#watkinsglen #drivenasa #racing
My first race at Watkins Glen was wild. As always, thank you to NASA Northeast for hosting such a great event. The BIGGEST thank you goes out to Hugh Stewart at Hi-Speed Motorsports for all his hard work, guidance, motivation, prep, and setting up a rocket ship of a car. Considering I saw a 2:09.7 optimal in qualifying, there's a 2:07 or faster in this car with the proper Hoosiers on and more seat time.
The Super Touring series has been recharged, with almost a dozen ST4 cars signed up for this weekend. Some couldn't make the race which was a shame, but I hope to continue seeing huge fields for ST as the year progresses. I started at the back due to some cooling issues in qualifying, but man, it's a blast to run with racers I've been cheering on for years. The BMW 135i I battle with is an ST4 car - 300+whp, 3200 lbs, and on skinny 255 Toyo RRs (the factor does work). It was a cat-and-mouse type battle. I loved every minute of it.
Thank you to Brian, John, Jackie, Jose, Frank, Adam, George, Chris, and Marty for believing in the class as a way for more people to play.
My driving excuses:
1. First time driving here.
2. Ran the old (and narrow) 245 Toyo RRs since the Hoosiers had some "fitment challenges" under compression.
3. I didn't have working ABS.
4. I didn't have the torque of the other cars.
5. I was 65 pounds over my minimum weight. Okay, I'm done :)