RJRacing

May 21, 2012
From Pits to Podium

Round three of The National Auto Sport Association’s (NASA) Western Endurance Racing Championship (WERC) would be held at the same grueling three mile track that hosted the RJ Racing’s (RJR) 25 Hours of Thunderhill win just six months prior. Twenty-nine cars would grid up just north of Sacramento, hidden in the rolling hills of Willows, California, with the largest class being the E3 class, consisting of thirteen cars.

The team arrived at the track Saturday afternoon with just enough time to get on track for a quick “test session” during a thirty-minute sprint race. The session paid off as the crew was able to fine-tune the Stewart Development Custom Suspension and dial out some issues that both drivers felt. “The car felt good but just a touch of understeer that would slow us down on this throttle happy track,” commented John Gibson, co-owner/driver.

The starting grid was generated randomly as there would be no qualifying session. Also, the race was scheduled to begin at 8:15 AM, so there would be little chance for teams to get comfortable. Once the green flag dropped, the #23 RJR Miata began gain positions by setting down consistent laps over the three miles of undulating elevation change and off-camber turns. By the thirty-minute mark Rob Gibson, co-owner/driver, had the team running P4.

At the 90-minute mark, the #23 RJR Miata was brought in for a scheduled fueling and driver change. After the rest of the field had cycled through their pit stops, John had P2 and was chipping away at a 40 second gap to P1. The team was completely focused on taking P1 when the corner officials began to wave the meatball flag at John. This black flag with an orange circle usually means a car has a dangerous mechanical problem and must go to its pit. Nothing seemed to be wrong with the #23 RJR Miata, so a NASA Official was consulted. The team was informed that they had begun to exceed sound regulations, even though there were no sound regulations published by NASA. NASA apologized for not including the sound regulations in the rules and regulations, but since it was a county regulation it had to be enforced. RJR reluctantly pitted in order to swap mufflers.

Having the car in pit lane would give RJR the opportunity to fill the car with enough fuel to finish out the race. The team was very close to being able to finish with just one five-gallon jug of fuel. Since fueling and the muffler swap cannot be done at the same time due to the rules, only dumping one jug would save a good amount of time. The split second decision was made and the car was sent out with one jug. John now found himself running P5 with about an hour left to go.

The gamble to go with one jug fell just short. The #23 RJR Miata was running P3 with large gaps to P4 and P2 and just minutes to go when it began to cough for fuel. The car was brought in for its second unscheduled pit stop with a minute left in the race. After a quick “splash and go” the car was back out in P3 just in time to see the checkered Flag waving. P1 went to fellow Southern California team, 949 Racing in their #05 Miata and P2 goes to Team R&R Racing in their #26 Saturn. “With two unscheduled pit stops, it is hard to be disappointed with a podium finish,” Rob commented following the race. With Round 3 of an intense WERC Series in the books, the team’s focus shifts to improving for Round 4.

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