Mid-Ohio,
DAL took a hard blow last week
During our now familiar rush before a race, we asked an acquaintance to transport the original Black #51 car to meet before heading out with our rig in route to the Mid-Ohio race. The driver lost control of my truck and trailer that carried our now deceased race car. The driver seems to have superficial injuries. Everything rolled and is now a total loss, some of the performance parts can be salvaged, but a replacement car may not be in the near future. Unfortunately the 51 nor the trailer look like they have insurance coverage. Conservative $80k was invested into the 51, and as a team were for the most part spent.
The second big blow was that leading up to Mid-Ohio we signed Pete Halsmer and Benoit Theetge to run this car. (Both Pete and Benoit have won here at Mid-Ohio) We fitted the 51 with a 3.2 and 6-speed. This along with the new series concessions for the NSX, made us a favored entry.
It just wasn’t meant to be… we now had 4 drivers and only one car. Pete and I decided to sit out, Pete already had a ride in the HART Rolex NSX, and I am happy to settle for some seat time to build on for next year. Even our 3.0 5-speed car was fast, Me, Vaughn, and Benoit practiced in the promoter test day within the top 6. After testing we checked the corner balance and alignment to find that we were way off due to a suspension set-up error. We spent the night re-working and knew we would be among the leaders the next day. Benoit was very happy with the car and says that with the 3.2 and 6-speed, we should be a frequent threat for podium positions. Because were under the spot light right now, we opted to stay under the radar and practice with used tires and a full tank. Our strategy was to have Vaughn qualify because his times were normal for the series and getting faster every stint. The qualifier is required to drive first, and would allow Benoit (with the pace setting times) to finish the race presumably up front. Were also one of the few cars who can occasionally make only one stop in a race… lowest HP in the series means less fuel consumption! (Oh, and this was one of those races) If any one was following our times, we get a consistent 2 second drop in lap times with new tires and a near empty fuel tank. Those times would have put us in the top two with only one fuel stop.
I mentioned that we were in the spotlight- The series hired a mobile dyno and randomly test various cars. We were one of them! We made 265 RWHP in these conditions. Corrected HP is 275 on recently calibrated and more reliable dyno the week before. It has made as much as 279 in optimal conditions. I stalked the dyno while the Cadillac’s were running (I wish I saw the 350z’s) well the Caddy’s made 349 vs. our 265. I think we have an argument for more power.
Anyway all was going as planned, Vaughn was just getting comfortable in qualifying, when the engine let go. In the pits we see an almost unbelievable amount of smoke billowing over the hill in turn 6, shortly after that we were informed it was our car. Further investigation showed that we lost a valve that ultimately punched through the block. Another big blow. I cant say that I’m sure were going to recover from this, we expended everything we had to make this event matter… the tough part for me is that our final blow might be caused by driving skills that weren’t even race related.
DAL took a hard blow last week
During our now familiar rush before a race, we asked an acquaintance to transport the original Black #51 car to meet before heading out with our rig in route to the Mid-Ohio race. The driver lost control of my truck and trailer that carried our now deceased race car. The driver seems to have superficial injuries. Everything rolled and is now a total loss, some of the performance parts can be salvaged, but a replacement car may not be in the near future. Unfortunately the 51 nor the trailer look like they have insurance coverage. Conservative $80k was invested into the 51, and as a team were for the most part spent.The second big blow was that leading up to Mid-Ohio we signed Pete Halsmer and Benoit Theetge to run this car. (Both Pete and Benoit have won here at Mid-Ohio) We fitted the 51 with a 3.2 and 6-speed. This along with the new series concessions for the NSX, made us a favored entry.
It just wasn’t meant to be… we now had 4 drivers and only one car. Pete and I decided to sit out, Pete already had a ride in the HART Rolex NSX, and I am happy to settle for some seat time to build on for next year. Even our 3.0 5-speed car was fast, Me, Vaughn, and Benoit practiced in the promoter test day within the top 6. After testing we checked the corner balance and alignment to find that we were way off due to a suspension set-up error. We spent the night re-working and knew we would be among the leaders the next day. Benoit was very happy with the car and says that with the 3.2 and 6-speed, we should be a frequent threat for podium positions. Because were under the spot light right now, we opted to stay under the radar and practice with used tires and a full tank. Our strategy was to have Vaughn qualify because his times were normal for the series and getting faster every stint. The qualifier is required to drive first, and would allow Benoit (with the pace setting times) to finish the race presumably up front. Were also one of the few cars who can occasionally make only one stop in a race… lowest HP in the series means less fuel consumption! (Oh, and this was one of those races) If any one was following our times, we get a consistent 2 second drop in lap times with new tires and a near empty fuel tank. Those times would have put us in the top two with only one fuel stop.
I mentioned that we were in the spotlight- The series hired a mobile dyno and randomly test various cars. We were one of them! We made 265 RWHP in these conditions. Corrected HP is 275 on recently calibrated and more reliable dyno the week before. It has made as much as 279 in optimal conditions. I stalked the dyno while the Cadillac’s were running (I wish I saw the 350z’s) well the Caddy’s made 349 vs. our 265. I think we have an argument for more power.
Anyway all was going as planned, Vaughn was just getting comfortable in qualifying, when the engine let go. In the pits we see an almost unbelievable amount of smoke billowing over the hill in turn 6, shortly after that we were informed it was our car. Further investigation showed that we lost a valve that ultimately punched through the block. Another big blow. I cant say that I’m sure were going to recover from this, we expended everything we had to make this event matter… the tough part for me is that our final blow might be caused by driving skills that weren’t even race related.
Hope it turns around and quickly, the future has got to be brighter.
