March 11, 2012
Will WERC for Track Time

RJ Racing (“RJR”) returned to the track for the first time since the class victory at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill to secure a podium position at an eventful four hour endurance race at Infineon Raceway in scenic Sonoma, California.

Set against green rolling hills with a back drop of the San Pablo Bay, the team could not have asked for a better setting to kick off the season. The forecast warned of rain, adding another variable to the always challenging Western Endurance Racing Championship (“WERC”). Also upping the level of competition would be the fact that 15 out of the 31 registered entries would be in RJR’s class, E3. (The next largest class, the E0 class, had only seven competitors.) Due to scheduling reasons, there would also be a truncated schedule with only a short warmup before the race leaving minimal time for preparing the car. With all of these challenges the goal was to walk away with a podium finish with no mechanical issues.

RJ Racing had not raced at Infineon Raceway in over two years. So with limited past data on this track, dialing in the SD Suspension and setting the proper pressures on the Hoosier Tires was yet another challenge. The race officials allowed for a short warm-up session with the four-hour race starting immediately after. The cars would not even come off track in between, leaving no opportunity for last second adjustments. Rob Gibson would take the first stint and with the wave of the green flag, the endurance racing season had begun!  After a clean start an unfortunate and disputed penalty was assessed a stop and go penalty for passing under yellow. Unfortunately, the race officials could not be dissuaded so the team, reluctantly, served the penalty and focused on the rest of the race. After taking a handful of laps to re-familiarize himself with the track, Rob was up to speed and picking his way through the field.

John Gibson took over for driver duties with a full tank of fuel running in fifth position. This would be John’s first time behind the wheel since the 25 and he would have no warm-up session to get comfortable. The weather forecasts would prove true as it began to rain, simply ratcheting up the difficulty level. Shortly after his stint started and while mixing it up in a pack of cars on a slippery track, John exited a turn with a little bit of oversteer and, after a little help from the competition, was spun around. Unfortunately, the car behind clipped the rear bumper on the way by, ripping it off. Now the cars behind us would no longer have the RJ Racing web address handy, but other than that there was no damage.  As the rain began to come down enough to make the technical track slippery the team made the decision to quickly disconnect the sway bars during the second and final fuel stop. (Disconnecting the sway bars gives the car more body roll, which makes the car press down on the outside tires through the turn and giving more grip – very useful in the rain.) As luck would have it, and even after a look to the skies to check the next hour’s forecast, the rain almost immediately stopped and the sun came out. But once again, consistent laps and quality teamwork put us third in class when the checkered flag was waved.

With tough on-track competition, an unfortunate stop and go, no testing to dial in the car for the track conditions, a three month break since our last race, and rain, RJR was still able to put the car on the podium – a great result and a good number of points towards the championship! Now that the 2012 NASA WERC season is officially underway there is plenty of work to do in between now and our next race on April 21 at Buttonwillow. Until then, the RJ Racing Headquarters will be a busy place.

Sponsor List

RJ Racing

www.rjracing.net      P:949-305-3552                        info@rjracing.net

Stewart Development: Custom suspension work

www.stewartdevelopment.com     P: 336-899-0072

Porterfield Enterprises: Raybestos endurance race pads and Brembo brake rotors

www.porterfield-brakes.com      P: 949-546-4470

CDOC Racing supplies: racing consumables

www.cdoc.com    P: 800-915-2362

Mishimoto Radiators: aluminum radiator, silicone hoses

www.mishimoto.com     P: 877-466-4744

Hoosier Racing Tire: SM6 tires

www.hoosiertirewest.com     P: 559-485-4612

Mueller Motorwerks: dry cell battery

www.muellermotorwerks.com   P: 855-669-7224

Exedy Racing Clutch: clutch

www.exedyusa.com    P: 734-397-3333

Bill Brewster Independent Porsche

www.billbrewster.net     P: 949-366-2009

Autowave, Inc.: tuning and general automotive maintenance

www.autowaveinc.com      P: 714-841-2433

Race Engineering: endurance-built transmission

www.raceengineering.org    P: 704-202-5551

MiataPartsSource.com: spare parts

www.miatapartssource.com    P: 702-505-1110

 

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