Lemons CMP Fall 2019 Recap

You heard a bunch of updates from our first of two days of racing in the previous post, so I'll catch us up fast and continue through day 2 coverage. Friday morning we got the new graphics on the car while John and Jason set up the suspension modifications and aligned the car to improve tire wear over what we saw during the 24 hour race.

John and Jason work their magic on the alignment and corner balancing

The car got to the track Friday afternoon, handily passed tech inspection and then we loaded back up and headed to Camden for the block party and parade. Everyone had a good time, even if the Hellasweet sign was more popular than the car. I think we might have to start charging for Hellasweet Selfies!

Team Popcopy (we'll tag Luke back in for Road Atlanta when he's not busy with work)

The other benefit of the LEDs we installed on the sign for night pit stops at the 24 hour race was that it makes a really handy flashlight for securing your race car on the trailer at night!

Jason does a Hellasweet job of strapping down the Miata.

We had a solid, steady pace all day Saturday and finished the day in 10th overall, which secured us a top of the field start when I jumped back in the car Sunday morning. I was on track to hold position during the long 2 hour morning stint when with less than a lap to go before the lunch break, I got overly-confident through the blind left-hander, Turn 3 and the back end of the car came around on me quicker than I could catch it. The spin was putting me dead center on track on the far side of the blind corner, so I caught the spin facing backwards and managed to steer the car just off track until traffic was clear. I lost us a lap, but kept the car in tact.

John battles heavy traffic to kick off an excellent weekend Saturday morning.

John picked up after the lunch break in 11th position and held strong. We made a driver change and got Jason in the car around 1:30. He started knocking off quick laps and reeled in and made up one lap on the 10th place car.  At 3:00 (one hour to go), Kyle was suited up, and we were just about to call the next pit stop when another car dislodged a tire barrier, incurring a black flag which had all the cars come back to pit road and stop for 30 minutes.

Kyle takes the checker and holds our 11th place finish!

With the delay, Kyle's stint dropped to just under 30 minutes, which meant we didn't need to add fuel and he held us in 11th place to the checker flag. It was an excellent result, completely free of mechanical issues. Tire wear was exceptionally good. Other than my spin, we ran a really solid race! We'll check the car over, but otherwise we're just about ready to hit the track in December in Atlanta, where the full NMS crew will take on the challenge of Road Atlanta!