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.

2 Comments

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  By Josh sanne, February 18, 2010 @ 19:43

  Man Jason that sounds like a blast I can’t wait to go up on the 2nd, so I can sit in on one of these hot laps of yours.

• 

  By jtower, February 18, 2010 @ 20:24

  absolutely, love to have you come up for the day

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