maybe we'll pull that off again this week.  We'll see.

BT:  Word is you made some alignment changes to the car.  Is that true?

Fndr:  Well, we added some front caster, trying to get the left to heat evenly without screwing up the right too much.  We also changed our tire pressures a bit.  We were a little low last week.

BT:  Here's hoping the improvements pay dividends on the track.  Back to you, guys.

[fndrbndr]

Results

1.  BBQ Pete
2.  Snyder
3.  Fndrbndr
4.  Bimmerlovere39
5.  Open2nd
6.  Spiny (connection issue)

Fast Lap-Pete

[fndrbndr]

CF:  And we're back!  It was a horsepower track, and horsepower ruled the day.  It's a second win on the season for Barbecue Pete and the Silk Cut GTO, and Snyder drove an almost perfect race to take second, duelling right up to the end. 

DS:  Yeah, great finish here, with Pete just overtaking Snyder at the end.  The top three were within a few seconds of each other once again, staying fairly close after the restart on lap 41.  For the rest of the field, it was all about the contact.  Fndr came third largely by staying out of everyone's way.  Bimmer's damage was less severe than Open's, and he perhaps saw some small dividends of his decision to run without aero.  We'll be back with interviews in the pits after this series of ads for tampons, laundry softeners, and an opening in our advertising sales division.

[BarbecuePete]

DS: Welcome back folks, well its sure been an afternoon of high drama and bumper to bumper racing here at Road Atlanta... And I'm just getting something in my ear... yes, Brian has the race winner BarbecuePete down in pit road, over to you Brian..

BT: Thanks Dorsey... Pete, great race there. You said last week you were going for the win, did you think it would work out after Snyder took pole by such a long way?

BP: Thanks Brian, No, I was still pretty confident after qually, I knew Snyder had the handling advantage but his lack of speed on that back straight was hurting him, I knew that if I could get ahead early I had a good chance of taking the win.

BT: You did have a good lead early on and then Snyder started to reel you in once he made it past Fndr in the first round of pitstops, did you think then it might not be your day?

BP: I was a little worried as I watched the meter tick down, then we had a little coming together in the hairpin which I think hurt Snyder more than it hurt me, even so he still managed to get past me in the second round of stops at that point I was worried he might run away again as he had done in the qually.

BT: Yeah I gotta say that thrid stint you drove was probably one of the most intense things I've ever had the privalage to watch in all my time here on Speed, It all really started from that late yellow?

BP: Well I'd been pushing since I came back out after my last stop, I knew Bimmer was running long stints and that Snyder would get caught up behind him and give me a chance to close but, Yeah that yellow flag really helped me out...
I went for an aggressive restart and got ahead but Snyder was able to sweep back around the outside of me in turn 1, I think we had about 8 or 9 laps left and I knew I was gonna have to go all out to take the win, I was right on the edge and pushing the car to its limits and started slowly reeling Snyder back in, then with about 3 laps left I got close enough to be able to make the extra power count down the back straight and was able to make it stick into the chicane.

BT: Sure was a great race Pete, congratulations on the win. Back to you in the studio..

[fndrbndr]

CF:  We're back from break.  You know, Dorsey, this turned out to be quite a race, with one and two battling right up to the end. 

DS:  That's right, Calvin.  We also saw the value of just staying out of trouble, though.  And on that note, Brian is with Fndrbndr, the third place finisher, in the pits.

BT:  I'm here with Fndrbndr from Tiny Terror Racing here in the pits.  Your comments before the race turned out to be prophetic; you got on the podium while more than a second off the pace, just by staying out of trouble.  Your thoughts?

Fndr:  Mazdaspeed was really good to us this week.  We ordered stiffer springs and changed the camber and caster angles, and anytime we needed something, we just called them up and got an answer. I think that really showed in how the car handled today.  I'm not fast here, but the car certainly kept me on the gray stuff, and we were able to fight to a podium.

BT:  Next week the overseas portion of the tour begins.  Any thoughts on Mugello? 

Fndr:  We haven't practiced there yet, obviously, but it's longer than Atlanta, so I'm guessing there will be a pit, even though it's only 25 laps.  We're talking about going back to a softer compound, but nothing's really set in stone yet.  We'll have to see what the course looks like and how our times are going.

BT:  Sounds good.  Congrats on another podium.  Back to you, Calvin.

[Snyder005]

Anyone got times for Mugello?  Pre season I ran a 1:50.6xx in the INGS but Race Pro most likely will make it hard for me to pull 1:51's probably.  And again the long straight to the first turn will see people getting by me and blocking my car into the turns, so I'm hoping to get by in the sweeper.

EDIT: will we be dropping the lowest race result for the series?  I think this was done in the Clio Cup but I might be wrong.

[Spiny Anteater]

You're right, we did drop the worst score for the Clio Cup which was a massive help to me seeing as I missed the last race.

Speaking of missing races, I'm afraid my entry for tomorrow is looking doubtful (again!). If I am around, I'll make sure I'm online in plenty of time for the race.

Plus I'd be hoping that the connection issue doesn't raise its ugly head again. I had massive lag at maple Valley as my box and Open's didn't seem to get on, then last week I couldn't even get in the same room as Fndr. I'm not too hopeful this week because we've been seeing some lag online the last few days - it appears that anyone with Virgin as their ISP is having issues this side of the pond

[BarbecuePete]

As Spiny said we did drop the worst rounds results for everyone in the Clio cup, but this was because the same thing is done in the RL competition and so I don't think its something that Fndr is doing with the GT400.

I had a few test laps round Mugello mid week, its not one of favorite tracks and it has some of my lowest LB position across all classes so I was really pleased when I hit my first ever 1:52 with the same tune I ran at Maple Valley.

If I qualify well Im hoping to be able to do what the Ferrari does best and take the lead off the line and then try and keep everyone behind me for 25 laps...