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!

NASA-SE Pit Bull Run at CMP

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Joy and pain. Then I am happy and sad for you. All sum up last weekend’s race at CMP.

Started off with beautiful (and hot) weather Saturday morning, practice felt good but I gridded late and didn’t get a clean lap in qualifying. Managed to get a 1:56.8, good for 12th of 17 cars. The race that afternoon was exciting, we did a standing start (my first) and everyone was clean, charging around the track without any first lap incidents. A lap later I got a little too aggressive in turn 14 and stuck a nose inside on Fred Switzer, spinning him out but doing no real harm. Sorry Fred! Eventually I ended up behind Alex Reznikov, I was a tad quicker than him but couldn’t quite get set up for a good pass, every time I’d get close I’d somehow goof and ruin my chances.

spec e30 at cmp, part 1 from jason tower on Vimeo.

spec e30 cmp, part 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.

An exciting moment occurred near the end when my steering wheel popped off on the back straight at over 100 mph, the car veered off track but I was able to reattach it in time for the kink:

look ma no hands from jason tower on Vimeo.

Chased Alex until the end and finished eighth with a best lap of 1:56.2.

Sunday was gonna be the day, I was raring to go. It was hot but I had my homemade cool shirt, car was running well, tires in good shape, got on grid nice and early for qualifying. Felt great in the morning qualifying session, I was behind Aaron Rankin in his E36, together we were turning nice laps and gaining on Brian Jones. Then this happened:

spec e30 crash from jason tower on Vimeo.

Aaron put two wheels off in turn 5 and spun, unfortunately I didn’t see it clearly since a miata was directly between us. The miata took evasive action, I did too a second later but not in time to avoid a collision with Aaron. Fortunately the damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked, a bent control arm and some wrinkled sheet metal but nothing that couldn’t be fixed.


Adding insult to injury, the lap I turned just prior to the accident (1:55.7) was good enough for 4th position! And since one of the top three cars didn’t finish I could well have been on the podium that afternoon. We tried to find a replacement control arm but nobody in the paddock had one, guess that’s something to add to the spares list. Oh well, such is racing.

Stopped off at my friend Mike Whitney’s house on the way home to check out the damage. Put it on the lift, removed the control arm and hammered out the body panels, got it looking as good as new (well not quite for good enough for racing).

Turns out the damage was a little worse than we first thought, the wheel was bent along with the strut and shock. But the strut isn’t so bad that the camber plate can’t compensate, might be a little bit off but I’m gonna try it and see how it feels.

Coming up: a few HPDEs, a trip to Mid-Ohio, and another race at Lowes. Keep those fingers crossed.

Uncle Sam’s Tax Run at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Lowes)

This was a last minute thing, I hadn’t intended to do this event but since it looked like a lot of Spec E30 folks were going and I got $50 off for attending the HPDE at NCCAR, what the heck. Plus I had never driven there before, or on any banked oval for that matter, so it would be a good experience. It was only one day but with practice, qualifying, and two sprint races it was a busy one.

I arrived the evening before and barely got there in time to drop off my trailer in the paddock. Fortunately Scott Lusted and his family was kind enough to let me stay with them overnight which ended up being a huge relief since camping at the track wasn’t a possibility. All hands meeting Monday morning at 0700 and practice at 0800 meant we got an early start.

The first couple of laps were intimidating. You can’t get a sense of the size and banking of the track until you see it in person, video just doesn’t do it justice. After a couple of laps I was comfortable enough to take the oval flat (full throttle all the way around) since I heard that’s how it was done. Even with the steep banking and the modest speed of a Spec E30 (about 125 mph) the g-forces are significant, I felt almost like a fighter pilot between the compressive force of the banking and the lateral load provided by the tires at the limit of adhesion. The infield portion of the track was relatively straightforward, it even had some elevation and camber change which was a pleasant surprise. After a short break we headed out for qualifying which put me at a severe disadvantage – many of my competitors had driven this track before (NASA-SE ran at Lowes in 2009) whereas I had barely 20 minutes of time on it. Not surprisingly I qualified ninth out of ten drivers with a 1:29.8 (four seconds faster than practice) but the good news was that the next five cars were less than 0.7 seconds faster so I was only slightly off the pace.

Race #1 was just before lunch, we got a clean start but the car one spot ahead of me (Fred Switzer) spun in turn 4 forcing me to lift slightly. I caught up to the next pack of cars but after several of them teamed up to draft in the oval I was left behind and drove the rest of the race solo, finishing eighth.

spec e30 tax run – race 1 start from jason tower on Vimeo.

Race #2 was after lunch but since we used the same qualifying time I still had to start in ninth position. Again we got off to a clean start and I spent the first half of the race mixing it up with Fred; we traded positions a few times and had a couple of driving oopsies but kept it clean and had a great time. Eventually I was able to open a bit of a gap and cruised the second half of the race. A couple of guys didn’t finish (Alex Reznikov was black flagged for an exhaust problem and Al Taylor had an unfortunate encounter with a concrete barrier) so I finished in fifth position.

spec e30 tax run – race 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.

At one point I spotted former Cleveland Cavalier and current NASCAR analyst and NASA racer Brad Daugherty walking past my car so I asked him if he’d pose next to the Kirk Key (located just outside Cleveland) logo, which he graciously did without a moment’s hesition. In fact Brad was running in the same group as me (meaning we were on track at the same time) but in a different class.

Beautiful weather, friendly people as always, and great racing (my good friend and fellow rookie Evan Levine, also in his first time at this track, qualified sixth and finished fourth and second, a fantastic result). Coming up next: the Pit Bull Brawl at one of my favorite tracks (CMP). Let’s get it on!

NASA-SE Pot of Gold Rush Road Atlanta

My second race at Road Atlanta this year, this time with a substantially larger and more competitive group. Weather on Saturday was marginal, it rained on and off all day so we never had consistent traction. Spotty rain is often the worst – you end up with a dry racing line but offline is wet which makes passing even harder than usual. And that’s exactly what happened during the Saturday race, plus we only got about 15 min of racing since the last half was run entirely under standing yellow. My video camera ran out of memory so nothing was recorded but there wasn’t much to see anyway. Qualified 13th out of 20, finished 11th.

Sunday was cloudy and overcast but dry (meaning no rain, but the track was quite damp for our early qualifying session). I managed a respectable seventh out of about twenty cars which put me in a decent starting position for the afternoon race. Unfortunately I drove too conservatively, which simply won’t get the job done in such a competitive field, and lost a few positions as the race progressed. Things got even worse when it went full course yellow just after the race leader (in a different class) passed me so the pace car came out in front of him and trapped me, everyone that I was chasing ran off ahead and everyone that I had been pulling away from stacked up right behind me. But hey, that’s racing! Lost a couple more spots thanks to some nice driving by my competitors, but we all finished without any incidents and had fun. Finished 13th, giving me plenty of room for improvement next time.

spec e30 road atlanta sun race part 1 from jason tower on Vimeo.

spec e30 road atlanta sun race part 2 from jason tower on Vimeo.

Coming up next: instructing at several HPDEs in March and April, then the next race is at CMP in early May.

BMWCCA Road Atlanta

Bit of a different crowd this weekend with BMWCCA at Road Atlanta. About a six hour drive to get there (not including the 40 minute traffic jam at the SC/GA state line), arrived in time to get set up in the paddock and meet a few people. Both days began with an early practice session, qualifying around lunchtime, then an afternoon race. Being my first time at this track I had hoped to get a ride-along with someone to learn the track but there wasn’t time, fortunately I had watched enough video to get a sense of things. Unfortunately it did not prepare me adequately – this is a scary track. Turn 1 is a fast disconcerting sweeper, turn 3 is blind until you’re right on top of it, turn 5 requires braking/turning/shifting all at once, turn 10 is at the end of a long straight ending in a downhill braking segment, and the infamous turn 12 is blind, narrow, fast, and has little room for error.

My first time out on Saturday I was just trying to learn the track and ran a 1:54, later in qualifying I lowered that to 1:50 which was good for third place out of five. Chuck Taylor and Eric Palacio were both much faster than me, qualifying in the 1:46 range. The race was uneventful, I trailed a E30 M3 for a few laps before he pulled away and I soloed the rest, finishing with a best lap of 1:49.2. That night Eric and I reviewed video and traqmate data, I clearly saw where I was falling behind and hoped to make up at least some of that the following day.

spec e30 road atlanta feb 2010 sat race from jason tower on Vimeo.

Sunday I experimented a bit during practice, found that leaving the car in fourth gear for turn 3 didn’t seem to hurt lap times much so that eliminated two shifts. I also wasn’t totally nailing turn 12 so my straightaway speed was down a bit enabling me to eliminate fifth gear on the front straight, I’d hit the limiter if i didn’t lift slightly but an upshift probably didn’t help enough to matter until I learn to carry more speed through 12. Still, turn 1 had me flummoxed and I never did get comfortable with it all weekend. In fact I went four off in turn 1 during qualifying, fortunately I kept it straight and drove back on without incident. Qualified third again with a 1:49.1, Eric’s dad Julio was driving today and he beat me buy a few tenths. The Sunday race was a bit more interesting, I followed Julio for a number of laps to see how he drove, put the pressure on a couple of times but he didn’t slip up or give me an easy pass. Eventually I combined a good run through 12 with a faster car passing us from behind and slipped by him in turn 1, from then on I drove clean and held on for second place with a best lap of 1:48.9, still far behind Chuck Taylor who finished first again by turning 1:46s. Hopefully I can find another 2-3 seconds so I’ll at least be in the hunt when NASA-SE runs here in three weeks.

spec e30 road atlanta feb 2010 sun race from jason tower on Vimeo.

While packing up I noticed that my front 888s showed significant groove of death wear, I highly doubt I’ll be able to run them much more before they become unsafe although moving them to the rear might help a little. Annoyed that I won’t get my money’s worth out of them, but at least I have a fresh set of RA1s sitting in the garage. Long drive home (fortunately no traffic problems) but judicious use of the load pedal and drafting semis yielded over 17 mpg, and I was able to fill up twice in SC where diesel is $0.30/gal cheaper. Plus my fantastically awesome wife Valerie had dinner waiting for me when I got home

Pics from Amber Eller Wooten (Shaun’s wife), thanks!

NASA-SE Winter Meltdown at CMP

Whew, what a weekend! NASA-SE held their first event of the year, the Winter Meltdown at CMP. For me it included comp school on Friday followed by a full weekend of racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Comp school started Friday morning with a quick on track session just to shake the rust off and get reacquainted with the track, fortunately I’m reasonably comfortable with CMP so it went smoothly. We then alternated classroom sessions and track time for the next several hours, similar to the BMWCCA comp school I did in 2009 but more brief. We had a good group of about ten people and everyone drove well, no incidents of any significance. School ended with a short mock race that was gridded randomly, I was the lead Spec E30 car (my buddies Evan and Colin were also participating) and we all finished without incident. Once that was complete we were effectively issued provisional or rookie licenses and allowed to race that weekend. The three hour enduro started early afternoon, it started snowing towards the end but we figured it wouldn’t accumulate much if at all.

We went to dinner in Camden with several of our fellow Spec E30 drivers (Travis Wilson, Brian Jones, Steven Canterbury) and watched it snow. And snow. And snow. By the time we finished dinner there were several inches on the ground and it was coming down heavier than ever. Someone (probably Travis) suggested we go find a bar and no one objected, meanwhile the snow continued to pile up. The group consensus was that Saturday was almost certainly going to be a bust so we might as well keep drinking. Evan and I in particular were dismayed at the weather, we had been looking forward to racing for nearly a year and the thought of it being canceled was almost more than we could bear. His girl Christina arrived in town and joined everyone at the bar, meanwhile I called it quits and retired to the hotel.

The following morning the sky was clear but everything was blanketed by 4-6 inches of powder, virtually unheard of in South Carolina. Two weekends get canceled at VIR and now this! Evan/Christina/Colin were sleeping off the previous evening’s activities so I rode in with my roommate, we got to the track around 0800. Despite the conditions NASA-SE director Jim Pantas was confident that we’d still run that day, albeit with a delay. He announced that anyone with a truck or street car should get on track and slowly circulate to break up the snow so the sunshine could melt it. I ended up riding around with my pal Nash in his F150 and I’ll be damned if it didn’t work, pretty soon the track was wet but nearly ice free and Jim said it would go hot at 10:50. I called Evan to make sure they were en route since qualifying was at 11:10. They arrived just in time, we suited up and went out. I snagged fifth, and Evan managed to get third. Didn’t really matter though since rookies start their first race at the back no matter what. Still, we were really amped up and ready to race.

That afternoon we gridded at the back of the pack (I ended up being dead last, Evan and Colin were in front of me) and rolled out of the grid. Suddenly Evan pulls out of line and stops in the hot pits. Oh no! Our first race and he’s out before it even started! Turns out all six of his left halfshaft bolts loosened up and it literally fell out of the diff leaving him with no drivetrain. Fortunately it was an easy fix and though he was heartbroken we got it patched up and ready for Sunday.

The Spec Miatas started first and had a car spin off in turn 1 (unfortunately it was Nash who got knocked out by another car) which led to four laps under yellow. Finally we restarted single file but being last I was left for dead when the field strung out, the leaders got green before I even rounded turn 14 leading to the front straight. Due to the delay the race lasted less than 15 min but I managed to pick up several positions and finished ninth. I also set a personal best lap of 1:54.2, beating my previous time by 1.5 seconds.

spec e30 cmp feb 2010 sat race from jason tower on Vimeo.

Sunday’s first session was a qualifying race, meaning that it didn’t count but the results would determine starting positions for the “real” race that afternoon. I started ninth with Evan directly behind me, we got off clean and he passed me in turn 14 and started dicing with Brian Jones, eventually getting past him too. A yellow in turn 8 caused him to slow and Brian and I re-passed him, I was glued to Brian’s bumper for the next two laps before executing a spectacular 360 degree spin in the kink. Despite losing several positions I managed to keep all four wheels on the tarmac and kept going, but the entire race was red flagged less than a lap later due to another crash in 8. I finished tenth but lowered my personal best to 1:53.3. The top five cars were all in the 1:52s so I still need to find some time! Unfortunately I discovered afterwards that my camera power supply wasn’t working and it stopped recording halfway through, which meant I wouldn’t get any footage of the afternoon race either.

spec e30 cmp feb 2010 sun qualifying race from jason tower on Vimeo.

That afternoon I started in tenth as expected, this time we were in front of the Miatas and got a clear start. After a few position changes things settled down and I found myself dicing with Steven Canterbury for the majority of the race. We had what felt like an epic battle, four position swaps and just a little bit of paint trading. I made one last pass on the final lap and held Steven off for eighth place. We gave each other a big thumbs up on the cool down lap but were later called in to explain our contact which happened between turns 2 and 3 in plain sight of the NASA officials. It was ruled a racing incident and no penalties were assessed which was the correct call. My biggest disappointment was not getting the race on video, it would have been excellent footage.

The car performed flawlessly all weekend and everyone finished with big smiles and no serious problems. Colin had to leave on Saturday but Evan kicked ass, finishing fourth in the final race. Safe to say he was on cloud nine for the next several days, and I wasn’t far behind. Next week I’m headed to Road Atlanta for my first race with BMWCCA, it will be my first time at that track so it should be interesting.