Texas World Speedway hosted Round 3 of the 2017 NASA Texas season on April 21-23. This is the track where I completed my Competition School and first wheel-to-wheel races last fall. My main goal for Friday's practice sessions was to get comfortable with Turn 8 and 9 where I've fallen off the track before - not once, but twice. I also wanted to push myself harder to post improved lap times relative to prior visits, not just driving to remember the track. To make things interesting, I brought a set of well used tires (with 20 heat cycles) that would limit the grip and make me work a little harder. By the end of the day, I had bettered my prior fastest lap at TWS by 0.5 seconds and gotten a reasonable upper body workout from sawing at the steering wheel. Unfortunately, I'd also over-revved the engine with a missed 5th to 4th downshift in Turn 1 that briefly touched 2nd gear (and 7800 rpm). The beautiful weather from Friday gave way to a very cool mist on Saturday morning. Despite the damp conditions, there was still a lot of grip. I was able to improve my personal best lap at TWS to a 2:03.3, which was good enough to qualify 14th of 26 entries. In Race 1, I lost a few places during the opening lap, offset by some off-track excursions by front-running cars. During lap 3, I was trying to defend my position by covering the inside in Turn 4 - unfortunately, I didn't downshift from 4th to 3rd to account for the tighter line and two cars zipped by while my engine struggled. I was able to hang onto the second of the two cars that passed, but left the door open twice in Turn 10 as the front-runners that had since rejoined the track made their way back to the front. I finished down two spots to 16th with a best lap time of 2:03.6. In Race 2, I started from my Race 1 finish position, but had a much better start and passed several cars during lap 1. With a few more passes and some attrition, I found myself all the way up to 8th place on the last lap and chasing the car in 7th. In turn 3, the car ahead made a mistake and opened the door on the inside. I was able to get ahead in Turn 4, but AGAIN, I didn't downshift from 4th to 3rd. The 9th place car pulled next to me on the inside of Turn 5. He was still there on the inside of Turn 6 and I should have let him have the spot. Instead, I kept my foot in it and drifted off track at the exit of Turn 6. Two cars passed on the back straight and another had caught me by Turn 8. In trying to gain a spot on the last lap, I ended up losing three and finished 11th. I did post my fastest lap of the weekend early in Race 2 with a 2:03.0, As is traditional with NASA Texas events, Saturday night consisted of some barbecue and adult refreshments. It's also an opportunity to walk the track. We got a little distracted during the track walk and went to check out the steep banking of the old NASCAR oval. During qualifying on Sunday, I was nearly able to match my personal best from Saturday - missing it by less than a tenth of a second - to run a 2:03.1. That was only good enough for 14th spot on the 26 car grid. Race 3 was scheduled for 45 minutes. Starting with the inside line for the first time that weekend, I was less aggressive than I could have been. That said, I held my position over the opening four laps until little groups had formed and I was able to join the back of one of them. Our four-car caravan raced closely until about half-way through the race when the lead car spun on the exit of Turn 6. Through some combination of luck and reflexes, I managed to avoid the car that was rolling slightly backwards and reducing the already small amount of track available to me. In that maneuver, I lost a lot of momentum and the car behind was able to overtake me. About four laps later, I was able to catch the small group again, but unable to make up any positions. My car was stumbling at higher rpm under load - similar to an issue that I had during Targa Newfoundland in 2016. Without realizing it, I had finished this race in 10th place, due mostly to attrition at the front. It was still my first Spec Miata top 10 finish! Full race videos are linked above. I've also assembled highlights from all three races in a 15 minute video that's included below. Hopefully my high rpm issue will be as easy to fix as it was on the Targa car - a quick tightening of a loose ground lug. It needs to be sorted before our next event, which is at the Circuit of the Americas. I'm excited to be able to drive on the same track that will host Formula 1 in November.
Until next time!
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NASA Texas Round 2 was held at Motorsport Ranch - Cresson on March 10-12, 2017. It was a year earlier at this event that I started on a path towards road racing. In the last year, I've participated in each NASA Texas event - progressing through all four levels of their High Performance Driver Education program, competed in the Time Trial category for two weekends, completed Competition School and, finally, obtained my NASA Competition License. The only significant car preparation for this weekend was installation of a nozzle from the fire suppression system into the engine bay. The systems in the car had existing nozzles in the cockpit and in the trunk near the fuel system. I decided to replace all but the trunk tubing, allowing me to move the cockpit nozzle much closer to my seating position and routing the engine bay tubing through the firewall to the fuel side of the engine. Testing on Friday was an opportunity to re-familiarize myself with the track. Running under MSR Cresson's rules, passing was limited to 4 straight sections of track. Unfortunately, that made for some frustrating sessions after getting stuck behind a Legends car that was fast in the straights, slow in the corners, and apparently not equipped with functional mirrors. I was able to find 2-3 seconds relative to my times from a year earlier, but that was well off the pace. There was some excitement going into turn 1 when the car ahead dropped oil and I slid straight off track, clunking the leading edge of some curbing on the way. A quick check of the alignment bolts back in the paddock confirmed things were still straight. At the end of the day, we were able to head out and walk the track - it's amazing how different the surface, camber and line can all look when you stand still to study them. On Saturday, I qualified 22nd in a field of 26 with a 1:28.7, about a second behind a pack of mid-field cars ahead of me. In Race 1, I did find myself racing in a pack for most of the 25 minute duration. It was exciting to race wheel to wheel and I was able to move up a spot to finish 21st with a fastest time of 1:29.3 (about 4 seconds behind the pace of the top cars). In Race 2, I was able to improve to a fastest lap of 1:28.1 while still racing wheel to wheel. I was able to stay out of any trouble and found myself all the way up to 15th place at the checkered flag. During qualifying on Sunday, I found another 3/4 of a second to post a 1:27.4 and secure 16th spot on the grid of 23 cars still running. Unfortunately, for much of the 50-minute race, I found myself running alone with some close racing during laps 12-15 of the 30 total laps. Despite struggling to keep my tires from going off, I did put in my fast laps of the weekend during the race - twice posting a 1:26.9 - and finished 15th again. I pulled together highlights from all three races into a single video shown below. Full video from Race 1, Race 2 and Race 3 are also available. The next event is scheduled for April 21-23 at Texas World Speedway. In the meantime, we're always looking ahead to Targa Newfoundland 2017. Our team kit has arrived in Newfoundland and I'm awaiting the arrival of my gear here in Texas.
A new racing season in Texas opened with an event at Motorsports Ranch Houston on January 27-29, 2017. With only a single test day since mid-October, I was looking forward getting back together with friends and spending some time on track. The biggest change to the car for 2017 is the addition of a RaceCapture/Pro data acquisition system and a digital dash. The unit has built-in high-speed GPS and a 6-axis accelerometer, while I've wired engine speed, throttle position, brake switch and fuel level. With that information recorded for each session, along with video, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to coach myself to improved lap times over the course of this year. The weather forecast for the weekend was cool but sunny - unfortunately, temperatures in the 30's Fahrenheit are starting to feel downright COLD. Before hitting the track for Friday practice, I completed my annual tech inspection. I had just replaced the expired harnesses and didn't expect any issues, which was mostly the case. It was pointed out that my fire suppression system needs to have a nozzle added for the engine bay in addition to, or instead of, the nozzle in the trunk by the fuel hoses. I'll add a third nozzle before our next event in March so I have coverage for the engine, passenger compartment and trunk. I was disappointed to be slower during the Friday practice than I had been during a test day in December in similar conditions. I think the increase in cars on track was a sufficient distraction that I wasn't able to also focus on my own driving. With time, I should be better able to manage traffic and drive fast. I did have some fun following a few other Spec Miata cars and watching their lines. There were only a couple of times where my mistakes caused me to spin or slide off track. Here's a little souvenir (yellow paint) from the inside curbing at turn 14 (Diamond's Edge). While my data and video system worked well on Friday, the camera decided to take most of the rest of the weekend off. I was able to collect data, but the trigger to start video recording (currently based on GPS speed) either didn't work or worked at the wrong time. I posted a 1:53.8 in warm-up before falling back a few tenths in qualifying to a 1:54.2 that put me 29th of 34 on the grid for race #1. I finished race #1 up a spot in 28th with just a few changes of position along the way and a fastest lap of 1:53.6. I should have started race #2 in 28th, but there were a few cars that didn't take the green flag, so I crossed the start line in 25th. I gained a few spots at the start, only to lose them a couple laps later. I had just taken advantage of some traffic to move up to 22nd when the race was red flagged due to a car / grass fire that needed attention. My fastest lap was a 1:53.3. After a great beer and barbecue dinner hosted by NASA Texas on Saturday night, it was back on track early Sunday for the "All Race Group Warm-up". Despite having cars from all race classes on track, it was during this session that I set my fastest lap of the weekend - a 1:52.5. Unfortunately. that's still 4 seconds slower than the fastest Spec Miata times. I was able to maintain some of that pace and improve my qualifying on Sunday to 25th of 31 on the grid, with a 1:53.8, going into our 40-minute race on Sunday afternoon. While I picked up a few spots on the start, I gave them back (and more) shortly thereafter. For the last two-thirds of the race, the back of the pack was quite spread out and there was little opportunity for wheel-to-wheel racing. Here's a quick video of the race start overlooking turn 1 and turn 2. It was a great start to the 2017 season and a reminder that I have a lot to learn about going faster! I was pleased that the data acquisition system and digital dash worked well. While I was able to manage my race weight and fuel levels within 10 lbs of minimum (using ~1 gal per 10 minutes), I do need to figure out how to monitor hot tire pressures. And hopefully I can sort out the reliability of the video system for next time so I can share of in-car video of the racing itself instead of just a fast lap.
The next event in March 10-12 and Motorsports Ranch Cresson! NASA Texas hosted the seventh and final round of the 2016 season at Texas World Speedway on October 14-16, 2016. It was finally time to attend Competition School to obtain my provisional racing license. Comp School consisted of both classroom and on-track exercises on Friday. After an initial warm-up session, we did some side-by-side running, a passing exercise and finished with practice starts. Adding the elements of racing (multiple cars in close proximity) to the effort of trying to drive the car fast was almost overwhelming, so I'm glad we had an opportunity to practice in the relatively small group in Comp School. Below is a quick video of one of the practice starts. Upon completion of a written test to confirm understanding of the Club Codes and Regulations, I received my provisional competition license and will be classified as a rookie until I complete 4 races without incident. Saturday's schedule consisted of a warm-up session and qualifying in the morning, with two 20-minute races in the afternoon. Warm-up and qualifying weren't too different than any of the other events I'd attended previously - cars were just trying to find space on the track and get a fast lap. I qualified towards the back, as expected - rookies start at the back anyway. The races were a different story! With approximately 40 Spec Miata's registered, it was busy in Turn 1 and Turn 2! I was a little too conservative and ended up at the back of the main field, but ahead of a smaller, slower pack of cars. It was quite an experience to not be able to hear your own car down the main straight and watch the large field funnel from 4-5 cars wide to 2-cars wide by Turn 2. I finished 33rd and 24th in the two races on Saturday. Towards the end of each of the races, the tires felt really greasy - a combination of high ambient temperatures and working the tires harder. Tire management will be an important part of the longer race on Sunday. Here's a video of my first ever racing lap! Sunday's schedule was warm-up and qualifying in the morning, with a 40-minute race after lunch. The practice session for all car classes was combined, so the short session included a huge number of cars with very different speeds. Qualifying was much the same as Saturday - my pace put me near the back of the pack. 40 minutes feels like an extremely long time when it's hot, humid and your brain is working overtime to both drive fast and deal with all the other cars. I found myself running at the back of the main pack again, but a little further behind two cars that were racing each other. Unfortunately, I managed to miss a shift exiting Turn 9. While trying to shift from 3rd to 4th, I managed to shift from 3rd to 2nd, which locked up the rear tires and caused me to spin. I dropped two places and finished 25th. It was an incredible experience to finally start wheel-to-wheel racing. I have a lot of learning to do - I'm still not very fast and have to deal with with all the other cars as well. It's going to be exciting to start a full season of racing in 2017!
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Bryan Bursey, driver, founded Underbite Racing in 2015. Categories
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