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2 WINS 1
CRASH!
A three
day weekend for Team GB400R
Buttonwillow Raceway, September 1-3rd, SCCA
held a triple regional event. Team GB400R entered one of its 2
competition cars in an effort to add points to the year-end SP (Super
Production) points Championship. Edward Inclan piloted the "horse
on fire" GB400R getting 2 first places and an unfortunate spin
entering the front straight that put the car in the wall.
A 40 car field qualified on Saturday, Edward, without
making the practice session went out and qualified the car until a
fading brake pedal kept him from finishing the session. "We were only
able to qualify in 17th position running a fast lap time of
2:09. I have my work cut out getting around traffic", said Edward.
One contributing factor to the brake fade was the
weather, over the 100 degree mark and humid. Buttonwillow is a 19 turn
road course which is very demanding on brakes, specially with this
weather. Nick Burr & Doug Gladney changed the pad compound and added
new air ducts to the brakes…. it helped some.
Our group raced in the late afternoon scheduled for
4:00pm but started after 5:30pm (the peak of the heat!). The GB400R
being one of the faster cars of the field, behind the Ultra Spec Trucks
and some GT1 cars, was able to jump the green and get up with the front
runners. Just like the past SCCA race, the GT3 BMW of Claudio Pecora was
fighting for position but fell off pace after loosing his clutch. Also
on the hunt for position was Ron Bailey’s SP Camaro (running on
slicks) but was not able to get around the GB400R! At the end we started
to reel in a very fast Nissan 300Z Turbo driven by Joseph Hall that was
running 2:04.691 during the race. A drag race to the finish line Joseph
was able to barely pull us at the line, great race!
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After the race
the winner gets a victory lap. It was so hot that I took my gloves
off . Well, the shifter is made out
of aluminum and transfers lots of heat from the transmission. I
used my glove to shift throughout the lap. When I came in I
forgot to move the glove from the shifter. It sat there overnight
and it cooked the glove!
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Saturday's results GB400R 1st Place with a
fast lap of 2:04.797 Ron
Bailey’s (SP) Camaro 2nd place with a fast lap of 2:06.473 and Andy Chan in his factory
built M3 BMW 3rd place with a fast lap of 2:10.378.
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Team GB400R
enjoys the racing atmosphere and have fun after the races are
over. On Saturday night we invited some of our race fans and
co-workers for a BBQ at "camp GB400R"
Racing is a
family event, so much that on Saturday night there was a wedding
performed at the track! Now that's what I call a well chosen
bride!
We even had fire works that night! |
On Sunday we knew we had to make some improvements in
order to stay away from our competition. Although we are ahead in the
points standing we can not afford a mistake.
Sunday’s qualifying was not great, we used some
older BFG R1 tires that were mounted on a different offset wheel and the combination
slowed us down by 2 seconds! This placed us in 17th position
on the starting grid. On top of that, the brakes were still an issue,
they were still getting a mushy feel.
When the race started we got behind a World Challenge
Saleen Mustang driven by Michael Judy that had qualified 1 second faster
than us. The Saleen locked it up at the end of the hairpin and went off
into the tulies!
The battle was on again with Claudio in his BMW and
Bruce Powers in his orange GT3 Cougar.
This battle went on till the end but the brakes on the
GB400R were starting to fade again, therefore, the Cougar was able to
out brake us on the last corner and made it to the checkered flag first.
These finishing results will be our starting positions
for Monday's race. We needed to fix our braking problems in order to
stay away from Ron's Camaro who was only 1 second behind us in the
qualifying session. Nick decided that if we changed the brake fluid it
may help the boiling point. (Used brake fluid could have moisture
reducing the boiling point).
Monday's race was early in the morning so Nick and
Doug were at the track at 6:00 am and prepped the car for our final race
of the weekend. All we have to do is baby the car and take home the win
in order to assure the championship points.
Once again the green flag dropped and the car was just
amazingly fast! We were actually chasing the spec-trucks who were
running 2:00 flat!
As we approached the last corner that leads to the
front straight on the first race lap, one of the spec-trucks who had
gone off and came back on track, trailed in some debris and dirt. Edward
went into the corner and the rear end started to come around!
The GB400R skidded across the track doing a 360 and in
reverse went into the tire barrier! It then bounced off and spun
into the wall. After 3 complete 360's the car came to a stop
perpendicular to the track.
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The initial impact was on the quarter panel
and broke the roof
at the A pillar, although the impact with the tire barrier cushioned
the blow, had
the car been a "tin-top" it would have probably been
written off!
 
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Edward had the car still running and not really knowing
the severity of the damage put the car in gear and on to the track
(actually it was denial). As the car rolled on to the track, the rear
quarter panels and the roof flopping in the air. The officials quickly
pulled us off the track and into tech. That was it for our Monday race!
The next race is October 13th and we need to win it.
Ron Baily took the checkered flag and is now leading the points by 3. We
can't let that happen.
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THE
GB400R TEAM! |
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