Race Report

First Two Races of 2001!!

by Lea Croteau

Hello All!

Sorry to not be in touch for a while. Have been way too busy working and racing! 2001 has been the year for me to get back into competition. I switched to a Spec Racer Ford with Motion Dynamics and KML Racing and have been racing in the Northeast Division.

My first two races at New Hampshire Int'l Raceway and Lime Rock Park had me wondering if I would get fast in my newly chosen race class. Even though I had raced the SRF in two 24 Hour Endurance races, I put a lot of pressure on myself to be fast out of the box at sprint race speeds.

RACE ONE: NHIS

Excited to be in a racecar again and wanting to have a good chance in the race, I made sure that I drove the Motion Dynamics/KML Racing SRF on the test day. NHIS uses NASCAR turns 1 and 2 on the oval, before driving to the outfield part of the course, a fun combination of elevation change and on camber turns that rejoin the oval. I made good progress each session out, shaving time and adding speed to each of my laps. By the end of the test, I had posted a respectable 1:14.6, which was my target to qualify "in the hunt" with much more experienced SRF drivers.

I forgot the draft...

Practice and qualifying--Wanting to repeat my efforts from the previous day, I went out in both sessions and drove hard. The result, I had forgotten about the draft being so important and our class had been combined with EP, FP, GT4 and GT5, cars that have very different handling characteristics from the Spec Ford. I attempted to get clear laps several times, but the best I could do was a time of 1:15.9, almost 2.5 seconds from the pole and put me exactly mid-pack and behind a couple of GT4 cars for the start!

Raceday--Thinking I needed to get my head back in the car before the race, I went out for warmup and pulled the worst rookie move, a spin on cold tires at the exit of turn 2 on my second lap! Thankfully, I didn’t hit anything or flat spot my tires, but the spin got my attention. I was trying to go through turns 1 and 2 without lifting and even though I had the throttle on the floor, the oversteer won and I ran out of grip. Definitely a confidence and mood killer before the race.

On the grid, I was thinking, "just get through this race, with no mistakes." As the green flag fell, the field of 34 cars exploded in all directions going into turn 1 and all I was trying to do was stay out of trouble! A couple of cars made contact, continued and I managed to keep out of the fray. Despite losing a couple positions and doing my best to stay with the pack, the leaders kept opening the gap exiting turn 2. My spin there earlier in the day was affecting my speed on the fastest section of track and I kept overslowing both turns 1 and turn 8. Meanwhile, I was having a good time keeping a couple of other SRFs behind me.

About halfway through the race my lap times started to come down again as I regained confidence going through turns 1, 2 and 8 and was closing on the lead pack. Unfortunately, on lap 15 of a 30-lap race, the Lotus Super 7 of Austin Britton lost its wheel and he impacted the wall at the exit of turn 2 where I had my spin in the morning. Both EMTs ended up having to take him to the hospital for severe injuries and the race was black flagged on lap 17. I finished 14th in class; not where I wanted to be, but happy that I finished with a clean car. Onto Lime Rock!

Other race reports to follow!

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