Redemption (7/7/2019) - 7 hours - Portland International Raceway:
Well sprint racing doesn't work out so well for our car, we are more of a slow and steady kind of A-class car. We have to rely on consistent medium pace laps, since we don't have the raw horsepower. After a couple 4th place finishes in the sprints, it's a new day and a full 7 hours. We had been running on Hankook RS4s, but decided to switch to our set of used Direzza Z3s for this race.
I start the race in 16th place behind a big pile of cars going into the chicane. I fight my way through the crowd and get up into 7th by the next lap. The lap after that, I am up into 4th place and following #333 of Blue Bull Racing. Naturally I'm a little nervous after the way they drove yesterday. Happily I get by them with no incident and continue chasing.
I can see Race Invaders in their green Miata with the big wing ahead of me. I can get close.. but not quite get past them. Both of us are sneaking our way through traffic using precision instead of brute power. They have just a bit more acceleration, but if I use the draft I can stay right behind them and not have to lift on the straight. This goes on for laps, them working their way through traffic and me trying to find a spot I can make it by. It is such a blast having evenly matched cars! It's like a game of 100mph chess, trying to see where you can find an advantage.
Finally I have my chance. I see a group of traffic coming up in turn 12, and it looks like there's not a hole. I hold back a bit, getting ready to get on the gas as early as I can while the traffic opens up. I get a good run on Race Invaders, and I am up along side! Unfortunately since they have just a bit more acceleration, even having this run is not quite enough to sail by. We enter the braking zone for the chicane side-by-side, and enter the chicane side by side. Race Invaders is one of the teams I fully trust to race like this, which makes this awesome! I manage to get a slightly better run out of the chicane, and that puts us up into 2nd place!
After #13 keeps some pressure on me for a few laps, I manage to get away and focus on the race leader, the #987 Mustang of Spiral Out Racing. They have a crazy amount of horsepower, so even though we can out-corner them, they can put 20+ car lengths on us on the straight. I try to compress my braking zones and keep my cornering speeds up as much as possible to get my lap times as low as possible. I can nearly bump into their back bumper exiting turn 7.. but as soon as they start putting the power down they are gone. I keep pushing harder, trying to find cornering speed anywhere I can. Turn 10 is one place I can do this, as it's partially a matter of how big your balls are for how much speed is carried there. Get it wrong, and it may be across the grass into the wall. I've never been in the 1:28s before, but I run two 1:28.9s while chasing #987!
I've been braking at the 250 mark at turn 10, and I try to squeeze just a few more feet out of it. Uh oh, that was too much. I am now running too wide of a line in 10, and 11 is coming up quick. I have to choose between braking a turning, and I release some braking to make it through 10. Unfortunately now I'm still going too fast for 11... and after some brake lockup I decide to go off straight. After a little bumping in the grass, I get back on the track with my tail between my legs.. and #987 long gone.
Before the end of my stint however, I catch up to #987 again. This time he is rolling slow on the side of the track waving us around him. I'm not sure what happened.. but we are in 1st place! I pull in to give the car to my dad after having ran my fastest lap ever in Blue Bayou with a 1:28.93!
My dad goes out in 8th place after our pit stop, and after the shuffle of pit stops we end up in 2nd place behind Race Invaders. We are about 30 seconds behind them. Dave isn't able to close the gap, but as long as they don't expand the gap I have a chance of closing it during my stint, I just need him to hold it steady. Unfortunately I see on Race Monitor that we passed a car under yellow. I radio it in to my dad, who pulls in and serves his penalty. This puts us back in 4th, behind the #12 Mustang.
We pit right at the start of a very long yellow flag on lap 117, which makes for a very advantageous pit stop. I leave the pits in 6th place, and as people stop in the pits by lap 128 I am up into 1st place! 2nd place is the #12 Three Thieves Racing Mustang, and I have a minute gap on them. I keep putting in consistent quick laps and I finally catch up to them. As it turns out, they
really do not want to get lapped. I chase them for multiple laps before I finally make it by. I need to try to get a comfortable lead for when my dad gets in the car. Next target.. Race Invaders. I am in the zone, running 1:29s and 1:30s through traffic and I catch Race Invaders and lap them.
Kyle keeps me updated on the radio of my next targets and how many laps up I am, when suddenly the car coughs. Uh oh, I running out of gas. I was going to try to stretch two hours before turning the car over, but I need to get back to the pits! I quickly radio the pits to tell them to get ready as I circle around. I pull in on lap 184, having ran a fastest lap of 1:29.2.
My dad gets in the car, and while we are in the pits #12 Three Thieves Racing gets by us. No big deal, they still have one more pit stop to do as well. My dad keeps it clean, and after the #12 pit stop we are comfortably in 1st place. Towards the end of the race Dave radios in that the car coughed, but we just tell him to cruise easy and take the checkered. After such a crazy weekend, we won! That evening we collected our 2nd and 1st place trophies, getting our picture taken with Randy Pobst at the podium. What a weekend!
