Clubsport Race 2 – VIR – GTC6
Let me back up one step. One thing that I left out of the Sebring report is that Demon Speed came in 3rd in the combined races. At the time I did not know that we had. It was due to DNF/DQ(s). So, really great that we will be getting a trophy for that. I would have know this if I had gone to the specific Clubsport trophy awards at the end of the day Saturday, but we were so focused on packing up the rig to pull out at o-dark thirty that we missed it. Next time we’ll be sure to stick around for the whole thing.
I feel like I need to say this every time I say Clubsport series. The Clubsport Series sponsored by Pirelli, is not just for GT4 cars. It is for GTC6, GTC7, GTC8, GTD1, GTD2 and GTD3. There are 5 races in the PCA schedule that are all Clubsport races. We have now experienced 2 of the 5. Sebring and now VIR. Road Atlanta is next with Watkins and Road America to follow.
There are big trophies, a jacket and cap for those who attend more than 3 of the events. There will also be end of the year trophies sponsored by Demon Speed, providing we can coordinate with PCA prior to Road America.
You do not need to do anything special. If you sign up for one of these races and you are in one of the 6 classes, you are automatically in the Clubsport series.
Info can be seen here:
Soon, hopefully, Demon Speed will also house the season points for those 5 races so that everyone can see how they are doing towards those Demon Speed sponsored trophies.
Now, on to the race.
It has been since 2021 that I ran laps at VIR. We went down in July in 2021 to participate in the Grassroots Fastest Track Car Challenge in the Demon Speed 997 Cup, which was all widened and had a 4.0L making 480 to the ground at the time. Grassroots has a nice picture of the car and we almost made the cover. We finished in the top 10, which was pretty good considering the cars that showed up that year.
But, now it is 4 years later and I have spent no time prepping for the race, just show and go, which I am not the worst driver at doing.
Thursday we left Demon Speed early and the drive down was uneventful other than the construction on the leg of the route between 77 and Danville. It appears that they are putting in a new road/highway that will be less treacherous, so worth it. Made it to the track with no issue and parked with no issue. I had expected a much more full paddock, so it shows that the numbers are a bit down from the last time I PCA raced at VIR.
Demon Speed had cars in GTC6 and GTC7. There were quite a few more cars in GTC7 (13 registered) vs the 4 in GTC6.
Fridays sessions all went great. Adjusting pressures and which sets of tires for which race/session. Shout out to Frisby for being on hand and being prompt and professional as always.
Demon Speeds trailer was probably 20% filled with customer orders that we brought down for folks. Keep that in mind for the rest of the season.
By the end of the Friday sessions I was happy with my position of gridding 2nd in class. First in class was not going to be in sight this weekend. He was turning a lap time 2 to 3 seconds faster than I was and I was not willing to do what I needed to do to try and get there. By this, I mean that I have crashed several times at VIR and I know how punishing the track can be if you try to take it to the next level.
The only real work we needed to do on cars all weekend is that the truck had a bad caliper that lead to the inside brake pad going metal to metal on the mountains on the way down, so Friday afternoon we ran around, got the parts, and spent a couple of hours fighting with the truck so we could safely travel back home where we would perform the real repairs.
Saturday race 2.
We started, as mentioned, second in class. The third place car was just a couple of grid spaces back and even closer since they did a split start so GTC and GTD had separate grids. At the first corner on the inside, I was caught up in a slower line and Kim Estep, on the outside, was able to take advantage and not only pass me, but also a couple of cars from the faster classes. This meant that I was not able to take full advantage of the Demon Speed tire warmers and get some distance in the first couple of laps. The out of class cars were slower in the corners than I wanted to be since they were still warming their tires up. Eventually, I cleared them and had a line of sight to Kim. Then the double yellow came out to clear a car that was not in a safe place.
At the restart, we raced into turn one, but Kim went long in the braking zone (and I almost followed her), so I was able to get around her and pull some distance to finish the race in second behind TJ Larsen.
Saturday race 3
The race started just about the same way. Me in front and Kim getting me on the outside as I was again stuck behind other cars. This time, however, Kim pulled a big lead. She was running fast and I started hitting it harder and harder to hunt her down. She was, at one point, almost out of sight. It actually seemed pretty hopeless as I pulled more and more of the .01’s between 9/10 and 10/10’s.
Then, she appeared and I could see that the gap was narrowing. I assume that she also had lapped traffic causing issues, as I did in the attempt to get to where I needed to be.
Scott came over the radio and let me know 10 minutes left. It was time to move up and make a change. I was able to get a good run on the back straight as Kim was slowed by another higher class car at Oak Tree and I was able to capitalize on it. Now, however, I knew I had a determined competitor right behind me and it was going to be a trick to manage the gap between her and the GTC7 car directly in front of me. I was able to do this for a lap or two and I was just determining that I would need to challenge and pass the GTC7 car to keep my spot when the double yellow came out. I was thinking how I had to use the previous race as my teacher and not go long in turn one. We circulated for a few laps with no pace car at a pretty brisk pace when the pace car finally came out and gathered us up. Then, next time through, the checker came out.
What I had not realized while we were battling was that TJ had pulled off a lap or two prior to the yellow coming out, so I was not competing for second, but actually first.
Based on the points system for the combined two races, this meant that I ended up in first place for the weekend.
My paddock mate, Bob Wisen in GTC7 was able to take home 3rd place, which was very impressive considering the 13 cars in class.
We had a great time seeing everyone and look forward to another great weekend in just a couple of weeks at Road America.
