Yoshi Nagura
02-16-2008, 06:52 PM
With mild temperatures some of the members of CSRA got together and put up a short road course to try out our new ALMS cars. While the location was at my house in Fresno I want to thank Martin Simonian’s help in getting in contact with everyone. This was a benefit race for Pete McKay who is having a difficult time recovering from what was originally supposed to be a minor ankle surgery. Peter was in attendance but allowed other drivers to wheel his Sauber-Mercedes Team.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/2269966532_af94e405d2.jpg?v=0
The track was a 4’ X 8’ layout, all flat corners but most were wide sweeping and quite fast on Friday night practice. Racing began at 10AM Saturday and lasted until about noon. Our entry list counted 8 cars, 2 Toyota’s, 2 Jaguar’s, 3 Sauber’s and my single Panoz. We ran 25 lap qualifiers in each lane; the field was set by who turned his 25 qualifying laps the fastest. Peter’s #62 Sauber was first, in the hands of Jimmy “The Real Deal” McNeil, I qualified second, and so it went. Here’s the qualifying layout:
1. #62 Sauber-Mercedes 1:59.34 McNeil
2. #22 Panoz LMP-1 2:02.63 Nagura
3. #63 Sauber-Mercedes 2:04.88 Lisch
4. #60 Castrol Jaguar 2:05.21 Simonian
5. #14 Red Bull Toyota 2:10.31 Sills
6. #61 Sauber-Mercedes 2:16.08 Yslas
7. #60T Castrol Jaguar 2:20.00 Yamaguchi
8. #50 Tenoras Toyota 2:21.03 Perkins (withdrawn)
We ran progressive mains, setting the fastest car in the A, 2nd in the B, etc. The second slot would be the car that transferred from the previous main. Beginning with the F main, which saw the #61 Sauber and #60T Jaguar, racer were 30 laps in each lane. Teo "The Hammer" Yamaguchi advanced to the E main where he again won, beating the painted but un-decaled Red Bull Jaguar by a large margin.
We took a 5 minute car cool off then ran the D main, where again Yamaguchi advanced by beating Simonian by one lap plus distance. The C main was run and Brian Lisch very quickly put Teo behind and at the switch it just didn’t get any better. In the B main I faced what I hoped would only be the first of Team AMG’s potent Saubers. I ran good and held my own before the switch, but in the second segment the Sauber just pulled away. In the A Main there would be two cars fronted by the man we were running the benefit for in the first place.
Let me say that identical cars can be taken so many ways. The only real differences between the two were the numbers on the bodies. The cars were close on the track too, at the switch the difference was just a matter of half a lap. The lead swapped back and forth a couple of times Lisch missed braking into the hairpin on two consecutive laps, and the race was handed to McNeil.
With the 7 drivers and maybe another 10 or so spectators we managed to collect close to $200 to benefit Peter’s post operative care. His apartment manager has refused to fix a non-working refrigerator, and Thursday, the day after his major ankle surgery, maintenance men had to take apart his shower looking for a leak. They were supposed to return the next day and complete the job, now they’re saying it’ll be the middle of next week. Same with the ‘fridge, 10 days after he told the manager it was broken. Since then he’s lost much of the food he stored up prior to his surgery because it is room temperature inside. The money will be used to stock him up temporarily with stuff he needs and an ice chest to keep it cool. All I can say is that Karma is a MF Ms. Apartment Manager….just wait and see our move out party once he gets better.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/2269966532_af94e405d2.jpg?v=0
The track was a 4’ X 8’ layout, all flat corners but most were wide sweeping and quite fast on Friday night practice. Racing began at 10AM Saturday and lasted until about noon. Our entry list counted 8 cars, 2 Toyota’s, 2 Jaguar’s, 3 Sauber’s and my single Panoz. We ran 25 lap qualifiers in each lane; the field was set by who turned his 25 qualifying laps the fastest. Peter’s #62 Sauber was first, in the hands of Jimmy “The Real Deal” McNeil, I qualified second, and so it went. Here’s the qualifying layout:
1. #62 Sauber-Mercedes 1:59.34 McNeil
2. #22 Panoz LMP-1 2:02.63 Nagura
3. #63 Sauber-Mercedes 2:04.88 Lisch
4. #60 Castrol Jaguar 2:05.21 Simonian
5. #14 Red Bull Toyota 2:10.31 Sills
6. #61 Sauber-Mercedes 2:16.08 Yslas
7. #60T Castrol Jaguar 2:20.00 Yamaguchi
8. #50 Tenoras Toyota 2:21.03 Perkins (withdrawn)
We ran progressive mains, setting the fastest car in the A, 2nd in the B, etc. The second slot would be the car that transferred from the previous main. Beginning with the F main, which saw the #61 Sauber and #60T Jaguar, racer were 30 laps in each lane. Teo "The Hammer" Yamaguchi advanced to the E main where he again won, beating the painted but un-decaled Red Bull Jaguar by a large margin.
We took a 5 minute car cool off then ran the D main, where again Yamaguchi advanced by beating Simonian by one lap plus distance. The C main was run and Brian Lisch very quickly put Teo behind and at the switch it just didn’t get any better. In the B main I faced what I hoped would only be the first of Team AMG’s potent Saubers. I ran good and held my own before the switch, but in the second segment the Sauber just pulled away. In the A Main there would be two cars fronted by the man we were running the benefit for in the first place.
Let me say that identical cars can be taken so many ways. The only real differences between the two were the numbers on the bodies. The cars were close on the track too, at the switch the difference was just a matter of half a lap. The lead swapped back and forth a couple of times Lisch missed braking into the hairpin on two consecutive laps, and the race was handed to McNeil.
With the 7 drivers and maybe another 10 or so spectators we managed to collect close to $200 to benefit Peter’s post operative care. His apartment manager has refused to fix a non-working refrigerator, and Thursday, the day after his major ankle surgery, maintenance men had to take apart his shower looking for a leak. They were supposed to return the next day and complete the job, now they’re saying it’ll be the middle of next week. Same with the ‘fridge, 10 days after he told the manager it was broken. Since then he’s lost much of the food he stored up prior to his surgery because it is room temperature inside. The money will be used to stock him up temporarily with stuff he needs and an ice chest to keep it cool. All I can say is that Karma is a MF Ms. Apartment Manager….just wait and see our move out party once he gets better.