RJRacing

RJ Racing Finishes 3rd despite mechanical gremlins.

“John drove the car brilliantly despite having only 4th gear and no power below 4500 RPM,” Crew Chief Tim Gibson said after finishing a respectable 3rd Place at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA.

The #23, piloted solely by John Gibson, came in for fuel in 1st Place and left in 1st place after building a lead of almost 2 laps. This despite having only single gear for the last half of the race. Reporting a loose shift knob and the inability to shift into any gear except 4th, John managed to continue to gap the field, turning laps only 2 seconds slower than his fastest time.

“Trying to keep momentum up thru the corners in a low-powered car like the MX-5 Miata is key to turning fast laps,” commented Rob Gibson, acting as Team manager for RJ Racing’s 3 car effort this year at Sonoma. “Unfortunately, an electrical glitch in the custom ECU flash caused the engine power to cut in and out at partial throttle in mid-corner, just when the driver needs smooth delivery. This abrupt cut in power while negotiating the tricky Turn 10 at Infineon caused the back end to become light, spinning the car. Fortunately the quick hands of John saved the car from the wall.

“All I was thinking was ‘The 25 Hours in 6 weeks. Save the car,” john said. After sitting for 3 full laps facing the wall in a precarious position, (with no reverse gear), #23 was finally rescued by the fast acting Safety workers. The Full Course Yellow (FCY) was shown during the incident, putting the RJ Racing machine back to 3rd place in E2 Class once the drama was over.

“We still have a perfect record of not benefiting from FCYs,” Commented Tim Gibson. “We make our own luck.”

With one race to go RJ Racing sits in 1st in the Western Endurance Race Championship (WERC).

Join RJ Racing as they compete in their second 25 Hours of Thunderhill. RJ Racing will attempt to improve on their 2nd Place finish in its maiden attempt at The 25 last year.