Good morning from Sebring, Florida!
It has only been a couple of days since the last race report, but we are all ready to start the next event bright and early this morning (Thursday). This weekend finds the Morgan Burkhard team with most excellent support from Mike Amy at Dog Gone Racing at the 2024 SCCA Hoosier Super Tour from Sebring International Raceway. Just like last week, he is competing in the Apple Motorsports Spec Racer Ford Gen 3 (SRF3) this weekend as well. This event is the first in a ten event series within the Sports Car Club of America. Races are mostly in the eastern half of the US, but there are two on the west coast as well. Each weekend has two races, a shorter one on Saturday and a longer feature race on Sunday. The points from a competitor's six best finishes combine with their points earned in the Runoffs (held in October) to decide the Super Tour class champion at the end of the season. We plan to attend a few more Super Tour events this year.
Morgan is also doing some coaching this weekend. He has a very good rapport with drivers of all ages and is able to help them make improvements in their lap times through the use of video, data, and conversation. He's a busy guy all week long but especially on race weekends!
Thursday is a test day. The real event begins Friday. Morgan is group 2, making it early starts for us again. The first session is a 25-minute practice that isn't on the YouTube stream, but the Friday afternoon 25-minute qualifying session will be broadcast. Races on Saturday and Sunday are both broadcast as well. Look for Morgan in SRF3 car #102, red on top and black on the sides.
Friday qualifying is 25 minutes long scheduled for around 2:00 PM. The Saturday Race is 25 minutes long scheduled for 10:30 AM. The Sunday Race is 14 laps or a maximum of 35 minutes - whichever comes first - scheduled for 9:00 AM.
More updates will come over the next few days. Thanks for following along and wish us luck!
THURSDAY NOTES:
Final Car Prep: As you know, the car needed a lot of stuff changed after the first event of the season at Homestead a few days ago to get it into fully competitive condition. Mike Amy did the last thing (new wiring harness) Wednesday night and it appears that all is running smoothly at last. Morgan will use the four 25-minute sessions today to learn the track - he's only seen it in sim racing previously - and make absolutely sure all is good with the car.
Session 1: One of four sessions down today. The car performed properly for the full 25-minute session! Here’s hoping the rest of the day goes as well. Oh - he went 4th overall, about half second off the leader and he did it without a draft.
Sebring Test Day Done: All four sessions on the Sebring test day are done. It has been quite chilly and windy all day. We’ve even had a few light rain sprinkles just to make things really interesting. Engines like the cool air and Morgan’s car is no exception.
As is his habit, Morgan picked up the nuance of a new track rather quickly. He seems to thrive on that challenge. True to that model, Morgan was consistently in the top five in each session today. Morgan says, “I am really happy the car did all the laps. Feels like it’s on rails!” We are looking forward to an exciting weekend!!
FRIDAY NOTES:
Fun Things: I’m starting off today with fun things and appreciations. Race cars can be tight places to work. It helps if you can be a bit of a contortionist if you have to reach something under the dash. It’s doubly hard in a SRF3. I’m very happy to have passed this job off to the kid. He had to do a head stand with his legs sticking up in the air as he did some work under there at Homestead last week.
Morgan is just all around fun to be with. He’s funny and playful and he makes us laugh every day! Love this kid so much!! For sure he seems to love the limes that come with seafood. He always makes goofy faces when he bites on them.
And Appreciations: The weather in Sebring can’t seem to make up its mind. Yesterday 60, today 80, tomorrow 70, Sunday back to 60. The chance of rain is just as variable. That makes it extremely difficult to know what tires will be needed and to put in the appropriate orders. This is where the appreciation comes in. The “sandbox express” was called into play and the rain tires made their way from Mike Amy’s shop in PA courtesy of Mike Kelly to Chris Child’s hands in VA who added them to his trailer and brought them to Sebring for us.
“Sandbox Express.” As kids, we played at recess in the sandbox with buckets and trucks and stuff. Racers are just overgrown kids with bigger toys. Our “sandbox” is now a racetrack. The pony express was an old way to move goods long distances, often changing ponies along the way. Stuff a racer needs gets handed from one racer (or pony) to another until it gets to the destination sandbox.
Qualifying: The weather just may cooperate for qualifying this afternoon. Windy and overcast, so while it is warmer than yesterday, it is not too hot. Rain today has come only a few drops at a time and we hope it stays that way for a couple hours at least.
Or it won’t… This was a really tricky session. We got a brief but quite wet rain shower just as they began their first circuit. Sebring is such a big place that it can rain at one end and be dry at the other. This shower made its way across the whole track over about 2-3 laps. Then the sun and wind returned and the drying began. The upshot is that every turn on every lap was different and probably faster. Someone would take the pole and then plummet out of the top 10 almost every lap. Making the best out of the last lap before the checker was critically important. That and having a drafting partner. Morgan managed to do it all very well and sits in P3 for the race tomorrow.
SATURDAY NOTES:
Good morning, Race Fans! It’s a soggy morning here at Sebring. A front moved through in time to make the last three qualifying sessions run this morning interesting and sort of appalling. Very glad Morgan was done yesterday. The track is trying hard to dry off after the front and temps are falling all day from here. Hopefully the first race group will dry it even more. It’s already 9:30 and we will need to make our tire choice very soon. Morgan’s group is scheduled for 10:30 AM. He knows there isn’t much point in making a “plan” for the race. He will simply go out and drive the car and the conditions the best he can. Let’s keep fingers crossed!
Grid Update: Dry tires are the only choice. There are puddles at some apexes and track out points with a dry line, but it’s wet/damp off line. These are the sort of conditions that reward precision and good reflexes.
Race Finish: Morgan got a great start and he even lead the second lap! Unfortunately, a competitor made an overly aggressive move and forced his way alongside Morgan in Turn 10. He got pushed off the track but kept it under control and maintained 5th place. He and 4th place changed positions a few times but it didn’t stick. Morgan finished in a very respectable 5th place today.
The early contact crushed the valve stem on the right rear tire. We are extremely thankful that the tire kept its pressure. There are also a couple more scuff marks and a crack in the rear body work. Thankfully nothing too serious.
The grid for tomorrow shuffled around a bit based on today’s race times. Even so, Morgan should start in 5th in the morning. Sunday's race is 14 laps or a maximum of 35 minutes - whichever comes first.
SUNDAY NOTES:
Today was a very hard fought race. That much we know. Standing in the pit lane, we don’t get to see much of it so we are very keen to watch the feed and the in-car video after the fact. What we do know is that Morgan stayed in at least the top 4 for the whole race. There was a late full course yellow that converted the race to time instead of laps. They came back from the yellow to do 2 laps after getting the green flag - white flag (last lap), and checker.
Morgan is both brave and smart. They were 4 wide down the back straight and he made a strong move up the inside in Turn 17. It worked well and he stayed clean and grabbed second place!!
We are thrilled with the result and could not be more proud. Every race he learns new things and earns a little more trust with the other drivers. Congratulations to Morgan!!
WHAT’S NEXT?
Once all is packed up, Mike will head home, but we will stay in Florida for another two weeks. We move up to Daytona Beach where the IMSA Michelin Pilot challenge season begins. That will be a whole new world! Stay tuned!!