I was so looking forward to this event!
I'd had the rubber bushings in the rear replaced with urethane, to address the turn-in instability that we'd experienced at Loudon in September.
Since the August events at Loudon we had also had installed cold air ducts to the front brakes to help them live longer, and we now had Porterfield R4 pads all around, and Motul brake fluid. With these changes the brakes worked great and were very consistent. The pedal stayed high and firm, instead of getting longer and longer as the day went on, as it did before.
With all the suspension and brake changes completed, and running on my favorite configuration (chicane-chicane), I figured we'd have a shot at a top three finish, with an outside chance at a win.
We were very quick, all right, but things didn't work out the way I'd been hoping.
This was a three-day event. On Friday, with a clear track and beautiful weather, we blitzed our previous best times. We first ran the chicane-chicane configuration the previous year, when we had street tires and bone stock suspension and brakes, and were lapping in the 1:26 range. We ran it again in August, and Brad Pelletier won our class with a 1:19.2. Jack Rosen was second with a 1:19.4, and Paul was third with a 1:21.6.
My best in August was a 1:21.5 on worn race tires, so I had high hopes of getting into the ball park with Brad, Jack, and Paul.
On Friday, that's exactly what we did. In my second session, following Paul Formanek around in his ERA 427 Cobra, I did a 1:19.2 and several more laps in the 1:19's. Nate also busted his previous best by a good bit, getting into the 1:20's his first time out.
It was awesome! This was one of the most satisfying moments of my entire racing experience. The Cobra was handling great, sticking like mad, and sounding wonderful as usual. (There's even a video of me chasing Paul!)
Sadly, that was the best it got that weekend. In the afternoon, we both went slower, and we were puzzled because we couldn't understand why.
The next day, all became clear. After a couple more frustratingly slower sessions, we found the right front tire down to the cords. We had a spare, an old tire from our previous set, but we had to leave the track and find a shop where get it mounted. As a result we lost most of the track time that day.
Sunday morning, it was cloudy and much colder. We ran a few laps on the old spare, and found it was down to the cords as well. We weren't able to run any more practice laps, and had to borrow a tire from Gary Cheney to run the time trial!
Nate got a decent 5th place out of 12 in class, with a 1:22.3, but I had a terrible run. It had been sprinkling on and off all day, and when I went out for my timed run, there was enough moisture coming down that I had to turn on the Cobra's wipers.
Coming out of the pits onto the banking in turn 2a, I nailed the throttle as usual, and the tail snapped sideways. I almost spun, but caught it after a long slide. Then, on the first timed lap, as I came into turn 3, I locked up the brakes on the damp, cold pavement and slid all the way down the braking area almost into the tirewall.
These experiences completely spooked me. I lost confidence that I could tell what the car's limits were in the damp, cold conditions. Consequently I drove around ultra-cautiously for the entire three laps, terrified that the car would get away from me and destroy itself against one of the many walls at Loudon.
Usually I enjoy driving a race car in the rain, but not this one! Next year, we must have rain tires.
So I was last in the time trial, bitterly disappointed - but still hopeful for the remaining events, knowing the car was truly better than ever and we just hadn't been able to show this when it counted this weekend.