My hero to zero moment

To quote Jester: "That was some of the best flying I've seen out there, right up to the part where you got killed"

(Sorry for the obscure TopGun reference).

i was wondering why they where mixing sevral classes when it appears that punt maita always has lots of cars to run anything else with them though. i guess they didnt have the 50+ cars that seem to in events. was very nice to watch and you where doing great though. seemed to be a great car though. sorry to hear about the tires jumping out and wanting to a maita though....it could have been worse though. at least you walked away with minor damage to what could have happened at least. good luck getting it fixed and back out there to kick butt....

You're a great driver.

That guy caught you a bit off guard.

You race as good in real life as you do in Forza.

And I wondered why the one time I raced you in Forza you streaked off into the sunset at a good 10-20 seconds a lap... Now I know. You, sir, have mad tite skillz yo!

dyintorace wrote: Man that looks like fun. I've always wanted to drive at Sebring.

I drive it every weekend..

http://www.iracing.com/cars-and-tracks/tracks/sebring-international-raceway/

You mean you didn't sit at the end of the pit and scream "I WAS SECOND!" for a minute or two?

(Sorry, obscure reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyr6VDaaWJE)

That was some sweet driving! You were walking away from the back pack there...but that's probably why you qualified 2nd haha.

That thought went through my mind Twin_Cam.

I qualified first for the hour and a half enduro the day before by over half a second. Tried an air pressure change to dial out a little oversteer on exit (I still have the viscous limited slip in the car, which is basically an open diff once it gets hot), and it didn't work at all. Lost eight tenths because of it. Dialed in some pre-load into the rear springs on Sunday morning, and the car was PERFECT.

As for the incident, a lot of things came together at the wrong time for me. I had already decided to follow that guy through 3, 4, and 5. He got on the brakes early and suprised me, and out of instinct, I jumped out to the left. Turning left in a right hand kink plays havoc on weight transfer when you're getting ready to brake. Plus or minus two seconds on the lap before, and I probably win that race...

I've been lucky enough that I've been going to Sebring since '88, and racing there since '91. And whether they realize it or not, I learned a lot from listening and watching guys like Joe Varde (who I worked for on his Firestone Firehawk team in '88), Stu Hayner and Andy Pilgrim (who co-drove a couple of times for that same team), Jack Baldwin, Tommy Kendall, and the one that had the most influence, Randy Pobst. When I first started racing, it was in ITC, and Randy's wife at the time, Linda, was running a Rabbit in ITC as well. We usually paddocked right next to them, and anything Randy said, you better believe I made note of it.

From the looks of the skid marks, doesn't look like you were the first to run off there. But in your case, I was surprised too when the guy broke so early in front of you. I'm assuming those cones were set up for reference points, and in a race, I'd expect braking to occur at least past the second cone.

Very enjoyable video though and props to your racing skills. I admire someone that can maintain speed in a low horsepower car rather than someone that relies on power to make up for poor driving abilities.

Very nice and the the best part was that you were clean. All I ask when racing (win, lose or draw) is a hard clean race. Did the guy brake check you? Yeah probably, and it's that stupid crap like that bugs me. I have no problem with a racer making his car as wide as possible (if your in the same class) that's part of racing but there is no call for rubbing, brake checking, dive bombs or underhanded crap in amature racing.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box. You did a great job of driving. You definetly would have won the hard charger award.

Cool run on the pack and true that you're as good in a real car as the virtual stuff - too bad you couldn't just bounce off the tires and get back in it like the games.

Im one of those guys who would love to do what you are doing but due to lack of finances, abilities, (I probably have lots more excuses, just can't think of them right now) etc, probably never will. I live vicariously through you. You are a hell of a racer dude!

Where do you live? Somewhere in S. FL? I'd love to come out and crew for you sometime.

plance1 wrote: Im one of those guys who would love to do what you are doing but due to lack of finances, abilities, (I probably have lots more excuses, just can't think of them right now) etc, probably never will. I live vicariously through you. You are a hell of a racer dude!

I ate a lot of ham and cheese sandwiches at home to make sure I could race. I still pull the car on a 30 year old open trailer behind my '96 Chevy pick-up with 228k miles. Just gotta decide how bad you want it!

In reply to dyintorace:

I'm about 4 hours south of you in Ft. Myers. Not a whole lot goes on once we get to the races. Spec Miata's are usually pretty reliable, so that all you have to do is make sure you have enough fuel for the next session/race, and that the tire pressures are right. Almost all the work goes on at home.