The racing season has begun! Earlier in April, our team descended upon Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina, for the inaugural Gridlife event of the 2025 season.
It was a rollercoaster of an event. Let's dig into it!
Kicked Off With A Literal Bang
Preseason testing ended with a power steering hose that let go and a brake pad deposit issue, causing a bad braking shudder. Having hoped to resolve those issues before the Gridlife event but not willing to take any chances, I signed up for the Thursday test day.
Long story short: I forgot to secure my hood pins for the first session, and my hood flew open about 10 seconds after leaving the pits. I was shocked, of course, but the damage seemed reasonable. I actually attempted to go back out in the same session, but the hood did not align with the pins. Foiled.
I was fortunate that the windshield survived, and the damage was cosmetic. The composite hood had some cracks, one of the hinges was broken, and the car's roof was dented. Nevertheless, it didn't end my race weekend before it started!
When I got back on track for testing, the brakes felt OK. They were not great, but they were OK. The power steering pump was loud. It must have been damaged when the pump ran dry after the hose let go in testing. As the Gridlife crowd arrived, I swapped out the power steering pump and did my best to repair some damage from the hood flying up.
Racing Day 1 - Practice & Qualifying
The weather forecast wasn't looking great for the first day of the competition, which included two practice sessions plus qualifying at the end of the day.
The practice sessions were uneventful, but it finally started raining in the afternoon. The conditions were varied, with some heavy rain. It kept wanting to stop, but it would begin again, even as the sun broke through.
The track and paddock were soaked, and the cars on the track had large rooster tails. A decision had to be made: Would we qualify on rain tires, or would the track dry up enough for dry tires to be faster?
Having made the wrong tire call at Gingerman last year, I had decided to play it safe and run rain tires. However, the track was drying rapidly, and my team convinced me to go out on dry tires.
Dry tires were the right call. The track was slippery early in the 30-minute qualifying session, but a dry line formed. I had added enough fuel to stay out for the entire session, and I did just that. Every lap was faster than the last until I saw the white flag and knew this was my last chance.
My final lap was faster by more than a full second, although this result only moved me up two or three positions from where I had been.
Qualifying result: P15
(My best qualifying result to date!)
More Broken Parts
After qualifying, while inspecting a clunk in the rear end, we found a failing rear wheel bearing unrelated to the clunk (which turned out to be the brake pads and calipers shifting when backing up). Luckily, we had the parts needed to repair the wheel bearing. This is no small task, especially track-side, so completing it took a few hours and many helping hands.
In the process, we damaged the wheel speed sensor but did not notice.
Racing Day 2 - Races 1 & 2
The rest of the weekend would be chilly, but no more rain was forecast.
Rolling to the grid on Saturday morning for Race 1, I received an ABS Fault on my dashboard. I thought, "Huh, it could be related to the wheel bearing. Hopefully, it will clear." It didn't clear, so I had to drive the car without ABS for the first time.
I didn't know what to expect without ABS. I've heard horror stories of cars that bias through the ABS pump, and I certainly didn't want to spin or lose control at the start of a race in the middle of 40 cars.
Thankfully, the brakes felt decent, and I got comfortable with them after a few laps. I only once had a "moment" of rear lock-up that made the car want to step out, but I was well-trained to handle this, having owned an E30 that was unstable under braking.
My apprehension at the start of the race led to the loss of several positions. I made a few back but still finished behind where I had started.
Race 1 Result: P17
(Started P15)
After Race 1, we quickly identified that the wheel speed sensor was damaged while changing the wheel bearing. Again, I was lucky that we had the part on the trailer (thank you, Carlos!).
Despite replacing the rotors and re-bedding the pads, the braking shudder returned. I decided to scrap these new pads and return to my old compound.
The start of Race 2 was similar to Race 1. Even though ABS was working again, the old pad compound took some getting used to. The initial bite was considerably less, so I had to relearn my braking zones and build confidence.
I must pat myself on the back for some well-executed passes in Race 2. However, my result must have included some attrition from the field ahead. I moved up five spots but didn't make that many passes.
Race 2 Result: P12
(Started P17. My best GLTC result thus far!)
Racing Day 3 - Races 3 & 4
Ahh, we made it to the final day of competition, and thankfully, the car was reliable: a welcome change! In Race 3, GLTC re-sorts the grid based on your best lap time from Race 2, so while I finished 12th, my best lap time was 13th, so I started P13.
Not counting "B-main" races, starting Race 3 in row 7 (P13) was my highest starting position thus far.
Again, I had a good race and made some critical passes. Although I finished P10 on track, two disqualifications ahead gave me an official result of P8! This was my first top-10 GLTC finish.
Race 3 Result: P8
(Started P13.)
Heading into race 4, I was up three rows with my highest non-B-main starting position of P8 in row 4! Carlos was just ahead of me in P6.
The disqualifications and a few additional mechanical issues meant some very fast racers were behind me. My Race 4 start was the best of the weekend, and I only lost one position that I gained back when a car ahead had a mechanical issue. I was running in P8 (where I started) when a full-course caution came out.
The caution didn't do me any favors, as it bunched the field back up, and I could see several top racers were bearing down on me.
After some fun, if not lopsided, battles with teammate Carlos Mendez and fellow BMW homie Nick Barbato, I fell back a few more positions in the final green flag laps.
Race 4 Result: P11
(Started P8.)
Overall Weekend Result
In this one weekend, I scored almost triple the points I scored in the 2024 season. I finished P12 overall for the weekend (out of 37 entries). Carlos stayed in the top 10 for all four races. He finished P6 overall for the weekend, a mere 3 points outside the 3rd podium position.
It was an excellent result for the Condor Speed Shop x RISING EDGE team. We're gearing up and preparing the cars for Road Atlanta next week. Stay tuned!
Special Thanks
Thank you to my sponsors, Condor Speed Shop, HRE Wheels, ROWE USA, and Motorsport Hardware. Thank you to my wonderful wife for supporting me and bringing the fam to the track on Friday! Thank you to Nick, Matt, Curtis, Carlos, Tom, Cameron, and everyone who lent a hand on the car throughout the weekend. Thank you, Derek, for taking great candid photos of the team in the paddock.
