Post Barcelona

[RobGuru]

Hi Guys and Gals!

Fun race at 'ole Barcelona last night, huh?

Had a generally good night, although I seem to be afflicted with a lack of time for practice this season. Fortunately, I've raced Barcelona a number of times with other mods, so I knew what I wanted the car to do.

Didn't have a particularly good qual session though and found myslelf starting something like P8. Got a good start slipping by a couple guys. Found out quickly that I didn't have the pace for the Top 3 or so, but I could run with the P4 on back group. I was driving pretty cautiously in the beginning, as my base Dome setup seems to have gone all twitchy on me under low gear accel (might be time for some pedal maintenance, too). Anyway, I kept it generally clean for the first stint other than a couple slides / brake lock ups. Actually ran a couple laps in P1 due to my late pit stop strategy.

Got out of the pits in P4, about 4 seconds up the road from Brent. He caught me in relatively short order and passed me when I missed a braking mark. Kept it on the road over the last 10 minutes or so to secure the P5. Generally happy with that since I can't put in the practice time I would ordinarily like. Looking forward already to the next one!

Rob

[BCurtis]

Seems I remember a great race using the GTP mod for N2K3 at this track too. Always an excellent race at Barcelona, no matter what we're driving.
Got booted with very little time left in practice and by the time I got back into the track, qual had ended. So I got to start at the back. Made up a couple positions off the start with a couple folks spinnin their tires, and then got involved in a 4-5 car pileup in turn 4 I think it was. Hit burmcat in the rear but I was only goin 25 mph as I had slowed down a bit so not alot of damage. Ended up around P10 I think after the first lap.
Worked my way up through a few cars by my pit at the 40 minute mark around P6 or so. Had some good battle with alot of drivers thru the race. With under 10 minutes, I was P5 following Rob. Managed to get by with perhaps a little tap (sorry bout that) comin onto the front stretch. There wasnt enough time to challenge Paul for a podium so took P4.
Looking forward to Interlagos.
Congrats to Sandy on the win...tough luck to GP but P2 aint bad.

[JABowders]

Red Weasel Reports

Race Line: Barcelona

As the latest installment of PORRS hits the wild winds of Spain the teams arrived into the track gates the sound of complaints soon filled the air. The most common were the comments about the lack of brake markers, pit lights, beer dispensers, and the large lines at the women’s rest rooms. Regardless of the shortcomings, the Red Weasel Racing Reynards hit the track and started to work out the kinks.

The Weasels were pretty well set in their resignation to the rear of the starting field with the hard to handle and grossly under powered LMP2 Reynard. The tension fill the stands as the light tree became a mirrored reflection of the walls of a chainsaw movie and with a skip of a heartbeat the race was on. Starting in the rear of any formation is always a fun thing to do, we Weasels are accustom to it in the various racing genres we participate in (we are not slow just not as fast as others). The lines of cars began to launch from their grid spots, some slower than others. A few of the back markers took advantage of it and used the open gap between grid spots as a personal drag strip and leapt into a huge advantage. The Weasels loose on Juice weaseled forward a few spots and waited for what was sure to come. And as expected the dreaded Turn-1 debacle, that didn’t end in Turn-1 but had spread out over what appeared to be an eight of a mile. I mention this because the Head Weasel cleared the smoke and was P7 and running unscathed, OH! I enjoy it when a plan comes together. Nice and easy was the Weasel race plan; drive safe, drive clean were the Team Orders and the Weasels obeyed. The Weasel Wench was the first to suffer the excited return of some of the faster drivers as her car became an example of a football in a close game when the Offense is sitting fourth and thirty-five. Yeap, she got putted big time, so after an 88 second pit to repair her car her race was all but 55 minutes over, so as she retook playing field and settling into what was going to be a long race she again found that she was an unwanted pigskin and sent for a forty-two yard ride where the wall had called fair catch and sent her back to the pits for yet another 80 plus second stop. Not a lot of racing can be done when your race is ruined within the first 10 minutes.

The Head Weasel did a bit better, only loosing spots to the faster two groups of cars on the track, you know the LMP1s and the Mazdas…Slowly I fell to the faster cars spot after spot, the drivers all courteous and allowed for safe passes and just after the 30 minutes warning and intense racing headed for the pits for a fresh set of shoes and enough Weasel Juice to finish the race. A quick stop, no damage to repair and in 33 seconds for fuel I was back on track to fight to regain a handful of spots lost to pitting.

My race ended with the last three laps more exciting than the rest as I closed in on Don for position and Ced closing in on me. My last the laps also ended up being my fastest of the race, I felt the Squirrel breathing down my back as we raced hard and clean to the finish. Red Weasel Racing sends congratulations to the podiums. And in the end the Weasels will prevail.

You know the saying, ..no greater wrath than that of a woman…I submit to you kind gentle racing folk…No greater wrath than a Weasel Wench.

James
Head Weasel

[greds04]

This is the first time I have raced at the track and only practiced once last week, I knew that my setup wasn't going to be great. Qualified 9th or 10th on the grid and had a good start off the line up to 7th, but then got caught up in the carnage of turn four, fortunately it wasn't anything major so I carried on in 12th place, slowly made it to the point where I was chasing the 7th and 8th place and only a few seconds behind them.

Once I had pitted in and got some repairs done I was on my way again and managed to gain 8th place about 5 minutes towards the end (I think Kevin was having some handling issues from what I could see, or his tires had gone beyond their life expectancy). at the end of the race 7th place was almost a full lap ahead of me so there was no way I was catching a Mazda anytime soon.

[forddude]

Congrats to the podium at Barcelona and special acknowledgment to Greg for his outstanding run. What a shame for it to end the way it did but a great race none the less.

My apologies to all who got caught up in the turn 4 mess which started when I hit Kevin from behind. It wasn't too bad at first, he spun and was getting going again but unfortunately the group closing from behind got caught up in it and it didn't look pretty. Sorry, I try not to cause those kinds of problems.

Personally, I was ill prepared for the race and my performance backed that up. The car actually handled OK but my gearing ummmmmm, well, it sucked! I had nothing for anybody and felt very fortunate to manage 10th. My team owner, FordDudette, is making sure I put more effort into the next event......besides, she said it keeps me out of her hair. :-)

[Greg 'GP' Haley]

don't know where that :31 qual lap came from but i was very surprised to be up front!
paul got the jump at the start and we had a smooth run together until the pitstop around lap 18. my mazda math has been consistently off and was two laps short on fuel after pitting.. sorry to rob for being kindof erratic there--was trying figure out the stop n' go via lcd and dodge flying diecast cars while we were battling for p1, that g25 will shake anything loose!!
very happy to have such a solid run after my clueless vanport tptcc race friday--that car needs some mazda magic

go miska,
greg

[Ced Collins]

WOW.......A race I actually finished. So for me that was a big plus. Brenda actually has more finishes than me....You go girl ;D

Felt good about coming into Barcelona, tried to avoid the seeing two cars go off at the start and then hitting the brakes hard and barely taping Brent I think it was. Everyone was sideways when I got to the corner. Journeyed on for a good consistent race. And as James said. Once again the vicious cycle Rodent e Rodent, Weasel vs Squirrel. It is one thing to catch and another to pass and it came down to many laps trying and a drag race on the front stretch.....it doesn't get any better than that at the end. Hard, Clean and BIG FUN.

Congrats to all on a good race