Post by JABowders on Jan 27, 2009 7:12:35 GMT -5
Red Weasel Racing Reports
Race Line: Daytona Road Course
In the shadow of the big Rolex the ILMS-ERL set out to do it best at the magnificent race with a six hour event at four times the time scale covering the full 24 hour period. The Red Weasel Racing Team was ready. After a lengthy preparation time the team decided to run a stable and quick setup, understanding that the other choice would be fast and unpredictable. The one we chose was a well rounded configuration designed to last the duration. Taking lessons from Ford’s “Don’t Ever Do This Book” we set our sights on the finish line and not the start.
Miss Susan did a fine job qualifying the Red Weasel Racing Porsche RS Spyder mid pack; of course that is the tail end of the LM cars at P15 and just after the really quick GTs. But no mind, it is at the end of the race the trophies are handed out and not the start of Lap 2.
Our race start was a bit bumpy as an excited GT car bumped the car twice before T2, my only comment is you can’t go any faster than the gaggle in front of you or you…well bump into the cars in front of you. So with just a tad of damage she set her sights on moving up through the field and well that was the only place we could go after being roughly handled and placed back in P24. So with five hours and fifty seven and a half minutes we started to Weasel our way back to the front. We also suffered some indignity during one of the fuel runs when I had to bring the car in for repairs. It was later reported that someone lost their brakes in T1 and I ran through all the garbage and sent me for my own Off Track Excursion.
Nightfall and the track lights finally came on, only to leave this driver disappointed with the light coverage of parts of the infield, had I known those light polls required the insertion of quarters every 30 minutes I would have walked through the garage area two days ago and taken a collection. The only benefit was that if I thought it was dark the other drivers must have thought the same thing and it was apparent as a few of the faster LMs found the grass on the other side of the curbing while playing blind man’s bluff though the inner circuit. I called on my years of Army training, after years of night operations with units the likes of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st, maneuvering at night becomes almost second nature and it wasn’t long before I got word back from the team spotters I was running lap times as fast in the dark as I do in the light of day. I heard someone make an offhanded comment that the reason why is because I spend half of every lap with my eyes closed anyway so I was better adapted for it. Whatever the case the Red Weasel Racing Porsche was on a mission and climbed steadily through the field. A double fuel run and I climbed out of the car the reseat the Weasel Wench to drive out the balance of the night, with only a short time remaining before the sun would wake the new day the Team was confident at this point for a top ten finish.
Miss Susan finished out her last stint and handed the car back without any further issues she maintained her pace and kept the Team in striking distance. I took off and set my sights on bettering our position, with each lap I shaved a few seconds off from the gap between the time separating us from position, as the 30 minutes warning flashed I quickly calculated fuel and knew we would be four laps short so one more stop would be required. Diving for the pit lane the crew counted out the seconds as the fuel flowed into the tank and as it brimmed I was off. Back on track the spotters called out the cars that began diving into the pits for their last fuel stop. The gamble paid off, I was able to recover a full lap on position and closed in to with a handful of seconds to be reclaimed on track and slowly ever so slowly the Red Weasel gained a pair of spots. With only ten minutes left in the race running P6 my sights were on P5 pushing and pushing, I had P1 and P2 behind me running laps close to my own, not that I was driving faster, but they were driving slower then disaster, just as the real clocked turned 0200 my Anti-Virus scan started as I was heading toward the final turn exiting the infield, P1 close to me and my screen minimizes, I quickly jumped on the binders and held a straight line hoping more than anything in the world to stop short without the help of a retaining wall as I reached up and maximized my screen I saw that P1 safely passed me and I was in no danger of causing any added issues, I was back on the gas and safely away before P2 could close in on me. This added an undesirable gap between positions but only a mistake from the car in P5 or maybe their AV kicking on could put me back in the chase for the position. Then something happen and I was back in the fight…and quickly into P5 with no way gain the laps needed to fight on. So the Red Weasel Racing Team secures a solid P5 overall and in class and readies the car for Atlanta.
James
Head Weasel
Race Line: Daytona Road Course
In the shadow of the big Rolex the ILMS-ERL set out to do it best at the magnificent race with a six hour event at four times the time scale covering the full 24 hour period. The Red Weasel Racing Team was ready. After a lengthy preparation time the team decided to run a stable and quick setup, understanding that the other choice would be fast and unpredictable. The one we chose was a well rounded configuration designed to last the duration. Taking lessons from Ford’s “Don’t Ever Do This Book” we set our sights on the finish line and not the start.
Miss Susan did a fine job qualifying the Red Weasel Racing Porsche RS Spyder mid pack; of course that is the tail end of the LM cars at P15 and just after the really quick GTs. But no mind, it is at the end of the race the trophies are handed out and not the start of Lap 2.
Our race start was a bit bumpy as an excited GT car bumped the car twice before T2, my only comment is you can’t go any faster than the gaggle in front of you or you…well bump into the cars in front of you. So with just a tad of damage she set her sights on moving up through the field and well that was the only place we could go after being roughly handled and placed back in P24. So with five hours and fifty seven and a half minutes we started to Weasel our way back to the front. We also suffered some indignity during one of the fuel runs when I had to bring the car in for repairs. It was later reported that someone lost their brakes in T1 and I ran through all the garbage and sent me for my own Off Track Excursion.
Nightfall and the track lights finally came on, only to leave this driver disappointed with the light coverage of parts of the infield, had I known those light polls required the insertion of quarters every 30 minutes I would have walked through the garage area two days ago and taken a collection. The only benefit was that if I thought it was dark the other drivers must have thought the same thing and it was apparent as a few of the faster LMs found the grass on the other side of the curbing while playing blind man’s bluff though the inner circuit. I called on my years of Army training, after years of night operations with units the likes of the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st, maneuvering at night becomes almost second nature and it wasn’t long before I got word back from the team spotters I was running lap times as fast in the dark as I do in the light of day. I heard someone make an offhanded comment that the reason why is because I spend half of every lap with my eyes closed anyway so I was better adapted for it. Whatever the case the Red Weasel Racing Porsche was on a mission and climbed steadily through the field. A double fuel run and I climbed out of the car the reseat the Weasel Wench to drive out the balance of the night, with only a short time remaining before the sun would wake the new day the Team was confident at this point for a top ten finish.
Miss Susan finished out her last stint and handed the car back without any further issues she maintained her pace and kept the Team in striking distance. I took off and set my sights on bettering our position, with each lap I shaved a few seconds off from the gap between the time separating us from position, as the 30 minutes warning flashed I quickly calculated fuel and knew we would be four laps short so one more stop would be required. Diving for the pit lane the crew counted out the seconds as the fuel flowed into the tank and as it brimmed I was off. Back on track the spotters called out the cars that began diving into the pits for their last fuel stop. The gamble paid off, I was able to recover a full lap on position and closed in to with a handful of seconds to be reclaimed on track and slowly ever so slowly the Red Weasel gained a pair of spots. With only ten minutes left in the race running P6 my sights were on P5 pushing and pushing, I had P1 and P2 behind me running laps close to my own, not that I was driving faster, but they were driving slower then disaster, just as the real clocked turned 0200 my Anti-Virus scan started as I was heading toward the final turn exiting the infield, P1 close to me and my screen minimizes, I quickly jumped on the binders and held a straight line hoping more than anything in the world to stop short without the help of a retaining wall as I reached up and maximized my screen I saw that P1 safely passed me and I was in no danger of causing any added issues, I was back on the gas and safely away before P2 could close in on me. This added an undesirable gap between positions but only a mistake from the car in P5 or maybe their AV kicking on could put me back in the chase for the position. Then something happen and I was back in the fight…and quickly into P5 with no way gain the laps needed to fight on. So the Red Weasel Racing Team secures a solid P5 overall and in class and readies the car for Atlanta.
James
Head Weasel
