GRM at Sebring ChumpCar

Anyone else here at Sebring this weekend? If so, stop by and see the GRM team. We're in the yellow Miata. We'll have an official web update next week, but you can get some sneak peeks via Facebook and Twitter.

Team Spec Piñata/Yellow Journalism is on track, and still going! Watch our data feed Here.

It is suggested that your fingers remain crossed whilst watching. Thank you.

Margie

Hmm, not connected...

Alternator not charging? Sub 11V scare me....

are you also racing on Sunday? Gertrude and I might be able to drive down to say hello.....

In reply to JoeyM:

Hopefully not as it is a 1 day 14 HR race today.

Ranger50 wrote: Alternator not charging? Sub 11V scare me....

You are correct, sir. Just spoke to Tim, who was on his way to grab a new alternator. Also, that 9-minute-plus Lap 7 was when Tim T-boned a guy who passed him and then spun. He and the car are more or less fine, but of course that was right when I was watching... so I think I won't look at the RaceCapture anymore. Too many what ifs when that little dot stops!!

Margie

working on challenge jensen sounds like fun !

JoeyM wrote: are you also racing on Sunday? Gertrude and I might be able to drive down to say hello.....

Yeah, no way for us to make it down today. Too busy grading student papers

We've got voltage!

Just watched them pull out of paddock, onto pit road and then onto the track for a lap. Very cool!

Is the G meter on the link inverted left to right?

its back live LIVE LIVE LIVE

what time does today's race end?

[edit: SRV soundtrack, RaceCapture window open in browser....laptop beside you. If you must be cooped up doing paperwork on a weekend, this is not a bad way to do it.]

If it was like last year it should end at 11 PM tonight. Looks like they are under a RED flag right now so track action is stopped. Hope it is nothing serious.

Back to Green with 5-1/2 hours to go.

grrrrr.....could still make it down there.....and still should not

(I still have two more tests to grade...and another one to write )

It's over, and they finished! 53rd, but... finished :-)

Margie

Man! So close to a top 50...

Yep, that was good fun. The whole team operated as a single unit. We met some nice people and enjoyed some great racing.

Also, amazing what a bone-stock, 21-year-old Miata can do. Gotta give props to our tires, too: We did the entire race on one set of BFGoodrich Rivals. That's good, too, because we didn't have any spares.

Today, we rest. (Well, and play some guitar.)

I don't think we could ask for a better race day, and especially finishing in the car's first race. Aside from a few problems early in, our Miata ran like clockwork. I'm glad the race capture streaming worked well for everyone.

We learned a lot for next time, too. Especially me as it was my first wheel-to-wheel encounter.

Oh, and driving Sebring at night in the rain is dangerously fun

<== jealous of you guys. a crap can race is on my bucket list

Marjorie Suddard wrote: It's over, and they finished! 53rd, but... finished :-) Margie

out of how many ?

wbjones wrote:

Marjorie Suddard wrote: It's over, and they finished! 53rd, but... finished :-) Margie

out of how many ?

97 cars started the race.

Yeah, we had a bad alternator, and our clogged fuel injector problem returned to give us a misfire. The last bits of crud came dislodged from the fuel line, finally. Took them out, shook 'em out, reinstalled, and were good to go.

Not long after that the car threw the water pump belt, but we had a spare on hand and changed that quickly in the pit. About halfway through the race we decided the car was too loose. Disconnected the rear sway bar and we were all much happier.

Joey, a crapcan race doesn't have to be a "bucket list" item. You can get an arrive-and-drive seat with a number of different teams and rent your race gear from racesuitrental.com. Though it is super rewarding to spend a year building a car and putting together a team, it's not easy or cheap. Arrive and drive is the easy way to try it out. Next time there's a Chump race near you, start poking around the Chump forum for available seats.