Is a buddy of mine (ex-coworker) we both left the same company to make more $$$. But we stay in touch. Anywho he races a bad a$$ cobra kit car and he sent me an email:
Hi all!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to not only see Laden, my cousin Ioana and her husband Jeremy's new baby boy but also to race at one of the famous racetrack which each year since 1952 holds the 12hrs American Le Mans Series Race @ Sebring. Ed Boothman and I race against each other usually in the Mid-Ohio region but this year he decided to purchase another race car to campaign this car in the 25hr race @ thunderhill later this year. Somehow he has the distinct impression that I am a good driver and wants me to be part of the 4 driver team to race the 25hrs later this year. Ive been promising him for a while now that Id come down to Florida and give him a hand getting this race car ready for the 25hr race, and somehow the stars aligned and since I was already down in Florida visiting Ioana, Jeremy, and Laden Id swing by his place and help on the race car. Unbenounced to me the same weekend worked out to be the NASA race at Sebring! Ed was kind enough to let me race his race car on this famous track because as he said to me 'My knee hurts and since Im old now I need to get my physical done each year to have my NASA race license current, which I haven't done yet!'
Saturday we get up real early leaving Orlando at 6:30am, arriving close to 8am meeting Ed at the track. The first session out was Qualifying and I took it easy out there since its a new car to me, and we didn't know how the car would handle the bumpy surfaces of Sebring. Qualifying 20th overall and 18 seconds slower then the other FFC car meant that we had alot of work to do on the car! Ed and I changed camber/caster/tow on the front wheels and got the car back together for the Sprint race. This sprint race (35 min) saw me finish 18th overall, 2nd in class and the best part was we were now only 8 sec off Scott's time (the other Factory Five car racing in class.) After this sprint race we decided to tweak the car some more, only to have the great Florida weather play havoc on our dry racing with a 2:40pm rain shower which ofcorse lasted the entire 45 minute Feature Sprint Race. Scott unfortunately had car problems (3 laps down) and was not able to start with us which gave the win to team Boothman/George (finished 7th overall!) Everyone stayed for the awards where I was given a first place trophy at a track that I have never raced at before.
Sunday started with some more car setup, qualifying 19th overall, 2nd in class and now only 4 seconds off Scott's time. The sprint race was dry and I was able to get more comfortable with the car/track and finished 16th overall 3 seconds off Scott's time. For the Featured Sprint Race weather was once again threatening rain, but due to our earlier rain tire change, Ed and I decided to put back the dry tires since the storm quickly moved away. The start of the race was great, car felt great and I was hoping to better my times only to get to lap 3's turn 1 and to find that the brake pedal went straight to the floor. I quickly downshifted, and pumped the pedal and got the brakes 1/2 back and was able to slow down to make the corner. Limping back to the pits I started hearing lots of strange noises related to brakes, once parked walked around the car and found the culprit!! the rear drivers side brake caliper was only held in place by one caliper mounting bolt, the other one completely missing and caused the caliper to grind some of the inside wheel. We rigged the caliper back into its normal position and got the car packed up into the trailer calling it quits.
The culmination of a great weekend saw us only 3 seconds off Scott's before the last race of the weekend, where Scott set a new track record bettering his time by 2 seconds! Coming into this race weekend we knew the car was well down on power (Scott had 25HP more then us!) and that after the race I would go with Ed and help him rewire this car to get it ready for the 25hr race in December.
The next track will be back in my race car @ Pocono in July!
Video from Sebring:
https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4733266442233113542&hl=en
Pics:
https://jgoodphoto.smugmug.com/forum/images/5262663_uoN6t/10#320305183_ywJHa
https://ffr.drunkhq.com/forum/images/sebring08
-John
Hi all!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to not only see Laden, my cousin Ioana and her husband Jeremy's new baby boy but also to race at one of the famous racetrack which each year since 1952 holds the 12hrs American Le Mans Series Race @ Sebring. Ed Boothman and I race against each other usually in the Mid-Ohio region but this year he decided to purchase another race car to campaign this car in the 25hr race @ thunderhill later this year. Somehow he has the distinct impression that I am a good driver and wants me to be part of the 4 driver team to race the 25hrs later this year. Ive been promising him for a while now that Id come down to Florida and give him a hand getting this race car ready for the 25hr race, and somehow the stars aligned and since I was already down in Florida visiting Ioana, Jeremy, and Laden Id swing by his place and help on the race car. Unbenounced to me the same weekend worked out to be the NASA race at Sebring! Ed was kind enough to let me race his race car on this famous track because as he said to me 'My knee hurts and since Im old now I need to get my physical done each year to have my NASA race license current, which I haven't done yet!'
Saturday we get up real early leaving Orlando at 6:30am, arriving close to 8am meeting Ed at the track. The first session out was Qualifying and I took it easy out there since its a new car to me, and we didn't know how the car would handle the bumpy surfaces of Sebring. Qualifying 20th overall and 18 seconds slower then the other FFC car meant that we had alot of work to do on the car! Ed and I changed camber/caster/tow on the front wheels and got the car back together for the Sprint race. This sprint race (35 min) saw me finish 18th overall, 2nd in class and the best part was we were now only 8 sec off Scott's time (the other Factory Five car racing in class.) After this sprint race we decided to tweak the car some more, only to have the great Florida weather play havoc on our dry racing with a 2:40pm rain shower which ofcorse lasted the entire 45 minute Feature Sprint Race. Scott unfortunately had car problems (3 laps down) and was not able to start with us which gave the win to team Boothman/George (finished 7th overall!) Everyone stayed for the awards where I was given a first place trophy at a track that I have never raced at before.
Sunday started with some more car setup, qualifying 19th overall, 2nd in class and now only 4 seconds off Scott's time. The sprint race was dry and I was able to get more comfortable with the car/track and finished 16th overall 3 seconds off Scott's time. For the Featured Sprint Race weather was once again threatening rain, but due to our earlier rain tire change, Ed and I decided to put back the dry tires since the storm quickly moved away. The start of the race was great, car felt great and I was hoping to better my times only to get to lap 3's turn 1 and to find that the brake pedal went straight to the floor. I quickly downshifted, and pumped the pedal and got the brakes 1/2 back and was able to slow down to make the corner. Limping back to the pits I started hearing lots of strange noises related to brakes, once parked walked around the car and found the culprit!! the rear drivers side brake caliper was only held in place by one caliper mounting bolt, the other one completely missing and caused the caliper to grind some of the inside wheel. We rigged the caliper back into its normal position and got the car packed up into the trailer calling it quits.
The culmination of a great weekend saw us only 3 seconds off Scott's before the last race of the weekend, where Scott set a new track record bettering his time by 2 seconds! Coming into this race weekend we knew the car was well down on power (Scott had 25HP more then us!) and that after the race I would go with Ed and help him rewire this car to get it ready for the 25hr race in December.
The next track will be back in my race car @ Pocono in July!
Video from Sebring:
https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4733266442233113542&hl=en
Pics:
https://jgoodphoto.smugmug.com/forum/images/5262663_uoN6t/10#320305183_ywJHa
https://ffr.drunkhq.com/forum/images/sebring08
-John
