NASA HeatWave 2011 Recap

[magnetic1]

Those NASA guys sure know how to pick a name for an event. I went down early for the GRM UTCC thing. Car handled poorly first couple of sessions and couldnt dial it out. I figured it had to be the old tires I was running, so I put new tires on and instantly dropped 3 seconds, even though the car still had some weird oversteer issues.

On Sat, the issues returned full force in the race. I tried again to change suspension settings, etc but with no luck. Maybe old tires again now? Something funky is going on w/ the rear end as I am getting corner entry oversteer and power oversteer. Anyhow, not being competitive, I got to be in the middle of the pack and was in the middle of some nice action. Videos below.

Donnie also had an eventful time. He has new tricks on how to cool off after a race. I'll let him explain :)

First: Did we NOT have multiple meetings on how to drive under double yellow??? You drive at 8+/10ths and make it up to the pack!!! This allows EV to have a gap, do their thing and possibly allow for us to at least have a restart. When you have a car (or possibly multiple cars) putzing along, they just end the race on a double yellow! ARGH.

http://vimeo.com/26867563

Second: Not much here, but Dr. Bill and Omar were trying to make a pass in hogpen and ran out of room. Omar spun but kept his foot on the brakes so his car was predictable. Very nice.

http://vimeo.com/26854694

Third: The best video of them all. Code Brown moment for Dr. Bill. Glad no one was hurt in this one. The Vette driver was very apologetic when I spoke to Bill about it later on, so please, no need for "vette driver this/that". It is what it is and there was no bent metal or injuries.

http://vimeo.com/26810923

[Trak Ratt]

The spin doctor did a real good job keeping the car in one lane! Or you all are just very, very lucky!

[dweymer]

Gee, thanks Eric.

First... here is Saturday's race video, in the rain. It was a blast.

NASA VIR on Vimeo

Second,

Since I am a big guy, I can't just hop into my car and get all belted etc in 3 minutes. So I go to grid in full suit etc. I sat there for like 10 minutes before we got the 3 minute call. We went out and after lap one my cool suit had issues. I was keeping pace with Dayton and Jeff who were fighting for 2/3. Then around lap 4 I started to get hot. I steadily dropped back further and further. I was overheated when I came in and laid down on my trailer floor, with cold water being poured over me. Someone walked by, and said "call the paramedics, he is having a heat stroke" EMS was there shortly.

Long story short, I was fine, coherent and all. They did show me how to cool down better though. Use ice packs under the armpits, on the left side if the neck, and on your pelvic area. All areas where major arteries are near the surface.

So, I learned something this weekend. Don't lay down on the trailer floor, just sit in a chair, and use ice in uncomfortable places, before someone else does it for you.

[Dr K]

Nice run, Donnie. I gotta get me a set of those bigger ones you have - where did you order them from? Who was driving the yellow car? Was it Wonger or Dubovsky, or somebody elses?

[magnetic1]

Donnie is a madman in the rain.

Michael Dayton was driving the banana.

[Dr K]

Michael Dayton was driving the banana.

Well, he didn't actually have extra room in his shorts, either.

[smdubovsky]

Good going Donnie! Michael sure was left foot braking alot. I'll have to ask him about that.

[dweymer]

Left foot braking? I forgot to mention that, uhhh, i think the brake switch is bad. I finally stopped caring about the light being on, might wanna check that :lol:

[dweymer]

AND CONGRATS TO JIM on his license!

[magnetic1]

Surprised JimKulbaski hasnt posted a recap yet :) He got his daughter to crew for him for comp school then passed with flying colors. He had so much fun, he has already bought a wing, LOL!

[arob]

AND CONGRATS TO JIM on his license!

2nd! Jimmy looked like he was having a blast during the comp school race. Those instructors were ALL OVER his ass. :p

Good to formally meet you, Donnie.

[Dev1.8t]

AND CONGRATS TO JIM on his license!

Congrats to Jim. When is your first race?

[smdubovsky]

Congrats to Jim. When is your first race?
Last weekend! :) (people who pass comp school on Fri get to race on Sat/Sun)

[Dev1.8t]

Last weekend! :) (people who pass comp school on Fri get to race on Sat/Sun)

Sorry, I should have said outside of comp school weekend. :)

[Fairfax 944]

Race School Summary

I have been curious about racing, although not much more than curious. I signed up for race school as I'm thinking about putting my 17 year old daughter in NASA race school this October, so I wanted to go through it first.

The race school was more of an evaluation and not a school, in my opinion. The instructors were there not so much to teach, but to determine if they would feel safe racing with you.

Left Alexandria at 2:45pm on Thursday towing down the 944 for VIR. The truck AC broke 15 minutes into the trip. Had to endure 104 degree temps during the 6 hour ride down to VIR. :grrr: Not a good way to start the weekend.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TzLscAvYDBs/TjC_1S81oaI/AAAAAAAACkE/Jm4s-eWedfw/s912/DSC_3082.JPG

Temperature on Race School day was right at 100 degrees F. Luckily I borrowed VA Steve's cool shirt cooler, and I bought a cooling shirt at OG Racing. On the morning of race school, I closed the door on the hose fitting and cracked it. Also, found out the F.A.S.T. system sold by OG racing is not compatible with the Cool Shirt system.

Track session 1 on Friday, I overheated my body without the cool shirt and started to get nauseous.

John Kh. (Jim Kh's who runs in GTS-2 brother) rigged up a connection which held through the weekends, and got the cool shirt to work. Unfortunately, by this time, the ice in the cooler melted, and the system was circulating warm water and was useless. So, track session 2 was so frick'n hot that I came in a few minutes longer than the 40 minutes it ran, and came quite close to vomiting in my helmet. :Puke:

I planned on quitting because I was so hot and so ready to puke, but my 16 year old daughter strongly encouraged me to stick with it. I'm glad I did.

Track session 3 - Got a flat tire during my second lap, and the session ended quickly.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9TAQ7IsxP4U/TjDABVbtSLI/AAAAAAAACkU/Z3En0r9Be6Y/s912/DSC_3095.JPG

Track session 4 - Cool shirt worked great, had 2 new tires put on the rear of the car. I had 4 instructors playing with me for the last 30 minutes for a simulated race. What a great time. It was probably the most fun I ever had on a track. I heard they ignored the other 4 students in the class and were just messing around with me. They said that they felt comfortable going around the turns 2 wide at race speed with me. I guess 10 years of doing DEs taught me something.

5 out of 5 of us in race school passed. They said in the 30 times this school was offered, this was only the 3rd time in which all participants passed.

Special thanks to my crew/friends/helpers without whom I never would have survived the heat/race school:
- My 16 year old daughter Anna
- Rob
- Jim Kh
- John Kh
- Omar
- Will
- Bill
- Wonger
- Andrew L.

My daughter Anna did her second track weekend in a car (my Audi A6). During her last session on Sunday, I let her drive the 951 and instructed her. She was a great driver, but overly excited, and I had to work to calm her down. After driving the Porsche, she said she'll never drive the Audi on the track again. For being a 16 year old driver with a license for a couple of months, she was heal-toeing perfectly about 70% of the time.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nn2VG4xfDPo/TjDAHULg_4I/AAAAAAAACkY/wY3GqV53SKs/s912/DSC_3134.JPG

RACING

As to the racing on Saturday and Sunday, I was not competitive at all. I'm sure the main factor was that my driving needs a lot of improvement. However, other factors were (1) no aero; (2) no Hoosiers; and (3) heat soaked intercooler which put me way down on power.

I will race again after I install front and rear aero, and get a set of Hoosiers.

Here are some other random pictures from the weekend:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-me2jJnCT0SU/TjC_3cVrbKI/AAAAAAAACkI/4CR4fcXSduI/s912/DSC_3086.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8S1ejruAFD4/TjDAQKuSOVI/AAAAAAAACkc/T2uClMdXxMQ/s912/DSC_3192.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WDrXO9E-7NU/TjDAQm1kDlI/AAAAAAAACkg/4_Boh024ziY/s912/DSC_3228.JPG

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bjQaS_g8GoM/TjDG9aT-jPI/AAAAAAAAClA/gGcwSmmaEXc/s912/DSC_3339.JPG

Wonger with somebody else's trophy!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rpBv8-oPhdI/TjC_y02CToI/AAAAAAAACkA/pV2I3L7ePm4/s912/DSC_3353.JPG

[magnetic1]

haha, nice writeup. Congrats on your provisional license!

[Dr K]

3rd place - congrats! I thought you said you weren't competitive (now I wasn't competitive, as I came in 6th out of 6 this same extremely hot weekend last summer!!).