Just a quick overview of Onasled Racing's two days at the NARRC Runoffs at Lime Rock. Here in the northeast we had heavy heavy rains that just about flooded out the entire facility, though I will say the the improvements that LRP has made did save the track for the most part and permitted qualifying in the afternoon. Kept looking like it was going to clear up so we decided to unload the GT1 car and get it ready to go out. Problem... Ted did not have it in his budget this season to invest in rain tires (being we only did three races and this was the last). So in the end we just bagged qualifying all together. Headed home soaked to the bone, smelling like old wet laundry. Was nice to get home in a warm shower and feel dry again! Saturday was a beautiful day and we were at the track by 7 am to get ready for morning practice. We were using a second hand set of Goodyears this time rather then the Hoosiers we had used in the last two races. Track was obviously very green that morning and quite cool, and the test session so short that we just couldn't get the car to stick. During Ted's run I heard the motor breaking up on the main straight as he was hitting the rev limiter at about 8K, so I did a gear change during our nice long break before race time. Decided to to some tire compound changes also along with a few tweaks to this and that. Race time.... Well, let me state something here. I build the cars, set up the cars, take single handed care of getting my driver safetly into the car and stay with him in the grid. Once the driver is on the track he is in our "spotters" hands and I am just a bystander ready to jump into action if the car has issue. We are one of those teams that shows up in the hot pits with a full pit cart...haaa. But this race our spotter could not make it so I had to step into that position today. I have spotted before, but very very little. Ted, being he did not qualify started in 30th out of like 34 cars. The pace car goes off and I see that the flagger is going to wave off the start. He does in fact wave off the start and I radio Ted, as he is just at the downhill, "Wave off, WAVE OFF, No Green!" We, just as those words came out I realized I had F'ed up and said the word green which is all he heard! Ugg...Ted jumps on it and finds himself up against a wall of cars that to him looked as if they stopped completely. He goes into this spin in the middle of the rear of the pack and I am sure it's now all over before it even started. Thank god he spun in a very straight line and everyone was able to avoid him!! Ted, facing the wrong way now feels that the rear end is not sounding good and almost just pulled off the track but decided just to spin the car around and go race. Second pace lap and ted catches up with the pack and is now dead last. Ted raced HARD and by the middle of the race he was third, but was in no way as quick as the 1 and 2 cars. Third in class, and third overall. We were very happy!! I look forward to next season with this car and maybe others. Ted's car will have a good amount of work done to it by next season. Congrats to Ted for driving his heart out! Greg V
Wow, what a weekend Third, that's amazing:eek6: He must have been flying thru that pack. So was the car just tired at the end?
Jim, The guy who won and the guy in second just have very fast cars and are in their cars all the time. List of excuses? ..Haa, I gotta a list. We are so low budget that we run "their" used tires We are the only ones out there in GT1 that run a four speed vs their five We are running a Stock Car Parts (brand name) quick change rear as apposed to their light and strong Fords. Their Front brakes budget is our engine budget. They run rear camber, we can't (remember, these are all solid rear axles.)Again, budget prohibitive! They all run driver adjustable front and rear sway bars. We will build ours this winter. This is only the third time out since the restoration of our car. Ted is the ONLY one out there in GT1 running his own design built by his own hands in his own barn! The winning cars have long histories from IMSA and TA. Anyway, excuses mean nothing. Haa. The winner, Bill Rozmajzl just broke Watkins Glenn track record this summer. In car video from Bills car during that race. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQdKr98Zaeo&playnext=1&videos=Tc86J46tHdU&feature=mfu_in_order]YouTube - NARRC PART1[/ame] Note, on that video at about 4:20 at the uphill. His front is airborn and you can see when he touches back down. Ted's car was getting sore towards the end and the old tranny was leaking gear oil on his feet. Brakes were really going. But, Ted was running 56 sec and the leaders were running in the 55 to 54 sec. So we were very happy. This GT1 stuff is just the best. So much raw chassis and powertrain!
You did not add to you excuse list that you are most likely the only one in the class that needs a canoe to get down the driveway and hip waders to get into the barn during a good portion of the year Congratulations to you and Ted and it is just amazing what can come out of a old barn in the Ct woods Randy
Randy, Yea, I told Ted that he really needs to make his barn more worker friendly! Like how about some lights! Haaa. Well, you know....that driveway keeps all the fans at bay. Haaa. But really, it is very cool to show up at the track with a car as good as this coming from such a facility. By far the best "looking" GT1 at the race and seemed to be a crowed favorite.
The track was very slow that day. The guy who won, William Rozmajzl, did it almost exactly two seconds (51.689) faster in May. Really shows that track conditions have a big effect on time, even though both days were similar in weather and climate conditions.
Did I see Bill pass a PINTO ???, that's vintage Good video, I found myself leaning into the screen and talking him around the track :crazy::eek6: Mark
That car was just across the paddock road from us and we never really took the time to figure it out. I think it's an old 1975 Mustang. Funny car. Ugly years.. http://www.shnack.com/gallery/6/medium/1975FordMustang_large.jpg By the way there is a part two of that video. Near the begining is where they lapped Ted. He does slow to let them by and race.
Oh man... I had a 1975 Mustang II back in the day. What a piece of crap that car was. But it was better then all my friends' without cars.
Some Mustang II history... while everyone now says it sucked, some sales number: 1973 Total Production: 134,867 1974 Total Production: 385,993 And while the Mustang II is the bastaard child of the Mustang family, it's front end design lives on in many a hot rod! Back to the normal thread content.... Matt
Just when I thought it was over for the season... Haaaa And for a totaly different setup. Till 1am this morning!
