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This was a weekend of unknowns. There were so many,
it's tough to remember them all. And in the end, what
a truly wonderful, exceptional result.
It's no secret that our Crew Chief Ian McQuillan has
done remarkable work with our Z3 Coupe since we picked
it up after the third race of the season, in Phoenix.
But his efforts between Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio are
quite superhuman. He and the boys at Hockley Autosport
(formerly Boxer) disassembled much of the car, fitting
a freshly rebuilt engine, a new transmission and clutch,
and a new fuel cell. The latter was required as the
old fuel cell had been fatigued by the Sunoco fuel we
use in Grand Am Cup. We're not the only team to experience
this (to the contrary, many teams have had to replace
cells, in both Grand Am and ALMS), but it was a big
deal for us. The folks at Fuel Safe fixed our cell and
got it back in time, but only just. So we had no test
days between the Glen and Ohio; no time to test the
new powertrain.
Ian and I packed up the truck and trailer Thursday
morning and made the 8-hour trek to Mansfield, Ohio,
arriving just after dinner. Friday morning found us
in the paddock, setting up with our friends Matt Connolly
and the guys from ICY.
The first practice session was to be mine. There was
so much new with our car, I wanted to make sure it was
fully sorted before turning it over to Jody. During
my practice we discovered a few things: the new transmission
and clutch were great. The setup of the car was quite
good, although there was substantial understeer. And
unfortunately, the new engine didn't generate very much
power. In fact, we were more than five seconds off the
pace. Ian and I were disappointed, and when co-driver
Jody Trudeau went out and turned similar times, we knew
something was wrong.
The most likely culprit was the variable valve timing
(or double-VANOS) our Z3 has. Ian took the top off the
engine, and sure enough, the settings were waaaaay off.
Fortunately, Matt had the proper tools for setting the
VANOS on hand, and two hours later, things were looking
much better. The worst part of this is that Ian had
sent the engine to a local Toronto tuner for calibration,
and the result was a VANOS setting so far out of whack
Matt was amazed the engine started at all.
As an aside, this kind of comraderie is one of the
best things about Grand Am Cup. Matt's a competitor
in ST-class, and yet he spent the better part of his
evening helping us with our car so that we could race.
On the track, we will fight for position, but we also
do everything we can to make sure everyone else makes
the grid. This kind of thing happens all the time over
the course of the weekend, with other BMW teams dropping
by to see if we have the parts they require to make
repairs. A good example of this was Watkins Glen, where
our dipstick and filler managed a better finish than
we did, as it was in Steve Olson's #72 330i, which was
ahead of us to the bitter end.
Saturday morning saw us at the track early. Over the
weekend we had an astonishing 3 hours and 45 minutes
of track time before the race, and we made the most
of it. Again, I went out first and was 3.7 seconds a
lap faster! Yes, the VANOS made a difference! I figure
my learning of the track (which I had never driven before)
made about 1.5 secs, the remaining 2.0+ coming from
engine improvements. We were feeling better.
We felt even better when Jody, during the afternoon
session, set almost exactly the same time as I did in
the morning (me: 1.42.106, Jodz: 1.42.134). At Watkins
Glen we were evenly matched, and it seemed we would
be similar at Mid-Ohio, which boded well for our potential
result.
As is our practice, the co-driver usually qualifies
and runs the first stint, and Jody did an awesome job,
placing us 12th on the grid in ST (37th overall out
of 58 cars) with a 1.41.649 on new tires. The polesitter
(the BMW 330i of Will Turner and Don Salama) was blindingly
fast at 1:39.672, but we knew they couldn't keep up
that pace during the entire race. And so, we were really
chuffed going into the race on Sunday.
We were 7th fastest during the Sunday warm-up, which
is a spot we'd never seen in any of the previous races.
Again, Jody and I set very similar times, benefitting
from some suspesions adjustments Ian had made. No big
changes, just some stiffening of the rear end to help
the car through the corners, as both Jody and I had
complained of understeer through the slower corners.
The bigger springs made a world of difference.
We were ready for the race. Our pit set-up is becoming
more robust, with a full set of tires ready to be fitted
should there be trouble, as well as assorted parts,
plus the fuel rig. Rob Lavigne and my father, Phil,
set up our pit and made sure the rig was filled. As
with every race thus far, we shared the pit with Matt's
#39 330i. Matt's co-driver this weekend was racing legend
Jack Baldwin, who's won an astonishing assortment of
races and championships (including Trans-Am), and who
I'm quite sure is much younger than the "69"
years he says he is.
Our race started at 1:00pm on Sunday, which allowed
us to watch the Rolex race on Saturday night. Truthfully,
Ian and I worked on the car most of the race, but we
did catch the last 45 minutes, which provided some really
great racing action, especially in the SGS class, where
the top three were decided on the last lap. Say what
you will about Grand Am's formula for racing, but you've
got to admit the battles are close and compelling. Most
of all, the Rolex series had 30-odd competitors, while
Grand Am Cup on Sunday had 55 take the green.
Jody took the start, and gradually began to pick off
the cars in front. About 30 minutes into the race, he
was about to be lapped by the GS-class leader, but held
the #11 Cadillac off through the techical part of the
track (knowns as "Madness" and "Thunder
Alley"). Amazingly, just before #11 was going to
pass Jody on the front straight, a yellow flag came
out, which meant we stayed on the lead lap. It was a
great piece of driving (and good luck), and most likely
made our race.
Jody stayed out, and continued his progress through
ST class. While some of the other cars had pitted, we
moved up, with Jody settling into 4th position (if somewhat
out of "sequence"). Wow! We were in sight
of a podium. Considering our 13th-place at the Glen,
this was pretty exciting. And, as luck would have it,
at about the half-way mark there way another yellow.
We told Jody to stay out until he caught up with the
back of the pack, and then he should come in.
So Jodz caught the back, but we had a mis-communication
in the pit, and he stayed out one lap too long, and
when we did do our pit change on the next lap, it was
just "one to go" for the green. We're not
sure, but this certainly cost us one spot, if not two.
We are learning at each race, and pit strategy is an
important part of Grand Am Cup. You can be sure that'll
not happen again!
I was out in 5th spot, with the GS-class leaders about
to lap me, along with some of the fast ST cars that
were on a different sequence. And then, a third of the
way through my stint, a few things happened. The tires
went off big time, meaning I had to contend with really
nasty understeer through the keyhole (turn 2) and the
carousel (just before the front straight); and the dreaded
oil light started to turn red. After our experiences
at the last two races, you can imagine how disconcerted
I was by this, as we had 45 minutes remaining, and I
wanted to ensure a sixth-in-a-row finish for the team.
So I eased off a bit.
Half an hour from the checkered flag I was passed by
one of the Mazda RX-8s, and shortly thereafter by the
other BMW Z3 in the series, being driven by our friend
Rick Ellinger. Rick and I had some nice battles earlier
in the weekend, and it was nice to be able to give him
a run for his money, which is something we've never
been able to do before (the way they blew past us at
Daytona was nothing short of astonishing -- to be able
to be Rick's equal was pretty darned cool). The RX-8
was smoking terribly, dropping oil all over the track,
but the officials left it out for five or six laps,
during which I slip-slided all over, which allowed Rick
to pass. He was smart and drove off-line!
Finally the RX-8 was brought in, which was followed
shortly thereafter by the final course caution of the
event, while the retrieval crews pulled out an ST-class
Boxter and Acura Integra that had flown into the gravel
at opposite ends of the track.
The race restarted with two laps to go. Now in sixth
place, I had the 7th and 8th place cars close behind,
as well as the front runners somewhere after that. I
managed to keep the lead on the former, while the leading
RX-8 of Sylvain Tremblay and the second-pace BMW 330i
of Don Salama were gaining. This is the difference between
changing tires at your pit stop, and staying out on
the the originals; by the end of the three hours, the
tires are pretty much pooched.
As we headed into the carousel for the last time, I
saw Tremblay and Salama in the rearview. I wanted to
let them pass so they'd have a clear run for the finish,
and Sylvain pulled inside on the right. I thought Don
would follow and do the same, but he went left, and
I was in an RX-8/330i sandwich. Don thought better of
his move, pulled behind and gave me a good bump to try
and help Sylvain get unsettled. Now, I was on the brakes,
and figured that might be just a bit too "sporting"
for my tastes, so I made sure I didn't pass on the bump
to Tremblay (notice the piece of Turner BMW attached
to our tow hook, below). A little rub further from Salama
and we were across the finish line, thei RX-8 finishing
first, the BMW 330i in second, and our Z3 Coupe a solid
sixth. By far our best finish of the season!
The other Z3, with its Motec engine management system,
finished just ahead, and Matt finished a solid eighth
after starting from the back of the grid (at tech their
car was 15 lbs underweight). So, all of us finished
in the top ten! Whoo-hoo!
For the Compass360/Racing team, this is a fabulous
result. It's our best of the season, and far ahead of
the 10th-place we received at Homestead in March. Our
next race is in Florida again, and we will be looking
to improve, and hopefully move into the top five.
But in the meanwhile, we savour the sixth place, of
24 ST cars that started the race. Jody Trudeau did a
really great job, moving us from 12th to 4th, allowing
me enough car and tires to hold onto the 6th-place finish.
Best of all, we've now taken the checkered flag at six
of the six races this year, which is an important barometer
of our performance in terms of reliability. As I said
after Watkins Glen, I'd gladly drive again any time
with Jody, and hope to have him in the car again soon.
Speaking of which, we're now onto the last four races
of the season, none of which we have confirmed drivers
for. We're also looking for sponsorship for 2005 (and
our thanks go to new sponsors mmwave Technologies and
W3Connex for their support of the team in 2004). Let
me know if you'd like a copy of our sponsor brochure
by
email or call me on 416.465.2299 x21.
(From left: Rob Lavigne, Ian McQuillan, Karl Thomson,
Jody Trudeau, Phil Thomson.)
Pro racing is a sport like nothing else. Watch for
the race, televised on SPEED Channel Sunday August 15th,
at 12:00 noon.
–– Karl Thomson
Here are a few links that you may find interesting:
JODY
TRUDEAU'S RACE REPORT
PRESS
RELEASE ON THERACESITE.COM
PHOTO OF OUR CAR ON RACEFANATICS.COM
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