Taking place just three short weeks after Midwest Fest at Gingerman Raceway, our team returned to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at the end of June for another Gridlife Touring Cup sprint race weekend.
Mid-Ohio, while an enjoyable race track to drive, has a staff that seems oddly combative towards Gridlife. Or maybe it is just all attendees. However, each year, numerous reports are made of hostile treatment by the track staff. They don't let test day drivers into the paddock until 30 minutes before the first session. In that time, they need to unload, register, and attend a driver's meeting (come on now). They threaten to ban drivers from the track for arbitrary infractions. This year, even though camping was supposed to be included for Gridlife drivers and crew, they were shaking people down for $20 at the gate (which was met with an "oops! lol" type of response from Gridlife staff).
Unpredictable weather plagued the first two days at the track. It was torrentially pouring when we arrived, and Mid-Ohio cancelled the test day less than half an hour into the scheduled time, even though the weather cleared up shortly after. The promised refunds for the cancellation have not been delivered at the time of writing.
Despite the hostility from the track, Gridlife carries on with a driver-focused event, with no spectators, vendors, limited "crew" access, and a generally quiet and low-key weekend that is atypical of Gridlife events. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's just different.
Curiously, though, Gridlife had pitched the entire 9-event season as "festival" events, complete with live streams. I suppose this did not pan out for Mid-Ohio, which hosted IndyCar the week following our event.
Mechanical Sympathy
We left off at Gingerman with my #84 GLTC car, which had a new driveline vibration that persisted even after a failed crank damper pulley was replaced. Stumped by the issue, I had three weeks at home to ponder, plan, and order parts in an attempt to repair the problem at the track, as our hauler stayed in the midwest between events to minimize transportation miles.
I'm typically a mechanical sympathizer who tries to preserve my car, even when it is illogical or detrimental to my lap times. My teammate Carlos, on the other hand, is more apt to view his car strictly as a tool or a means to an end (the end being racing).
With several E90-owning friends having experienced issues with their flywheels or pressure plates, and one of them causing irreparable damage to the flywheel mounting surface on the crank, I was hesitant to race the car, fearing the situation would rapidly deteriorate. Another theory was that the crank hub could have "spun" the timing, since the hub is friction-fit and isn't mechanically pinned to the crank (a notorious issue on N52, N54, N55, and S55 engines).
Given the symptoms of the vibration (occurring at any RPM, even in neutral with the car parked), being flywheel or clutch-related seemed more plausible than spinning the crankshaft timing, which wouldn't necessarily cause a vibration unless related to a misfire.
Armed with this assumption, I had ordered a new flywheel and clutch kit, which was delivered to our hauler that was being stored in Indiana.
After unloading the cars on Thursday night, we spent a couple of hours replacing components like plugs and coils to see if we could repair the car using less invasive measures. Since nothing we tried had any effect, we decided that we'd replace the flywheel and clutch in the morning.
Since we were prepared with the right parts, tools, and the lift in the stacker trailer, the process was pretty quick and painless. We didn't find a smoking gun during disassembly, but nevertheless, the new flywheel and clutch resolved the vibration issue.
I missed practice, but it was pouring rain again anyway.
Qualifying was uneventful, as I relearned the track and worked on picking up the pace throughout the session. I qualified P27 out of about 45 cars.
Off to the Races
It rained steadily for over an hour before Race 1 on Saturday morning, but the track stayed dry enough to run our dry tires. It only took two or three laps for the track to develop a dry line, and our race pace quickly matched that of our qualifying pace.
A few cars had mechanical issues and had to park in inopportune areas, prompting a full-course caution. Confusion over a white flag (last lap or slow vehicle?), paired with poor sight lines from the last corner to the start/finish line, meant that most of the cars around me had no idea we were going green again.
Since I have a radio and an excellent spotter (thanks, Christy!), I quickly jumped ahead of three cars and drag raced a fourth into turn 1. It was the first time that I had a significant advantage on a restart, and it was a great feeling.
Rear camera view of the Race 1 restart.
Races 2 and 3 started in typical fashion for me, with me losing some spots due to playing things safely. However, my confidence in the car and my improving race craft led to great battles in each race. I was able to move back up the field, at least to where I had started, if not a few positions ahead.
Race 4 was brutally hot. The totality of the weekend's exertion, along with what seemed like a clunk coming from the right rear of my car, was distracting enough that I wasn't fully mentally engaged for Race 4. Recognizing that I didn't feel on top of my game, I made sure to drive well within my limit, but I didn't feel particularly sharp in this one.
Weekend Result
Qualified: P27 (1:39.6)
Race 1: P20 (started P27)
Race 2: P21 (started P20)
Race 3: P20 (started P22)
Race 4: P23 (started P20)
Summary & Future Outlook
I left the weekend feeling very proud of my race craft and driving, even though I couldn't break into the points standings for the second consecutive weekend. The negative side was that I felt more sure than ever that my car is missing a significant competitive edge in the Touring Cup class.
We've always known that the max-effort, natural powerbands of our N52 engines are disadvantaged compared to 300-400 horsepower cars that have been detuned significantly. Many of our competitors are also running custom gearsets, ensuring they are always at the optimal point of their powerband.
While reviewing video and data from some of our competitors, it became apparent that we have a fundamental handling discrepancy, with minimum corner speeds that are significantly disadvantaged. Additionally, we struggle with getting the cars to rotate, even at our reduced corner speeds.
Armed with this knowledge, we will surely be making significant setup changes to the cars heading into Road America, the fifth round of our seven-event schedule.
Carlos and I both fell back slightly in the overall championship, yet we remain in P8 and P20, respectively.
As always, thank you to the entire Condor Speed Shop race team, ROWE Motor Oils, HRE Wheels, Motorsport Hardware, TortSport USA, and CRC Brakleen for your support of our GLTC race program.
Bonus: Video Commentary
This was something new from me, an idea I borrowed from Carlos. I narrated Race 2 and Race 3. Let me know if you'd like to see more video content, with or without commentary!
Race 2 with Commentary:
The two races and the commentary are not terribly different, although the start of Race 3 (below) is quite hectic, with a multi-car accident occurring within the first minute of the video.
Race 3 with Commentary:
I'm going to try to commentate on one race video per weekend going forward. I hope you enjoy!
