Post-Hallett Media

[ShadowBolt]

Highs
Tied CMC track record with a 28 flat in TNT on Friday with old "crappy" RA1's
Qual'd 2nd on Sat, I was driving fast but racing(starting) poorly, had plenty of issues with the starts(Car, Me).

Lows
I am going to open the trans up to replace 2nd gear and 4th gear, having shifting issues and when I had it opened last they were the worst members in it, should have done it right the first time :-/
I was having hell with T1 on the RR's, I cut(damaged) 1 RR in qual so I put a RA1 back there and that corner felt better imo, it could take more abuse, the grip was there much sooner, etc.
Had fuel cutout issues all weekend, cost me several positions in every race, I think my baffle is broken in the gas tank, hopefully I can get some advice on fixing that from some mustang guys.
Minor contact with John in R1(Sorry!), broke my new RPF1 on the curbing so I was running RA1's on the left side of the car and RR's on the right, also running 17x9's on the left and 17x9.5s on the right.
When my brakes are cold it feels like my front end is going to fall off from extreme vibration, is this a side effect of floating rotors?

The weekend was a bit of hell but I still had fun, learned a lot, love racing with you guys!

I don't understand the RR's. On Friday in T&T we ran RR's with all four having a bad flat spot from TWS (two were down to the cord so we put them on the back. The car was perfect on Friday morning and Jay turned a best of 1.284 and I ran a 1.29 flat. Friday afternoon the car (with zero changes) pushed like a dump truck to borrow a phrase from Ol DW. We changed shock settings, air pressure, rear sway bar and nothing helped. Sat. morning for qual we put on a new set of RR's (we did run four laps on them on Friday and let them rest until Sat. morning). Car was not any better but played with pressures and got it where we could run about a half second slower than Friday. Jay finished second in R1 after Michael got punted by Brian Curtis. In R2 I started fourth from the rear and was going through the field when Al ran off track out of turn one and I tried to pass but got in the grass with the left tires under braking into Buss Stop and thankfully Al, and Gary let me spin off track and did not hit me. I went from like seventh to almost last but with others having trouble and some better driving on my part I think I finished like tenth. In R3 I started I think eighth and after the slowest ever rolling start I went to first just before the flag fell and got a great start. I was in fourth going into Buss Stop and passed everyone but the Sam by the end. For the first time in my life I drove a smart race and did not overdrive trying to catch Sam. I knew he had a DNF in one race and a poor finish in the other so I did not need to pass him. Our points put us third on the grid and Jay lit the tires up in the standing start and thank goodness an Orange car pushed him to turn one in fourth. Brian got around Michael and Ryan and Jay stayed right on Michael rear (as Michael was on Ryan's). They stayed this way lap after lap and I really thought Michael would pass Ryan and Jay and Ryan would race for the last podium spot. Did not happen. A really slow running Spec Iron car was about parked in turn four and Ryan and Michael had to get on the brakes hard to keep from hitting him. By the time Jay saw what was happening it was either hit Michael or try and pass them both on the left side of turn four. Jay got in the marbles and never even had a chance to save it as the rear snapped around and that was it for us. Jay passed a few cars and Dan got punted in the Bitch so I think we finished seventh. Brian Curtis told Jay he put back on his RA1's on Sunday morning and ran faster than on brand new heat cycled RR's! I bet he ran RA1's in R4 but I forgot to ask. Several drivers (Sam, both Brian’s, and a few others) ask if we were getting a lot of chatter from the front tires while turning......we were. Also the RR’s squeal like hell when pushed. Got lucky after four years of not finishing R4 we had a second year of making every lap. In fact had I not screwed up in R2 we may have started on the pole or at least P2 but it was not to be. Hallett is still the best place we race.

JJ