2005 SCCA RUNOFFS H-PRODUCTION RACE REPORT
Preparation for the 2005 Runoffs were a disaster. Two weeks before the race we tested a new gearbox at a regional race at Mid-Ohio, hoping to prove in a new piece, but it locked up after a couple of laps. A concern, for sure, but not a show-stopper, since we planned to put a fresh engine in for the race. Unfortunately, the new motor had major problems on the dyno. One day before going to the event, we had to re-install our back-up engine that had two full seasons of racing on it. We were forced to dyno-tune that motor late Sunday evening, and because of the problems, we were behind schedule, and missed the first day of practice at the track on Monday.
After losing both the transmission and engine we had planned to use for the championship race, we had low/no expectations heading into the week. However, the bad luck was apparently behind us, as M-x-M Racing and the #22 H-Production X1/9 had a great week at the last SCCA Runoffs held at Mid Ohio Sports Car course.
Tuesday's qualifying session (the first of three sessions) went better than expected, and we found ourselves 8th overall. The car ran and handled very well, aside from a slightly high oil temperature.
Wednesday's session resulted in us getting a full second faster, however, we lost a position on the grid, and were now 9th overall. Again, the car handled wonderfully and I had to focus on driving the car harder than I was traditionally used to, due to recent untested suspension changes.
Thursday's qualifying session was in the early-morning with cool temperatures and low humidity. The entire field was fast, and we improved our speed by another .7 of a second, a full second faster than last year’s qualifying time still lost another starting position.
Our final qualifying spot would be 10th overall of 28 starters. We were very happy with the results, in-light of the previous equipment failures, lack of Monday practice, and the relative parity of the #5-#10 starters who were all within 3/4 of a second of each other.
The plan for race day was to scuff some new slick tires in a 10-minute morning practice session at 8:00 AM prior to our race at 10:00 AM. Imagine our concern and dismay when thunderstorms rattled through the area all night Thursday and continued into Friday morning. We arrived at the track the morning of the race in steady rain and to a soaked racing surface. Because of the sloppy conditions, we decided against the 10-minute practice session. As we closely watched the weather radar, we could tell that the rain would stop shortly, probably before or during our event. I knew the track would dry up mid-session, and a critical decision had to be made about which tires to use: Slicks or Intermediates. Rain tires were a third possibility, but I didn't even consider them. We set the car up with two slicks on one side, and two intermediates on the other, and headed to the grid with the other four tires loose. We were planning to make the final selection that required a two-tire change on the grid as close to the start of the race as possible. The thought of using rain tires never even crossed our minds, and we left them at our paddock.
As we sat on the grid, we checked out the top-10 cars as they lined up. Much to our surprise, every car was lined up on rain tires. I made the decision with 10 minutes before the race to run the intermediates, so as I was buckling up, the crew got the tires changed, dropped the jack, and we were ready to go. Unfortunately, we had problems with the video camera in the pits, and did not get video of the race....
I was lucky to start on the outside of the pack and got a good jump at the green flag, taking a couple of positions going into the first turn. The cold intermediate tires were slippery in the very wet conditions and I gingerly ran in heavy traffic for a few laps, just trying to hang onto my position as the cars ahead of me on full rain tires quickly pulled away. For the first 1/3 of the race I was running relatively alone. This helped me find a good line through some wet turns, and after a while I could tell that the track was drying. At lap 9 I caught my first car, and could tell that the tires were starting to heat up and give some traction.
From that point on, I started turning successively faster laps, and by the 2/3 point, Marnie was on the radio telling me that I was turning fast laps of the race. I began quickly catching the guys on rain tires: 8th, 7th, 6th.... Just as I caught sight of third place car, we got the "1 lap to go" signal, and I knew that I would not be able to catch him.
We ended the race clean, with no damage to the car. We pulled into the impound area incredibly happy with a 4th place finish. If we had gone with rain tires, I suspect we would have finished 7th or 8th.
Later we found that that the 3rd-place finisher had committed a driving infraction of passing during a yellow flag incident, and later that day, we were bumped to 3rd place in the final results. We also found out that we had turned the fastest lap of the race! This was our first podium finish in the Runoffs.
We have to thank a ton of people for the help and support they've given us through the year. Everyone who helps out either at the shop, the track, or on-line. Specifically, we need to thank:
- Matt and Mark Downing, fellow Fiat nuts who worked late into several evenings with us fitting and re-fitting the car during our dyno catastrophes.
- Steve Hoelscher whose two-season old gearbox never failed during the week.
- Andy Jones, from Hickernell Engine Service who gave incredibly good chassis tuning advice, and constructed the two-season-old motor that brought us home.
- Chip Vance, from Auto Assets for putting out the fire in our first engine (we can laugh about it now), and opening his shop late on a Sunday night for us to dyno-tune the replacement before the race.
Many thanks to everyone else who has helped with accommodating our hectic lives over the last year, especially during the racing months. Thanks for all the help, encouragement, advice and friendship. Be sure to check out the televised H-Production race on SPEED Channel on Sunday, November 13, at 1:00 PM.
See you next season!
Matt, Marnie, and Brayden
Brannon
Midwest X1/9 Motorsports (M-x-M Racing)
#22 Fiat X1/9
H-Production