The Gridlife Track Battle event at Mid-Ohio was unome racing’s first competition event as a team. We dove headfirst with a rookie driver (Nigel), a rookie team, no big circuit experience, and everything to learn. We went into the weekend full of nerves and excitement, hoping we were ready for what it would throw at us. We were not…
We arrived the night before the event and got a great paddock spot right next to Austin Hertel and his Street class Nissan 370z. It was a very late night, waiting in line to pass tech and get our “annual tech OK” sticker since we planned to attend 5 Gridlife events this season. Everything went well and we got to get a great look around at our competition.
Our car is a bit underpowered compared to most of the other Street Mod competitors, and we’re not pushing the limits of tire width or treadwear. We have a modest build, pushing 320awhp, albeit at ~5,000ft of altitude, into 400 treadwear Dunlop 245/40/17 summer tires. (We have since switched to Bridgestone RE71R tires!)
The first morning of the competition started with a driver’s meeting, and a hearty breakfast cooked by our own team chef/pit crew/hype man/driver coach/everything man, Kevin. Kevin was instrumental in getting us to the event by providing a trailer and co-driving across the country from Colorado, among other things. Our good friends Greg and Jake, who are local to Ohio, came by to provide some race support shortly after the driver’s meeting. Nigel’s father happened to be working remotely in Ohio at the time and was able to make the trip up to the track to provide support, as well.
The first session on-track was great for reconnaissance. It ended a few minutes early with a black flag and we were keen to check on temperatures and how the car was holding up so we skipped the final few minutes. It was uneventful and the car was handling great; we made no setup changes. The second session was broadly similar so we continued on as planned.
Since it was our first time getting the car up to speed, we were hesitant about letting the car get too hot or really push everywhere. Nigel was lifting off the throttle at 120mph on the back straight and braking very gently around most of the circuit, both to learn the way around and preserve the car. He reported the rear-end getting loose at the kink around 120mph, but after getting a good run out of the carousel and feeling the car get loose in the same way at 130mph, he decided it was okay to continue pushing through and increase the speed.
By the end of the first day, the brakes were getting very hot and the pedal feel was slowly growing worse. We decided last-minute to head into town and get some off-the-shelf brake fluid and do a fluid flush at the circuit in the morning. That may have proven to be a mistake.
First thing in the morning, Greg and Jake handled the fluid exchange and Kevin cooked up another delicious batch of breakfast burritos. Nigel took the car for a test drive and reported the brake pedal felt “different.” Not necessarily better, or worse, but not quite the same as the day before. He decided he would be able to drive through the problem… This is where we learned the lesson: “Don’t ever try to drive through a braking problem.”
After consistently improving lap times each session, Nigel set a new Personal Best in the first session of Sunday morning. On the second hot lap of the second session, however, there was a small issue with the brakes. The fluid boiled, causing the calipers to remain in place and not release, superheating them for the entirety of the back straight. On a lap that should have been his new fastest time of the weekend so far, Nigel hit the brakes on the back straight and the pedal went directly to the floor with no deceleration at all.
He tried to downshift and wanted to rotate the car to slow it down, but with the gravel trap coming up, rotating the car could cause it to roll, so he braced for impact with the tire barrier.
After a surprisingly light impact, he was able to drive the car out of the gravel on his own and limp back to the paddock area, but our weekend was over.
Coming soon: New brake package, and some other goodies, to be installed in time for Midwest Fest at Gingerman Raceway.