I waited for this weekend for quite some time. Pacific Raceways is where it all started for me. This is the home track. I wanted to race here last year, but… I got Covid and missed out on all the fun. But – 2023 is the year.
Read on to see how it went!
Table of contents
- Racing Weekend overview
- The Team and people who make it possible!
- Photos
- Gallery from different Photographers
- Race Results
- Social links and resources
The MotorsportsReg page for this event:
https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/race-two-2023-pacific-raceways-irdc-events-769148
And all the results can be found here:
https://racehero.io/events/2023-irdc-summer-classic/results/
Race Weekend Overview
I signed up for all 3 days, from Test and Tune on Friday, to two races on both Saturday and Sunday each. I needed to have my 2nd race participation approved by racing direction (thank you, Bill! 🙂), and it allowed me to race in 2 groups, including alongside a teammate, which definitely makes for exciting time on the track considering our cars are built nearly exactly same.
Friday
On Friday, my wife was doing her competition school with IRDC 🥰 Despite both of us being at the track, we barely got to see each other, as we were both busy with our activities. She graduated and got signed off for the ICSCC License! 🥳
My Friday was spent on warming up, shaking off the cobwebs, and fine tuning the car’s setup. We played a lot with suspension stiffness, and I ended up with “7 clicks off stiffest setting” in the front, and 15 in the back. Jotting that down here mostly for my future reference 😎
We did a lot of data analysis (thank you, Brady! 🙏) and thanks to the collective knowledge, we discussed and identified some potential points for improvement. I made it a goal to “flatten the speed curve” through turn 2, and carry over more speed through turn 7. After couple sessions, both those things materialized – amazing what an in-depth data analysis can do!
For anyone curious, we’re using AIM Solo 2 DL, purchased from Armadillo Racing (and you can check out also reviews on Amazon).
Saturday
I started the day with Track Tour, as I always find it beneficial to hear what others pay attention to, and we all have our own style, so seeing what more experience folks recommend is always great for our growth. Thank you to Wes Hill taking us around the track and sharing his vast knowledge. I took A LOT of notes and I’ll make sure to review them in future.
I also had couple Novice meetings with licensing director, to make sure any of our questions get answered, and everything goes smoothly. There seems to have been a bit of confusion around registration for some folks, and the final meeting of the day was focused on an incident where someone run past checkered, and then ignored red flags – bit of a heated exchange, highlighting the importance of flags (“they’re not up for personal interpretation”), but certainly a great reminder of the importance to always watch flagging stations and follow all flags, for everyone in attendance.
Feel free to check out the qualifying and race results in the Race Results section below.
Close to the end of the 2nd race however, I had a mechanical failure – we suspect that a rock got picked up (there’s been certainly lots of debris in the 3B and 5B/6 sections), which then got lodged under the belt and caused it to fall off. I lost power steering coming off of turn 8, and quickly suspecting that I may no longer have functioning water pump either, I pulled into hot pits past turn 9. From there, I got towed back to the paddocks. Luckily, we were able to make some quick repairs, and thanks to Manfred and Josh the car was all ready for the next day.
Saturday ended with a dinner social, which is a great opportunity to meet new folks, discuss about races from the day, enjoy some food. I chatted with John to thank him for the towing, and for all the volunteering activities 🙏 Nice to finally meet you, John, as I’ve been always seeing you out there in flagging stations and whatnot! 🙂
Don’t let your ambition get ahead of your adhesion
Sunday
As weekend progresses, things start to feel a bit… simpler. There were no additional meetings on Sunday, and just focused time for qualifying and racing. Just as the day before, I had 2 races lined up.
Luckily no mechanical issues, and the races went without bigger incidents (there was an oil spill on the straightaway towards turn 1, but that got promptly cleaned).
All the results are available in Race Results section below.
A highlight of the, already amazing, racing weekend was the fact that I… won my first race! 😁
Final race of Group 2 on Sunday – I qualified 1st, started 3rd (I believe the order is modified to consider the “seniority”, thus I was moved a bit down the roster), and finished 1st, collecting Hard charger (most positions gained) and Fast rabbit (fastest lap overall) awards in the process 🏆 Detailed results.
At the end of the day we packed up, cars were put back in the storage, and we headed home for well deserved rest.
A weekend to remember! 🙏
The Team
Our Team – drivers, groups and cars:
Manfred – group 1, car #18
Bogdan – group 2 and 5, car #51
Brady – group 2, car #53 (Saturday)
Wes – group 2 and 5, car #53 (Sunday)
Ryan – group 1 and 4, car #52
Huge thank you to Manfred, Brady, Ryan, Wes, Josh, Jack, Leon – for making it such an amazing experience 🙏
The support in paddocks, exchange of tips, great feedback, and fun discussions, is what elevates it all.
And of course a very special thank you to my wife Sheetal for her unwavering support and encouragement, and thank you for joining the Team for the whole weekend! 💖
I’d also like to extend thank you ICSCC, IRDC and all our wonderful volunteers, who make it all possible.
What a great community.
Photos
Quick selection of some of the photos I took.
Gallery from Photographers
I can’t even hide excitement, it’s always so much fun to find my photos after the event!. We’re lucky to have so many talented photographers in the community 😎
- Kirk Myhre – https://www.myhrecreative.com/p411762839
Results
Saturday:
- Group 5 Qualifying – I qualified 13 out of 22 overall, and 1 out of 2 in NCW
- Group 2 Qualifying – I qualified 2 out of 10 overall, and 2 out of 7 in NCW
- Group 5 Race – I finished 10 out of 15 overall (with Hard Charger award), and 1 out of 1 NCW
- Group 2 Race – I finished 7 out of 8 after mechanical failure took me out of race 3 laps before end (broken belt), having maintained 4th position throughout until then
Sunday:
- Group 5 Qualifying – I qualified 12 out of 22 overall, and 1 out of 2 in NCW
- Group 2 Qualifying – I qualified 1st overall
- Group 5 Race – I asked to start from the back of the grid, to practice approaching cars, overtaking, watch the lines, learn how different drivers behave, and then I finished 13 out of 19 overall
- Group 2 Race – my first win! 🏆 Despite qualifying 1st, I was placed to start from 3rd position, I suspect because others had more experience, and it made for even more exciting race 😎
Social links and resources
Here are my posts on Instagram:
And check out the folks that make it all happen:
- ProFormance Racing School – best place to learn everything you’d want to know about racing!
- Cooper’s Garage – trackside storage services, very convenient location, super helpful folks,
- Armadillo Racing – for all your racing gear needs, Andy has been supporting local communities for years, he’s always there for us and he has the good stuff (and even if he doesn’t today, he’ll get it for you quickly!),
- IRDC Club – great club with knowledgeable and active members,
- ICSCC – also known as “the conference”, sanctioning body for our races,
Have you seen my post from last year’s races at The Ridge Motorsports Park? 😎
Looking forward to future races!