"Will Race For Food" (willraceforfood)
03/21/2016 at 13:15 • Filed to: racing, bmw, honda, e36, autox, civic
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"Will Race For Food" (willraceforfood)
03/21/2016 at 13:15 • Filed to: racing, bmw, honda, e36, autox, civic | 0
| 0 |
Here’s a quick recap of Sunday’s event - it was slippery, and then it wasn’t slippery anymore. OK, it was, but not as slippery as before. In other news, I’m not great at writing introductory paragraphs.
Photo credit: Artis Artemenkovs
Now that that’s out of the way, here’s what really happened:
Sunday was the fifth (and last) event in the local winter racing series where I’ve been competing this year, and done so in three classes: RWD, RWD/R (which is class for RWD cars that use studded tires) and 2WD OPEN (which mixes together FWD and RWD cars, regardless of what tires are used).
Actual picture from the event, this my E36, which I used in RWD, RWD/R and 2WD OPEN for all winter events
For this event, since there wasn’t really much that could change in the season standings (I was all but guaranteed second place in RWD and RWD/R, and was probably going to be second in 2WD OPEN as well), I also decided to try out a friend’s Honda Civic in the FWD class. There were a total of 165 competitors on Sunday, split into nine classes (FWD, FWD/R, RWD, RWD/R, 4WD, 4WD/R, 2WD OPEN, 4WD OPEN and a separate class for women), so there was plenty of competition.
The format of the event was somewhat similar to an SCCA autocross event in the US, with it taking place on an abandoned air strip. There were a total of three runs, with the result being a sum of your two fastest runs.
Here’s a scheme of the track we raced on Sunday:
Some translations: starts = start, finišs = finish, dalbnieku parks = competitor area, stvt aizliegts = place where it’s forbidden to leave your car, for obvious reasons
On the morning of the event, and throughout the first run, there was quite a bit of snow and ice on the track, making it very difficult to judge the braking distance in the corners, as you could have asphalt all the way to the corner, and then find out that there is ice at the spot where you should begin braking.
Luckily, the temperature was a bit above freezing, meaning that by the end of the first run, the racing line was clear of snow/ice, and was now just wet asphalt with a bit of dirt on it in some spots.
For the BMW, we had a set of winter tires (which are really only competitive in deep snow and/or on ice) and a set of summer tires. Did the first run on winter tires and was somewhere in the middle, as the track was cleaning with each following driver, and I was one of the first ones to go out in my class.
Not happy with that result, and knowing that the winter tires will not be competitive on wet asphalt, a decision was made to switch to summer tires for the second run. Mind you, the temperature at that point was 33-34 degrees Fahrenheit, so not really in the suggested temperature range for summer tires.
This was still the first run - the track was much cleaner on the second and third run through
Well, at least on Sunday, the suggested temperature range could suck it, the summer tires were amazing. In the BMW, I managed to finish second in RWD, RWD/R and 2WD OPEN classes, among 15, 16 and 24 competitors, respectively.
As for the FWD class in a Honda Civic, the expectations here were slightly more down to earth - the circuit we raced on, especially once it was cleared of ice and snow, was really a power circuit, and, with just 125 horsepower and relatively long gearing, the Honda wasn’t really all that competitive. In a field of 36 competitors, I was hoping for a top 20 finish. Also, I don’t really have much experience with racing FWD cars, this was something like my fourth ever event in one.
Photo credit: Artis Artemenkovs
It actually turned out pretty well for me - I managed to faster than the owner of the car, despite him driving in two classes, and finished 13th in the FWD class, which is quite a good accomplishment for me, considering that the top guys had much, much faster cars.
With the winter season now compete, there will likely be a few weeks before my next event, but I’m definitely looking forward to the beginning of the gravel/asphalt season. Even though I like winter, events on gravel/asphalt make the events more interesting, as the tires aren’t as big a factor as they are in winter, meaning that results within the classes are much closer.
Once they are available, I’ll also do a separate post with some videos from the event. These typically show the mistakes that have been made by the various drivers and, with 165 competitors doing three runs each, there must have been a lot of mistakes.
Hopefully this was an interesting read - I’ll try and do a short recap of each event this year, rather than wait a year and come out with a mammoth post like my last one.