RJRacing

I’ll try to update this post throughout the race and certainly after each of my stints. Here’s the first post…

The sun came up Saturday morning to reveal a beautiful, blue sky Willows morning. The only problem? Wind. The morning began with a strong northwestern wind. A lot of help down the front straight-away since the wind is at your back but problems in other areas, especially Turn 5.

I was given the honor of starting the race. Something I’m not normally used to. In the chaos of the start I couldn’t begin to tell you if I gained or lost positions. At the end of the day (or 25 hours as the case may be) it doesn’t really matter. The fun thing about the start of an endurance race is that it’s usually the only time you’re battling wheel-to-wheel with several cars in your same class. This was no exception as I found myself racing with three E2 class competitors. Once things settled down it became clear to me that they weren’t really settled down. The pace of the race was quicker than one would expect for the beginning of a 25 hour race. There seemed be more blown engines, oil on track, etc. than in previous years. The only saving grace was that the wind seemed to blow away a lot of the dirt that cars kicked on track.

The goal was to race a conservative first stint to keep things clean and avoid any contact or problems. The only major incident of the first stint was when a class competitor that I passed on the inside of Turn 14 decided it was a better idea to rub his right front bumper against my right door than realize that I passed him. Oh well, that’s endurance racing sometimes…

By the end of my 1.5 hours in the car the RJ Racing #23 Miata was up to 5th place.