We kicked off the Group-C series on April 18 with a field of nine racers. Porsche 956 and 962s were again favorites for this series with 5 entries. We also had two Nissans and one each of a Lancia and Jag.
Heat-1 included Brett, Rich and Ary. Early on Rich lost a skirt on his Jag and caught the appropriate cat-calls. Otherwise it was one of the heats with the least drama, with a predictable lead by Ary, followed by Rich and Brett.
Heat-2 included Brett and Ary with Russ. Both Brett and Russ had some sliding issues but otherwise it was a fairly smooth race, with Ary leading and a tie (lap wise) of Brett and Russ.
Heat-3 rolled in Steve with Brett and Russ. We knew Brett needed to leave early and it was obvious as he continued to put in a very strong performance. This was a close race for most of the time, with all the best ETs in the low 4.0 range. In the end Steve was leading followed closely by Russ and Brett.
Heat-4 rolled in Dave. Unfortunately lady luck was frowning on him as he started having some body rubbing problems about 2 minutes into the race. It was so severe we had Ary doing some fast troubleshooting (in his blue Sparco mechanics apron) to get David back online. Dave never did totally recover and Steve ended up being the steadiest racer in this heat, with a predictable ending of Steve, Russ and Dave.
Heat-5 added Marty as Russ rolled out. Dave seemed to have his problems solved for the minute and overall it was a tight race between Steve and Marty. The finish was Marty, Steve on his heels followed closely by Dave. Both Marty and Steve were under 4 secs, with Marty posting a 3.8, Steve a 3.9, and Dave bounced back with a respectable 4.19.
Heat-6 rolled off Steve and Mark joined the fun. Dave’s gremlin seemed to jump to Mark’s car which had recurring guide sticking problems. Marty had a smooth run ending on top with Dave close behind.
In heat-7 we had Kyle join us for his 2nd series. Mark’s guide problems persisted and it began to look like some of the early GT Lightning races with frequent deslots and a few collisions. About 3 minutes into the race there was a triple collision near the esses that made things interesting for a second. Marty dominated his last heat followed by Mark with Kyle close behind.
Rich came back in for heat-8 and pulled ahead quickly. About 2 minutes in we had some flying cars for excitement, followed shortly by Ary noticing some unusual tire wear. As Ary was tending to everyones tires, Steve noticed that a SNAFU had happened and the race series was still set for the GT Lightning, made more obvious by the Stig having some ETs besting Ary’s ETs of the day. The race continued without too much drama. Rich leading Mark closely followed by Kyle.
Ary rolled back in for the last heat and predictably dominated the action, but Rich was hot on his tail and put in some consistent driving, followed by Kyle.
