Mid-Ohio was perfect in terms of weather and we once again had a familiar track to work with. We had no serious complaints on car set-up over the weekend, other than contending with some significant push. We had installed a new Quaife differential with automatic torque bias control and the feel was different both entering and exiting the corners. Overall, we felt that our ability to get on the throttle early was improved and will continue to refine our set-up to adapt to this new equipment.
Our Sunday race start was well executed and we were in P1 after turn one from an inverted grid. With over 70 hours on our "mature motor", we were able to run constantly enough to build a respectable gap to the pack. For almost half the race our #89 Direct Energy car led with Jim Stout closing the gap and eventually passing me down the back straight. After a couple of full-course cautions with safety car on track, the pack caught up and we finished second in class for the race and weekend.
On a rules note, the VRL has decided that the "gloves are off" as it relates to the rules for the GT-MC class that we compete in. In summary, the drivers, many of whom are veterans of the VRL, want the class to parallel the SCCA World Challenge specifications and this has been aproved. So, the McLaren engines are a go, sequential transmissions a go, and a host other goodies that can divert your kid's college fund quick enough. But alas, this is the sandbox in which I chose to play.
So, as they say, "if you can't beat them, then you might as well join them". If all goes to plan, we will have our McLaren engine with more power and torque for our Canadian debut in Calabogie. It has been fun being a bit of the underdog to an extent, however, it is getting a bit lame watching cars pull in the straights and having to play catch-up in corners. This new engine should remedy this problem.
Unfortunately, and this is the nature of racing at high levels, the competition is now two-fold: the first is on the track racing wheel-to-wheel, and the second, racing to spend capital chasing mechanical advantages. At the end of the day, we are only in our second season and we still have a long way to go in terms of driver development so we need to balance our quest for mechanical superiority over good old fashioned driver talent.
Lastly, stay tuned for an announcement from Roberts Racing about our SCCA Pro Racing debut soon....
