Another weekend at Mid-Ohio, another two wins. The facts are accurate, but as is often the case, the actual story is a bit more interesting as Sunday's win was by no more than a few feet.

Saturday's was easier.

I qualified on the class pole Saturday by a margin of 1.69 seconds over the 2nd place car. My third qualifying lap, at 1:39:15, was easily the fastest lap I've ever done in this car at Mid-Ohio. Previous best, a low 1:40.

I might have been able to get into the 1:38s as the previous lap, a 1:39.5, had included one quick pass on the approach to the Carousel and there was still enough clear track ahead I could probably have got in another clean lap.

But when I saw the 1:39.15 come up on the lap timer, and knowing nobody but me had been under 1:41 in the morning warm-up, I thought, "that's good enough...if they can beat it they can have it," and slowed down to save the tires for the race.

Which, as races go, was pretty boring. I led flag-to-flag for the win with a final margin of about six seconds over second place and never really saw any of the guys in my class except way back in the mirror. They, however, as the post-race stories recounted, were having a hell of a battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th while I was biding my time hanging with the mid-pack GTS3 guys (a faster class).

Sunday, though, was a little more interesting...

We qualified Sunday in mixed conditions, which means it started out wet and ended up dry. Everybody was guessing what to go out on. Rain tires? Slicks? And, with what suspension setup?

My hybrid setup of a full dry suspension with rain tires was almost good enough for the pole. I lost out to an all-wheel-drive Audi A4 who chose to go with a full dry setup and slicks which (after the fact) was clearly the right call. He beat me for the class pole by two-tenths but the two of us were clear of the next guy (Brad) by nearly 3 seconds.

In the race (we race in mixed groups), I started 5th overall with Matt, the class pole-sitter, sitting 4th. I got past him on the run down to the first turn and pretty much ran away--from him at least--for the remainder of the race.

But not, as it turns out, from everybody.

Carl Picelli, another 944 driver and a several-time NASA National Champion, took advantage of my decision to use a pretty well-worn set of tires for the race and was able to close up in the last few laps. As the white flag flew, he had pulled to within a few car-lengths, which is a little too close for comfort, especially knowing Carl is a very aggressive driver who hasn't won a whole lot in the last couple of years.

So, he's aggressive and hungry, too. A bad combination if you're trying to keep him in your mirrors.

Although I was consistently faster through the turns and down the straights, Carl's much-lower weight (several hundred pounds lighter) was a real advantage under braking. I'd pull away on the gas and he'd catch back up under braking. We were having a very close battle and more than once I chose a, shall we say, protective line to keep him behind me.

Coming into the Carousel the last time, with Carl no more than a few feet off my tail and trying to set me up for a last-second run past to the finish, my engine cut out.

Quit.

(Cue the sound of crickets chirping and a look of momentary panic on the face of the driver 100 yards from the finish line in a car making no noise)

I talked to the Steinel's guys after the race and we think it was most likely a fuel pump problem. Throughout the race I had been intermittently having momentary power cut-outs in a couple of corners, one of which was the Carousel almost every time I crossed the bumps just past the apex.

Each of the other times it happened it was very quick--no power, lift the pedal, put it down, going again--but on this last lap when I really needed the power, naturally the cut-out lasted longer. A couple of seconds in actual time, but sitting there in the seat looking at Carl's car getting really big in the mirrors, it seemed like about an hour.

In truth, Carl and I were both lucky he didn't rear-end me--he had to do some pretty fancy panic braking to avoid it--and I was lucky he was so directly behind he couldn't get around as I coasted.

EVENTUALLY the power came back on and fortunately I'd had the presence of mind to drop an extra gear (into second) as I was struggling to get it to re-start, because Carl and I drag-raced to the finish line from there. Ultimately I beat him by about the length of the front fender (the official timing record shows a 0.147-second difference) but he was definitely on a run. If it had been another 50 feet to the finish I'd have taken home second place instead of first.

A little close for comfort, but that makes me 5½ for 6 on the year (I give myself ½ credit for a win that was later disqualified for a pass under yellow), which is a good run-up to the National Championships in September.

But I'm gonna have to take a look at that fuel pump before August's races.

1. Vitor Pereira07/21/2008 05:17:51 PM
Homepage: http://www.vitor-pereira.com

Congrats on another great weekend!

Winter work is really paying off and you seem like a very confident driver right now.

Keep it up and keep an eye on that pump.