And so the "big easy" came and went ... actually, No Problem Raceway, was, problematic. The track had earned a poor reputation from the previous year where the racers had to cope with poor track surface issues as well as rain, rain, rain. Well, no rain this year, but the track surface did chew up a fresh set of tires each and every day (so much for that budget). Add to that a flat tire and torn rears due to the rocks thrown onto the track, and as evidenced by the chips in my paint and new Lexan windshield, onto my car. If you know me, you know how that hurts.
Anyway, the weekend set-up reasonably well with Friday test and tune allowing me to familiarize myself with the track and to set some baseline telemetry to review for Saturday qualifying. With such a low turn-out, my focus was on Ben Keating who is very competitive and had bought Tommy Archer's development car in the off-season with his goal of winning the championship this year. Ben was quicker most of Friday during testing, however, I have worked on learning the tracks faster and to dial-in faster lap times earlier in the weekend. This effort paid off with our "Crusader Pole Award" for capturing the pole position and first on grid with the fastest lap of the weekend.
Long story short, I spent the entire weekend chasing Ben with our car outperforming everywhere except the straights where somehow Ben would build a comfortable margin. Then at each turn, I would close. This mechanical advantage is under investigation at this time and a bulletin from the rules committee is forthcoming regarding certain equipment that is not in the rule book. I would have preferred the checker flag, however, if all goes well, I will graciously accept the points towards my own ambitions of earning the championship this year.
In summary, we got fast quick with a 1:14.7 qualification, had no "offs" or accidents and had no other serious incidents. Note to this ... we did have to avoid a head-on collision with another car that came back on track after being disoriented and proceeded to drive in the opposite direction. My rough calculation would have put that impact at about 300 km's per hour. Another race, another lesson.
Sebring next .... stay tuned for some exciting developing news about Roberts Racing.
