[N0tt0N]

Shippee is in the #360 car 56 laps down

[N0tt0N]

Ionizers finished P19 (+4 spots) overall and P8 in Class 4. They were P6 in class with just a few laps to go and had to make another pit stop. Lots of lessons learned! Successful finish! 76 total cars.

[N0tt0N]

Our boys finished an epic race today. Starting P16 they found themselves in P30 after, cough, coasting into the pits on fumes. They spent the rest of the day busting butt and ending a full race distance of 200 laps in P12 overall and P7 in class even while staring at a hot engine light the last 15 minutes. Super consistent driving made this possible since they were on P26 in fastest lap time. Well done! Finished 2 nine hour races in one weekend. Ridiculous.

[N0tt0N]

Unfortunately, the #360 was out by lunch. I don't think Shippee got to drive.

[987kmns]

Thank you guys for the well wishes!

Alex, Ion, and I had a great time competing in the AER WG event in Alex's #231 SE46. None of us had any significant experience racing prior to the weekend, so we treated the event as a learning experience. Zack came up with us and helped with pit stops, strategy, car work, advice, hand-holding, ... everything! Thank you so much man!!!

Event synopsis:

We arrived at WG Thursday night right around midnight, in the middle of a rain storm. Having noticed that we have a very mushy brake pedal upon loading #231 the prior night, we decided that a quick brake bleed was in order before bed. About two hours later we were still struggling to get air out of the system. Having reached some acceptable results, we turned in for the night.

Friday morning started with practice on a drying track, but conditions soon changed and we returned to the monsoon conditions of the night before. With a solid 15 practice between the three of us, we moved on to qualy in the afternoon. The track was now truly drying and lap times soon started falling all around. AER requires each driver on the team to put down at least 5 qualy laps in order to participate in the race. Their system averages those lap times and through some adjustment that takes into consideration other factors, computes the starting order for all cars. We treated the session like an extra practice session and put down 52 laps between the three of us, with some quick ones worked in. Later it turned out that we lapped the most out of any team. When all was said and done, we qualified P23 out of about 80 cars.

Saturday morning saw the beginning of our first 9 hour race. The team (Alex and Ion) decided that I should start us off in the driver lineup for the day. Soon enough I found myself strapped in #231, following the pace car. It took 3 formation laps to get all 80 cars out of pit lane and bunched up behind the pace car. Eventually we went to green and cars started flying by left and right. It took me a couple of laps to get myself out of DE attitude and start chasing back after our lost positions. Throughout the morning we went to full course yellow multiple times and AER sent out the pace car to restart the race every time. Lots more positions lost. Lots more learning. My stint was followed by Ion and then Alex. The plan was to repeat this order twice, but some adjustments were made due to a long black flag situation. We ended the day P19 overall and P9 in class.

Sunday started cool, but sunny. My teammates decided that I should start again since I now "had experience starting". This time we got through the start with fewer lost positions and continued with a nice, fast stint, aided by the cool air. Ion and Alex followed as planned, but after Alex's stint, we had to change the front left tire. As the day got warmer we started torturing the tires and the front left became a safety issue halfway through the race. The afternoon went by quickly, with the same stint order. Alex brought the car home in P12 overall and P7 in class.

All three of us loved the experience and we thank the AER family for putting up an amazing event. I can't even begin to describe how much we learned. It seems that 1.5 hour stints will teach you a lot about the car, the track, and yourself.

Enough yapping. Photos:



Also, on another note: What?!

[Dandelion]

Very cool - congrats on making it through the weekend with decent results!

ed

[Fumes]

well done guys!!! sounds like serious fun levels...

[Paddy]

Nice work fellas! Wish I could have made this race, see you at NJMP

[thelittlemrs]

Congrats congrats! I have been so impressed with the AER competitors and crew. This might be the "spectator event" that keeps Summit Point alive!

[Rob in VA]

Well done for your first outing - I was in the #720 FCP Euro car Mercedes, class 3. I think one of the other drivers knocked out your taillight. Sorry about that!