Fall Finale Time Trial at Summit Point

EMRA – Eastern Motor Racing Assoc.

Saturday, Nov 10 — Sunday, Nov 11, 2012

Summit Point Raceway – Main, Summit Point, WV

This was another 2-day event.  My dad and I went down and stayed for the weekend.  It’s another one of my bucket-list tracks (most of the east-coast tracks are), so this should be fun.

Only 4 Miata Challenge cars showed up (c’mon, guys!), but Scott Webster with the yellow MR2 would be there- at least him and I could trade laps.  We ended up hooking up with Danny Chan in his Porsche 911.  His car was a regular street car with inexpensive all-season tires on it- so his lap times were perfectly in sync with ours. We had a lot of fun.

Our fastest times on Saturday out of 5x25min sessions(!):

• Danny – 1:33.408
• Chris – 1:33.690
• Scott – 1:34.366

Nice and close.  I won MC, Scott won ST-6, but Danny was in ST-2 with some fast cars.  Either way, we had a blast – and we got to do it again the next day!

Our fastest times on Sunday out of 6x20min sessions:

• Chris – 1:31.845
• Danny – 1:32.107
• Scott – 1:33.464

I won my class, and I think Scott did on Sunday as well.

There was some speculation between all of us between rounds that these late-day sessions are when people start making mistakes and taking chances… I took about 1.8s off my time which was good – the other guys got faster as well, but Danny pitched it off at turn 5 heading into the carousel.  Luckily, it was only front bumper/ headlight/ turnsignal damage.  He eventually got back onto the track to finish out the day.

Interesting Miata track record stats:

• SM – Kevin Kopp  1:26.159   10/09/11
• SSM – Lee York  1:27.595  10/09/11

I have video I need to upload. This note will remind me.

EMRA – Eastern Motor Racing Association

Friday, October 5, 2012

Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, PA

This was the first race that my father couldn’t make it to.  I went at it alone, but it wasn’t as much fun flying solo.  It didn’t help that I didn’t care for the track that much (dat transition!), and that it rained the night before (does puddles!).  I threw the car off the track 2x… like an all-4-wheels-flying-through-the-mud trip.  Clearly, this was the day I’d bin it…

…but it wasn’t.  I kinda muddled through the sessions, never really being happy with my driving, but not sucking terribly.  Besides, I was the only Miata Challenge car there! LOL.  Hopefully I won’t lose!

Best time; session 2.  1:06.582. Since this track is like a transformer and there are a million variations (North? South? North / South?  New pavement?  Old Pavement?), I only found this NASA record:

SM – Eric Gebhardt  01:04.602  9/6/09

Crikey. 2 full seconds off that small track?  Yikes.

EMRA – Eastern Motor Racing Association

Sunday, Sep 9, 2012

New Jersey Motorsports Park Lightning, Millville, NJ

This was the second stop at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  6 cars showed up, 5 were in MCS.  I think I like the little Lightning circut – lets see if I can get some better lap times than last time.  My time previously was 1:25.010

My session times:

• 1:26.222.   nope.
• 1:25.702.   nope.
• 1:26.006.   seriously?
• 1:24.872.   finally!

I know it was cooler out and the track conditions were different… but a guy at my level is mostly improving with seat time alone.  Hmmmm.

I don’t have video for this event either.  Also, I have no excuse.

EMRA – Eastern Motor Racing Association

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT

This was actually the 2nd MC race at Lime Rock Park; at the first one, I was not eligible for points or a trophy due to having to test for a license that day.

This was an exciting one for me.  After getting 3 trophies at the last 3 days (WGI had 2), I wanted more!  Rick Pfeiffer was there to keep me in check.

Session 1:

• Rick Pfeiffer (MCS)  1:10.288
• Chris Chemidlin (MCS)  1:11.137

Damn.  Almost a full second.

Session 2:

• Rick Pfeiffer (MCS) 1:07.716
• Chris Chemidlin (MCS) 1:08.028

Damn. Still .3s

Session 3:

• Chris Chemidlin (MCS) 1:07.660
• Rick Pfeiffer (MCS) 1:08.257

Oh Yeah!  But I have a feeling he’ll be coming like gangbusters next session!

Session 4:

• Chris Chemidlin (MCS) 1:07.053
• Rick Pfeiffer (MCS) 1:07.822

I thought this was a great lap.  MCM was won with a 1:06.024 – a full second faster, but the MCS win felt good.  I think I found my time when I found my guts at the bottom of the downhill.  If I trusted that the car would stick, and not breathe on the brakes/ let off the gas, I could carry more speed down the main straight.  I just had to man up.

Interesting Miata track record stats:

• SSM – Clifford Collins  1:03.022  9/27/2008
• SM – Michael Lo  1:02.135  5/30/2009

Still, I’m way off the pace, but I’ll keep tracking these numbers for my own amusement.  I can’t find the video for this race. <shrug> I’ll keep looking.