VIR SCCA Super Tour, B-Spec - April 11-14, 2019

VIR SCCA Super Tour April 11-14, 2019

Thursday morning one of the Honda Fits I brought to VIR belonging to Kent Carter blew the motor, and he drove around North Carolina and Virginia searching for a donor engine and a new radiator, having holed it in an incident at Road Atlanta 3 weeks prior. David Daughtery, John Phillips, Willie Keeling and I finished the swap and got the car running after a delicious pizza dinner thanks to Diane Carter. David’s wife, Toni, had to make the 4 hour round trip to their house to get a part for John’s Fit that had an issue crop up during the test day, which required a trip to the dealer Friday morning to fully rectify, causing him to miss the morning practice session. It would be our only real dry session until Sunday’s race, where I tried to get familiar with the track and pick out some reference points. After almost abandoning the session, Kent went out and discovered the car wouldn’t run right without a trip over the rumbles--  a feat he would have to repeat in Qualifying before discovering a gearbox issue that would sideline him the rest of the weekend. I went out in the first qualifying session on my street tires as it was still a little sloppy from a rain shower, which turned out to be a horrible decision as I couldn’t get enough clear track to get any heat in the tires, and was seconds down on everybody else who went out on slicks. I at least got to put eyes on the track again and spot a few more reference points I needed to look for, but my times continued to be dismally slow.

Saturday morning went out on scrub R7s because everybody was so much faster on slicks in the Friday Qual than me on my street tires. I started gaining confidence in the tires and car when our shortened Qual session ended. Still slowest in the group but getting a feel for where the track went, just in time for torrential downpours. Race 1 was sloppy, messy and wet, and I opted for the street tires again. We had our own start behind the prod cars, and I got a great one as the 3 rows in front of me went to opposite sides of the track and I was able to sail up the middle -- would have cleared the second row and into the 3rd if I hadn’t banged it off the rev limiter in all my excitement! I had a good few laps of racing with Cherie Storms of Vancouver, Canada (eh?) until my lack of confidence in the tires and the better grip of the H2Os saw me making laps by myself as I passed more and more cars off stuck in the mud. Cherie went on to battle hard with Joe Gersch, another of our Texas drivers. Cherie persevered for 7th after a last lap pass, followed by a big tank slapper in 3, maintaining position. 

After the race we had a Potluck gathering and briefly discussed some possible tire changes. Frank Schwartz has made an exciting offer for the group if we can get 30 B-Spec cars to the Runoffs! Frank, and his company Advanced Automotive Consulting Services and RaceTrackMaps, will reimburse the entry of one B-Spec driver at the 2019 Runoffs! There’s still time to qualify, and competitive cars for rent (from myself, as well as Frank and others -- check out the facebook B-Spec group, linked below for details).

Sunday I skipped the warmup, and put the scrub R7s back on for what should be an initially slippery but drying track. Got a decent start, nowhere near as good as the day prior, but got up in between Cherie and Drew Strickland. I was able to draft by Drew with Cherie, race with them for several laps and eventually lose touch with them until the full course caution brought on by an extremely unsafe prod car punting Joe off in Hogpen and high centering him in the mud. After they got him rolling again, I sent it through the roller coaster section and Hogpen on a gamble that it was green as the workers started putting down the double yellows and passed a ton of prod cars and caught up to Cherie and Drew into 1, tried to hang with them but was down on power as apparently cars burn more fuel in the dry than the wet (DUHHHH) and my fuel pressure was hovering between 0 and 12. This also meant Brian Metcalf who had been following me and being a great drafting buddy sailed by me in the esses. Trying to turn the tables and learn a faster line through Oak Tree from him, I went off mudding onto the back straight and REALLY lost touch with the group coming to the white flag. Evidently Fritz Wilke went off to avoid contact with Frank at the front of the pack, clawed his way back on track just in front of me and then did a tank slapper through 4-5 and we went side by side through the esses, where I just didn’t have the grunt to get in front of him and we came across the line 10th and 11th. David Daughtery, John Phillips, and Frank Schwartz finished 1-2-3 both days, and had their share of the fun at the front. Too bad they’re too fast for me to keep an eye on and report their battles!!

All in all, VIR SCCA was a fun weekend that showed the friendliness and camaraderie in the class. It really is one of the best groups in the paddock, in one of if not THE most affordable class in the SCCA. A budget racer would get half a season out of a set of pads, and could get 1-2 weekends on a sticker set of tires, rotating those to the back. There’s quite a few affordable rentals throughout the country, so no matter where you are you can get a taste of the cars and class before jumping in!

B-Spec Rentals: https://christaylorracing.com/products/racecar-rental

B-Spec Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/203643743139368/

B-Spec For Sale/Rent group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1963447977209282/