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NASA “HEAT WAVE” at VIR – It
was a scorcher!
It might have been the old “95 &
95” - usually seen in August. That is 95 degree with 95% humidity. At
least it felt that way with triple layer Nomex, gloves, helmet – you get
the picture. And, the competition was hot too. Charles Burkett, Wayne
Patterson, and Carl Thompson came to VIR for the “Test & Tune” on
Friday, and two days of racing for Saturday & Sunday. They just checked
transponders on Friday so we didn’t really get any ideas on times until
qualifying on Saturday. Friday evening Carl hosted the FFR folks - in
the
Challenge Car Compound – Challenge Series, HPDE, ST-2, - whoever would show
up for some food and fun. We had burgers, beer, dogs, fruit salad, sodas
etc. Jim Goodwin brought the fruit salad – said he had to continue his
diet – he has lost over 40 lbs. Way to go Jim. Travis Grabb, Wayne and
Dottie Patterson, Charles and Shirley Burkett, and Brian Cates brought
goodies, relaxed and swapped racing/driving stories, some philosophy of
life ideas, and enjoyed each others company. By 7pm it had cooled off
nicely, by 9pm we were ready for some air conditioned rest.
Saturday dawned warm with the
promise for more “95/95”. Well, Charles put on some new tires for
qualifying and was flying. He turned in a 1:46.659, Carl a 1:47.358 and
Wayne a 1:51.773. Unfortunately Charles had to avoid another class car
after the up hill and went off track and contacted the tires and Armco
on the right – front end severely damaged, lower front A arm attachment
points bent – he was done for the weekend. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt.
So Carl’s thinking – 1:46.659 could be the new VIR North Course Track
record on Toyo’s for the FFR Challenge Series unless race results can be
a little quicker. There were 66 cars in the combined field with our
standing start – more than 35 cars in our field, and then the rest in a
rolling start. Without Charles to chase I had to pick someone else. I
was able to turn a 1:46.332 in the chase – just a hair under Charles’s
best time to establish the record – at least for a day and Wayne
finished second. At least Wayne was smart enough to have a “cool shirt”
to help. By Saturday evening most of us were beat from the heat and all
the day’s activities. A good night sleep helped.
Sunday was another not and humid
day. I was grided in front of Wayne. The standing start was its usual
excitement with 3 or 4 wide in the first corner. Carl experienced a
fuel pickup/starvation problem coming out of that corner, got nudged in
the process, but couldn’t get consistent fuel feed. Wayne recognized
there was some problem and drove on the catch and pass Thompson. I
couldn’t figure out the problem but just pressed on. It improved
somewhat and allowed me to “almost” catch Wayne to contest him on the
last lap at the finish line. But, it wasn’t to be. Wayne won his first
race and Carl finished second. Neither of us were able to beat
yesterday best time. So, the new lap record is established. All in
all, it was a HOT weekend with some HOT racing. Off to Summit Point
next month!
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Carl Thompson |
