MSRH 2021 recap

[michaelmosty]

More detail to follow:

2 AI racers and 9 CMC racers.
Unfortunately both AI racers suffered issues early in the weekend with motor / suspension issues.
Steve had a leaky master cylinder that he fixed on Saturday and Dave had a power steering issue in Race 4 but there was awesome racing throughout the field the entire weekend!!

No body contact at all throughout the weekend.


Welcome back Sean to his race car after almost three years off the track, though he had still been coming to the track to hang out and help cook some amazing BBQ!!

Sam Crumpacker is back in the house for the 2021 season, great to see the Creamsicle back in action!!

Congrats to Frederic for his first race win in just his 2nd weekend racing with us!!

Josh is back after taking the second half of 2020 off and is still blazing fast in getting two wins!!!

2021 has already started with an amazing first event. Cresson is coming up in just 5 weeks time.

[Pranav]

Good seeing you guys! Come hell or high water I'll be back at Hallett.

[Fbody383]

It was hard trying to turn any decent lap times on the tires I had on the car. You guys probably saw more of the sides than the rear bumper.

We came down Friday to unload, setup, and just hang out while the fast guys engaged in some CBP. Was good having a pretty thought out paddock behind the 'big motor' crew.

Saturday we ran backwards - been a while for that. The 88 was punchy with the engine running well for the first time in about two years - essentially we think it was the bullet muffler in the exhaust the car came with that was the biggest issue. That or no orange on the thing. The invert was fine and I'm sure there's plenty of video of me getting passed. The standing start I erred slightly and followed Not Jander instead of the Creamsicle into T1 but ran hard until the tires faded.

Sunday was a reminder of that dark dreary day in January 2020... the skies were gray and the track still damp from the earlier showers that left standing doom at the apex of the last corner... but enough about that. On pole for the invert, got a decent start and drove Drew pretty far into T1 and got into the carousel with a car lead... which lasted a lap or so until NOT JANDER did the mustang-mustang challenge thing on a poor ole Camaro. Then a missed shift did in the rest of the race. But hey, we're on track, the car is running fantastic,and the sun is shining. Standing start in R4 was pretty good as I made up a couple places and didn't even need the grass. As Michael said, other cars figured out the 88 had lost some fluid and since it was a bear to turn it was clear it was power steering related, and we think a relatively easy fix.

But no contact forms...

Now about those red flags... YIKES! Good reminder on what to do for a red flag and to make sure you tighten what you loosen on the race car. And probably tighten it again, and mark it, and check it.

May be ECR before I get out again but Frederic, Drew, and Steve make a great add to the group. A couple more cars and an AI field and it'll get even better.

[Sook]

Had a great weekend of close racing. We had an interesting format this weekend beginning with qualifying, race 1 rolling start grid inverted based on qualifying, and race 2 standing start grid based on qual. We did this both days, and it made for excellent videos from R1 and R3.

R1, Mostly and I had a near photo finish with a 0.072s gap.
https://youtu.be/a40K4WPDhbU

R3, I didn't go as far off track as I thought when Dave missed a shift and got sent alllllll the way back to the back. Had a great race checking out the side of Steve's car in every turn.
https://youtu.be/Kp_27veskkI

Josh

[Shortcutsleeping]

Good to race with you all! I had a ton of "been sitting for three years" issues with Scratcher and ended up in the grey 480 GSpeed corvette for R4.

A DE3/4 guy pitted next to me, Paul Jantzi, hung out with us a good bit since we had all the action going on trying to keep Scratcher on track. He had a mustang on pirelli slicks and seemed to be doing quite well and asked a lot of questions about racing classes and such. Gary Robertson was helping me a ton (THANKS!) and we touched on most all NASA classes, but spent the most time on CMC and the new AMCM. He had a lot of good questions and Gary walked him over to you all Sunday afternoon so hopefully some of ya'll connected. I'll text him and let him know about this forum so he can see. He asked about car prices and such and I know Gary told him of at least two CMC cars that are Texas-ish and such, so maybe he'll be joining the ranks.

R4 from my 'never driven this car' point of view: https://vimeo.com/508243857

Again, enjoyed it and we'll see if NASA keeps ST and CMC together as the season progresses. I don't know if I'll be in SLJHMR or Scratcher...I just want to be there!

Costas
cars and such...

[Fbody383]

R3, I didn't go as far off track as I thought when Dave missed a shift and got sent alllllll the way back to the back.

6:15 of Josh's R3 video is why we race CMC. Besides, from the back you get to pass everybody...

Josh, I thought/was pretty sure I had left you enough room over there. The 88 would have been much easier to drive if you guys would have just run a bunch of 51s... it had no business going as quick as it did on those tires.

[fscott]

Hi yall! I'm Frederic Scott, and I've joined the insanity that is CMC. I'm driving Kevin Jander's old car, and just completed comp school at ECR in December.

MSRH was a blast.

Day 1, I qualified third and finished fourth. I went over the scales and was informed that I was 60 pounds underweight. That's not a typo, I was running stupidly light!

Josh, Michael and Sam donated ballast, bolts, and tools, and I managed to bolt 70lbs of steel into the car before race 2. I came in 5th out of 9th for a solid Mid-Pack Larry result.

Sunday we ran CCW. I qualified fifth, but that paid off in the invert race. I managed to get to 2nd place before Bus Stop, and grabbed first place on lap 2. Then I ran like hell while everyone else was battling for position. I got my lead up to about 7 seconds, then Michael Mosty got clear of the pack and began catching up. Michael qualified over 1 second faster than me, so I knew that it was just a matter of time before he caught up. The race ended with him 1.194 seconds behind me. One more lap, and he would have had me.

I never expected to get a first place win before I'd even taken off my rookie plate, so I'm thrilled with the result.

Race 4 went well enough. Sam Crumpacker make me look at his bumper for most of the race, but then had a 10 second power loss at Diamond's Edge. That cost him two places. I claimed 4th without ever having passed anyone against their will. Here's hoping Sam finds the problem.

After the race, I was informed that I had a leak from my rear axle. While I was investigating it, I learned about a CMC tradition for when you win your first race. I'm glad my phone wasn't in my pocket!

2021-02-08_09h23_55.jpg

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And there's one more story to tell from the trip home.

After a post-race dinner in Pearland, I drove down the street to the AutoZone to get wiper blades. I had the Mustang back on the trailer in preparation for the long drive home. As I got out of the truck I heard a little boy yelling excitedly,"RACECAR! RACECAR!"

I spotted him and his family, and invited them over to take a look. The little boy, perhaps 8 years old, climbed up into the car and settled into the driver's seat. I went around to the passenger side, put the car in neutral, and then showed him what to do.

"Flip this switch up."
*The dashboard lights up, the fuel pump hums, and the gauges sweep across the dials*
"Now press this black button"

The 4.6l V8 roared to life through a 2.5" exhaust equipped with mufflers that barely deserve the name. The kid's jaw dropped and his eyes got as big as saucers. I showed him a few features on the car, such as the detachable steering wheel, and told him that this car had just won first place. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was just club racing with a 25 year old Mustang, and just one race out of four, because that kid was sitting in a goddamned racecar. I bet that days later, he's still talking about it.


Everything about the weekend was great, and I'm looking forward to the next race at MSRC.