Post by Jarhead on Aug 14, 2013 3:11:49 GMT -8
Just got my first win in the Skip Barber Race Series the other day. The track was Road America which is one of my favorites.
Before last week, I had never even raced the car at all, just ran it in practice and decided it wasn't for me. But then some friends of mine said the car has really improved with the new tire model and we went into a practice session. They were right, the car is now much more manageable. It can still get away from you if you brake too late going into a corner, but not like before. And if it does get a little loose, you can still catch it and recover now.
At first I did a few races without qualifying to get a feel for the car in race conditions. Those races were hit and miss because there were a lot of spins and crashes and sometimes you couldn't avoid contact. Since it is a D Class race, you get one quick repair. So even when I couldn't avoid contact, I could still finish the race with a decent placing since most people rage quit after any little incident.
Then on Monday, I decided to get serious for a race. I ran a good qual session which put my on the pole. I got a decent start, but another guy got a better start and took the lead in the first lap. He couldn't get away from me though, so I just kept the pressure on waiting to see if he would crack. It didn't take long, he spun it going into Canada Corner on lap 4 which gave me the lead, but only by a few seconds. I was still pushing, but making sure I kept it on the track. He was pushing a little harder and was slowly catching up to me. He pushed a little too hard on lap 8 and spun again. So the last few laps, I cruised to a win.
If you haven't driven the Skippy lately, give it a try, you will be pleasantly surprised. I would even like to see a league race with it on one of our off weeks if there is enough interest.
Before last week, I had never even raced the car at all, just ran it in practice and decided it wasn't for me. But then some friends of mine said the car has really improved with the new tire model and we went into a practice session. They were right, the car is now much more manageable. It can still get away from you if you brake too late going into a corner, but not like before. And if it does get a little loose, you can still catch it and recover now.
At first I did a few races without qualifying to get a feel for the car in race conditions. Those races were hit and miss because there were a lot of spins and crashes and sometimes you couldn't avoid contact. Since it is a D Class race, you get one quick repair. So even when I couldn't avoid contact, I could still finish the race with a decent placing since most people rage quit after any little incident.
Then on Monday, I decided to get serious for a race. I ran a good qual session which put my on the pole. I got a decent start, but another guy got a better start and took the lead in the first lap. He couldn't get away from me though, so I just kept the pressure on waiting to see if he would crack. It didn't take long, he spun it going into Canada Corner on lap 4 which gave me the lead, but only by a few seconds. I was still pushing, but making sure I kept it on the track. He was pushing a little harder and was slowly catching up to me. He pushed a little too hard on lap 8 and spun again. So the last few laps, I cruised to a win.
If you haven't driven the Skippy lately, give it a try, you will be pleasantly surprised. I would even like to see a league race with it on one of our off weeks if there is enough interest.
