Our First Chump outing

[Justin Andress]

Well, we are all back at work after our first Chump car outing, and our first 24hr crap can race at VIR this weekend. We have done 7 Lemons events, and even though I still thoroughly enjoy Lemons, the folks at Chump car put on an incredible event. They make you feel like an appreciated customer rather than an annoying miscreant. Kudos to the entire Chump Car crew for handling a huge event, with many curve balls thrown in, like say a huge lightning storm, and cramming 10 lbs in a 5 lb bag in the paddock.

We finished 6th, with a fully functioning car, which we consider a great weekend for our first time participating with you guys.

A few comments:

Sorry to whomever we may have offended (#4 supra, you made it clear you were quite offended) by passing under white during the first two hours. We had radio communication, and our guys asked the officials if it was ok to pass under white when it was safe to do so, and we were told yes. I had a voice in my headset telling me to "pass pass pass", as we were following the rules at the time. Those rules changed 3 times I think during the event, but once again sorry to anyone I PO'd.

Our lights, that were to the letter of the rules, were woefully under powered compared to the majority of the other folks out there. I did my first ever night time racing stint from 4:30-6 and the first 30 minutes were the most terrifying I have ever spent behind the wheel. With our wink mirror, stock rear view, and two side mirrors, It was as if I was in a fun house full of disco balls whenever there were cars behind me. More light coming back into your eyes then was going out on the track from our car made for some incredibly difficult conditions for me at least. I welcome any suggestions from fellow racers as far as tips for what lights they use, and also what they do regarding mirrors during the night.

The timing and scoring apps, when working, were a huge bonus in my opinion. I am a little unclear though about the cars with lap times in the 3 to 8 second range, that seemed to still be counted. It may not be the case, but it appears that with the close racing (other than the 101 of course) there looks like there may be a position or two in the top ten that would change if the single digit lap times were dropped. Please don't read this as sour grapes, as we are happy as pigs in slop to finish period, much less in the top ten in our first 24hr race.

For 24hrs of tight, sometimes fairly aggressive racing, I was amazed at the small amount of significant contact on track. Maybe it was just our team, but other that being punted in the rear at oak tree by the 944, who subsequently was black flagged, we enjoyed and observed pretty clean racing.

Overall, what a great event! I hope the rumors are true that Chump will have more than one event at VIR next year as we are now evaluating our calendars for next year to see what Lemons events are going to be replaced by Chump events.

Thanks again

Schultz

[Guest xsboost90]

Maybe it was just our team, but other that being punted in the rear at oak tree by the 944, who subsequently was black flagged, we enjoyed and observed pretty clean racing.

we also enjoyed the race but yeah lots of contact this weekend. We experienced so many people out there closing the door on us halfway through corners and causing contact. With lots of traffic and alot of fast cars it was inevitable but it seemed like much of it was intentional. The only black flag we received was in the first session of the weekend when i hit team Mealtime and my hood popped up. That was totally my fault as i just overcooked the corner and couldnt stop in time and the car pushed out in the corner. I was not thrilled while in the dark several cars were swerving in front of us while closing in on them at close to twice the speed to prevent us from passing, causing either massive brake lockup or two wheels off to prevent a collision. We also had alot of troubles w/ the lights in the rear view mirror so appologies to anyone i cut off in the night session, i was trying to be careful.

[Justin Andress]

we also enjoyed the race but yeah lots of contact this weekend. We experienced so many people out there closing the door on us halfway through corners and causing contact. With lots of traffic and alot of fast cars it was inevitable but it seemed like much of it was intentional. The only black flag we received was in the first session of the weekend when i hit team Mealtime and my hood popped up. That was totally my fault as i just overcooked the corner and couldnt stop in time and the car pushed out in the corner. I was not thrilled while in the dark several cars were swerving in front of us while closing in on them at close to twice the speed to prevent us from passing, causing either massive brake lockup or two wheels off to prevent a collision. We also had alot of troubles w/ the lights in the rear view mirror so appologies to anyone i cut off in the night session, i was trying to be careful.

Sorry should have clarified, the red 944 punted us, not you guys.

[Jeff G 78]

Well, we are all back at work after our first Chump car outing, and our first 24hr crap can race at VIR this weekend. We have done 7 Lemons events, and even though I still thoroughly enjoy Lemons, the folks at Chump car put on an incredible event. They make you feel like an appreciated customer rather than an annoying miscreant...

This is pretty much exactly how I feel. LeMons is great, but ChumpCar make us feel more welcome. Glad you came to the dark side to try it out.

[dogtired]

while i didn't get to turn any laps, i heard several drivers complain of blocking by slower cars.

re: the Chump vs LeMons thing..................... i love me some LeMons but the new "Curse" rules have put me off running with them ever again potentially. if and when i manage to field a reliable competitive car i certainly don't want to risk it being completely destroyed.

i have no problem with writing on it with a sharpie, painting Bob Ross landscapes, having chickens welded to the roof; but crushing it or C-F-C'ing the motor are out of the question in my book.

[whitney]

I am a little unclear though about the cars with lap times in the 3 to 8 second range, that seemed to still be counted. It may not be the case, but it appears that with the close racing (other than the 101 of course) there looks like there may be a position or two in the top ten that would change if the single digit lap times were dropped. Please don't read this as sour grapes, as we are happy as pigs in slop to finish period, much less in the top ten in our first 24hr race.

Schultz

Hi Schultz -- greetings from another first-time-24hr team!

I can shed some light on the phantom lap times. One guy on our team (Rob Harvey) does T&S for THSCC time trials so he knows the AMB system very well. He spent some time talking with (and helping) the Chump guys with their software. Chum DOES audit the result for phantom times (anything too low to be a lap). But instead of "deleting" a phantom lap, they *add* a negative lap. So the original 3 second laps remain on the list but the total is decremented by the same amount of laps. Make sense?

We (simon says) had 4 phantom laps in the 3-5 second range. They say this happened when we were parked for fueling right on top of the loops at start/finish. Apparently the loop can pick up stray triggers when the transponder is too close. When they ran the audit and subtracted 4 laps from our total, we instantly dropped from 2nd to 3rd place. Needless to say this was a bit disappointing

Anyways I don't think you need to worry, they seem to be taking accuracy very seriously.

[Justin Andress]

Hi Schultz -- greetings from another first-time-24hr team!

I can shed some light on the phantom lap times. One guy on our team (Rob Harvey) does T&S for THSCC time trials so he knows the AMB system very well. He spent some time talking with (and helping) the Chump guys with their software. Chum DOES audit the result for phantom times (anything too low to be a lap). But instead of "deleting" a phantom lap, they *add* a negative lap. So the original 3 second laps remain on the list but the total is decremented by the same amount of laps. Make sense?

We (simon says) had 4 phantom laps in the 3-5 second range. They say this happened when we were parked for fueling right on top of the loops at start/finish. Apparently the loop can pick up stray triggers when the transponder is too close. When they ran the audit and subtracted 4 laps from our total, we instantly dropped from 2nd to 3rd place. Needless to say this was a bit disappointing

Anyways I don't think you need to worry, they seem to be taking accuracy very seriously.

That makes sense. It is also why someone with my mathematical abilities stays away from timing and scoring thing because I cant figure out how to translate my abacus results to an iphone app.

Thx

[Justin Andress]

while i didn't get to turn any laps, i heard several drivers complain of blocking by slower cars.

re: the Chump vs LeMons thing..................... i love me some LeMons but the new "Curse" rules have put me off running with them ever again potentially. if and when i manage to field a reliable competitive car i certainly don't want to risk it being completely destroyed.

i have no problem with writing on it with a sharpie, painting Bob Ross landscapes, having chickens welded to the roof; but crushing it or C-F-C'ing the motor are out of the question in my book.

I agree, last year at Summit, our Merc received 8 votes to be crushed er shot full of holes simply because we were in first place. Despite the fact that we raced extremely clean, had no black flags and posted like the 15th fastest lap, that many folks just wanted to remove the first place car........NOT COOL.

I still love the Lemons experience as well, but it's just different.

[Guest xsboost90]

Ah red 944 that's cool. We all had a blast on those s's on the full course and dispite our tire and charging issues the car was great. The weather was brutal and with only four people total in our paddock everyone was moving the entire 24 hours. No cool suits made it worse. Big thanks to chumpcar for another great race, congrats to the winners and sorry to anyone we touched out there it was tight in spots. I did want to say I loved running at night- just after the first break and before the second-with teams mealtime, balls deep, and all the rest of you crazy f'ers that were flying around in the dark over 100 mph.

[Guest Kevin Andrews]

I was not thrilled while in the dark several cars were swerving in front of us while closing in on them at close to twice the speed to prevent us from passing, causing either massive brake lockup or two wheels off to prevent a collision. We also had alot of troubles w/ the lights in the rear view mirror so appologies to anyone i cut off in the night session, i was trying to be careful.

[Ogren-Engineering]

Most tracks dont allow the pit to be used near the timing loop. Brings back fond memories of carrying the TX in your pocket as your car goes out to qualify.. Wicked fast times.

The Cheapest Black packing tape on the mirrors works pretty well. Turn up the center mirror so that you can only see out of it if you really stretch up tall.

[dogtired]

black packing tape? do tell. so you black out the side mirrors?

[Ogren-Engineering]

Gotta use the cheap 1.5 mil stuff. yes. black out the sides. . Tint does the same thing. I have rolls of the black stuff form prior projects.

Try it out before you race tho. cars look like little glowing dots.

[Craig]

re: the Chump vs LeMons thing..................... i love me some LeMons but the new "Curse" rules have put me off running with them ever again potentially.

They've gone a long period without someone getting a fatal curse. Heck, in a recent race, a team that we thought were driving like dicks didn't even get enough votes to get a black flag out of it. Don't blatantly cheat, don't be dicks, and you shouldn't have to worry about it. And in the worst case, you bail before your car gets destroyed and get banned from the series for life.

[dogtired]

They've gone a long period without someone getting a fatal curse. Heck, in a recent race, a team that we thought were driving like dicks didn't even get enough votes to get a black flag out of it. Don't blatantly cheat, don't be dicks, and you shouldn't have to worry about it. And in the worst case, you bail before your car gets destroyed and get banned from the series for life.

well yes the bail would be the case but we have been running LeMons since 2008 and it ain't what it used to be sadly.

[Guest On the rug]

I did want to say I loved running at night- just after the first break and before the second-with teams mealtime, balls deep, and all the rest of you crazy f'ers that were flying around in the dark over 100 mph.

No no, more like 131.763 mph!