this past weekend was the season opener for NorCal Honda Challange. We had a great turn out, and a great weekend.
H2 has really caught on, and people truly enjoy the class. The weekend saw 3 new-ish racers who after there first race were excited about the class and the group that races in H2.
Fred(blue EG B18c5) made his second race, and is looking to run a good portion of the races this year as he has teamed up with Mark. Vic (orange/silver EK b18c5) also made his second race and is looking to make a run towards Nationals, Vic is a former SCCA ITE/STU racer. Andrew (blue/green RSX typeS) also made his second race, and is looking to run the whole season and nationals.
I felt like a new guy, while i did make a race last year it was in low attendance and i was putting around. It has been since ~may of 2008 since i last raced close wheel 2 wheel. AND BOY DID IT FEEL GREAT!!!!!!!!!!
The race was at Series Point, or Infinion as the new people call it, and it rained HARD friday, and we had a light mist saturday morning. I decided to sit out saturday morning practice because i felt there was a good chance for “stupid stuff” to happen. It proved to be a smart move as the session was cut short because so many cars went off and needed to be towed.
Qualifying
I was very nervous, but took it easy and by this time the track was dry, except in the ‘S’s. I took it easy and worked my way around the track trying to remember how to drive.. slowly gaining confidence. I was surprised to see that i qualified p2, but new the race would be tuff, as Mike Lock had an issue during qualifying and didn’t get a time.
The Race
the race went good, the flagger flinched, and i launched, but stopped quickly. I will let the video tell the rest of the story. The car wasn’t working well, and i wasn’t driving well. I guess it just goes to show “no replacement for seat time”.
After the race Andrie was talking with me about what the car was doing, and what i wasn’t happy with. We had already went down 150lbs in rear spring rate so that i could be more comfortable in the car and push it. After looking over the car, Andrie convinced me to lower the. I had been running at a much higher ride hieght because when i ran last year i was bottoming out the UCA. We ended up dropping the whole car about ~.75 inches.
This would prove to solve many of the “issues” i was having with the car. That would include a “bounce” , like there was to much compression/rebound in the high speed, braking into the carousel the was light and i couldn’t brake,
i qualified p4 for sundays race. watch the video..
Nice work Jimmy. Keep going !