David Pintaric
Viper Owner
The first part of July marks the halfway point of my 2011 SCCA STO/NASA ST1 season. It has been marked by some significant ups and downs, but not nearly as much as last year.
2010 at this time was a "Phoenix" moment for me and the team as the car was significantly damaged testing at Mid Ohio June 12th. Three weeks of solid work got the car repaired in time for the Watkins Glen SCCA double nationa. The Wednesday before that weekend the car had absolutely no body panels on it (including the roof), but a "bnody hanging" party was held and the car arrived at The Glen Thursday night ready to go. Two wins that weekend set the stage for a SCCA Run Offs victory in September.
So whatever challenges we face in 2011 were miniscule compared to last year; but there were some hurdles to clear.
We began 2011 in Florida for the Sebring SCCA double nationals. Race #1 saw me leading for the first part of the event until the second place car gave me a love tap from behind that sent me spinning. I dropped to 5th place, but was madder than a hornet's nest, so off I went in hunt of my "prey." I set a new track record en route to third place until 5th gear let go causing me to finish 8th. Grrrr. Race #2 on Sunday had me starting fourth, and the top four cars were all seperated by a blanket for laps 1 and 2. I grabbed third place at the start and tried a unlikely move on the second place Ferrari 430 CS by attempting to outbrake him going into turn 14 (not a good move). I subsequently lost third place! (Ferrari's have very good brakes!) After lap two a full course yellow came out, and that marked the end of my day, as some rubber from the track got lodged against my exhaust and started a small fire. I bailed rather than run the race on fire...smart, very smart. Luckily no significant damage to the car.
April was my next event at Mid Ohio. This was a NASA race were my Viper fits nicely in their ST1 class (purely a HP/weight calculation). I ran only one race that weekend as the car and I attended the Ohio VCA party in Columbus, causing me to leave the track before the Saturday races were held. Sunday I started from the back of the pack and by lap two I had the lead. A FCY caused the second place car to get back ahead of me at the start, so I chased him down for the remainder of the race. I caught the green C5 Corvette going into Turn 7 on the next to last lap to take the win.
May had me going to Summit Point, WV for a Northeast Division SCCA National. I tested on Friday morning and made four laps, the last 3 4 1/2 seconds under the track record. Then the motor went "boom." This was an old warhorse that served me well since the beginning of 2010, so I planned to replace it soon. But jsut not right then. I didn't have a spare with us, so I convinced the Chief Stewart to allow me to enter my Spec Miata (yes, I drive one of those too!) as a STO car. He agreed, as long as I stayed within 120% of the leader's lap times. THat would be a 1:36, and I was running 1:29s in the SM, so I was good to go. This got me a start and a finish, which might be important later in the year.
The new motor was not ready yet for the next two races being held at Mid Ohio in June, so we obtained a "junk yard" motor from X2 Builders (good guy, BTW) and threw it in. No tune, no cylinder heads, only headers? I was giving up 70-80 HP compared to what I was used to earlier in the year. Nevertheless I took the pole and first place on both days, as well as a new track record on Sunday. That was good because Sunday's race was a BF Goodrich Super Tour event and the win got me some well-liked attention. Mid Ohio has always been good to me. Even when I crashed last June, there was no frame damage...
The crew quickly installed the good cylinder heads and camshaft for the June Sprints held at Road America the next weekend. Being down 80 HP is OK for Mid Ohio, but not at a horsepower track like Road America. The first qualifying session had me running the fastest lap in STO by 1/2 second. I ran a 2.19.1 and second fastest was a 2:19.6. Great...for now. Qualifying session #1 things picked up, but my motor went south. It felt a bit lazy at the top end compared to the earlier session, and data showed the top speeds to be off by 4-5 MPH. I still went faster with a 2:18.1, but the pole was now a 2:16.5! Ouch. Things got worse when lap four was also done the motor really wetn flat. I thought I was completely blown, but it turned out it was "only" a broken rocker arm (I thought those were bullet proof?). The fix would be easy, IF we could find the parts. Our replacements were at the engine shop in Michigan, and this being a Saturday made it hard to find a vendor that was open for business. So a DNS for me was the end result. A big disappointment, but the repairs would turn out to be easy.
Two weeks later gets us to the July 2-3 race at my close-to-home track, Nelson Ledges. I was grouped with GT1, GT2, GT3 and American Sedan classed cars. I qualified third behind a GT2 Sunbeam Tiger and a GT3 Toyota tube framed car (Nelson is a funny track, where momentum is a key, and tube framed cars with slicks can really go fast there). Even though I started on the inside of row #2, by turn one of the first lap I had the overall lead. Funny how all that torque works against small V8s and four cylinder cars! I took the overall win over two GT1 Corvettes, set a new track record by over a second (half of my laps were faster than the old record), and truly got my mojo back!
So the second half is ahead; I am missing the Watkins Glen double national because one of my best friends is getting married and he has asked me to read in the ceremony. The things we do for friendship... I head to Mid Ohio for a NASA ST1 race the weekend on July 16-17 to finalize my qualifications for their big National championship race at...Mid Ohio...on September 9-11.
I will be at Beaverun the end of July for a SCCA STO race, then off to Pocono two weeks later for a double national. August 27-28 will see us at Nelson Ledges to finish up the regular season and act as a tune up for the SCCA Run Offs being held September 19-25 at Road America. I plan on repeating as champion, by the way...
Road America in September won't be the end of it for 2011, however. I plan on traveling to Daytona in October to race in NARRA's USGT series.
Come on out and see us compete against some really cool cars in SCCA's STO and NASA ST1 classes. Vipers versus Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, Ferraris, and even Aston Martins and Maseratis make up the STO class. NASA ST1 is mainly Vipers and Corvettes. Great fun and really cool fields. Stop out and say "hi," or better yet ******** a helmet and come race with us.
2010 at this time was a "Phoenix" moment for me and the team as the car was significantly damaged testing at Mid Ohio June 12th. Three weeks of solid work got the car repaired in time for the Watkins Glen SCCA double nationa. The Wednesday before that weekend the car had absolutely no body panels on it (including the roof), but a "bnody hanging" party was held and the car arrived at The Glen Thursday night ready to go. Two wins that weekend set the stage for a SCCA Run Offs victory in September.
So whatever challenges we face in 2011 were miniscule compared to last year; but there were some hurdles to clear.
We began 2011 in Florida for the Sebring SCCA double nationals. Race #1 saw me leading for the first part of the event until the second place car gave me a love tap from behind that sent me spinning. I dropped to 5th place, but was madder than a hornet's nest, so off I went in hunt of my "prey." I set a new track record en route to third place until 5th gear let go causing me to finish 8th. Grrrr. Race #2 on Sunday had me starting fourth, and the top four cars were all seperated by a blanket for laps 1 and 2. I grabbed third place at the start and tried a unlikely move on the second place Ferrari 430 CS by attempting to outbrake him going into turn 14 (not a good move). I subsequently lost third place! (Ferrari's have very good brakes!) After lap two a full course yellow came out, and that marked the end of my day, as some rubber from the track got lodged against my exhaust and started a small fire. I bailed rather than run the race on fire...smart, very smart. Luckily no significant damage to the car.
April was my next event at Mid Ohio. This was a NASA race were my Viper fits nicely in their ST1 class (purely a HP/weight calculation). I ran only one race that weekend as the car and I attended the Ohio VCA party in Columbus, causing me to leave the track before the Saturday races were held. Sunday I started from the back of the pack and by lap two I had the lead. A FCY caused the second place car to get back ahead of me at the start, so I chased him down for the remainder of the race. I caught the green C5 Corvette going into Turn 7 on the next to last lap to take the win.
May had me going to Summit Point, WV for a Northeast Division SCCA National. I tested on Friday morning and made four laps, the last 3 4 1/2 seconds under the track record. Then the motor went "boom." This was an old warhorse that served me well since the beginning of 2010, so I planned to replace it soon. But jsut not right then. I didn't have a spare with us, so I convinced the Chief Stewart to allow me to enter my Spec Miata (yes, I drive one of those too!) as a STO car. He agreed, as long as I stayed within 120% of the leader's lap times. THat would be a 1:36, and I was running 1:29s in the SM, so I was good to go. This got me a start and a finish, which might be important later in the year.
The new motor was not ready yet for the next two races being held at Mid Ohio in June, so we obtained a "junk yard" motor from X2 Builders (good guy, BTW) and threw it in. No tune, no cylinder heads, only headers? I was giving up 70-80 HP compared to what I was used to earlier in the year. Nevertheless I took the pole and first place on both days, as well as a new track record on Sunday. That was good because Sunday's race was a BF Goodrich Super Tour event and the win got me some well-liked attention. Mid Ohio has always been good to me. Even when I crashed last June, there was no frame damage...
The crew quickly installed the good cylinder heads and camshaft for the June Sprints held at Road America the next weekend. Being down 80 HP is OK for Mid Ohio, but not at a horsepower track like Road America. The first qualifying session had me running the fastest lap in STO by 1/2 second. I ran a 2.19.1 and second fastest was a 2:19.6. Great...for now. Qualifying session #1 things picked up, but my motor went south. It felt a bit lazy at the top end compared to the earlier session, and data showed the top speeds to be off by 4-5 MPH. I still went faster with a 2:18.1, but the pole was now a 2:16.5! Ouch. Things got worse when lap four was also done the motor really wetn flat. I thought I was completely blown, but it turned out it was "only" a broken rocker arm (I thought those were bullet proof?). The fix would be easy, IF we could find the parts. Our replacements were at the engine shop in Michigan, and this being a Saturday made it hard to find a vendor that was open for business. So a DNS for me was the end result. A big disappointment, but the repairs would turn out to be easy.
Two weeks later gets us to the July 2-3 race at my close-to-home track, Nelson Ledges. I was grouped with GT1, GT2, GT3 and American Sedan classed cars. I qualified third behind a GT2 Sunbeam Tiger and a GT3 Toyota tube framed car (Nelson is a funny track, where momentum is a key, and tube framed cars with slicks can really go fast there). Even though I started on the inside of row #2, by turn one of the first lap I had the overall lead. Funny how all that torque works against small V8s and four cylinder cars! I took the overall win over two GT1 Corvettes, set a new track record by over a second (half of my laps were faster than the old record), and truly got my mojo back!
So the second half is ahead; I am missing the Watkins Glen double national because one of my best friends is getting married and he has asked me to read in the ceremony. The things we do for friendship... I head to Mid Ohio for a NASA ST1 race the weekend on July 16-17 to finalize my qualifications for their big National championship race at...Mid Ohio...on September 9-11.
I will be at Beaverun the end of July for a SCCA STO race, then off to Pocono two weeks later for a double national. August 27-28 will see us at Nelson Ledges to finish up the regular season and act as a tune up for the SCCA Run Offs being held September 19-25 at Road America. I plan on repeating as champion, by the way...
Road America in September won't be the end of it for 2011, however. I plan on traveling to Daytona in October to race in NARRA's USGT series.
Come on out and see us compete against some really cool cars in SCCA's STO and NASA ST1 classes. Vipers versus Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, Ferraris, and even Aston Martins and Maseratis make up the STO class. NASA ST1 is mainly Vipers and Corvettes. Great fun and really cool fields. Stop out and say "hi," or better yet ******** a helmet and come race with us.
