2021 Mid-Ohio Race results and pictures

[Bill Strong]

Official Race Results

Saturday 

https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1912791

 

Sinday

Https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1914011

 

Saturday Protest Result
https://champcarenduranceseries.blogspot.com/2021/09/2021-mid-ohio-post-race-impound-protest.html

 

Saturday ChampCar.Live Facebook Edition
Part 1  - https://fb.watch/80rgkQrsGQ/
Part 2 - https://fb.watch/80rm0PWUYM/

Sunday ChampCar.live Facebook Edition

https://fb.watch/80roRNsv0f/

 

90racing.com images by Sharon Bank
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=9ORacing&set=a.240832266631696

 

more to come

[Bill Strong]

Credentialed photographers at Mid-Ohio

 

Name: Don Mr. MacIntosh
email:  donmacretired@gmail.com
Additional Information:
Company: TurtlesWay 
Co-Owner/Photographer: Don MacIntosh
URL: turtlesway.com/Racing
_________________________________

 

Name Matt Wagar
Email mwagar@ecstuning.com
URL of sample work with by-line/photo-credit https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCybVf9B2Uhvi4kvwObI98-w
 

_________________________________

 

Name Alex Jensen
Email asj352rc@gmail.com
URL of sample work with by-line/photo-credit https://flic.kr/ps/3XeR7R
 

___________________________________

[Bill Strong]

Bill Strong photos. some in focus
https://photos.app.goo.gl/EdemygwJf2u9RiyE8

[Money Shift Racing]

Guess we’ll go first.

 

Another frustrating weekend for the MSR Honda Civic. This race we were a little short handed so we hired a hot show to come and wheel the car. Friday testing went off without a hitch. Car performed flawlessly and everyone was happy with the car and the track layout.

 

Saturdays race was the best start we have ever had. Leading the race for about 30 minutes in the beginning before the WTF Miata and Sahlens Porsches finally found their way through the pack. Made it to out second driver and that’s when the transmission/clutch/shifter issues resurfaced from Gingerman. So we tossed it in fourth gear and kept going. Part way through the third stint it was determined to just call it a day and regroup for Sunday as a couple of PUY penalty’s took us out of any overall/class win.

 

We theorized that excessive heat was boiling the fluid in the clutch slave cylinder so we focused on air flow and cooling in that area. Buttoned up the new changes and prepped for Sunday.

 

Sunday started off with clutch issues pretty much right out of the gate. The entire first stint was again run in 4th gear. A runout in turn 1 resulted in a damaged splitter and an unplanned stop to remove it. Handed the car off to driver two and eventually the transmission just stopped, well, doing transmission stuff. So we loaded up and called it a day.

 

We are still going to try and run PItt Race in a couple of weeks and we feel we have a grip on what changes we need to make. I just hope it works out because we won’t have time to test. 
 

Thanks to Adam, Tony, and Jay for being awesome teammates all weekend. Also thanks to Eric and the rest of the Junk Player Special guys for the push up pit lane when the car finally quit moving. 
 

Congrats to all the guys at RBanks racing on winning our Midwest Championship. It was an amazing summer watching you guys and that rocket ship of a CRX pretty much dominate every race you were in. You set the bar high and we will be on your bumper soon to aid in that Honda domination.

 

Kevyn

[Andrew D Johnson]

9 hours ago, Money Shift Racing said:

Congrats to all the guys at RBanks racing on winning our Midwest Championship. It was an amazing summer watching you guys and that rocket ship of a CRX pretty much dominate every race you were in. You set the bar high and we will be on your bumper soon to aid in that Honda domination.

Thank you guys at Money Shift Racing for such a cool series of races that you sponsored turning into the Midwest Region Championship. 

 

If it wasn’t for all the trackside support Money Shift Racing gave us this year it would not have been possible. 
 

Not only did you guys design our brake system this off-season but you guys helped us with everything from a lower control arm to engine oil at the track this year. 
 

I really was spoiled having so much help from 90racing.com and Money Shift Racing all year. 

 

I saw a Facebook post showing the Money Shift Racing Honda Civic getting a brake proportioning valve late last year, and that was an upgrade I always wanted to do but it seemed a bit daunting to get all the fittings just right.  I emailed Money Shift Racing, and asked if they could provide me with a package that included every single fitting, line and part that would be needed to perform the install. Not only did they provide all the parts needed, but they gave me all the info needed to complete the job.

 

Thank you guys again for all the help at the track this year, and for being the sponsor of the Midwest Region Championship. 

 

You guys really are the best!

 

-Andrew 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Andrew D Johnson

[Rapido]

Team Hugh Jass ran their first (and only) race of 2021 last weekend, and it was great to be back on track with ChampCar and to have our team back together. Good to see some familiar faces in the paddock and to meet some racers who we know from the ChampCar iRacing Series.

 

Friday test day went well (except for an unexpected trip to the gravel for myself on my first lap out of the pits) and we dialed in the car. Thank you to Brian for arranging the day. Track walk on Friday evening was also really useful; Mid-Ohio is an awesome track but the surface could definitely do with a refresh....

 

Saturday we started towards the front but got swallowed up by the field as we don't have the power to compete in a straight line. Still were able to run consistent laps and make up places where we could by running 2 hour stints. Slightly surprised by the lack of full course cautions as the safety workers were definitely committed to doing the hottest of hot pulls throughout the day. Had an unscheduled stop towards the end of the race as our driver was feeling unwell, but that did give us an opportunity to give special guest @Hurljohn a chance for some practice laps before he started the race on Sunday. Went out for dinner that night with the whole team plus the Cone Crushers guys; shout out to the Brown Derby Roadhouse for accommodating 25 hungry racers with no warning and doing a great job keeping us fed and full of beer.

 

Sunday was similarly fun, John ran some quick laps in his opening stint and we were then able to maximise our strategy and work up the field. Unfortunately, radio issues then meant we lost car-to-pit contact which resulted in the final stop occurring 4 minutes before a rare pace car appearance when we could have prolonged the stint to pit under yellow. This meant I exited the pits right behind the leading CRX, who then kindly pitted and left me leading the field. Restart provided some moments of excitement as everyone was racy in the final hour. The leading Sahlens car had just lapped me when the pace car came out again, so got to repeat the experience of being passed 4-wide for a couple of laps. Had an interesting battle with the NTF Racing Civic in the final hour, they were probably 1-2s a lap slower than our car but had all the speed in a straight line. A close fight that highlights the variety of ChampCar and the challenge of endurance racing cars with vastly different characteristics. Brought it home 19th overall, achieving our weekend goal of a Top-20 finish and a car that departed the track in the condition in which it arrived.

 

Thank you to all of ChampCar for putting on the event, and congratulations to the winners and all the competitors that made it to the end of the weekend, was a great time and we're looking forward to being back next year. Full race gallery to come, along with some more exciting video highlights; below is the pass I enjoyed most from Saturday - good racing with the Scrappy Doo Miata and the rest of the Mazda gang.

 

 

 

 

 

[mcoppola]

Running back to back races at Gingerman and Mid Ohio meant there was a lot of work to be done in between. A Labor Day vacation with my wife sapped up some much needed prep time. Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were spent repairing/replacing used up parts from Gingerman. The list included all 3 motor mounts, clutch master cylinder, 3 of 4 wheel bearings, Left side CV axle, brake pads x4, rotors x2, repair CAI tube bracket, repair secondary intake runner control cable, etc, etc, etc.

We rolled into Mid Ohio Friday night about 6pm, late, tired and unorganized - something I knew was going to be the case - but we sure didn't want to miss this race! We made it here and were going to see how our car stacked up against a tough field!!

We were fortunate to have @NigelStuBen Schaut as a teammate for this race, along with my scca gt3 racer/buddy Paul Young, my son Danny, and myself. That was going to be our driving order on Saturday. I knew and trusted that Ben would be the best guy to start the race as we knew there would be a lot of traffic with the number of cars entered. (I believe 69 took the green Saturday).

 

Saturday morning we discovered 1 of the first of our mistakes when Danny came running down to the pit during the pace laps with the transponder in his hand! We were starting mid pack, called Ben in and figured it would only take 10-20 seconds to clip it on, and get him out behind the pack. 10-20 seconds turned into an agonizing time as this old guy placed the transponder on the bracket, then proceeded to fumble around for a full minute or 2, trying to 'find the hole' to put the clip in. A call for a ty-wrap did no good, as the box of 600 or so that Danny brought was up in the garage. A ty wrap came, but it was too short, and the clip was finally put in. Ben got as far as the chicane before the keyhole when the field took the green. So much for a great start!!! Ben proceeded to drive like he stole it, and was quickly moving up. An FCY early on trapped him behind the pace car and OFM light blue Mustang, effectively putting us 2 laps down to start the race. Ben ran a flawless 2 hours, and handed the car to Paul, who did the same. This is only Paul's 3rd endurance race, and each time he seems to get better at driving endurance laps in a grocery getter, instead of pushing too hard like he can in his GT3 purpose built car. We were just outside the top ten by shift end.

 

Danny was up next and was concerned that he and I would not keep the positions that Ben and Paul had attained for us. He's made some huge progress in catching up to me speed-wise, but we both need more seat time to tighten the gap to our more experienced drivers. I told him not to worry about it, that was the plan, to put our 2 best drivers first, to see how competitive the car could be after making extensive upgrades over the past few years. Told him to just go out and drive, have fun, and get experience. 

 

I was going to run the 4th and final stint, but the week or 2 of "lotta work, little sleep" and my nerves were telling me I wasn't really ready to go 2 hours. A running joke within our many TAC and BoD chats/discussions is "will Mike ever get that Focus out to the racetrack?" @Rodger Coan-Burningham told me a month or so back that if I ever did, he would come "wheel the damn thing."  I told Ben how I was feeling and said "I wonder if Rodger got to drive, since Cone Crushers broke early." Rodger had been helping with our pit stops, so I went to find him and posed the question. He said no, he hadn't driven, and I said, well get your gear, you're driving the Focus, just like you threatened and promised to do!!! His eyes lit up, and his buddies muttered something like "Damn, Rodger got a ride." Ben mentioned something, and I asked Rodger if he has driven an FWD ChampCar. His reply "Don't ya remember I set fast laps at xxx track when we put those sticky tires on Scotty's Maxima." I laughed remembering that story, and said come on buddy let's go. I was happy to put another great driver in the car and help to make it a more enjoyable weekend for him. Rodger did just what we expected him to do. He too, drove it like he stole it, and brought us back to a possible top ten. We would have needed some yellow flag help near the end, as we finished in 11th place, 1 lap and 5 seconds behind the 10th place ZTek Honda Accord. We were not only fighting for a top ten, but they took the B class win too. (Congratulations to Dave P. and his team!!!)

 

Ben and I had some fun with Rodger in the closing laps. I called him on the radio and told him I thought he was a hot shoe, and that he wasn't coming close to Ben's times. He turned it up a bit and got within a half a second 1:45.4 to 1:45.9. We told him that wasn't good enough, he had to catch that Honda and then unlap himself. Ben tried coaxing him on by telling him the fastest driver doesn't have to pay... He started complaining about used up tires, and we told him that RS-4's get better with age. We just got them nice and warmed up for you. Or, what's the matter man, Huggy wins on those tires using them multiple weekends!!!

 

Anyway, we were pretty happy with the result, knowing the top ten would have been ours had we not had the transponder issue early on. Even more rewarding was that the car was competitive in a tough field. 

 

We did our post race inspection, replaced a few worn parts and got ready for Sunday morning. Ben started again, and from our midpack slot, he was able to carve his way up into the top ten in the first hour, setting our FTD at 1:43.58 - a full 6 seconds a lap faster than last time running the Mid-O pro course in 2017!!!

Our hopes for glory pretty much ended just past the first hour, as the left rear wheel bearing decided it had enough. We spent an hour in the garage making repairs and finished the rest of the day without further incidents or issues. Thanks goes out to our fellow Focus team, ChunkySalmon for supplying us with the replacement rear brake rotor that we needed. Danny got in the car and ran a lot of good laps between 1:46 - 1:48, with an FTD of 1:46.2. I was next and did similar, but threw a 1:45.98 in there. Paul finished out the weekend for us, again putting in good consistent laps in the 46's' to 48's. His FTD was 1:45.237.

 

I can sum up the weekend at Mid-O, the Gingerman race, and the past 4 years of rebuilding the car, as an effort that our team is very proud of. We went from a mid pack car and team that "has potential" as Ben would often tell me, to a car/team that is now getting closer to the pointy end. It's a wonderful feeling to know that all the hard work, time and money are starting to pay off.

Next up is developing parts to resolve the fragile wheel bearings, hubs and CV axles that are inherent weaknesses in these cars. My goal was to first get the mechanically grip correct and well balanced, before using aero to overcome inefficiencies or balance issues. We feel that the car is handling well enough to now proceed with that work. With better reliability, and the upcoming aero package, we are hoping to be a competitive team, near the pointy end more often than not.

 

I'm getting long winded, as my friends know I can be, lol, so I know I'd miss mentioning all the folks who we are grateful to, if I tried to name them all. Ben and @Andrew D Johnson always come to mind first as our biggest supporters and people whom we confer with. And I can't thank @mender enough for all of the sound engine building advice, tips and specs to shoot for as I did our rebuild. (Yes, HE IS my big secret on where all that powa came from!!)

Rodger put his live stream camera in the car for 3 stints on Sunday, and I absolutely LOVE hearing the sound of the screaming 2.0 zetec motor in that brick of a car it's in. Speaking of which, just a couple more of the laughs we had over the weekend - in TAC chats Monday, I asked Ben if the car drove like a little go cart without any power steering. He came back with his best Alain Prost comparison, and said it drove more like a dump truck! Then Rodger dreamed up another excuse why he wasn't as fast as Ben. It went something like this: "Hey Mike you know that wheel bearing that went bad was probably dragging a bit on me Saturday, losing me that 1/2 second to Ben."

I told him hogwash, the grease was thinned out, you should have gone faster with less friction!!! Good times man, can't wait to do it, and see you all again soon.  

 

Here's a link to the live stream. I still haven't gone through it all, but found a few interesting moments.

 

@enginerdtexted me yesterday and said "Whoa 1:14 - sit down first before watching." 

Ben @NigelStu Thanks for being the awesome and aware driver that you are -that could have been real ugly!

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by mcoppola

[TimS]

Low Percent Pass Racing had a good weekend at Mid Ohio. We didn’t make the test day on Friday, long tow from Charlotte. We started near the front on Saturday. None of us had ever been to Mid Ohio before and only two drivers had driven the track on iRacing. We got swallowed up quick on the start and tried to learn the track. Ran great for a solid 6 hours. 20 minutes into my 2 hours I noticed the oil pressure was jumping around. I pulled into the pits.  Guys opened the hood and found oil everywhere. Nothing obvious though. Pulled into the paddock after some investigation we found the valve cover cracked at the crankcase vent fitting. Used a hose clamp and some rtv to seal the connection. Got it back on track for the final 20 minutes. No more oil leaking. 
Sunday I was chosen to start the race. I was still learning the track but got to start from mid pack this time. Car was running great and I was trying to stay clear of fast guys and learn the line. Unfortunately a few faster guys didn’t want to wait to get by me and decided the “chrome horn” was easiest way around. No big damage but got turned around a couple times. Very rough driving early on Sunday. Second driver ran some great times. 3rd and 4th drivers brought a worn out car home for good finish for us 28th overall.  Another great race at a fun track. Thanks to the champcar staff for great weekend of racing 

[mcoppola]

@TimSI was hoping to meet this weekend. I thought about it before hand but then busyness crept in. During the weekend when I saw the teams name in the standings, I thought, somebody on that team is on the forum. But I forgot it was you or I would’ve came over

[TimS]

Race weekends seem to run out of free time. I saw your car and it looked good. Maybe next time we will be pitted near your team

[mostmint]

Went to Mid Ohio for the first time with a team designed for rental drivers for the first time.  It was great to not have to organize anything and focus just on driving. 

Knew the most teams I ever recall racing with including  60 Degree Motorsports, Band of Brothers, GWR, Hugh Jass, Money Shift, RBank, Shut up Racing, Stay Focus’d, and others

 

On Friday afternoon I slept in and showed up around noon.  As I started walking around I noticed @Paulie Veltum in his vehicle, and quickly learned we were driving the same car.   It was great sharing a team with him over the weekend!

In the early afternoon I got about 20 minutes in the car to get acclimated.  The Racer X E36 had good power, and did everything right.  It was the first car I’ve raced in with an aftermarket digital gauge panel with lights for the shift.  I’ve seen these many times before on iRacing!  If I drive with them again I’ll have to learn how to operate that thing as the display can show you a lot of different things. 

After putting in many laps in iRacing in advance of this race (for the ChampCar iRacing Series earlier in the week), the differences of real life became apparent quite quickly!  Mid Ohio is a relatively rough course, and it’s a lot harder to use the curbs since there are real drop offs where the dirt has been worn away.  

For the track day in the afternoon we borrowed space in RBank tent.  Being in proximity I was asked if I wanted to help out with the pit stop during the sprint race.  It was a mini display of the focus they have on pit stops and was happy to keep up and do my part. 

After the race hung out with the team for dinner, then off to home and sleep in my own bed. 

 

On Saturday Paulie was up first and set FTD for the car.  His stint was going great until about 2 laps left when the LR went off setting up for turn 9 and he got into the wall.  Luckily just cosmetic damage, a missing mirror, and a slightly shook up driver.  Max was up next, and he put in a couple hours of steady laps.  I got the third shift.  This car was fun to drive, and there were a lot of cars to pass.  At the favorable end of the hp to weight ratio I was able to be selective of when to pass.  Unfortunately my mic wasn’t working, but Paulie was on the other end sharing relevant info.  It was a bit surreal since I’ve heard him on the broadcast so many times – he did a good job.  I ran contact free and only put two off once.  After that Kyle came in and finished it out laying almost two hours of hot laps – as we short filled a bit the last pit stop and he couldn’t quite make it to the end.  While he was out driving I hopped in my street car and went around and took pictures – something I rarely have time to think about when I’m running my team.  Our result could have been better, but we lost time in the off, our pit stops, the short fill, and some variance in driver pace.  As a paying driver the on track experience was great.  It was amazing we ran all day with only one FCY, and hats off to Mid Ohio for allowing hot pulls, and all the safety crew that kept bringing in disabled cars.

Our sister car did not fare as well and was the unfortunate victim of a money shift during the day.

 

For Sunday we had an extra driver.  Still had plenty of time in the car.  With a decent draw and a quick car, Jim had us in P1 by the first FCY.  Somewhere near the end of stint 1 the lap times started dropping off and the rest of us drove a car that ran fine but was clearly down on power.  After Justin and Max it was my turn.  My stint then went from passing so many cars to managing traffic passing me.  We had better tires but not enough to offset the power.  I was so busy being irritated the power was down I didn’t make great adjustments to utilize the additional grip!  Pretty sure @Hugh Jass passed me while I was out there – like déjà vu of so many iRacing events lol – and very different than my experience with the 337 car Saturday.  Anyway except for getting tagged on the LF when someone came over at the end of the front straight I had a clean stint and brought the car in on FCY when the red Miata lost its RR wheel in the carousel.  Kyle finished it out for us with no further incident. 

I clearly have work to do on adjusting more quickly to a different car, as well as in race changes (like less power/wider tires). 

[mcoppola]

Wow, I thought the Gingerman post race write-ups were fewer than past years.

Did anyone else have any fun at Mid Ohio? WE SURE DID!!!!

Maybe this stuff is getting too "normal" for some of you, and there's not much excitement in it any more?

I mean it's probably only one of the top 5 tracks in the US, and this seemed to be a bucket list race for some.

We all couldn't wait until Champcar went back to Mid Ohio and signed up in large numbers. Was it that bad that nobody wants to talk about it?

 

Well, if any of you have any video of the #393 Black Focus, let me know.

I'd like to see what the car looks like at speed - lean angles in turns, pitch under braking, did we make any real stupid moves, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

 

[TRMTrent]

1 hour ago, mcoppola said:

Wow, I thought the Gingerman post race write-ups were fewer than past years.

Did anyone else have any fun at Mid Ohio? WE SURE DID!!!!

Maybe this stuff is getting too "normal" for some of you, and there's not much excitement in it any more?

I mean it's probably only one of the top 5 tracks in the US, and this seemed to be a bucket list race for some.

We all couldn't wait until Champcar went back to Mid Ohio and signed up in large numbers. Was it that bad that nobody wants to talk about it?

 

Well, if any of you have any video of the #393 Black Focus, let me know.

I'd like to see what the car looks like at speed - lean angles in turns, pitch under braking, did we make any real stupid moves, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

 

Here's the Sunday start from our view with your Focus a few cars ahead.  This was the first time at Mid-Ohio for our team with just 1 of our 4 drivers having spent time on track before. The Friday practice was much appreciated ! Saturday was solid run for us, finishing near the Top 10. Sunday we got caught up in another teams spin and then lost the engine around the 1:50 mark. Big thanks to the ChampCar staff for making the weekend happen and all the safety and flaggers that did an outstanding job all weekend.  

-Chris Harvey 

Edited September 17, 2021 by TRMTrent

[Mike French]

The Chunkysalmon Focus team had a great time! We have been working on this car (a 2008 Focus that I bought new in 2007) for about 2 years on and off. All of us work on or around cars for a living so it has been a struggle to find extra time to work on the race car after working on other cars all week. We prepped the car and trailer on Thursday, and on Friday arrived at the track and went thru tech. Tech only found some very minor things for us to address, which was a huge relief, because this is our first race with ChampCar, and our first time building a race car from the ground up.

 

Saturday went well. We met our two goals for the weekend: Finish a race, and everyone gets seat time. We noticed how slow we were early on, and throughout the day started coming up with a list of things to change on the car over winter (not enough tire, too much body roll, etc.). All in all, we didn't finish dead last on Saturday, and the car didn't break.

 

Sunday we only made it about 3 hours before the right front wheel hub broke. We knew about this possibility on this car, but decided not to pack spares (oops). We got a chance the rest of the day to walk around and look at everyone else's setups to see what we didn't think of, or what might be useful to us in the future. We had a blast and learned alot, and everyone was very eager to answer questions and just be friendly in general. Thanks to Money Shift Racing for selling us the roll padding and clamps we needed to pass tech!

[Andrew D Johnson]

41 minutes ago, mcoppola said:

Wow, I thought the Gingerman post race write-ups were fewer than past years.

Did anyone else have any fun at Mid Ohio? WE SURE DID!!!!

Maybe this stuff is getting too "normal" for some of you, and there's not much excitement in it any more?

I mean it's probably only one of the top 5 tracks in the US, and this seemed to be a bucket list race for some.

We all couldn't wait until Champcar went back to Mid Ohio and signed up in large numbers. Was it that bad that nobody wants to talk about it?

 

Well, if any of you have any video of the #393 Black Focus, let me know.

I'd like to see what the car looks like at speed - lean angles in turns, pitch under braking, did we make any real stupid moves, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

 

OK, I will give a race report from the sprint race. 

Practice went well, and we were taking the Tuttle sprint race way too seriously. We had the car all setup and ready to rip with a set of Maxxis VR-1 tires that were scuffed in for 2 laps that same day. We had just enough fuel in the car, no cool suit cooler, etc. etc. Drivers had special starting procedures, and were told they had carte blanch for the race. We asked for help from Andy at@mostmint with the pitstop, and we were all set ready to push the car to the front of the grid as soon as the practice day ended. We push up to the grid ASAP when the checkered fell for practice, and got the poll position we were hoping for. 

About 10 minutes before the cars were released Brian Tuttle asked if we were paid in full and registered for the ChampCar race. I headed up to registration, where everyone was super accommodating and let us get registered in a matter a minutes. By the time I got back to the pits, the cars had been released on track. Green flag dropped, VTEC kicked in, and we were in the lead going into T1. Our favorite Pizza delivery driver put on a clinic running basically all 1:40.XX laps until his driver change was up. Driver change went flawless thanks to help from Andy, and we were back on track in a matter of seconds. In the 2nd stint the orange Glazed and Confused Miata began running us down. They were on our bumper with a few laps remaining, and the overall win looked like it was in jeopardy. The orange Miata went for pass on the outside of the carousel leading onto the front stretch, but could not hold the pass and spun going into the grass wide. The Miata was able to return to the track without sustaining any damage. We were able to breathe again, and ran the last few laps with a comfortable lead until we took the checkered flag. 

It was all smiles and high fives until @Bill Strongpublished the incorrect results. 

The Friday test day and sprint races were a great time, Thank you for setting that up Brian Tuttle. Other than the @Bill Strong blunder, the entire day went great. 



 

[mcoppola]

@Mike French welcome to champ car, and welcome to these forums. Congratulations on running and finishing your first race! That’s a lot more than most of us can say.

Thank You for saving our day Sunday!!! Thanks for providing us with the rear brake rotor that we needed when our LR wheel bearing failed. I had spare hubs ready to go but not brake rotors. 
Glad to see you’ve made contact here. Many of us guys running focuses network and share information regarding issues we’ve had or things that work and don’t work. I will send you a private message with my contact info. Sounds like you guys are all pretty good wrenching around a car, and your results showed it. We can’t help the inherent weaknesses on these cars. LOL. But if you ever have any questions about anything, please feel free to reach out and I can try to help you find the answers. In fact the entire champ car community is like that. I hope you ran into some good folks over the weekend that were willing to show you how they do things and answer questions.

That’s one of the best things about racing with this group of people. Hope to see you guys again soon.

Edited September 17, 2021 by mcoppola

[Rapido]

2 hours ago, mcoppola said:

Wow, I thought the Gingerman post race write-ups were fewer than past years.

Did anyone else have any fun at Mid Ohio? WE SURE DID!!!!

Maybe this stuff is getting too "normal" for some of you, and there's not much excitement in it any more?

 

Already given my team's write-up (with photo/highlight gallery to come) but from our experience we had an absolute blast. This was the only event that we committed to when the schedule was released last year as it was truly a bucket-list track to race and it is central to all our team. Given our virtual origins, we have members all over the country (and internationally, who sadly couldn't join us) so this was a good compromise for all. The surface could use some work but the layout is just a blast. 

 

What made the weekend really special was meeting up with all the other people that we've gotten to know over our years in CCES. Ray kept us entertained on the lane, I was able to catch up with Robin and Ron for whom I've driven in the past, made friends with some new Miata teams and caught up with some old ones (hey @takjak2). We were also able to meet and greet regulars of the iRacing Series such as Andy Cossick, Jay Sofianek, and David Palermo. Seemed like all the central and eastern regulars made it out for this one and that was reflected in the pace of the field. 

 

Great weekend and thank you to ChampCar for running the event. We may all bitch on the forum about VPI changes, free parts, speed creep, and occasionally questionable driving, but I truly believe this was affordable endurance racing in all it's glory and it was so good to be back on track with you all.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Rapido

[Rodger Coan-Burningham]

On 9/17/2021 at 2:26 PM, mcoppola said:

Wow, I thought the Gingerman post race write-ups were fewer than past years.

Did anyone else have any fun at Mid Ohio? WE SURE DID!!!!

Maybe this stuff is getting too "normal" for some of you, and there's not much excitement in it any more?

I mean it's probably only one of the top 5 tracks in the US, and this seemed to be a bucket list race for some.

We all couldn't wait until Champcar went back to Mid Ohio and signed up in large numbers. Was it that bad that nobody wants to talk about it?

 

Well, if any of you have any video of the #393 Black Focus, let me know.

I'd like to see what the car looks like at speed - lean angles in turns, pitch under braking, did we make any real stupid moves, etc.?

Thanks in advance!

 

I had a great time.  The team I was supposed to drive with (Cone Crushers) broke a torque tube early Saturday so all it looked like I was going to get were some practice laps at Mid O in my first visit there.  My buddy Mike Coppola rescued me by offering me his last stint Saturday in the Stay Focus'd machine, so I was able to get some quality time in a great little race car.  He says he wasn't feeling well, but I think he just wanted me to make good on all the poop I had been giving him about never bringing his car out to a race and promising to drive it if he ever got it out.  Was not disappointed.  Car has good power for a 2L and good handling for a fwd.  I was shocked at how much speed you could carry into whatever turn that is at the end of the back straight at China beach.  I never know turn numbers.  I was eating up every car I followed into there at that turn.  The twisty bits after that I could stay with most every car on the track.  Really nice balance.  I did screw up once coming out of the turn 2 complex when Andrew's CRX was on the inside and I thought he was clear and was going to tuck in behind but I caught that damn long diffuser and bent it a little.  Dave had me hammer it back out in impound, but he gave me a beer to drink while I did it so I actually came out ahead.  I never quite got to Ben Schaut's lap times that he laid down earlier in the day, maybe 1/2 a second off his pace.  Mike says I made all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't quite get there, but I call them facts.  Tires were worn, track was hot, wheel bearing was going out.  I am sure there are more.  But hey, like I told Mike if my old ass can get within 1/2 a second of Ben, who is a great driver, I call that mission accomplished.  Brought the car to the checkered with it still in one piece.  Hung out in impound during all the drama, always interesting to see how that all goes down.

 

Sunday I hung around the track, visited with some of the staff including Dana, helped a little bit in the pits with Mike and the gang, threw my camera in Mike's car for a bit until I had to leave.  Waited on @Hurljohn to finish his stint with @Hugh Jass and the gang as John was guest driving with that team.  Now that's a team, those guys all come out and support the car and really show what the spirit of Champcar is about.  They have a large entourage, most of those guys are the iRacing guys and it's good to see the jump back and forth between that series and this one.  John and I cut out a little early since I needed to try get him to Knoxville TN before the rental car counter closed there, which we didn't quite make but it all worked out anyway. 

 

I was impressed with the overall pace of the race, other than the two or three rolling chicanes which we always have and is to be expected in this series.  It seems like in the midwest the front runners and mid pack are a little closer than in the east, but just a perception I don't have data to back that up.  Makes for really good racing.  

 

I guess the next time I will make it back out will be Barber.  Work has me blocked in Oct, and nothing close in Nov so Barber it is.  Lots of work to do on the Lexus anyway so even that probably isn't enough time to get it ready.  But we always get it out somehow.  See y'all then.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Rodger Coan-Burningham

[Ronh911]

9 hours ago, Rodger Coan-Burningham said:

 

I had a great time.  The team I was supposed to drive with (Cone Crushers) broke a torque tube early Saturday so all it looked like I was going to get were some practice laps at Mid O in my first visit there.  My buddy Mike Coppola rescued me by offering me his last stint Saturday in the Stay Focus'd machine, so I was able to get some quality time in a great little race car.  He says he wasn't feeling well, but I think he just wanted me to make good on all the poop I had been giving him about never bringing his car out to a race and promising to drive it if he ever got it out.  Was not disappointed.  Car has good power for a 2L and good handling for a fwd.  I was shocked at how much speed you could carry into whatever turn that is at the end of the back straight at China beach.  I never know turn numbers.  I was eating up every car I followed into there at that turn.  The twisty bits after that I could stay with most every car on the track.  Really nice balance.  I did screw up once coming out of the turn 2 complex when Andrew's CRX was on the inside and I thought he was clear and was going to tuck in behind but I caught that damn long diffuser and bent it a little.  Dave had me hammer it back out in impound, but he gave me a beer to drink while I did it so I actually came out ahead.  I never quite got to Ben Schaut's lap times that he laid down earlier in the day, maybe 1/2 a second off his pace.  Mike says I made all kinds of excuses as to why I couldn't quite get there, but I call them facts.  Tires were worn, track was hot, wheel bearing was going out.  I am sure there are more.  But hey, like I told Mike if my old ass can get within 1/2 a second of Ben, who is a great driver, I call that mission accomplished.  Brought the car to the checked with it still in one piece.  Hung out in impound during all the drama, always interesting to see how that all goes down.

 

Sunday I hung around the track, visited with some of the staff including Dana, helped a little bit in the pits with Mike and the gang, threw my camera in Mike's car for a bit until I had to leave.  Waited on @Hurljohn to finish his stint with @Hugh Jass and the gang as John was guest driving with that team.  Now that's a team, those guys all come out and support the car and really show what the spirit of Champcar is about.  They have a large entourage, most of those guys are the iRacing guys and it's good to see the jump back and forth between that series and this one.  John and I cut out a little early since I needed to try get him to Knoxville TN before the rental car counter closed there, which we didn't quite make but it all worked out anyway. 

 

I was impressed with the overall pace of the race, other than the two or three rolling chicanes which we always have and is to be expected in this series.  It seems like in the midwest the front runners and mid pack are a little closer than in the east, but just a perception I don't have data to back that up.  Makes for really good racing.  

 

I guess the next time I will make it back out will be Barber.  Work has me blocked in Oct, and nothing close in Nov so Barber it is.  Lots of work to do on the Lexus anyway so even that probably isn't enough time to get it ready.  But we always get it out somehow.  See y'all then.

Wish I had known about the torque tube. I had one in the trailer I could have given you. 

[Rodger Coan-Burningham]

5 minutes ago, Ronh911 said:

Wish I had known about the torque tube. I had one in the trailer I could have given you. 

 

Rich thought about asking you, but we were also losing water such that we had to add water after the first stint that he thought was due to a head gasket going so they decided it wasn't worth possibly damaging the engine to continue even if we got going from the torque tube.  Thanks for the thought though.

[Chappy]

On Second Thought 341 Miata Race Recap

 

Longer drive up to MidOhio from Nashville than we were expecting, had a few slowdowns on the interstates and such.  Rolled into the track around 5:15 on Thursday, we parked the truck/trailer and went out and watched some of the track day activities going on.  Wanted to get a little lay of the land prior to getting on track Friday.  The track has a lot more elevation change than we expected.

 

Friday was the first time any of us had been on MidOhio, had a new engine in the car, and first time with a rear wing.  We spent most of the day getting 20-30 min stints in for all of the drivers to get familiar with the track/car.  At the end of the test day all of the drivers felt pretty comfortable with the track.  We decided not to participate in the sprint race, and watched it from outside of Madness.  We were impressed and discouraged by the lap times that most of the sprint guys were running.  Decided to cut out of the track and grab some gub.  We normally pick a Mexican joint, so stopped by Tito’s in Lexington.  It wasn’t quite the same “cheap” food we were used to, but we would recommend others go there in the future.  Good food, good Margs, all of us ate way to much the day before getting in a racecar for 8 hrs.  

 

Saturday started off with me in the car.  We were toward the back of the pack at the start.  I had a pretty uneventful start and first 2 hrs.  The car clicking off laps like normal.  Second driver got in, and much of the same, laps went by, no issues.  Third driver gets in around 1, and third lap out someone tried to pass him on the inside of 9 under the Honday bridge and tagged us in the left rear wheel/quarter.  He spun out and ended up facing the wrong way.  Brought the car in to check things over aside from some wheel damage things looked ok.  We had another unexpected stop a few laps later due to temps creeping up on the car, found a bunch of grass had gotten up on the front of the car blocking the radiator.  Back out he went, finished his stint without any other problems.  Final driver got in and was out clicking quick laps, set FTD for us around 4:15.  Got a call on the radio soon after that something on the car broke.  A few min later he comes pulling into the pits with the RF ball joint broken on the car.  We brought the car back to the trailer and called it a day.  This is only the second DNF for the car out of 25 or so races, so we were a little disappointed in the result/finish… but its bound to happen.  Got the car all fixed up (always bring spare parts for everything!!) and ready for Sunday.  Finished the night off with some cold beer and good pizza @ Fast Eddie’s in Bellville.

 

Sunday morning started off around 20^th or so, the whole day was pretty uneventful with us.  Clicking off quick consistent laps, our times aligned really well with our test day, which means the pace was pretty good for us.  I got in the car last, unfortunately we pitted about 5 min early for a FCY which would have been great to have hit for the driver change.  Ended off finishing the day in 13^th.  We were happy with the result considering we had the 28^th fastest best lap time, with only one other team finishing better than us with a slower best.  Packed up the truck and drove all the way back to Nashville after the race, getting in around 11pm local time.  Made for a long day!

 

Sunday was a great finish to the weekend.  All 4 drivers were very close for lap times and consistency.  
 

We all really like Mid-Ohio, had a blast when we could actually do some open lapping.  The track is however pretty difficult and discouraging to race at when you have a hp disadvantage.  I can’t tell you how many times we would catch cars between China beach and the front straight but couldn’t make a pass on them due to lack of power.  Then get after turn 1 and they just pull away and gap you all the way back to China beach, the. You have to do it all over again.  We definitely had to earn some of the passes.  First race in a long time that an extra 10-15hp would have probably made a significant change in ability to make passes stick.  

 

Got back from the weekend found some metal in the oil, engine was pulled out of the car by Tuesday nightfor inspection.  Looks like nothing serious, so throwing a few new parts on it and we should be back up and running for our next race at AMP.      

 

[TRMTrent]

Chappy - I really enjoyed chasing your car/driver around during the first stint on Sunday. Here's 20+ mins of video as we work through traffic, along with the #900 MX5, about an hour into the race.  Our cars are pretty evenly matched with yours having just a bit more speed down the straight. Great fun !

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by TRMTrent

[Chappy]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:59 AM, TRMTrent said:

Chappy - I really enjoyed chasing your car/driver around during the first stint on Sunday. Here's 20+ mins of video as we work through traffic, along with the #900 MX5, about an hour into the race.  Our cars are pretty evenly matched with yours having just a bit more speed down the straight. Great fun !

 

Thanks for the video!  Does look like you guys were having some fun out there Sunday morning!  Looks like our aero/wing might be doing us some favors at speed.
 

Is it normal for the shifter in the car to live around that much?!?!  

[Hugh Jass]

[Hurljohn]

7 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

That guy looks Fast!