Roebling Rumble

My second race weekend was at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah, GA. I drove the street legal race car down from Atlanta to race at a track I had never seen before. A smarter man would have come down on Friday and driven down and included the test and tune day the Friday before the race weekend, but I think we're well along the way of establishing I am not a smart man.

Before Saturday's race I took some time and rode with an instructor during one of the driving school instructors. David Thackary apparently did a good job as I qualified third. The highlight of the race was watching Chuck drive straight off the outside of turn one and dirt track it into turn two in my rear view mirror. In the end, Laura's experience at the track bested me as I was passed and ended up fourth (again). On the bright side, I finished without a wreck.

Sunday's race I qualified faster (but not better). I found myself fifth gridded next to Chuck with a couple of Spec Miata's between us and the faster E30's. About halfway through the race we found ourselves working together to get through traffic and I took advantage of our arrangement and took an inside pass into turn 1. Just ahead Laura and Damion side by side and Laura dropped a wheel spinning her back across the track. I got the luck of the draw and found myself third in Spec E30 gaining on Damion who was nursing a right front tire. On the white flag lap I made my move into turn 4, but when the door was shut found myself sideways half off the track... I settled for third but most importantly was able to drive the car home that evening. This race was the reason I bought a trailer over the off season.

Sponsor: Cranes Pigskin Picks

My first sponsor!!! Admittedly it's not like John Deere was banging down the doors, but I'm not proud and will take what I can. Friend and fellow trombone player from Purdue Brian Crane runs a great football entertainment website called Cranes Pigskin Picks. Go Boilers!!!

Competition School

National Auto Sport Association (NASA) is the sanctioning body for the Spec E30 race series. They held a two day competition school as part of their Hotlanta Challenge. The first day consisted of classroom sessions and on track exercises. Other Spec E30 racers taking the school included Chuck Taylor and Laura Patton. The second day consisted of participating in the lightning sprint race sessions. The Lightning race group included Spec E30, 944 cup, Spec Miata, and Honda Challenge cars. Sunday's practice and qualifying sessions were exciting as I saw more spins and offs that my entire driving school career.

During Sunday's race there was a total of eleven Spec E30 and due to a mix-up I was gridded for the standing start in third place behind Robert Patton (the southeast Spec E30 ambassador) and Carter Hunt. I was supposed to be gridded at the back with the rest of the comp school graduates. The car classes were not separated out so during the race I mixed it up with a number of Spec Miatas and after watching Robert and Carter walk away through traffic lost a position to Damion Moses. That was my first race craft lesson... defend your position. I finished fourth in class and outside of the bump draft from the Miata between 10a and 10b didn't have any incidents.

Body & Graphics

It finally came time to put the car on track wheel to wheel, so the final touches for racing included primarily the mandated stickers but also some dakar yellow accents to make the car easier to pick out on track. Lastly, I added a black flag graphic on the front drivers side corner.

Safety

As I adjusted to the dynamics of the E30 and developed as a driver my speed picked up I began to work on safety items preparing the car for Spec E30 competition. The seat is a Racetech HRV 4009 and the cage was installed by Genesis 1 (B.J. Fisher). Additional items that went in included the fire system, new belts, kill switch, etc...