Bill, thank you for the kind words. This past week was a trying one for me and Kryderacing. The event was full of ups and downs.
Sunday was a test day. Third lap of the day I was under the track record. I didn't have my lap timer display turned on and I cannot hear my crew over the radio with this exhaust, so when I can in to the pits at the end of the session I was hoping I ran a 2:20 lap. I was pleasently surprised when I was told 2:17.000. That's an "up."
The next session I chased down a GT1 Corvette (tube frame 2700 lbs and 750+ HP), but then my motor started sounding flat. I pullained in early and the motor was certainly "off." It turned out after disassembly two camshaft lobes were wiped out. We have selected smaller diameter lifters (with adding sleeves to the block to accomodate them), and the lifter guides were binding the lifters and keeping them from moving up and down...not a good thing. So we pulled than motor and sent it back to Detroit and threw the backup in. That's a "down."
Monday's qualifying session was wet, so I watched as others put their car at risk. No one damaged anything, so that was good.
Tuesday was Q2, and all I wanted was to get "in the field." Again, I couldn't tell what my lap times were, so when I came back into the pits and was told "2:16.5" and that I was the fastest, I was thrilled. That counts as an "up."
Wednesday we decided to sit on pit row and see if anyone bested our lap time. Throughout the session no one can close, not within a second. With about 5 minutes to go I decided to pull the car behind the wall, and as I was turning off pit row my crew chief told me Scott Tucker ran a 2:16.4 to take the pole from me. That's a second "down."
I really didn't want to run that motor much more than needed. I was concerned about the stock bottom end lasting, and we were down to our last set of oil coolers, so if the motor let go we couldn't use them when we swapped the rebuilt motor.
Thursday we replaced the backup motor with the rebuilt one. The engine builder machined a new block for me and assembled a new motor using my rotating assembly and cylinder heads, and did it in 1 1/2 days. It arrived at Road America at 2:00 AM Thursday. By 12:30 that day the car was driving down the road en route to the chassiso to the following dyno. That's a third "up!"
We started the race in second place, but lost that spot at the start because "your's truly" selected 6th gear rather than 4th going in to turn one. Of well, I am not a robot. I did manage to catch the second place car fairly quick, but before the end of the first lap things went south in a bad way. We touched at Canade Corner. He spun and was t-boned by the fourth place Corvette. The driver, Joe Koenig, was taken to the hospital. I was watching him being pulled from the car while we circulated under Full Coarse Yellow. I was sick. Definite big-time "down."
The restart had me in second place, and I hounded the heck out of the twin turbo AWD Porsche of Scott Tucker for the remainder of the race. We were always within one second of each other. I did manage to sneek past him twice going into Turn One, but could never stay in front. The last lap going into Canada Corner I tried to outbrake him on an outside move. We both slid threw the turn, with inches seperating us.
If you go to SCCA, it shows this on thier website:
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So I finished second, not bad. That's first place in 2010, a Championship in NASA in 2011, and this Runner Up. Not bad. That's an "up."
I then was told I was being "protested" for the contact in lap one. I expected this, but when I watched my in-car, I felt this would be taken care of quickly and in my favor. Wrong. "Downer" big-time.
I appealed, and the appeal process was to uncover track video that showed me and the BMW side-by-side, which exonerated me. Huge "up."
So, I came home with the car in one piece. Now I plan my 2012, but before that I think I am heading to Daytona for the NARRA finale. I think I saw 69 entries for the race. Jeff Courtney was telling me about this today, and I am starting to get excited. I hope my schedule permits my attendance.
I am disappointed I wasn't able to bring home the SCCA crown to Viper Nation in 2011, but trust me, it wasn't for lack of effort.
thanks
