Just got back and settled after a long weekend at VIR. The weekend started out awesome, and finished “ok”, but in the end, I did walk away with 2 more wins and a lot more experience.
I decided to do the back half of the test day, and it was absolutely worth it. While the testing tires were horrid, I was able to get some good track time, and get used to the track a bit. Its like Road Atlanta where you need some big balls to go fast. There are turns that you just have to commit to and go, regardless of whether you think you will make it out 
Saturday qualifying I put on the fresher Hoosiers and rocked out a 2:17.8 lap. Thats only 0.6 off the track record, and was enough to put me on pole for ITA and also ahead of all the ITS cars again. We started the race, right after lunch, and the grid workes called the 5 minute warning super early. I wasn’t quite ready and barely got situated in the car and realized I didn’t have the camera on! Oh well.
I had a good start and ended up with about a 4-5 second lead on 2nd place. It was very hot out, and my rear tires started going off pretty bad, and the car became very loose. With that, and me playing “rabbit” for 2nd place, Chris Perera was able to catch up to me. He was driving over his head a bit though and went off in the last turn with 2 laps to go as we were passing a couple of cars that we were lapping. I saw this in my rear view mirror and relaxed and said “ok, this one is in the bag”. I was going to pass 2 more cars I was lapping in turn 1, but decided to just hold off and pass them later, or not at all instead as I wasn’t in a hurry anymore.
The first car ends up spinning out in Turn 3, hitting the car directly in front of me, and then stopping RIGHT in my path. SHIT SHIT. I duck right, off the track, and ended up hitting him in his drivers side with my front left corner. Ended up bending my bumper beam and screwing up the plastic bumper, but I was able to get back on track, right in front of Chris. I held off Chris for the last 1.5 laps and took the win. The alignment was 100% perfect, and it was only cosmetic damage to the bumper and cover
After the race, I swapped my brakes, fixed the bumper/fender, and also got some new tires for Sundays race.
Sunday started out much the same, in taking the pole and having a fast lap. I sped up about 0.2 and qualified at a 2:17.6. It was a better lap though, as I missed a shift, and got held up in 1 turn in my qualifying lap, so it could have been faster. No need though
I had a slightly different strategy for the race, in that I was just going to play with Chris and let him pass me, and then pass him with 1 lap to go for the win. He’s really good at chasing, but he’s not that fast when he’s leading or driving by himself.
He wouldn’t go around me though, even when I lifted on the straightaway, as he was trying unbenowst to me to go for the track record and wanted to draft with me. I was just going for the race win rather then the record and not pushing real hard. Eventually he decided to pass, and I let him by with 4 to go. He then made a big mistake in the lead with 2 to go and went off the track a bit in turn 14, giving me the lead and the race win….almost
I drove the last lap hard, and had a pretty decent lead on him going back into Turn 14. Chris broke a little early, as he was having brake problems, but not early enough. He ended up not slowing down pretty much at all and PLOWING into me twice at the top of the turn. He rear ended me first, spun me around and then smashed me on the side. I got back on track and drove around slowly to the checkered and still took the win.
Chris apologized profusely after the contact and let me know his brakes let him down. Even though the apology was sincere, I’m frustrated after thinking about it, as if the brakes were really busted, why did he only brake 100ft earlier knowing that the race was pretty much over?
In the end, I get to tack on to the body shop bill. Glad that the car was not fixed before this weekend, as now, I not only need a new bumper beam/bumper cover, I need a new passenger door, and frame/rocker panel work to get everything straightened out. UGH.
Because of the costs of all that, I’m going to have to skip the planned July race at Road Atlanta, and I’m not going to be back on track until August in Ohio. It will give me plenty of time though to get everything looking awesome, and also work on some mechanical issues. I have a slight power steering leak, a small oil leak somewhere by the oil filter, and also need to get that rear swaybar mounting fixed.
I’ve got the video off the camera for Sunday, and will be posting the qualifying shortly, and then the race video and crash on Wednesday.
$48 later, I’ve got a smoker!
