Good morning from Sebring, Race Fans!
WEDNESDAY NOTES:
Did you miss me? I know it’s been so long since I last wrote - all of three days. Today we are with IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge at Sebring International Raceway. Morgan will be in his beautiful #80 Hyundai Elantra N with the Victor Gonzalez Race Team. This weekend, his partner in the car is Chase Jones. They know each other through MPG Motorsports, a kart team. More on Chase later. Big news! We have sponsors on the car!!! Check out these awesome folks:
Impressions and Practice 1 Recap: Dawn is a lovely time in Florida. It’s quiet, cool, and dark with that thin layer of light fog hovering over the fields on the way to the track. The paddock is *packed* with haulers and there are still more queued up to come in. It looks almost nothing like it did a month ago with SCCA.
This time the awning is affixed to the trailer and we have more space, including a little room to sit! The cars are all shiny and beautiful as they get their last nap before roaring to life. Our pilots will get the feel of this track and together they will find the fast way around. Car and driver communicate back and forth what each needs from the other. The driver who can listen, and respond with the right inputs, will triumph.
Everything is ready. The crew has some time to enjoy some camaraderie before the next flurry of activity begins. It’s a very animated game of Uno! At 11:25, they hit the track to learn what works here today. The track still follows the same route as it did in January with the SRF3.
Morgan went out first. He set some solid times and when he got out, he was 3rd. Chase took the second half of the session. It’s his first time in a front wheel drive turbo car and his first time at Sebring. His times were respectable. They are a half second off the top time in the TCR class.
No need for a flurry of activity when they come in. We don’t go out again until 8:00 tomorrow morning. After a few quick tasks, the crew settles down for lunch. Good thing no rush is on - it has gotten sunny and hot. At least we have breeze!
THURSDAY NOTES:
There, all is set and we just wait for the green flag at 8:00 for Practice 2. Feels like a long wait! Even though the sun is fully up now, the air is still delightfully cool. (Oh, how I wish that would last!)
Practice 2: Morgan only gets one lap before we have a red flag. One of the cars blew an engine and they need to clean it up. Chase goes in next. He’s getting more comfortable with the car and track with every lap he makes. They will change again in a few minutes. It will be good practice for the driver change they will need to do in the race.
Once this practice is over, they will debrief with the data and the video. We will do lots of pit stop practice over the next few hours. At 2:10, we get 15 minutes to qualify. Stay tuned for that session!
Qualifying: After the MX5 Cup race #1, it’s our turn to qualify. Chase has the helm for this 15 minute session. We have brand new sticker tires on all four corners. There is a particular warm up process to get new tires really ready to use. They need to lose the mold compound and get heat into them. With a front engine and front wheel drive, the back wheels on the car are primarily there to keep that end up off the ground and they don’t heat up as quickly as the front tires do. That means special attention is needed to prevent the back from breaking loose and trying to lead. (AKA a spin). After a few laps they are fully ready to use. The driver better be ready too because that first lap once the tires come in is golden. With mind, body, and car all in tune, it can be a great lap.
This session goes down really fast. We only get 2-3 flying laps to set a good time. Everyone in the team is glued to the timing screens. There’s nothing we can do but wait to see the time each lap. For people who are always doing something, this waiting is hard!
Each lap gets better and there is laughter and clapping when we see the new time pop up. We are happy with P7 to start. Chase ran a personal best and will start tomorrow’s race on the inside line. That will be a good place to begin the 2-hour race.
FRIDAY NOTES:
Set Up: Over 100,000 people trying to use the same cell tower will slow things down significantly. Because of that, I’m going to give you a heads up rather than the real time reports. Again, Saturday we have only one session. That would be the 2 hour race that starts at 3pm Eastern. You can watch it live on Peacock TV.
Chase will be starting and he’ll drive for just short of an hour. Then Morgan will hop in to take it to the end. If they happen to show our pit stop on the broadcast, check out the guy with the fire extinguisher and the girl on the fuel rig lever. That will be John and me respectively. We get to be real participants and part of the crew!!! Very, very exciting!!
RACE NOTES:
Sebring 1: This just gets more amazing by the minute. This race was incredible. I had to keep reminding myself of take just a tiny moment to every now and then to really notice the details of the moment. The awesomeness of just being here in this role is fantastic. The race is on YouTube, go watch it!
First, we have the relaxed quiet of the morning before we need to do much of anything. All the pre-race checks and set up were done yesterday. The team chats and snacks and just generally enjoys being where we are. The air is still cool, but the fog clears as the day gets going.
During yesterday’s autograph session, Morgan invited every single kid to come visit the paddock. This morning they showed up! They got pictures with the car and the drivers. Some got to sit in the car too! Morgan has an easy rapport with the young ones. He can really get them to open up. We talked to a lot of parents too, took a lot of pictures for them all. A steady stream of people came by all morning. There was even a queue sometimes!
Sebring 2: The clock creeps forward and we keep tabs on the MX5 Cup Race 2 while we have lunch. One of the drivers in the sister car, Tyler Gonzalez, also drives in this one. (BTW, he won Race 1. Race 2 had a battery problem, fixed, but cost a lot of time.) Also, a good friend of Morgan’s finished 10th in Race 1 and 6th in Race 2 in this very competitive and aggressive field. (Watch them on YouTube!)
As we get closer to the critical hour, we all don our fire suits and get ready to head up to the pit lane and the fan walk. Yeah - you read that right. We. All. That means John and I too! John holds the fire extinguisher and I handle the fuel lever for Morgan’s car during their pit stop. Our good friend Doug Kinser is with us too and he gets to help handle things inside the pit box. We are SO psyched that we get to be real participants in this endeavor and the team has welcomed us fully.
I should note here that it is Florida. It is Humid. It is Hot. The pit crew attire includes (from head to toe), balaclava, helmet - with closed visor, three layer fire suit covering everything from neck to wrists and ankles, long fireproof gloves, and high ankle leather shoes. Once the race starts, all that stuff stays on until the checkered flag falls. The helmet, balaclava and gloves can come off when we aren’t expecting a pit stop, but we have to be ready quickly just in case.
Sebring 3: The heat is pretty awful at first. We feel every bead of sweat roll. We stand with the car on the pit lane in P7 in the sun during the fan walk and suddenly that sweat just doesn’t matter anymore. People come by, wish Morgan and Chase luck, shake hands and get pictures with the car and drivers. There is the prayer and we fervently add our energy to the plea for a safe race for all. The anthem is sung and we get a great low flyover too!
Chase Jones gets buckled in, the grid is cleared, and we make our way down to the pit box to anxiously await the green flag. The energy and anticipation are really ramped up now. This is such an incredible team to be with. Everyone has poured heart and soul into this effort, but now it’s all up to one man. Chase.
Will the start go well? Will it be clean and free of incidents? Will he make up spots or slip backward? All we can do is wait and see.
Sebring 4: We watch the field roar down the straight when they get the green flag, hold our breath as they slip out of sight around the first turn. Then we are all glued to the timing and video screens hoping for a glimpse of our cars. Anything that brings out a full course caution affects our strategy. Drive time and fuel consumption are calculated and recalculated obsessively. Chase moves up one critical spot to P6. He’s running good laps and being smart and clean.
Then one of the GS cars pulls off with an oil fire and there’s the caution we have been waiting for! (Where did the first 40 minutes go?!?) This timing is nearly perfect for our optimal strategy. When the TCR pits open, Chase stays out one extra lap before pitting. By turn 14, we were pretty sure it would be enough. Morgan dresses quickly and the crew takes our positions. At Turn 16, we knew it was on! That gave Chase the minimum required drive time (plus 5 minutes and 3 extra seconds!). More awesome still, thanks to pit stops by other cars, Chase is in the TCR lead right now!
Sebring 5: We had practiced. We are all ready. Chase hits his marks and we jump into action. For us, time slows down while the car is stopped but there is a flurry of choreographed activity. Two new front tires, full fuel load, change the driver indicator, buckle in the driver, hook up window nets, quick look at the whole car. Everything goes just right and the driver change (Morgan going in) is done long before the fuel is finished. Once the nozzle comes out, he takes off to rejoin the field in 12th in class.
We know it was a good stop. We cheer and high five each other. We are thrilled! The Michelin Tire rep for our team commented that it was a damn fine stop too! Again, we are glued to the screens watching closely. In the pit box, we can see all the camera views at once, the timing screen, the track map showing where each car is on course, and the live TV feed.
Sebring 6: Now, the really hard work begins. Zack (our engineer and strategist) has to see the future and make the right strategy calls. Morgan has to run fast laps, make smart moves to climb back up the order, save the tires so they still have grip at the end of the race, manage his own energy reserves, and most of all - Save Fuel. This is a long run and he has a lot to do - some of it conflicting. The crew simply has to wait and watch and hope. Waiting is hard! And it gets harder the closer we get to the end.
It’s super hot in the car - like 120 degrees. When Chase comes out we make sure he has water and cool packs to get him comfortable again. It’s even harder for him to watch. The finish is entirely out of his hands. We really need another yellow to be comfortable with the fuel. Morgan has found the magic to stretch that fuel and just sip it while still running quickly.
He makes up spots on the restart by making some forceful but clean passes. It’s really tough to pass because offline has no grip - it's dirty and slippery out there. There is a lot of rubber laid down making a lot of grip on the line. That means they can roll a lot of speed through corners. It will take a mistake to open the opportunity for someone to try a pass. Morgan doesn’t make any mistakes.
When we do get that yellow, it’s a good long one. Morgan has the windows down so he gets some good air flow. Lots of coasting helps save fuel. Other teams pit, but we stay out. Morgan rises to 2nd place. One more yellow comes out and we can save even more.
Sebring 7: The gap to 1st somehow stays steady at about 2.3 seconds. Somehow the gap back to 3rd doesn’t shrink below a half second and even gets bigger, rising above a second.
30 minutes to go. Feels like it’s going well.
20 minutes - how’s that fuel consumption?
10 minutes - so close… are we going to make it???
7 minutes - pacing, watching, praying. Zack asks if Morgan feels like he might be able to catch the leader. He does, and Zack says it’s ok to use the fuel and go for it. Morgan closes the gap to 1st.
5 minutes - do we need a splash and go? If so, the podium is gone.
Sebring 8: Last lap - hang on!! Be smooth, gentle, clean, perfect lines, nobody try a dive bomb pass.
The crew is all on the wall waiting as the cars approach the checker. When we see Morgan, the screaming and cheering starts and doesn’t stop for a long time. We are elated!!!! This is such a beautiful thing to see. Two young drivers, so new to the series, this car and this track and they are on the podium! This truly feels like a win!!!
About a dozen people and a pile of gear pack onto the pit cart and we rush out of the pit lane, through the paddock and down to the winners circle. Honk, honk, watch your back, coming through!!!! So many people and carts and trucks moving around. It’s a traffic jam and we are in a hurry!
The whole crew is there to celebrate and our cheers nearly drown out the announcer. Each one of us knows how big a deal this is and we all have a small piece of it. That trophy is HUGE! They each get a huge crystal vase and a bottle of bubbly and three new hats to wear. Morgan likes to wear them all in a stack at once. We get pictures of the team on the podium. We are floating on Cloud 9!! We will be here for a long time. Our voices are nearly gone with the cheering!
Sebring 9: Now we have to use this endorphin high to get started on the tear down and pack up. There is a lot to do and we pitch in to help the best we can. There is always a precise way to fold tents and a precise order to load the packed items.
Once the car comes back from tech, we put the trophies on the roof and take pictures as the sun sets. The stream of people bringing congratulations comes by again. More pictures, continued smiles. It is an inexpressible feeling. And we all want more!
Victor and the entire VGRT crew show their love and passion for this sport every minute and in every action. We love this team and its energy and camaraderie. We can’t wait to go again at Laguna Seca in May!
Sebring 10: Unfortunately, we do get some bad news later on. A spot where we had a small repair on the splitter, an area about the size of a half dollar coin, did not meet the minimum ride height after the race. It was less than a millimeter too low in that one tiny spot. It makes zero difference to performance.
But the rule is the rule and we get a penalty that moves us to the back of the class. Another car that finished behind us had the same penalty (only they were really low all over) so we aren’t last overall. We understand that this can happen sometimes. The vibrations during the race and curb strikes can loosen things and this little movement can be the result.
Be that as it may, we know what we accomplished. The paddock and competitors know what we did on track. Nothing diminishes our joy and celebration. This was huge for the team. The drivers get to keep their finishing position, they just get points for 13th instead of 2nd. We will all be back stronger than ever as Laguna Seca in May for Round 3 of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.
WHAT'S NEXT?
We get a race at our home track! That will be the first SCCA Majors event in the Northeast Division, held at Summit Point Raceway. See you there!