Race Report HSR Fall Historics at Road Atlanta

[sf4018]

After a rainy Thursday, the rest of the weekend turned sunny and mild at Road Atlanta and made for perfect racing conditions. My son David and 3 of his roommates came up from Auburn to help out. 

 

Friday Qualifying 1: Set the tires to 17psi. The track was still oily, it took 6 laps to warm the ZZRs up enough to get them switched on, finished P1 with a lap time of 1:38.965, but it looked like the tire pressures never got high enough.

 

Saturday Qualifying 3: This was the money session, it was early morning, cold track, cold air, beautiful. Bumped the cold tires up to 18psi. Finished P2 with a 1:37.002 with a 1967 Ginetta G12 coming out of nowhere and killing it with a 1:35.7. It took 6 laps again to get the tires warmed up.

 

Saturday Sprint Race 1: 360 Video here. Good start but briefly dropped to P3 before late braking at turn 1 and taking back P2. Just behind P4/5 got into each other at turn 1 and span out leaving the rest of the field behind to slow down, so by the time it got to turn 3 it was already just the 3 of us. The Ginetta was way too fast to bother with so it was between myself and the red Porsche #112 for the podium spots. Once again the tires were not very grippy cold and feathered the throttle in 5th gear from turn 3 all the way to 6. #112 passed me on the back straightway and I was very nervous braking in to 10a, so used engine braking a lot to slow down to make sure of tire damage. Things settled down then lap 6 the tires switched on and started reeling #112 in, eventually overtaking him coming out of 10b. The gap between us was 0.007 seconds at the line. Super fun race. 

 

Sunday BRM Endurance Race: This is a 1 hour race with a mandatory 5 minute pit stop which has to be taken before 40 minutes. The ZZRs were still in very good shape, Mintex rear pads still had 8mm left, we filled the tank to 15 gallons so we could pit early, though very heavy. Lined up 2nd row, the front cars (which were in a different class) took off and with a full tank could not keep up, barely running 1:39s, so settled into P3. We were hoping for an early double yellow so we could be one of the few with a large tank to pit, but it didn't happen. P1 and 2 pitted after lap 17 under green flag then with just minutes to go before the 40 minute limit was up the full course came out and we pitted right away. We only lost 1 lap during the 5 minute pit, so came out in P1. The race was then black flagged and finished a little early which is a shame not to enjoy the restart, but the boys were so happy to get the win.

 

Sunday Sprint Race 2: The Ginetta was a scratch so this race was between me and the 112 car. We swapped for the lead half a dozen times before he had an engine issue and fell back to third place, a real shame as it was an exciting race.

 

Fall Historics Wraps Up with Repeat and First Time Weekend Feature Race Winners at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta – Historic Sportscar Racing (hsrrace.com)

 

 

I have a set of A24s coming for the next race, hopefully they'll respond better for the sprint races. The Mintex pads are great for the rears, very little wear and balance is good. Road Atlanta curbs as very high and some have deep ribs, so it looks like I may have run over them too much and caused some drivetrain damage somewhere, but totally worth it!

[Croc]

Congratulations!  Very well done!

 

What HSR class are you running?

 

Also, what is the Ginetta running as an engine?  It took off quick in race 1.

[sf4018]

4 hours ago, Croc said:

Congratulations!  Very well done!

 

What HSR class are you running?

 

Also, what is the Ginetta running as an engine?  It took off quick in race 1.

Thanks @Croc, we were in Group 3 for sprints and V for Enduro. The Ginetta has a 1.6l engine, weighs about 1250’. The cockpit is very small, the driver had to take his helmet off first before getting out, but it’s a beauty.

[d15b7]

Great results, and a fun write up;  thanks!!

 

just my opinion (so take with grain of salt!) but I think you’re starting your tires too low.  I run the older Toyo 888 tires and start them at 20 psi cold and come off the track at 25-26 hot.   They come in quickly and are pretty stable.  This set is ancient (they hardly wear at all on such a light car;  mine are still half tread after 7 yrs of racing!).  I plan on finally ordering a new set and want to try the Nankang AR-1 this time and see how they are. 
 

PS the Ginetta G12 is way WAY above our cars in terms of performance.  The G4 is our direct competitor.   Don’t feel bad that that G12 ran away and hid from you!!

[sf4018]

Thanks @d15b7, would be good to see some more 420Rs out there sometime. I was guessing the cold pressures, the hot pressures were 21-22psi, maybe they should be higher, don’t know but I’ll experiment some next time. I read message boards online about this and there didn’t seem to be a solid consensus.

[Croc]

6 hours ago, sf4018 said:

the hot pressures were 21-22psi, maybe they should be higher, don’t know but I’ll experiment some next time. I read message boards online about this and there didn’t seem to be a solid consensus.

 

The Caterham UK racers I run with all aim for 25psi hot.  Depending on your ambient temps on the day, I adjust cold pressures to aim to that hot temp point.