Good morning, from Homestead, Florida!
This is the first event of the season for us and our first time at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Morgan is driving a "new" Spec Racer Ford Gen 3 (SRF3) this year. This is the same type of car as he drove last year, but this one is a freshly rebuilt car for this season. The car is red on top, black on the sides and is #102 for this weekend. All of the 50 or so cars in his group are the same make and all are competing directly against each other. (Most other groups this weekend contain multiple classes that are racing at the same time but not directly with each other.)
THURSDAY NOTES:
Thursday is for practicing, learning the track, and shaking down of the new build. This test day brought warm weather, sunshine, and the typical teething pains inherent in a “new” car. Morgan had a few laps of the track, but some issues kept him more in the paddock than on the track. It was having some weird temperature issues. Lots of stuff was changed out in search of the faulty bit. As a result, Morgan went out in 3 of 4 sessions but only for a lap or two at a time before coming back in.
FRIDAY NOTES:
Practice: Friday brings practice in the morning and qualifying in the afternoon. This time, Morgan got to stay out for the entire 20 minute session because the car stayed cool!! Yay! Maybe my conversation with car before the session helped? Better still, he managed a 6th place time. I counted 45 cars on the grid, so that is a pretty darn good result. Qualifying goes off at 1:00, first after lunch. A few things are still being tweaked, and we are keeping fingers crossed for continued good results.
Qualifying: So the first qualifying session went well. The car continues to behave mostly as it should - no more temperature problems. Unfortunately, we are having an issue with the cameras not recording as they should so there’s no video or data to analyze. He’s relying on butt feel to find improvements. Hopefully we will find the fix for that this evening. Times in Q1 were slower for most competitors than they were in practice this morning, but it was warmer and windier. Fortunately the clouds helped mitigate higher air temps. Morgan found drafting partners, which helped quite a lot. There is still time and opportunity to perfect the technique. In all, his time in Q1 puts him in 2nd. There is one more qualifying session to go. That will be at 8:30 AM Saturday for 20 minutes. The fastest time from either qualifying session will set his starting position for the 25 minute race Saturday, scheduled for 1:10 PM. Check out the live feed on YouTube here.
SATURDAY NOTES:
Qualifying: Qualifying is complete for Race 1 this afternoon. Getting into the right pack of cars and working the draft is critical to making the most of a lap. It is a tricky thing to do and a skill that is still developing. It’s one of the many things we are here to practice this weekend. Still, Morgan’s starting position is a very respectable 7th out of 45 cars. He will be in a fast pack at the front today. Here’s hoping that the race this afternoon goes well.
If you didn’t already know it, racing is a team sport. Competitors would much rather beat you on the track than in paddock so they come lend a hand and get you out there. As I said earlier, this car is having teething pains. Today’s post-qualifying efforts included changing the ECU (a jiggly wire is no good) and changing the fuel cell (sputtering well before it should). Fortunately, Mike Amy has the spares, tools, and knowledge to do it fast. Many hands help the process along too. Morgan pitched in, of course, both on his car and Brian Sullivan’s #2 (also under Mike’s care this weekend).
Race Result: Again with the teething pains. Morgan pulled it into the pits at the end of lap 2. This time it’s electrical. Seems to be either the hot or the ground going to the ECU is the problem because with the fault is triggered, the car just quits. Chasing the demons tonight in hopes of exorcising them before tomorrow.
SUNDAY NOTES:
Well it’s kind of a bummer day. That electrical gremlin meant that Morgan didn’t even make a single full lap today. We will be changing the wiring harness before next weekend. It started to rain about halfway through the race and rained pretty hard for a while. The track is slippery even in the dry and the rain made it so much worse, especially since everyone was on dry weather tires. Morgan got pretty soaked standing by the track watching. Finding all this stuff is what this weekend was for, so from that standpoint, it has been a raging success. Morgan says that when it runs, the motor is strong and the handling is good. Once it stays running, they’ll be a great team. Here’s the YouTube link for the day’s racing.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Sunday afternoon, after the race, we will pack up and scurry on to the next stop on the tour. The parade moves from Homestead up to Sebring. The SCCA Hoosier Super Tour kicks off there with a test day on Thursday.
See you there!