SCCA: Lime Rock Regional personal report 96-08-17

• Jack Durbin
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Thu Aug 22 15:55:10 EDT 1996

>From: Jeff Benagh 

SCCA Regional, Lime Rock, 8/16-17

This weekend was the NNJR event at Lime Rock.  This event usually
has a ton of cars, so it's a lot of fun.  Last year, this was my
first race as a novice, and the ITB/ITS group was so big (21 ITB
cars and 16 ITS cars) that they broke it into two groups.  This
year, they put ITB in with SSA/SSB/SSC so there were about 20 ITB
cars and 6 SS cars.

My car (ITB '84 GTI) was equipped with new rear wheel bearings,
new front wheel bearings, one new tire, and (thanks to Betsey) a
new header that wouldn't run out of oomph before the motor did. 
Now that we've figured out how to pack the truck, we also came
equipped with a full spares box, filled with at least one of
everything I've broken in the past.  This would ensure nothing
would break and the getting the fourth rain tire mounted ensured
the track would stay dry.

Friday was overcast all day.  I was first in line for practice,
which was kind of nice because I had one nice lap to myself after
waving by two much faster cars.  The new header allowed the motor
to make power all the way up to redline which was very nice.  On
the second lap, I fumbled into the left-hander and went straight
off into the grass (apparently much to the enjoyment of the
children camping next to us).  I re-entered at the tail end of the
pack and got to re-learn the track and get used to my new-found
(or purchased) rpm range.  About lap six, I passed by Bill Kaiser's
Dodge driving into the pits with a blown up header.  All the header
tape kind of looked like "just married" decorations.

Right after lunch, I went out and qualified.  My goal was to get
into the 1:08 range this outing, and I was really running well
through the twisty parts, but the motor had other ideas.  I hit
terminal speed of 85mph by the tech shed (about halfway down the
front straight) despite keeping my foot to the floor.  There was
one !$%!#$^ SSC Miata who braked late and long coming down the hill.
I got a lot closer to him than I wanted to get as well as a lot more
sideways.  Unfortunately he was able to pull me on the straight, but
I was able to get by him in the esses.  I was getting dusted by
every other car down the striaght.  Also, toward the end, the motor
started cutting out at the entrace to the back straight -- too
little gas in the tank now that I'm cornering harder.  When the
times came out, I was near the end of the grid, but wasn't last.

During the rest of the afternoon we put in new springs in the rear
and corrected some bushing and shock problems.  A little conference
with Dick Shine determined that the motor was probably leaning out a
bit with the larger header, so I richened the mixture a little.

Saturday was beautiful.  As usual, it was really foggy when we woke
up, but it burned off by 8:30 and began to get comfortably warm.  
Lime Rock practices are interesting -- all closed wheel cars on the
track at once.  GT1 to Spec Racer to SSC.  I went out in the second
group (after getting gas) and there was a better mix of mostly IT
and SS cars.  The mixture adjustment really helped and I kept
gaining RPM all the way to the braking zone for turn one, and was
able to keep up with almost every ITB/ITC car down the straight. 
The new rear suspension really helped with the esses.

My spectators (mom, step-dad, and a friend) showed up before our
early race (11am), just as I was getting suited up.  I was gridded
right in front of a bunch of much-slower SSC cars and a slightly
slower ITB VW (Jeff Bump) who was at his first Lime Rock race.  At
the start, I was surprised to see Jeff on my right passing me about
3 seconds before the green fell.  Damn!  I'm faster than him, but
he's difficult to get around.

There was one sideways Golf in turn one and I got by a couple of
other cars right after going around this mess.  I got a really
good run through the left-hander and onto the back straight (in
fact my whole first lap was only 1.5 sec off my qualifying time!),
but I couldn't get past Jeff or a silver Rabbit who was gridded just
in front of me.  A number of other cars pulled abot 20 car lengths
ahead of Jeff, the Rabbit & I.  There were about four of them in a
tight pack, and no one behind us for about 50 car lengths.

Both the Golf and the Rabbit were a lot slower than me in the turns,
but I wasn't fast enough to get by cleanly.  Next time through the
esses though, the Rabbit slowed way down for the left hander and I
got a good run up to his bumper by turn five and then passed him on
the back straight.  Now I could get Jeff in the Golf.  I tried
getting by going into the uphill, but there's not a lot of room when
the cars are pretty evenly matched and there's no braking zone there.
I then tried getting by at the inside of West Bend, but again, not
enough room.  Jeff was barking where I didn't need to if I had the
line, but I couldn't take the inside line without braking.

I then decided to get him on the downhill or draft him and out-brake
him at turn one.  He was braking at West Bend (just before the
downhill) and lifting in the downhill.  The next time through (about
lap three) I got too close, too early and had to back off.  I tried
to outbrake him, but he blocked the inside.  "I'll just outbrake him
on the outside next time" I thought, something I had practiced by
accident last time there and knew was possible.

The next time around, I got a good run on him coming down the hill
and was right on his bumper when we hit the front straight.  Then he
hit the brakes!!!  I hit the brakes and pulled out next to him to
see a blue BMW (from the four car pack just ahead of us) going across
the track sideways.  Jeff was able to pull me down the front
straight, but I caught him before the left-hander.  By now, a white
BMW was catching up to us.  He'd get about 2 car legths behind into
West Bend, but I was getting him and Jeff on the exit so that he was
pretty far behind by the front straight (about ten car lengths).

Next time through West Bend, I braked earlier than Jeff and got on
the gas much earlier.  The white BMW tried to outbrake me, but I
wasn't braking very long and he had to pull back behind me and get on
the gas a lot later than I think he wanted to.  I got my front bumper
up next to Jeff's front wheel going own the hill, but either he
wobbled a little or I just lost my nerve and pulled behind him.  The
next lap was the same.

On lap 7, Jeff & I and the BMW did the same thing that we had done
the past two laps, Jeff braking, me braking early, and the BMW trying
to duck inside.  But as I let off the brakes the rear of my car spun
to the outside and I was pointed at the tires on the inside of the
apex.  The GTI was leaning heavily, tires trying to stick at 70 mph.
I turned into the spin a little, trying to aim for going into the
dirt with the wheels straight and generally pointed at the track.  I
was headed for the down track end of the indentation in the curbing
and it looked like I wouldn't hit the dirt and tire wall berm on the
right.

My plan was upset when the right front went over the curbing and the
car rolled really slowly onto the driver's side in the dirt on the
right.  Once off the wheels, the car began to resemble a Newtonian
physics experiment and I slid across the track (roof side facing
uptrack with me hoping no one would visit through the roof) toward
the tire wall on the left.  It was coming up pretty quick and I
braced for a big crash.  It was remarkably light and I had ended up
right at the outpost flagger.  I gave him thumbs up, he waved me safe
to the radioman, and told me to get out of the car.

I watched the rest of the race from the flag station, then rode in
the tow truck down to may paddock spot (yes, it wa the same tow truck
driver from my last time at Lime Rock, and yes, he did remember me).
Betsey was the model of calm, cool, and collected.  Figuring I had
just broken down, she had walked back to the paddock from pit row. 
The windshield was badly cracked.  The hood and the entire left front
suspension was crumpled from hitting the tire wall.  All the left
side sheet metal is bent.  Both left side wheels are abraded away.

The driver of the Rabbit behind me and the marks on my right rear
fender and the BMW's left front fender confirmed my suspicions that
the BMW bumped me well before the turn in of West Bend.  I protested
for improper passing.  The SOM disallowed the protest (insufficient
witnesses), but returned the protest fee because they believed it was
in good faith.

My next event will be next spring.  This season has been quite a
learning experience, but I think Betsey and I finally had our act
together.  We didn't scramble at all the entire weekend (for a change),
and probably had spares to fix all but the windshield if I had been
registered for the enduro that afternoon.  Despite being behind a much
slower car (Jeff), I bettered my qualifying time and his best lap was
where I wanted to be (low 1:09, but he's still braking where I don't).
Kind of a disappointing end of the season when I was finally speeding
up.