2011 Great Pumpkin Run

Back at Carolina Motorsports Park for my favorite weekend of the year, the fall race at CMP. Although the car count was well short of last year’s record setting 32 entries most of the fast guys were accounted for which always makes for an exciting event.

Saturday qualifying was smooth except for a GTS4 car that spun, I nabbed 5th of 17 cars with only a tenth of a second separating P3 and P5. The two front runners (Eric Palacio and Evan Levine) were in another area code with fast laps nearly 1.5 seconds faster than the rest of us. As usual it was a zany start, I took a healthy hit in the rear in turn 8 and got very sideways, cost me a couple of spots but I managed to get them back within a lap or two. The middle of the race was dominated by a great battle with Spec E30 veteran Robert Patton, a wily competitor who knows how to defend and is always a challenge to get around. I made a pass in turn 5 but gave it back a lap later after a slower car held me up for a fraction of a second exiting turn 14, allowing Robert to take the spot back. Fortunately I was able to pass him again in the same spot and make it stick, holding on to the position to finish third. Hooray podium finish!

Later that day was the 5th annual Inverted Field Unlimited (IFU), a Spec E30-only fun race that has become a tradition. This year they gridded everyone by their car number which put me third from last, this actually was good since it makes for interesting video. The first leg of the race was on the usual full course, I had a good start and was in the thick of things the entire time (although I did goof up a little and tagged Steve DeVinney’s bumper under braking, sorry!) Then the pace car came out and the top five cars were sent around to the back of the pack, leaving me near the front. Meanwhile the configuration was altered so we only used the “back half” of the track, and the race restarted. This was considerably less interesting as there wasn’t much traffic in front of me, in fact I didn’t make any passes nor did anyone pass me. Again the pace car came out after about ten minutes and the layout changed again, this time using only the front half of the track. But instead of five cars rotating around only the top two cars did which left me at the front where I easily stayed to finish the race. Can’t argue with a win, fun race or not.

Sunday was largely a repeat of Saturday, although I qualified fourth instead of fifth. The race itself was uneventful, Eric and Evan again were significantly quicker than anyone else so I was just happy to keep them in sight for most of the race acting as the unofficial chasecam while they had a terrific battle for the lead. All i had to do was keep it together for an easy third, ending the weekend 3-for-3 on podium finishes. The fall CMP event isn’t my favorite race weekend of the year for nothing!

A big thanks to my sponsors, without whom none of this would be possible. OpenNMS, Web Performance, Kirk Key, and Kirk Machine – you guys are the best!

2011 Firecracker Run

There’s nowhere to hide at Charlotte Motor Speedway, especially in the horsepower department. Foot to the floor, wide open, flat out speed is the name of the game for this installment of Spec E30 racing. A little smaller field than usual, only sixteen cars started the weekend and even fewer would finish due to mechanical gremlins. The #525 car was a bit of a mixed bag – fresh shocks were a definite plus, although their impact isn’t nearly as large here as, say, CMP or VIR. Tires were three weekends old, that’s decent but not great. And the motor hasn’t been feeling like its old self as of late, not entirely sure why. Still, it’s terrific fun to race at Charlotte and the fans love it so on to the racing.

Saturday qualifying put me mid-pack in 8th place, I had hoped to get some bump drafting help from Al Taylor and Fred Switzer but a miscommunication put me in front of them with several cars between us and they never caught back up. In the race I had a good start and got around David Walsh but we rubbed a little turning in to the infield causing a nasty tank slapper that I was fortunately able to recover from, albeit several positions behind. Good clean racing after that, I battled back and finished right where I started in 8th.

Analysis of data following the race confirmed my fears: I was a bit down on horsepower and losing speed to several of my competitors on the oval, topping out around 125 mph where some of them were hitting 130. Bump drafting helped (thanks Al!) but wasn’t enough to make up the difference, and not everyone was generous enough to help me out with a push – most people just motored around me! Still, I was solidly mid-pack and determined to make the most of it. On Sunday I qualified in 7th and stayed more or less within spitting distance of the leaders the first half of the race, but as usual a full course yellow bunched the group up and we had to restart with much of the field ahead of me. The restart was absolute chaos, pure pandemonium on track with cars three wide in every turn and people spinning off all over the place. With much to lose and little to gain I backed off the pace, content to watch the meelee unfold in front of me. This allowed a few cars to slip past but it had no real impact on anything important and I finished in 10th.

That concludes racing with NASA-SE for a while, in July I’ll be racing with NASA-MA at VIR then taking August off the prep the car for NASA Nationals at Mid Ohio in September. Stay tuned for details!

2011 Pit Bull Brawl

Back with NASA-SE for the second CMP race weekend of the year, beautiful weather and a good crowd of cars and drivers means it should be a fun event. Unfortunately qualifying didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped, traffic got in the way so I never had a clean lap and ended up in 14th position out of 19 cars. Had a decent start and an exciting first five or six laps before a full course yellow came out, after the restart I picked up a couple more positions and cruised home to an easy 6th place finish. Didn’t finish in the Toyo bucks money but I won a set of PFC brake pads courtesy of Bimmerworld, thanks guys!

Sunday was kinda screwy to say the least, most of the morning run groups had problems which put the kibosh on our qualifying session so we used the finishing position from Saturday’s race to determine the Sunday grid. This had one drawback – everyone wanted to drive more, so the incredibly generous Steve DeVinney rented the kart track for 45 min and treated the entire Spec E30 crowd to karting fun. The race itself was again interrupted by a full course yellow after the first lap, after the restart I hung in with the lead group for the majority of the race. My pace fell off a bit at the end and a few other cars slipped by and I ended up 8th overall but had the fastest lap of the race with a 1:53.4. A couple of weeks after the race I discovered that both of my front shocks had come loose from the strut housings and one was completely blown! No wonder the car wasn’t handling quite as it had before.

Next on my schedule is a 24 Hours of LeMons race at CMP followed by a road trip to Mid Ohio over Memorial Day weekend to help prepare for NASA nationals in September.

March Madness 2011

Time for a change-up, this time we’re racing at VIR in the Mid Atlantic division. Since I was already at the track on Friday letting a friend borrow my car for comp school I decided that I might as well race on Saturday and Sunday. But NASA-MA has some fast drivers and even faster cars so I had my work cut out for me.

Saturday’s practice and qualifying went well, started in 5th of 13 cars. I had a good start and drove around in third place for a while but eventually succumbed to the superior horsepower of some of the other cars and finished where I started in 5th.

Sunday started out cold and damp, I love these kind of conditions and was pumped about qualifying. Despite an early spin I put together a few good laps and was on the pole by six seconds! Sadly the rain abated and the race was dry so it was more or less a repeat of Saturday. I led for a lap until Robert Grace blew past me on the front straight, and eventually Jon Allen got past too. Had a great time following Jon who is exceptional at VIR and drives the wheels off his car, but then I put two off exiting oak tree and Rob G #2 slipped past so I finished 4th. Had a great time though and learned a couple of tricks that I hope to apply the next time I race there.

Here’s footage from Grace’s car where I lead the first lap:

We’ll be back at CMP in a month!

Pot-O-Gold Rush 2011

Race number two finds us a Road Atlanta for another glorious weekend of motorsports excitement. Saturday qualifying was surprisingly close with the top seven cars all within a 0.8 seconds of each other, I managed to squeak my way into 6th out of 20 cars. During the race I worked my way into third but a lackadaisical restart following a FCY just a few minutes before the end dropped me to sixth.

Sunday I qualified 5th and had an exciting race to say the least. First I ran wide in turn 5 on the opening lap, I gathered it up but lost several spots. A full course yellow brought everything to a halt for several laps, then came lots of hard driving to catch back up to the leading pack. Just before the end I made a late braking move in turn 10 that didn’t quite work out and I went straight off into the gravel trap, ending my race. Fortunately there was no other contact and the car seemed ok so a valuable lesson learned!

Bit of a bummer getting my first DNF but could have been a lot worse so no complaints. Just a couple more weeks before racing at my home track VIR!

Winter Meltdown 2011

The 2011 season kicked off with the Winter Meltdown at CMP, it was a beautiful weekend but I learned the hard way that tires are everything at this track and my leftover ones from 2010 weren’t going to get the job done. Saturday qualifying was mediocre and i gridded 9th of 18 cars, during the race I was nudged off track and lost a spot or two but clawed my way back into 7th by the end. The good news is I had the 2nd fastest lap of the race, a mere 0.003 sec behind first.

Sunday went a little better, qualified 4th but actually started 3rd after one driver was disqualified for scrubbing his tires. Unfortunately a small bobble during the race cost me a couple of spots and I ended up finishing sixth. Probably would have gotten a couple more positions back if the race hadn’t been shortened by a lengthy FCY (Saturday had the same problem).

Not a fabulous start to the season but not a terrible one either, other than being on tires that were noticeably less sticky than they were three months earlier the car felt good. On to Road Atlanta next month!

NASA Turkey Trot at CMP

Records were made to be broken, and we smashed one this weekend. For the first time ever there were 30 cars in Spec E30 and it was shaping up to be an incredible couple of races. With fresh tires and fresh brakes I was raring to go on my favorite track, and considering what happened last time we raced at CMP I was determined to make the most of it.

Saturday morning practice was a timid affair, I just wanted to get a few laps on the new tires to scrub them in before qualifying. My lap times were near the bottom and a few people asked me what was wrong! In qualifying I went out and turned a stunning 1:52.1 on my very first lap, beating my previous best by over a second. The next two weren’t any quicker so I brought it in before anything bad happened. My happiness was magnified when the sheet came out and I was in third position, and I was even more pleased that my good friend Evan was in front of me on the pole with an incredible 1:51.2. Things were looking good, real good. Unfortunately the race didn’t go as well, Evan was taken out on the first lap in a bonehead move by one of our competitors. He wasn’t hurt and the car damage was fairly minor but his hopes of a victory were dashed. Thankfully I avoided contact and drove what turned out to be a fairly boring race and finished second. I even had the fastest lap of the race with yet another personal best of 1:51.8. It sucked seeing my good friend down in the dumps but I was thrilled with the final results.

sat race from jason tower on Vimeo.

That afternoon was the fourth running of the infamous IFU (inverted field unlimited), a Spec E30 tradition in NASA-SE. A fun race rather than a serious points race, it uses an inverted field (fastest cars start at the back) to make things more exciting. Not only that but there’s usually a secret change-up thrown in to make it even more unpredictable (last year the cars were stopped early and everyone had to race on foot to the finish). For some reason we started this year’s IFU with a regular grid instead of being inverted so the first portion wasn’t all that interesting.

ifu4 part 1 from jason tower on Vimeo.

After about ten minutes we were stopped the field was inverted so I went from being second to second from last. This was the most exciting part for me, charging through the field was a total blast.

ifu4 part 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.

Again the race was stopped after another ten minutes and inverted once again, only this time the track was also changed to the “short course” used in Lemons races. Mayhem ensued.

ifu4 part 3 from jason tower on Vimeo.

Sunday started out very much as Saturday had: Evan qualified on the pole, Johan in second, myself in third. We had a clean start but Travis Wilson (in fourth position) passed me in the first turn, and passed Evan at the end of the first lap. The four of us ran nose to tail for several laps until a full course yellow temporarily ended the fun.

sun race part 1 from jason tower on Vimeo.

We picked it up several laps later but a lapse in concentration at exactly the wrong time let the leaders get away on the restart. I caught back up but traffic was much heavier in the second half and I was unable to get past Evan. resulting in a still respectable fourth place finish. Later I discovered that Travis’s car was actually being driven by professional racer and former Spec E30 national champion Mike Skeen so I didn’t feel too badly about losing that first spot!

sun race part 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.

So in the largest Spec E30 field in history I ended up with second and fourth place finishes, and the fastest lap of one race (and second fastest of the other). Hey I’m starting to really enjoy this now!

Peachtree BMWCCA Club Race at Road Atlanta

The first time I drove Road Atlanta it scared the crap out of me. The second time I drove like crap. So for this event I figured the third time was a charm, and that’s more or less how it worked out – crap free.

Friday we had two practice sessions, a qualifying session, and a 90 minute enduro. I’d never done an enduro before, it wasn’t all that much different but failure to follow the rules could easily lead to a disqualification or at least cost valuable time. Practice went well, I borrowed some cycled out Nittos from Kelly Childress (thanks Kelly!) so it wasn’t terribly fast but the car felt good and I quickly got in the groove for the track. Qualifying was good as well, I slotted comfortably in second behind David Walsh.

spec e30 enduro road atlanta, sep 2010 – start from jason tower on Vimeo.

The race got off to a good start, I got behind Walsh (and passed him once, only to be passed back in the next turn) and stayed there for a little while until I decided to reduce the pace by a notch to ensure that both the car and I would be able to last for an hour and a half, at which point he began to create a small gap. Apparently I slowed down a little too much because Adam Nitti (codriving with Jim Levie) and Chuck Taylor soon caught up and passed me, so I just followed them around for 20 minutes until they both pitted for the mandatory five minute stop. Since I was sharing pit with Adam/Jim I did several more laps before pulling in, Adam manned the fire bottle while I added four gallons of fuel and jumped back in the car. Adam was running the stop watch and I actually had to wait two minutes before I could exit the pits so time wasn’t an issue, I had him send me out at 5:10 just to be on the safe side. Now all alone with no idea of where I stood, I figured I’d better pick up the pace a little bit. Eventually I spotted Walsh in my rearview mirror and turned it up to full speed so he (hopefully) wouldn’t catch me, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the one lap to go signal. Crossed the finish line ahead of him but didn’t know if I was actually ahead or about to be lapped. Turns out it was the former and I got my first win!

spec e30 enduro road atlanta sep 2010 – middle from jason tower on Vimeo.

Saturday’s sprint race was very late in the day so there was lots of down time between sessions. Again I qualified second behind Walsh but wasn’t too concerned about it. But about an hour before the race the skies opened up and rain soaked the track pretty good, everyone (myself included) was trying to decide which tires to use. The rain stopped about 20 min before the start and skies looked clear so I figured the track would dry out and kept my shaved tires on the car, as did most people. As is usually the case with a wet track, the start was interesting with some people being bold and others holding back, I got stuck behind slower traffic only to watch Walsh and Chuck squirt ahead. Fortunately I was able to catch up within a couple of laps and passed Chuck exiting turn 10. Half a lap later I got a nice run out of turn 7 and passed Walsh on the long straight but he bested me in the braking zone and held the position. A few laps later, with the track quickly drying, I made a nifty pass on the inside of turn 5 and again pulled ahead of Walsh. Held it for a few laps but he made a terrific dive bomb into 10 and got around me, then held on for the win while I got second.

spec e30 race at road atlanta, sep 2010 – sat from jason tower on Vimeo.

Sunday’s race was similar, although I nearly missed qualifying and only got third position. Conditions were excellent and everyone got a clean start, I got around Chuck on the first lap and was stuck to Walsh’s bumper trying to figure out a way to get around him. Unfortunately after six or seven laps the car started to push (understeer) in right turns, which are most of them at Road Atlanta. In hindsight I probably should have rotated tires to even out the wear and heat cycles, another valuable lesson learned. So I had to back off slightly and concede the win to Walsh, with me again in second. Still, a win and two close seconds isn’t bad way to end the weekend.

spec e30 race at road atlanta, sep 2010 – sun from jason tower on Vimeo.

Big thanks to all of my sponsors for helping me achieve my first victory, and my fantastic wife Valerie for her unwavering support. The next couple of months are mostly HPDEs, next race is the NASA-SE Turkey Trot at CMP in early November. With a much larger field the competition will be significantly tougher but that’s what makes it so much fun!

Sweaty Summer Slam at VIR

Shortly after I decided to race Spec E30 I also had to make a decision regarding which group I’d (mostly) run with. VIR is my home track, so NASA-MA would be the logical choice since VIR is on their schedule. But their other main tracks are Summit Point (falling apart) and NJMP (way too far, and on the wrong side of DC) so that wasn’t going to work. The closet track that NASA-SE raced on was CMP under three hours away but extremely fun, Road Atlanta is six but at least it’s an easy drive. Add in the newly minted NCCAR facility and NASA-SE was an easy choice. Still, while I instructed with NASA-MA at VIR it pained me not to race on my home track, so when I heard that several other SE guys were going to do the July race I signed up to join the fun.

I arrived around noon on Friday to watch the UTCC and help out a couple of friends who were doing comp school, mainly I just hung out and perspired a lot. Saw Travis Wilson and Brian Jones who were there doing the test-n-tune, and Kevin Butler was engaged with comp school but had a helper so he was taken care of. Temps were already in the high 90s and I’m sure the paddock temps were even higher. Colin was also there driving an old Toyota Corolla in the UTCC, but with under 100hp going the front wheels (wrapped in all season street tires) he was slightly outgunned. Still, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and much beer was consumed that evening in an effort to keep cool. An unfortunate side effect of “keeping cool” was that Travis and I ended up making a side bet on the race with $50 going to the winner. Considering that I had never even raced along side him (I was always behind) it probably wasn’t the smartest wager I could have made. As usual I slept in the back of my truck, fortunately I had the foresight to bring a box fan which I set up on the trailer tongue to generate some airflow which worked surprisingly well.

Evan showed up Saturday morning having flown in from Colorado just a few hours earlier, Colin did too after going home to fetch his car. Our race group (Autobahn) was the last to qualify so it was already brutally hot, I filled up my cool shirt cooler with ice and headed out only to encounter tons of slower traffic, yielding a 2:25.7 which put me in 14th position out of 21 cars. Evan was a mess, he didn’t install his cool shirt and damn near passed out after running three or four laps. Fortunately our friend Sean Dennis had showed up by then to lend support, together we got the cooler wired up and functioning so Evan would be able to race that afternoon. Official temps were over 100 by mid-afternoon, god only knows how much hotter it was in the paddock and on track.

pics taken by Sean that day

Despite my lap times the car felt good (aside from excessive understeer due to zero front toe) and I knew that I was 2-3 seconds faster given an open track so nothing to do but drive a smart race. Which is exactly what I did – we all got a clean start, I drove conservatively and was able to pass Evan and Brian on the straights a few laps in, then got a nice run on Brandon Hey in turn 3. Several seconds ahead was Travis, I kept him in sight for several laps but didn’t gain much ground. Finally on the last lap we hit some slower traffic and i was able to get on his tail in oak tree. A couple of extra ponies and the draft gave me enough speed advantage to make a clean pass and I hung on (barely) to edge him at at the finish line, he thanked me with a love tap to my right rear fender, all in good fun. Finished in 8th with a best lap of 2:23.1 and a very sweet tasting $50. Lots of smack talk that night as Jonny Allen cooked up a big (and delicious) batch of wings on the grill as we all rehydrated with beer and and an occasional water. Several of us, mostly from NASA-SE btw, finished the night at the VIR swimming pool which felt more like a hot tub but hey, beats the alternative.

july 2010 vir spec e30 race – sat from jason tower on Vimeo.

Qualifying Sunday morning was at 10:05, a few people stumbled in after 10:00 and still made it out on track which is about par for the course in SE. Slightly cooler temps resulted in fast times, I got a familiar sounding 2:23.1 and 8th position. The race was five hours away, most of us laid low trying to spare ourselves from the heat (it reached 103 that afternoon). The first lap of the race was exciting, lots of bumping, wheels off track, plus I lost a contact lens exiting turn 6, you can see me hold it up in front of the camera before flipping it away. With only one eye my depth perception was less than stellar, I held on to Evan’s bumper as best I could but eventually bobbled in hogpen and went off, decided to call it quits rather than go back out and maybe mess up someone else’s race. Still, I had my fastest lap of the weekend (2:22.7) despite having Leela-vision.

july 2010 vir spec e30 race – sun from jason tower on Vimeo.

Despite the heat it was a great weekend, the kind that will long be remembered by those who lived to tell about it. The car ran flawlessly all weekend, I never did anything to it except add fuel. Water temps on track never exceeded 195 which is remarkable considering the ambient temps, and although eliminating front toe made understeer prevalent my motor and straightaway speed worked to my advantage at VIR where, like Road Atlanta, horsepower is king. And I’ll say this: those NASA-MA guys can really drive, the top guys were simply untouchable. Hats off to Robert Grace for wins on both days, and to everyone else for keeping it clean and fun.

Next up – BMWCCA club race at Road Atlanta in September.

Firecracker Run at Lowes

The second one-day event at Charlotte Motor Speedway, picture perfect weather and a good turnout (12 cars in qualifying). Having repaired the damage from last month’s accident at CMP, the car seemed to be in good health and was running well, at least when it wasn’t too hot. I hooked up with my pal Evan in qualifying and was able to get a 1:28.0 which put me solidly in second place. Woohoo, I’m on the first row! Which meant that I and pole sitter Eric Palacio were responsible for pacing the group before the green flag was thrown. New experience for me and a fun one, but after that it was sheer terror. I’d never been at the sharp end of the field before and was more nervous than I had been for any previous race. Evan and Brian Jones (who qualified 3rd and 4th) made sure to let me know that they’d be gunning for me and I took it a little too much to heart.

In the first race Eric got in front of me as expected and I did my best to keep him in sight while fighting off hard charges from Jones and Evan from behind. They kept the pressure on and eventually got by when i overbraked for turn 1. Then thunder roadsters came zooming around like mad hornets, with my relative lack of traffic management skills it was difficult to keep the front runners within reach. With their light weight and sticky Hoosier tires they tended to be quicker on the infield but topped out slower than the Spec E30s on the oval. At one point they were three wide in front of me and I had to lift, throwing up my hands in frustration. That allowed Robert Patton to get behind me and make a…um…creative pass to get by in turn 3. I stayed behind him hoping to get the position back but wasn’t able to before the race ended with me in fifth.

2010 firecracker run – spec e30 from jason tower on Vimeo.

In race #2 I got the jump on Eric who mistakenly was in third gear instead of second. For about ten seconds I was leading the race! That didn’t last long as Eric got beside me and we were two-wide for most of the infield and entering the oval. In a trick apparently learned from Johan he pinned me on the apron while three cars queued up behind him and the entire group bump drafted their way past. Evan snuck in at the last minute too, suddenly I’m in sixth place! I was *pissed*, but in a way slightly relived as I’m more comfortable following a fast car than trying to keep one behind me. Several laps later Jones spun in turn 1 which opened up a few gaps. I was chasing Evan and he was chasing David Walsh, at one point I got past Evan on the oval then immediately braked too late for turn 1 and he took the position back. A few laps later, a swarm of thunder roadsters descended upon us and David and Evan tangled in turn 2, putting them both in the wall and out of the race, allowing me to cruise in for third place and my first podium finish.

2010 firecracker run – spec e30 from jason tower on Vimeo.

All in all a great day of racing, I learned several important lessons that will hopefully enable me to continue my development as a driver. Congratulations to Eric for winning both races! Coming up next is lots of VIR stuff – instructing with Chin Motorsports this week, Ferrari club the following week, and what is shaping up to be a huge race at with NASA-MA in late July!