Laguna
Seca 12/13/03 - by Martin Birkmann
Four
of the bravest racers to be found in the Eastern
Series embarked to Laguna Seca, way out West, determined
not to let the silly nor the cold season distract
them from their path. Alex, Sy, Francois and myself
even succeeded in luring our significant others
(Alex, I heard something about an upcoming engagement?)
to the venue. The fact that the bribery included
excessive spa treatments and opulent dinners needs
to be elaborated on another time. Because this
is all about the racing, right?
To
make a short story not too long, it should suffice
here to say that race one did not have a lot in
it for any of our four heroes. Rumors have it that
an uncontrolled usage of French champagne and Portuguese
port is partly responsible for our underwhelming
performance on that infamous Saturday race. Alex
and Francois competed in group 1 and Sy and me
had a go in the 2nd group.
Group
1 Race 1
It
is noteworthy that Francois, despite a one-year
hiatus from racing, out-qualified Alex. With a
very composed performance, our French friend joined
a minority of only 4 pilots that managed NOT to
spin on the damp track. Starting in damp conditions,
this was perhaps the most exciting race of the
weekend. Defending his fourth starting position
with claws and teeth, Francois led a juggernaut
of RTs for the first seven laps around the legendary
track. Alex, having started 10th had joined the
freight train and started to challenge Francois
for P4. However, it was not destined to be. The
infamous turn 6 claimed its victims relentlessly.
A big pileup ended the race for four cars including
Francois, bringing out the black flag. During the
pit stop a loose oil line on Alex’s car caught
the official's attention and the repair could not
be completed before the restart of the race, putting
Alex Schmuck to the back of the pack.
Juicy’s
results and fastest Laps:
Alex
P9 1:46:029
Francois P10 1:46:546
(You know where to look for complete results)
G2R1
The
story of that race is equally saddening. While
it was good fun for me to lead for a couple of
laps from the pole, I knew it would be difficult
to keep this Adam Tran kid (last on the gird because
of a qualifying 4 off) at bay. Soon I would become
the next victim of juniority humiliation. When
I started watching my mirrors, the first thing
I saw was a red car going straight in turn 11,
taking a white car out. This could not have been
my friend Sy, as he had told me just before the
race about his bullet-proof heel-toe technique
(“Bro, the way I do it, is the only real
way”) and he sure wasn’t left foot
braking, or was he? Well,
it was him and not only did he victimize
a veteran driver, he also opened the door for Adam
to chase me down. (editor's note: Adam passed me before I
crashed into the other guy - not that it makes
me look any better..)
It
was evident that Adam could match my pace but it
would be difficult for him to pass, or so I thought.
That day my RT2000 was extra wide and we just started
to have some fun with passing and re-passing when
I was black-flagged. BLACK-FLAGGED? FOR WHAT? My
good friends at Skippy really did rip the heart
out of what could have become an exciting race.
Apparently I was pulling some unfair blocking moves...
Come on! I'm German, following in Schumacher’s
footsteps. What do you expect? But then it got
even worse. When pitting out from my penalty, I
almost lost control of my car (my nerves had gone
by then anyway) and took out a couple of those
damn pit-exit cones out. Sure
enough one of those suckers got stuck in my side
pod (click for picture) and race control
meat-balled me. Now that was a first. The rest
of the race-memories is somewhat shady hidden behind
a veil of tender crimson.
Juicy’s
results and fastest Laps:
Martin
P3 1:42:430
Sy P10 1:44:064
The
second races were a lot nicer to most of us (excluding
your humble author), but they certainly lacked
some of Saturday’s excitement.
GR1
R2
A
drying track made it difficult to pull off any
off-line manouvres. Most of the drivers concentrated
on keeping the cars on the track with mixed success.
After having spent the first half of the race snoozing,
our somewhat impatient pit wall animations must
have woken Alex up. In an exciting finish he put
in subsequent fast laps and was in contention for
his first career podium finish (almost, but no
cigar buddy).
Francois
appeared somewhat intimidated by the number of
parts that you can bend (and pay for) in a turn
6 outing, so he decided to drive a discrete race.
Even his obligatory, yet gentle contact with the
wall in turn 6 did not impair the car's performance
too much (however, the "wing setting” of
about 50 degrees made the car easy to spot). With
a double P10 Francois earned the consistency prize.
Juicy’s
results and fastest Laps:
Alex
P5 1:53:526
Francois P10 1:57:48
GR2
R2
The
second race was an uneventful event for me – almost.
After trying a couple of “advanced” lines
in the warm up, I managed within the first lap
to put two wheels off in turns 3 and 6, with cars
passing me left and right. Somehow I got back into
P2 just in time for a FCY. Turn 6 had called again.
Leader Adam made me truly look like a helpless
rookie at the restart, and dropped me like a hot
potato. I never found a recipe to come even a bit
closer. I don’t remember exactly what I was
thinking about when I entered turn 9 in the last
lap. It must have been something along the lines
of “don’t go too fast – well
maybe I am too fast – don’t lift now – just
a little lift? – Oh S___!” And there
I sat in a rotating chair – 4 off! With
200 yards to decide: “To pit or not to pit,
that was the question.” I pitted but preferred
to stop for inspection only after the finish line
(I ain’t no dummy), but that wasn’t
good enough. Another penalty from race control.
Those 20 seconds allowed Sy to claim fourth, the
reward for a very progressive race with consistently
building-up speed.
Juicy’s results and fastest Laps
Sy
P4 1:44:354
Martin P5 1:42:962
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