Aside from a broken suspension piece causing a dismal 11th place qualifying for the Saturday Spec e30 race, qualifying was relatively uneventful and we prepped the 91 car for a GTS Challenge race followed by a Spec e30 race later in the day. Known to be built in the center of an unpredictable weather zone that would put the Bermuda triangle to shame, just about 20 minutes before the GTS race, the skies clouded over and put a significant amount of water down on the track, leaving the field scrambling for tires and setup options.
The large Norcal GTS Challenge field took its usual rolling start and had a surprisingly uneventful trip through turns 15 and 14, a sole 911 slowly spinning off out of the rest of the field's way. One standout though, was the BTM 91 car picking up a few places from its midfield start in the first turn. But it didn't stop there. Even though running in the slower GTS2 class, Brad began to reel in several GTS3 and 4 cars, eventually running in 2nd overall for most of the race. While his wet-weather skills were unparalled, the track's unpredictability hit again, this time drying out, and allowing Team Roadrunner's Austin N. to catch up and challenge, finally passing Brad in a daring move going into T15. Brad brought home 2nd place, still ahead of several much higher classed cars.
I jumped in the 91 car fresh from earlier qualifying repairs and lined up a dismal 11th. No rain or other extenuating circumstances appeared to be imminent for the race, but I knew I could surprise a few people with a car faster than it was in qualifying. The signature Spec e30 standing start went off without a hitch, and the field charged into the 15 - 14 complex 3 wide. With some good anticipation and help from a spinning car, I worked through the field, and got a good run coming out of 10 for the charge up to 9. A few more optimal turns, and after the 1st lap I found myself in 6th. And while I'd taken 5 cars on the 1st lap, the next 10 laps turned into an epic battle with the Team Roadrunner car again, this time driven by teammate Kevin N.
It took a good 4 laps of picture-perfect turns to get up to the rear bumper, and a few more laps to figure out where I could possibly get around Kevin. One lap I got alongside in T6, and we battled side by side, over 5, 4, 3, and finally he was able to make it back around in T2.
It ended up that I wasn't making time on him on the front straight in spite of the draft, but his line into 9 seemed to be where I could make up the most. I set him up for that, passed going out of 9, and came alongside braking for 8, a full-speed downhill bumpy camber-challenged no runoff turn. We again stayed side by side all the way into T6, but this time, I was able to make the gap stick. Kevin dogged me all the way to the finish line, but a hard-fought 5th place went to the BTM car.
Sunday went even better - Brad brought a few more tweaks to the GTS challenge race, got pole, and motored away from the pack. Stay tuned for pics and video!
-- Andy Chittum
