Watkins Glen with NARRA 2013

5/18 -5/19, 2013 NARRA Time Trials at Watkins Glen

Saturday was going well with some solid 2:05 lap times. In the 3rd session, there was a near disaster when my rear wheels locked up and caused a high speed spin on the main straight while braking for turn 1:

I was incredibly lucky to avoid hitting the wall. But all four of my fresh Hoosiers were corded:

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These are the PCM trouble codes after the spin:

I don't know which of the above codes were present before the spin, so I cleared them out and the only ones that returned after a brief session on Sunday were:

C1226 h - rf excessive wheel speed variation
C1333 h - rf wheel speed circuit open or shorted

Based on the above information, I thought the first course of action would be to replace the right front wheel hub because the ABS sensor is integrated with it. Thanks to the fellow racers, I was able to quickly replace the hub but a reconnaissance lap revealed the same two trouble codes. Time was running out on Sunday so I jacked up the car and traced the ABS wires back from the hub and saw they were leaning against the passenger side exhaust manifold and melted together. In the tight quarters, I was able to barely cut out the bad section of wiring but only had time for 1 lap in the 3rd session of Sunday. Good news was no trouble codes! So I put on the Pirelli slicks and made some laps in the final session of the day to set my personal best time and good enough for 2nd place.

Here is my fastest lap of 2:02.3:

Lap Analysis: Since I missed all Sunday sessions, I had to grid at the back for the last session. Therefore first laps were slower before I hit the 2:03 and even then I had one car to pass.

With more practice, I would have gotten a mid 2:02 I feel. "T6" column shows the affect of slowing to pass the orange z06 in the right hander after the bus stop.

Lap times are on par or faster than similar power to weight cars in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge "GS" class: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Tire_Sports_Car_Challenge

GRAND SPORT (GS)
The Grand Sport (GS) class is made up of several factory sports and muscle cars from around the word with minimal performance modifications, but full safety systems. Minimum weights range from 2,700 lbs. to 3,300 lbs. Engines are tuned to produce between 350 and 475 horsepower depending on the car, and the competition is further equalized by a variety of fuel tank capacities that range from 17.5 gallons for the Porsche Cayman S to 22 gallons for the Chevrolet Camaro. Top speed for most GS cars is over 170 mph.

GS Rules: http://www.grand-am.com/Portals/0/Images/PDF/GS%20and%20ST%20SpecificCarRegulations2012_12_18.pdf

Results: http://www.grand-am.com/Portals/0/Images/PDF/Conti_WGI_6Hours_OfficialResults.pdf

SCCA Records in T1:

http://www.flr-scca.com/race/records.html

2:03.120

99.415

John Heinricy

Chevy Corvette

7/11/2010

http://www.heinrocket.com/press-2010-07-13-WatkinsGlen.php

Going into the race weekend, Heinricy held the Watkins Glen track records in the SCCA’s American Sedan and Touring 3 classes, both in cars built by Phoenix Performance. He added the Touring 1 class records on Saturday with a 2:03.550 lap, and improved it Sunday to 2:03.120, an average speed of more than 98mph around the 3.4-mile track.