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- Mazdaspeed Protege 2003.5
Just got back from the Pirelli World Challenge Race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.
Was part of the Grid-1 Motorsports Team (Colorado) that raced the #07 RX-8.
The Race
The Qualifying Race on Saturday was cancelled Friday due to snow. Without Quilifying Times, poll positions were based on current TC Series points/standings. Our car was positioned 10th on the TC Poll. We probably would have impoved our poll position by 2-3 position if we had the opportunity to qualify based on how the car was running in practice. But such is Racing.
The Start
All the World Challenge Classes (GT, GTS and TC) race together. This makes for a large and crowded field. The field for this race was 54 cars. 15 cars were registered in the TC Class. The GT Class (fastest) are placed at the front of the poll. Behind them are the GTS Class and the TC cars are placed at the back of the poll. The World Challenge uses a standing start - Drivers are in running cars and stationary until the green light starts the race. This makes for an exciting start but can also lead to scrambling and crashes. In this case two cars in front of the TC Class crashed on the start backing up cars behind them. Our driver has a reputation of getting good starts and jumping pass 2-3 TC cars on the start. No opportunity this time.
The crash also bought out the yellow flag and pace car while the crash was cleaned up for 20 minutes. So the first 20 minutes saw no racing action. The Race is limited to 23 laps by the GT cars or 50 minutes which ever come first.
#07 RX-8 Performance, Track and Weather
The track was dry but the outside temperature was 40 degrees. The car was a little sluggish compared to the practice runs. It never reach optimum engine temp. Looking back we should have taped/bocked off air flow to the radiator. The other RX-8 did and performed a little better. The turbo Volvo C30 and Jetta had the distinct advantage over the NA cars and it showed in the final standing.
Overall Evaluation
Our car improved three positions for the starting poll and finished 7th. A total of 15 cars register in TC, so we finished in the middle of the pack. Given all things considered (weather, crash & car performance) the Team was satisfied with the outcome. There is much more to build from this race and more potential to squeeze out of the car.
The other RX-8 was positioned just ahead of us on the poll and sucessfully avoided the back-up behind the crash. It finished 5th.
4 Races/Rounds completed in the 2011 Series, another 8 more Races/Rounds left.
Was part of the Grid-1 Motorsports Team (Colorado) that raced the #07 RX-8.
The Race
The Qualifying Race on Saturday was cancelled Friday due to snow. Without Quilifying Times, poll positions were based on current TC Series points/standings. Our car was positioned 10th on the TC Poll. We probably would have impoved our poll position by 2-3 position if we had the opportunity to qualify based on how the car was running in practice. But such is Racing.
The Start
All the World Challenge Classes (GT, GTS and TC) race together. This makes for a large and crowded field. The field for this race was 54 cars. 15 cars were registered in the TC Class. The GT Class (fastest) are placed at the front of the poll. Behind them are the GTS Class and the TC cars are placed at the back of the poll. The World Challenge uses a standing start - Drivers are in running cars and stationary until the green light starts the race. This makes for an exciting start but can also lead to scrambling and crashes. In this case two cars in front of the TC Class crashed on the start backing up cars behind them. Our driver has a reputation of getting good starts and jumping pass 2-3 TC cars on the start. No opportunity this time.
The crash also bought out the yellow flag and pace car while the crash was cleaned up for 20 minutes. So the first 20 minutes saw no racing action. The Race is limited to 23 laps by the GT cars or 50 minutes which ever come first.
#07 RX-8 Performance, Track and Weather
The track was dry but the outside temperature was 40 degrees. The car was a little sluggish compared to the practice runs. It never reach optimum engine temp. Looking back we should have taped/bocked off air flow to the radiator. The other RX-8 did and performed a little better. The turbo Volvo C30 and Jetta had the distinct advantage over the NA cars and it showed in the final standing.
Overall Evaluation
Our car improved three positions for the starting poll and finished 7th. A total of 15 cars register in TC, so we finished in the middle of the pack. Given all things considered (weather, crash & car performance) the Team was satisfied with the outcome. There is much more to build from this race and more potential to squeeze out of the car.
The other RX-8 was positioned just ahead of us on the poll and sucessfully avoided the back-up behind the crash. It finished 5th.
4 Races/Rounds completed in the 2011 Series, another 8 more Races/Rounds left.
