NASA Race Weekend
August 6-7 2005
Sears
Point Raceway, Sonoma California.
The
Shed Racing Compound
Shed Racing competed in NASA's
August 6-7
event at Sears Point
International Raceway,
in the GTI Cup class.
There
were 5 cars in class this weekend, with Ron Swett picking up the
driving duties Saturday, and Tom Aiken driving Sunday. Other
competitors included Scott
Neville, Don
Bailey, Carlos
Suarez, and Dan
Piña. The success of the inexpensive coilover
suspension testing at Thunderhill in June resulted in the entire field
using the improved spring setups.
Bryan and Geoff from Miller
Motorsports showed up Saturday to help out (and mooch rides, snacks
and bottled water), and Geoff took a few
hundred pictures.
Marcus and Scott Miller helped out Sunday.
Tom
hooks the window net in place.
Ron started the early morning practice session and immediately had a
horrible understeer problem with the car. It just did not want to
turn. He wasn't sure if it was simply a problem with cold tires
on a cold track, or if it had something to do with the suspension work
done since the last race. Ron stuck it out for 2 laps, hoping for
some improvement, and decided to drive down pit road to not hold up
some faster cars that were behind him. About half way down pit
road, the engine died and would not restart.
Ron
returns to the paddock after a brief practice session.
Ron got a lift back to the paddock from the crash crew, where it was
determined that the fuel pump had failed. Luckily, Carlos Suarez
had an extra junkyard pump, which Tom installed and the car started
right
up. It was also
discovered that during the suspension work, the toe alignment was way
off, with almost a full inch toe-in. This is great for straight
line stability, but not ideal for a road race car.
Best time for the morning practice session was Carlos, with a 2:04.5.
Ron
double checks Tom's fuel pump
install.
With #43 running again, and a rough adjustment done to the toe, it was
time to qualify. The qualifying session went well, with Ron
getting the feel for a much better handling race car. His best lap was
a 2:08.4, with Don Baily setting the pole position time of
2:04.1. A quick final adjustment to the toe, and it was time to
race.
Lined up in pre-grid for the Saturday
race (image © Geoff Crall).
Flying
start for the Saturday race (image
© Geoff Crall).
Tom
serves as spotter for the Saturday race.
Ron got a decent start for the sprint race, and was able to keep the
GTI pack in sight until he got held up behind a slower Pro Sedan
MR-2, and someone's front bumper that decided to block part of turn 3A
for most of the race. Dan
Piña retired with an electrical problem, putting Ron in fourth
place. Carlos Suarez finished first, followed by Don
Bailey, and Scott Neville. Ron finished fourth, with a best lap
of 2:06.1, for an average speed of 71.89 MPH. Best lap of
the race was Don Bailey with a 2:03.74.
Ron
takes the checkered flag
Sunday morning, Tom took the early
warmup session easy,
getting a feel for the new suspension and reacquainting himself with
the
track. Everything was fine until a strange handling problem
appeared near the end of the session. This was later tracked to a
loose bolt (well, missing
bolt) connecting the passenger side hub assembly to the lower ball
joint. Tom's best lap was a 2:11.8. Fastest lap in the
morning practice was Scott Neville, with a 2:04.75.
The Sunday qualifying session was changed to a qualifying race, with
the starting positions based on the inverted finishing positions from
the
Saturday race. This put Dan on the pole, and Tom on the right
side of the front row. Dan held the lead into the first
turn, with Carlos passing Tom for second place going up the hill into
Turn 2. Dan held the lead until going into turn 3A, when his
recurring electrical problem came back, putting him out of the race,
and Tom back into second place. Tom clung to second place for all
of 100 yards, before Don Bailey got around him coming out of turn 4,
followed by Scott Neville going into the Carousel. At the
end of the race, Carlos
mistakenly came in one lap early when he saw the starter preparing the
checkered
flag for another class, putting him a lap down. Scott finished
the
qualifying race first, followed by Don and Tom. Fast lap of the
race went to Don Bailey, with a 2.04.00. Tom's best lap was a
lackluster 2:11.04.
This won't last long (image © Geoff Crall).
(L-R) Ron Swett, David Piña, Carlos Suarez, Scott Neville, Dan Piña, Don Bailey, Tom Aiken
Hondas had a hard weekend
Another good weekend. In our first race weekend and second ever
trip to Sears Point, we were not front runners, but we were reasonably
competitive. Tom and Ron both improved their lap times from their
previous visit by about 10 seconds per lap. The car had some
problems, but nothing terminal, Thanks to the generosity of our
competitors. Tom's welding job on the front tow hook seems to
have been adequate.
