Road Atlanta PCA 2006 - CrisBrady.Net

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For most of the Delaware region club racers, this was the start of the racing season. And what a beautiful start it was. After a brisk but uneventful 700 mile drive and tow, Mark Weining, Gregg Wilson and I arrived at the world class facility north of Atlanta Georgia. Road Atlanta is a 12 turn, 2.5 mile road course taking full advantage of the natural hilly terrain. Host to many professional races, Road Atlanta is considered a "must do" track for American racers and many international ones also.

Like the Delaware members enjoying the VIR DE event several hundred miles northward, we enjoyed spectacular spring weather with sun and 70+ degrees. I hadn't been to RA since 2003 and this was Mark's first visit. We both took advantage of the test & tune day before the start of the club race weekend to get familiar with the track.

It didn't take long to remember turns 11 & 12, the "downhill". After the mile+ long back straight - which by the way, in a normally aspirated 944 allows for plenty of time to read the owners manual or catch a few chapters in a books-on-tape - you brake and swope through the 10a-b chicane at the bottom of the hill. The car then climbs steeply to crest briefly under the bridge where it falls 10 stories in a sweeping right hand arc. The track out point is just past the starters stand with only a 10 foot expanse of grass separating you from a very tall and impressive concrete wall. The key to a fast lap at Road Atlanta is to keep your foot planted on the accelerator all the way from turn 10 to turn 1 at the end of the front straight. Since the turn-in point at the top of the hill is totally blind - all you can see is clear blue sky - and the consequences of a mistake very easy to visualize, it takes a lot of, well you know what of, to keep that foot down. This turn has always rated high on my pucker-factor scale.

Friday kicked off the official club race weekend, with it's no-contact 13/13 rules now in effect. We had 3 practice sessions, cumulating with the fun races that allow the rookies to practice their race starts. I did well, moving up and eventually taking the win for my class. Mark choose to putter around in the rear to get some more seat time, while Gregg forgo the pleasure of going door to door with jittery rookies.

We had rain overnight and the track was still wet for the morning warm-up session. Numerous cars found out that the red Georgia clay doesn't have quite the same grip as the asphalt resulting in some early trips home for some drivers. We watched the weather anxiously as there were predictions that we would be seeing more rain that day. But the wind came up, the sun came out and the track dried out for qualifying.

During qualifying, I found out that while ABS on my car is pretty cool in the wet, there is a downside in the dry. Qualifying is the one time during the weekend when you really hang it all out for a few laps, pushing the car and yourself to the absolute limit. There's just no way to dance on that razor blade for a full race distance and not stuff the car and yourself. Every inch of the racetrack counts. I was pushing that edge, running the car through the famous RA esses. I've been hard on the throttle since turn 1 with only a short sharp break to jump the curb at turn 3, winding up through the gears. The esses dip and climb ending with a hard braking zone and a fast left hand turn. I was using every bit of that track when I nailed the brakes to scrub off the speed for the left hander

On this lap, my car was maybe 6 inches further right than normal, right up against the curb. I had braked hard enough to engage the ABS system when the right front tires ran over a badly rippled section of pavement. Instantly the ABS computer freaked out with conflicting inputs to its brain. It responded by cutting the braking power to all wheels by 50%, the software designers figuring that would allow the driver to regain control. Unfortunately, the current driver, me, was counting on using every bit of those brakes to make the corner. One minute I'm in control, with the car dancing on the edge, and then the next I spinning off into the gravel trap. Luckily for me, the earlier rains had compacted the gravel and I was able to extricate the car without the help of a tow truck. No damage was found other than to my pride. And I still managed to qualify 2nd.

The rain and clouds stayed away for the rest of the weekend and we had some fantastic racing. F Class had the largest ever run group with over 33 F class cars taking the green flag. Mark, a Road Atlanta newbie, finished a very respectable 15th in the sprint against some very accomplished racers. While Gregg brought home a top 10 finish, catching the checker in 7th position. I had been running well all weekend and finished 1st in I class, ahead of all the (in theory, faster) H cars.

In the Enduro, my weekend ended early when a radiator hose split about 10 minutes into the 90 minute race, dumping water and coolant on my tires and causing a spin. Luckily Mark, who was following very closely behind, managed to avoid collecting me. I parked the car behind the wall and I was done. Once again the big dog group was F with 26 cars starting the race. Mark finished a solid 11th in class, 14th overall and he had to work for it. He moved up 7 spots in class and 17 spots overall from his starting position. Mark passed more cars this race than most all his other previous races combined. As Mark would put it: "the rewards of poor qualifying".

Gregg started 4th in class and had a hard battle with at least 3 other F cars throughout the race. I had a birds-eye seat from behind the wall at turn 7. Lap after lap these guys were nose to tail with only the order changing each lap. Very exciting racing for all of us.

The results were delayed so the Delaware crew packed up as we had a long tow back home. As we were heading out, we stopped at the Timing tower, for "just one last look", to check if the results were in. They were, and to all of our surprise and delight, Gregg had finished in 2nd place. With smiles on our faces, we pointed the cars and trailers north and headed into the dusk. Yeah, another perfect club race weekend.

P.S. I also won the Towing Enduro, arriving back in Pennsylvania at 3:30 am Monday morning, towing straight through. Everyone else bailed at the NC/VA border at 10pm. Ya know, when the going gets tough, the tough keep towing ...