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June 06 2008 Season begins for the Live Search carby Jim Walsh I haven't been able to blog after each every event this year, I'll give a brief summary of the first three race weekends here, then slightly more in-depth posts on the last two weekends in followup posts.
My first race weekend was the Oregon SCCA Regional at Portland International at the end of March. Weather was miserable - it was the first time I've ever gone out on a dry track with racing slicks, and had to come in because I couldn't get any traction because of hail. It had rain, sleet, hail, and wind. The qualifying session was wet, I qualified second overall and first in GT2. Finally we had dry weather for the race, and I got a good launch and into the lead at the first corner, with Nick Fluge, Matt Crandall, and Andrew Foley behind me. A couple of laps in I was getting a decent gap on the field, a couple of seconds a lap, when my window net fell down on the back straight! I was fumbling around trying to grab it on the straights (while driving with one hand) to reconnect it, but I dropped it and it got tangled. It was only a matter of time until I got the dreaded 'meatball' flag to pit for mechanical problems. I pulled into pit lane, my new crewman Chris Brown buckled the window net back up, and off I went for the SLOOOOOOWWW drive down pit lane (35mph speed limit) while the other cars were zooming by at 140mph! I was on a tear, I repassed Foley and Fluge and was chasing after Crandall, but I never saw him on track, so I kept pedalling harder, thinking he must be further up the rode. After the race, I found out that he'd broken a few laps after I got on course and didn't finish the race, so I won both overall and in class.
The next event was the California Festival of Speed at California Speedway in Fontana, CA. This is a Porsche Club of America event I've been to a couple of times before, it's always a great time, with plenty of basically identical GT3 Cup cars to race against. I also entered the Yokohama Driver's Cup event going on in conjunction, which made for a pretty crazy 3-day weekend, with 17 sessions on track over the three days! I did well in both groups, on pole for class (GTC3) in PCA, and coming second and first in the first two races. I was actually black flagged in the third and final PCA race as a corner worker thought he saw contact between me and another driver (the PCA, unlike most organizations, doesn't wait until after the race to address race incidents, but calls people in on the spot). Both of us were stuck in the tech garage for the rest of the race. Afterwards, the steward didn't see any body damage on either car and released us with no penalties, but unfortunately we both lost the time on track. I also did the Yokohama Driver's Cup series event, which is a stepping-stone series to the pros - most of the drivers are also running in the Michelin Cup pro series, lots of big transporters with big race teams and multiple cars, I looked a little out of place with my single-car trailer and one crewman with me. There were eight drivers in the 'A' class (996 Cup cars) and it was definitely a darn good class of driver in this series. I had to pedal like mad to finish third in both of the races, I've never been happier to be on the podium! I was sliding around like mad in the second race, and had to work super hard to keep a couple of cars behind me. After the race I found I had a severely corded left rear tire, I'm very glad it held up as it would have been ugly if it had lost pressure on the high banking at the speedway!
The third event of the year was my first National SCCA event, a combined Regional/National at Portland International the first weekend in May. I did well in qualifying, on pole for both races, but Matt Crandall was super close behind me in the dry (I had a bigger gap in the wet National qualifying). Unfortunately it was dry on race day so I wasn't able to take advantage of my years growing up on snow and ice covered roads, and I knew I'd be battling Crandall who'd been close many times but had never beaten me. Yet. For the National race, I was ahead for the first lap or two, but Crandall got a great launch onto the front straight, stayed in my draft, and was able to tuck inside of me into the chicane and get past. I chased him back down, and was on his butt for most of the race, putting pressure on him, and he was finally starting to lose a little grip, and I was able to get a good launch onto the front straight and repay the move with a draft pass into the chicane. It didn't take long before we were being held up by an ex-Busch car that was wicked fast on the straights, but whose tires were going away bigtime so he was getting very loose in the corners. I was trying to figure out a way by, with Crandall on my tail trying to get by me. The Busch car eventually got full-on sideways in front of me exiting turn 7, and I had to nail my brakes to not broadside him, and Crandall had to do the same behind me. I was able to get back on the power for the back straight before Crandall, and that gave me a bit of a gap, that I was able to keep for the rest of the race. Wow, awesome race, I had to work for that one! Especially since I miscalculated my fuel requirements and was on fumes for the last couple of laps. For the Regional race, I was caught napping at the green flag - I was looking in my mirror when the flag was thrown, Crandall got a good start, and his horsepower and torque let him get to the first corner ahead of me. I was on his tail the rest of the race, waiting for him to make a mistake, and though I was a little bit quicker in the corners, but he did a great job of not leaving any openings, and his speed on the straights and his equally-good brakes didn't let me use the awesome Porsche brakes to get him into any of the braking zones. Great job Matt, looks like it'll be an interesting year! You can see some great pictures of the National race here, and of the Regional race here, thanks to Doug Berger of PhotoSport Northwest Digital Sports Photography. May 12 Thanks for a great 2007
I’d particularly like to thank my supporters and sponsors, starting of course with my fabulous wife Penny, who is as big a fan and supporter as I could possibly hope for, and is a huge help in logistics and even stepping in to help crew. Of course everyone in Live Search, but I need to single out Sebastian Gard, both for overall support and for putting together an incredible design for the car with the help of Eddie Yip. It’s stunning, it’s a crowd favorite, and I’m proud to drive it. I also need to give a shout out to MSN Autos, AdCenter, and of course Microsoft as a whole. I need to thank Rich at Bel-Red Auto Body for the fabulous job in keeping the car looking so good, particularly on the incredibly tight timelines needed to make the race schedule, as well getting it ready for display events like the Microsoft Company Meeting (where they did some very fabulous work on super short notice after I was so ungracious as to bang up the car the weekend before). From a performance perspective, I can’t possibly have had a better sponsor or relationship than with Yokohama Tire, and the fabulous Advan race tires I’ve been running all year. There’s no way I could have gotten sixteen poles and fifteen wins without awesome tires under me. Never a single tire problem all year, incredible grip and handling, and super long life to boot – the entire Laguna Seca four-hour enduro was run on the same set of tires I used to finish second at the SCCA Runoffs. My only regret is that Mother Nature didn’t cooperate in giving me an opportunity to try the Advan rain tires, particularly at the Runoffs. Of course, Greg Fordahl and Dave Welch and the rest of the gang at Fordahl Motorsports have been absolutely key in giving me the car and setup to be competitive for every single session all year, with zero mechanical problems. Greg is of course the top Porsche race engineer in the country, and it’s an honor to have him as both a friend and key part of the team. Dave and Greg have also helped hugely with making me a better driver, thanks for all the coaching and continuing to push me, I couldn’t have done it without you. I’d like to thank Saul Katz and the folks at Solo GI for inventing the Solo GI bar, which is not only the best tasting nutrition bar out there, but keeps my blood sugar stable and my energy high. I literally ate cases of them through the year, fabulous product, and I’m glad for Amazon one-click ordering to keep them on my shelf at all times. I'm totally addicted to these. A huge thanks to all the race officials and volunteers that give their time and energy and passion to make the events possible, in particular the SCCA Oregon and San Francisco regions, the huge SCCA community involved in the Runoffs, and the Porsche Club of America. No I didn't forget you, I'm saving a very special thanks for the SCCA Northwest Region for not only being my home region since I first joined the SCCA as an autocrosser back in 1988, but for honoring me with the 2007 SCCA Driver of the Year award. And of course, all my family and supporters, within Live Search and across Microsoft and elsewhere, including the faithful readers of this blog, thanks for being there all season, especially when things weren’t looking so great early in Runoffs week. And to all my fellow racers, and especially to the volunteers, it not only wouldn’t be possible without you, but it wouldn’t be worth doing without all the camaraderie and selflessness that makes the racing community so fabulous, and keeps me coming back. It was great to hear how many people watched the coverage of the GT2 Runoffs race on Speed Channel, thanks for the comments, I'm glad you enjoyed the race, and got the opportunity to get a peek into the level of competition and intensity that make this such a great sport. Jim Walsh January 29 Race Reap From Ross
Monday, United flight 1473 – Robin, Michelle and I are flying home now. I had hoped to write a recap last night after the race, but since I hadn’t slept since 7AM Saturday morning – for about 36 hours, and having driven for about 6 hours – that wasn’t happening. Okay, I did lay down for about 3 hours, from midnight to 3 AM Sunday morning, but trying to sleep in a motorhome with the sound of race cars in my ears doesn’t put me to sleep. It makes me want to drive more. And what a blast I had driving this year’s race! Every one of the Team Seattle drivers remarked on feeling the same way.
Because the competition was more closely matched than ever before, there were always lots of cars to race. And I don’t know exactly why, but it seems that everyone was a little racier than ever before – no driver would give you an inch, you had to fight for every position, everyone was driving flat out, and it felt like a sprint race the whole time. There was never a moment when anyone was just cruising. I loved it!
So, how did the race go? At the start, I got a good run into Turn 1 where two cars made contact with each other fighting over the same piece of track. No matter how many times drivers are reminded that this is a 24 hour race, and you’re not going to win it in the first turn… well, let’s just say drivers are drivers and they cannot stop themselves from racing. Fortunately for me, I was able to avoid the spinning cars and gain a few positions. Unfortunately for me, about 40 minutes later, on a re-start after a full-course caution, I began to out-brake another driver into Turn 5, only to have him start to spin directly in front of me. I was faced with two options: drive into the side of his car, or avoid by moving to the right. Avoiding always seems like the best option, but in my case it meant trying to brake while having my right side tires on wet grass. Of course, the inevitable happened: I spun, falling all the way to the back of the pack. Oh well, better than hitting or being hit by the other car. The good thing about it was the fun I had catching and re-passing many cars.
Chris Bingham started the 84 car, and apparently had a very quick and trouble-free first stint. From there, both teams rotated our driver line-up through the cars, each driver doing a single stint (just over one hour, the length of time we could run on one tank of fuel). In the 85 car, Don Kitch followed me, then Steve Miller, and finally Chris Pallis. After Chris Bingham in the 84 car came Chris Pennington, Don Pickering and Bill Cotter. From the second rotation through the driver line-up, we all ran double stints, and sometimes even a little more if a full-course caution meant an early splash of fuel.
The 84 car had some contact with a Daytona Prototype fairly early in the race which resulted in some minor repairs in pit lane. Early Sunday morning it also needed some work on the rear suspension, but this was also handled in pit lane without losing much time. Our 85 car was not quite so fortunate. We broke rule #1 of endurance racing, which says, “Stay out of the garage.”
From early in the race we fought some braking problems with the 85 car – the left front wheel would lock up very easily. As drivers, we had to be very careful to not brake too hard (which made passing other cars more difficult), otherwise we would flat-spot the left front tire. We tried adjusting the brake bias to compensate, putting more braking on the rear wheels, but it took us some time to realize that the information we’d been given was incorrect. We use a round knob on the dash to adjust the bias front to rear, and we were told to turn it counter-clockwise to put more brake bias to the rear. After Don had a big lock-up, causing a run-in with one of the cones marking the outside of Turn 1, and Steve had another major lock-up in his stint which caused a tire blow out, a Porsche engineer was consulted and we were then told to turn the knob in the other direction. Instead of helping the problem, we had been making it worse.
Both Don’s and Steve’s incidents resulted in damage to the radiators, which meant a trip to the garage for repairs. In total, these repairs added up to us losing about 80 laps. Meanwhile, the 84 car kept circulating, driven flawlessly by Chris, Chris, Don and Bill.
Between driving stints we would each go back to the motorhome, change clothes, rest, eat, and sometimes get a massage to loosen up sore muscles. Despite all the physical training we all did leading up to the race, the stresses and strains on the body make for many aches and pains. My guess is there were somewhere around 15 massage therapists at Daytona, working with more than half the field, since no serious effort is without one now.
After our brief rest, walking back into the pit area for each driving stint we would be faced with some extra bit of motivation: the Live Search reader board showing the dollar amount we had raised for Children’s Hospital to that moment in time, updated each hour or so. Getting into the car in the pouring rain at 4:30 in the morning when you’re sore and tired is nothing compared to what some kids face in that hospital. To be honest, there are times driving this race when your car has had some problems and you’re many laps down (and you really don’t have a chance of winning anymore) when you can feel de-motivated – you don’t feel like driving as fast as possible. But each time we saw that board it made us want to get in the car and drive like the biggest race in the world was within grasp of winning. You can bet that every one of us drove every lap as hard and fast as we could, knowing that even one more lap meant so much.
Did I mention the rain? While it threatened to rain from the beginning of the race, and we even had a few drops fall during the first hour, it held off until about 6 hours in. Our team engineer and data guy tracked the weather on a computer in the pit lane, and because it appeared the rain would not last long, they decided not to change to rain tires. That meant that Don Pickering and Chris Pallis drove most of their first stints on slicks on a wet track. While these were very tricky conditions for both drivers, the strategy paid off. Most of our competitors who pitted to put rain tires on had to pit again to put slicks back on. This saved us at least one pit stop.
During the wee hours of Sunday morning the rain came down again, this time lasting long enough that we had to switch to rain tires. When it stopped raining around 6 AM, it took quite some time for the track to completely dry, since it was also so cold. Around 10 AM the clouds moved out and the remainder of the race was run in bright sunshine.
I know all the drivers faced a variety of challenges – that’s the nature of a 24 hour race. I had rather amusing challenges, both occurring in my second stint when I drove from 8:00 to 10:40 on Saturday night. As I drove out of pit lane I knew something was wrong: I could not hear the familiar voice of Rick, our engineer, or one of our spotters. Oh, oh… no radio contact! Okay, I knew what I needed to do. We had discussed this before the race, and I knew that I would drive until the car began to sputter from lack of fuel, push the reserve fuel button (giving me about a lap’s worth of extra fuel), and bring the car in. The crew would be ready in the pits since they would have calculated that I would be coming in within a few laps.
After a couple of laps, I remembered a race I did in Texas in 1996 when just my earplug connector pulled out of its jack on the side of helmet. I reached up and felt for it on the side of my helmet (not an easy thing to feel with driving gloves on), and knew then I had the same problem. Well, at least I could talk to the crew in the pits – I just couldn’t hear anything they would say back to me. So, I radioed to Rick and told him what the problem was and that I was going to try to plug the jack in while driving. There are only two places on the track where I could even begin to have enough time to attempt this - the front and back straights, after I shifted into 6th gear. What I realized after a few attempts is that even the time on the back straight was not enough – at least not when having to feel around for the end of a small wire, grab it with my gloved left hand and then feel for the jack receptacle attached to the side of helmet and plug it in. Imagine trying to plug the headset wire for your MP3 player into its hole (which is moving), with one hand wearing a thick glove, without being able to see it, while accelerating from 160 to 170 MPH. Oh, and knowing that if you just had another second or two you might be able to get it, but if you take even a fraction of a second too long you might miss you braking point for the upcoming corner and crash. I found that I had more time on the front straight, but the downside of that was that the front straight at Daytona is not straight – the tri-oval requires more steering to keep the car tracking where I need it. So, the idea of trying to steer the car with my knees and use two hands to work the plug didn’t work too well either. Lucky for me, after about a dozen laps of attempting this crazy maneuver, a car crashed and we went to a full-course caution, meaning that I could work this at a more reasonable speed while following the pace car. When I got it plugged in, it felt good to be able to have a two-way communication with the crew and spotters.
The second challenge during that stint was not a long one, but not something race drivers face that often. A few years ago, Daytona began setting off fireworks in the infield on Saturday night, and it’s become a tradition. The spectators love it - it looks spectacular with its setting of the high-speed headlights circulating around them – and this year’s crowd was bigger than I’ve ever seen it. The problem this year was that all the smoke from setting the fireworks off drifted into the Bus Stop chicane on the back straight, making it very difficult to see the track for us coming into the turn for a couple of laps. We approach that turn at 170 MPH, brake hard, downshift from 6th to 3rd gear and turn in at around 130 MPH. So, even though I could appreciate the view of the fireworks from the car while driving down the back straight, on one lap I came into the Bus Stop turn and I was completely blind as to where the turn was. I actually started to turn in where I thought the track was, and then just before driving off the track realized that would have put me and the car into the infield grass and then a wall, I quickly jerked the car back and found the track again. Whew!
I mentioned in an earlier post how valuable our spotters would be in the race, and I have to re-emphasize that again. For 24 hours straight they never missed a beat, providing us with warning of a DP (Daytona Prototype) coming up from behind and passing us on one side or the other. As Chris Pennington said after thanking them on Sunday evening, “They were invaluable, but I really don’t want to hear ‘4 DPs behind’ ever again!” Entering the Bus Stop chicane around 6 AM Sunday in the dark, I heard “Two packs of 2 DPs behind; 2 inside… clear – take the line; 2 behind; 2 outside – clear,” all in a very calm and reassuring voice. The spotter talked me through letting the first two DPs pass me under braking into the chicane, then me slotting in between the two packs through the turns, letting me know the second pack was just behind and then them passing me on the outside accelerating out of the chicane. It was perfect. All five of us got through the Bus Stop without losing a fraction of a second, which is something that would have been difficult without a great spotter. Without a great spotter, or with no spotter at all, I would have looked in the mirror and seen a set of headlights approaching from behind, and I would have had to make a judgment – I definitely would have let the first car pass me in the braking zone, and if I was lucky and really paying attention to the side mirror (and the second car was in the exact right position) I would have noticed him and let him go. If I hadn’t seen him, I might turned in… Our spotters were awesome!
As we approached 1:30 on Sunday afternoon and the finish of the race, something special happened: Don Kitch got in the 85 car for the last 20 minutes of the race. See, after 12 years of this program, Don had never been in the car for the finish – he had always given that privilege to one of the other drivers on the team. Having driven the finish a number of times myself, I know that it’s a special feeling to be in the car and see that checkered flag from the cockpit.
The 84 car, driven by Bill Cotter at the time was not quite so fortunate. As luck would have it, Bill felt a problem with a tire with just a few laps from the end. Since he was not close enough to catch the next car in front of him, and he was laps ahead of the next car behind, the crew decided the safe thing to do was bring him into the pits and change the tire. The problem was the car was in limp-mode with the clutch, and upon trying to leave pit lane, it gave up – the clutch gave up in the clutch - and Bill rolled to a stop on the last lap at the end of pit road. Fortunately, it didn’t have any effect on the results since the car was so far ahead of the car behind it, but Bill did not get to actually see the checkered flag wave. And the plan to have both cars line up and cross the finish line together for a photo didn’t pan out.
In the end, the 84 car finished 24th overall and 13th in the GT class, and the 85 car finished 35th overall and 21st in class. While the most important thing is that both cars completed the race, as a racer I can’t help but think: at 10:30 Saturday night we were in 11th, and moving up quickly. If only we hadn’t had the braking problems…
Sunday evening, back at the hotel, all of the team and supporters got together for a wrap-up dinner, and many people took the opportunity to say a few words, and share their thoughts. Rightfully so, many people thanked Don and Donna for all the hard work they’ve put in through the years to create and run the Team Seattle program. People shared some very heartfelt and emotional stories – through exhaustion and true emotions, there were more than a few tears in the room. Kami Sutton received a standing ovation for being such an inspiration for us all over the past 12 years.
One thing I wished I’d been able to say last evening was a big thanks to all of our sponsors. It goes without saying that without them, we would not have been able to do this race, nor create a platform to raise funds for Children’s Hospital. By supporting the costs of running our Team Seattle cars, they are really giving that financial support to the kids in the hospital. So, in no particular order, thank you to Darigold, Microsoft Live Search, Park Place Ltd., Kid’s Country Learning Centers, Jackson Dean Construction, HomeStreet Bank, MyoVision, Wayne’s Roofing, Peltram Plumbing, Barrier Motors, Geo Resources, United Health Care, and Oakwerth Arabians.
As a driver for Team Seattle, it’s an honor to be a part of such a special team… no, family of people, who have such commitment to helping support Children’s Hospital. I had more fun driving at this year’s race than I have had for quite some time (probably because I was able to race wheel-to-wheel and dice with so many other cars). I loved co-driving with Steve Miller because our styles are so very similar, and I appreciate his humor and intelligence. I was so happy for Chris Pallis because he finally got some dry track during his last stint (he seemed to spend most of the race catching all the rain storms while driving on slicks!) and drove so well – fast and smart. I was so proud of the way Don Kitch drove – he went faster than he has in years, and pushed himself harder than he has in a long time. When given the opportunity to focus just on driving, that guy can drive. I was very proud of the way Chris Bingham, Chris Pennington, Don Pickering, and Bill Cotter drove the 84 car – like clockwork (a very fast clock!). And I love the fact that I’ve gotten to spend time with old friends, and meet and become friends with so many fantastic people.
But most of all I was so proud of the fact that we will be presenting a check to Children’s Hospital for somewhere around half a million dollars, and that support came from people like you. So, thank you!
If you have enjoyed this blog, and/or if you have any questions, post them to the comments. If we have enough, who knows… maybe I’ll get to write more. Or if you have any stories about your involvement with Team Seattle, send them our way. Oh, and you can always hit the Donate button again!
January 27 Quick Results PostThere are plenty of articles online about who won, etc… (couple good ones here and here)…and we hear from Mike that MSN Autos has coverage coming this week. Having been up 23 of the 24 hours (had to nap and dry out 4am-5am after the back stretch shenanigans - see Doc and Crew video below for details there) your author doesn’t have much left in the tank to write a full recap from the fan’s perspective (Ross is promising a driver’s recap soon too)…but promise more pictures and summaries this coming week for all of you following along (and thanks for joining us!!).
Officially (according to the Daytona press release):
The Live Search Car #85 started 30th in class (54th overall) and finished 21st (35th in class) having completed 572 total laps.
Drivers: Ross Bentley, Don Kitch Jr., Steve Miller, Chris Pallis
The Kid's Country Learning Centers Car #84 started 33rd in class (61st overall) and finished 13th (24th over all) having completed 619 total laps.
Drivers: Chris Bingham, Bill Cotter, Chris Pennington, Don Pickering
This was Team Seattle’s 12th and final year at Daytona for the Rolex 24 Hour and raised in excess of $440,000 for Children’s Hospital this weekend,well over $3,000,000 in 12 years...so while we didn't finish in first place, one could argue we truly won it for the kids and that is why we were here.
ALSO NOTE: The check presentation isn't for a few weeks so there is still time to donate...click the link in the upper left of the page here...every penny helps.
More posts coming this week...good night. Ross at the end of the Daytona race
No, that's not Johhny Rotten, that's Ross in some seriously bright sunshine on pit row moments before the end of the race. Overnight Photos PostedJustin took tons of pictures overnight, and we added ten of them to the album to your right. He got a nice shot of Doc being interviewed by the SPEED channel The end of the race is just over two hours away, and lot's of people look really tired, but everyone's in great spirits. Note from a Fan
Editor's note: there is no wi-fi at the track so this was written at 2:00AM, but posted much later. It's 2:03am...just past half way. Both cars are still in it...#84 is running 28th overall and the #85 is running 37th overall. More impressively, after 12hrs of racing the top four DP cars are only seperated by 40sec!! Don experienced some brake problems w/the #85 just after 11pm...this caused him to flat spot the left front tire...in his drive back around to the pits the tire started to come apart which tore up the fender and then one of the radiators...so into the garage he went...some replacement parts, creative duct tape work and about 20min and he was back on track...but did lose some time. Only the hard core (or stupid) are still up and awake...the frat party otherwise known as the in field is even slowing down...but Seattle time it is only 11pm! We've had off and on rain/sprinkles through the night but have been dry for 4hrs or so... The sunrise/twilight will be here before we know it. January 26 Ross Bentley Race Post 1Ross talks about his fist shift in car 85 and how the team is faring overall in the first few hours of the race. It's not too late to get your pledge in, so please consider using the donation module to the left to give your support to Team Seattle and Children's Hospital. Update from the Daytona Infieldby Sebastian Gard We're here in Daytona, the race has been running for four hours, and the cars are running well. We'll have some video blog posts from Ross during the race, including his assessment of how car 85 started the race. Stay tuned for that and more photos throughout the race. Here are a couple photos Justin took at the beginning of the race. Ross is driving in these photos.
On Track… But Still Preparingby Ross Bentley - Team Seattle Driver Editor's Note: Just another reminder that we're pushing hard for per-lap donations for Children's Hospital this week. Use the Donate Now button to the left to get started - it will just take a few minutes.
Friday, 10:00 PM, Daytona – Other than the actual race days, Thursday at Daytona is always the busiest. We had two practice sessions, one in the morning and one in the early afternoon, and all of our Team Seattle drivers got some time in the car. There are two approaches to these sessions: One is to go all out to work on finding the ultimate setup on the car for the fastest qualifying lap, and the other is to work on finding the ultimate setup for the race. With the first approach, only the driver that is going to qualify the car, and possibly one other, drives the car in the first two sessions – the singular goal is to put in the fastest qualifying time. With the second approach, you’re really preparing for the race, not qualifying, and all of the drivers get some time to find their speed and rhythm in the car.
Team Seattle took the second approach, which to me is the only smart approach to this race. Sure, if your car has a slight speed edge over the rest of the field, you might want to take advantage of that and make a statement and try to demoralize your competition. But the Porsches here don’t have an advantage, so that was not a factor. If we had set up the cars to go after the fastest qualifying time, we’d have run different gear ratios, used more engine RPM, changed the aerodynamic settings of the car (less rear wing), run stiffer suspension springs, started with a little less tire pressure, and installed different brake pads. Then for the race, the team would have to change everything back, guessing at what is the best race setup. With our approach, we run the race setup, and know exactly what we have for the race. Is that an excuse for not qualifying on the pole? Absolutely not, although I will admit to using that one in the past! No, both Chris Bingham and I (Chris qualified the number 84 car in 33rd, and I qualified the 85 car in 30th) are more than happy with our starting positions. Why? Because we both got out of the car after qualifying and said, “I feel like I can drive that pace all day long, not just for one fast lap like a lot of these other cars,” we know that the race is going to come to us. We’re confident that during the first few laps, we’ll move up a few positions, and then a few hours into the race we’ll take more positions. Because each car in the race is driven by at least 4 drivers, there can be a significant difference in speed between the drivers. We know, because our line-up of drivers are very consistent, that when some of the slower drivers get into our competitors’ cars, our team will begin to move up. Last year, the car that won the GT class started the race in 25th position, so where you start a 24 hour race does not have much to do with where you finish (I’ve started on the pole for this race twice, and both times we finished way down the order). So, the 15-minute qualifying session went exactly as planned – much like the rest of our testing. After qualifying, the plan was for a couple of the drivers who had not had as many practice laps as the rest to drive the night practice. Daytona at night is not very dark. The speedway has so many lights around the track and grandstands, that the track is fairly well lit. But still, it’s good to get a few laps in the night just to know what you’ve got to work with. Unfortunately, just about half and hour before the night practice session was due to start, the rains came. With so little to gain by running in this session, and so much to lose, we decided not to run at all. The risk level in the rain and the dark is much higher, so there was no good reason to do it. Plus, not running that practice session allowed the mechanics to begin preparing the cars sooner. Prior to the race, they would install new brake pads and rotors (which we would then have to go on track and “bed” in), new axles, and a new clutch. This is just normal pre-race preparation, and by giving the crew a little extra time, there would be less chance of something going wrong. Thursday evening is a fun one for Team Seattle. The majority of our guests and sponsors arrive at the hotel and we have a reception, giving everyone an update on how things have been going on track, what they will get to do over the weekend, and how our pledges are going. By the time everyone left the reception we were at $541 per lap. While this sounds great - and it is – we want to see more. Between now and the start of the race, we’re really hoping that more people join the team and help us support Children’s Hospital. The reception is also a great time to see old friends, and many of them have been supporting Team Seattle and coming to the race for a number of years. Friday is always a long, long day. The only driving we get to do, now that we’ve qualified and are solidly in the field, is a few laps to bed in brake pads. This process takes about 3 or 4 laps of slowly bringing the brakes up to temperature, and then using them really hard and getting them very hot. So, for the 1 PM final practice session, the two Team Seattle cars went out to bed in brakes (along with many other cars). Before this last practice session, all 8 Team Seattle drivers met with Team Manager, Michael Gue, and Engineer, Rick Mayer, to discuss race strategy, go over “what if” scenarios, what type of communications are expected over the radio, how we would handle mechanical problems with the car, and as many other scenarios as we can plan for. Friday is also a busy day at the track seeing old racing friends. It seems you can’t walk more than a hundred feet without having to stop to say hello to someone. And with Team Seattle having so many supporters, our garage always seems to have more people crowded around it than anyone else’s. And that’s even compared to the garages of drivers like Helio Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and even Patrick Dempsey (yes, the actor who also races). Friday night is the team’s dinner at the North Turn Grill, right on the beach. After a great meal, some words from Don Kitch (and a well-deserved standing ovation for him and Donna), an incredible “play” put on by the Team Seattle Not Ready For Prime Time actors (written primarily by Andy Collins), Doc Dolittle and Dr. Gordon Cohen would get on stage to play with the band. I understand that they are very good – I wouldn’t know because I (and the other drivers) headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s rest. It will be the last proper rest until Sunday night. I was very fortunate to spend more time talking with Gordon Cohen. What an amazing guy! He’s one of – if not THE – best in the world at what he does, pediatric cardiac surgery. Not only does he play the drums once a year when in Daytona with Team Seattle, not only has he “flown” Tony Blair and the Queen’s jet, not only has he… well, he performs two surgeries a day, Monday to Friday, plus other emergency surgeries. When he told me that, I was not only was blown away by how fortunate Seattle is to have him at Children’s Hospital, but also by the fact that so many children need his services. Of course, he’s not the only doctor at Children’s Hospital doing great work, but it hit me just how many children need the type of care the hospital provides. It also hit me just how important what we’re doing is. It hit home even more about how important it is that we give one last push to ask ourselves, our families, our friends, our acquaintances, and just about anyone else we talk with to consider supporting our efforts to raise funding for Children’s Hospital. If you’re reading this, and/or if you’re watching the race on TV, please ask yourself who you know who might give to our cause. Tell them to come to this site and click on the Donate button to go to the Team Seattle website. All of Team Seattle, and more importantly, the staff and children at Children’s Hospital thank you for doing so. Speaking of TV, tune into Speed channel at various times over the weekend. They’re providing 17 hours of coverage, and you can bet they will be talking a lot about Team Seattle. The next time you hear from me will be sometime during the race. I plan to give you an update at some point (although I don’t have a clue as to when). I will also give you a wrap-up after the race – maybe more than one, if you’d like.
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