September 20, 2008

The September 13th Formula Shifter race at PKRA went much better and worse for Clayton Peck.
What went better? Clayton had a great qualifying run, made clean starts and maintained his position in both the heat and main race. Clayton also came home with no damage to his kart and the support of Innovative Karting was above and beyond as usual, as a friend and team mate, Peter Workum, loaned Clayton a much needed carbon fiber RibTech vest for the main.
What went wrong? Clayton broke his rib on turn two of qualifying, which resulted in Clayton not being able to push his body enough to be competitive in the heat or the main race. Clayton had to be satisfied with how everything went regardless, it could have been much worse. The worst part is not being able to fix a rib, now all Clayton can do is continue his fitness program gingerly and pray that his rib heals enough to get back in the kart.
NBoundZ is focusing on the positive outcomes of the race and looking as the injury as a time for reflection and extra time to prepare for the next event. Clayton relied on Curtis Ruth of Innovative Kasrting to get a carbon fiber RibTech vest for the future. Clayton feels he should be able to get back in the kart for practice on Thursday night before the race on September 27th. I guess we won’t know until Thursday if that is the case or not.

Give God the glory for being the great physician!

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Results of Shifter - Qualifying
Phoenix Kart Racing AssociationLabel Value
Date Sep 13, 2008 3:02:00 PM
Track New Track (0.0 miles)
Event PKRA Club Race #2
Group Shifter

Show per class
Show lapchart
Label Value
Best Lap Tm 44.499
In Lap 2
Best Speed
by Jason LeVeque

Classification Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps
1 98P Jason LeVeque 44.499 2 - 3
2 42 Harley Owen 44.500 3 - 0.001 0.001 3
3 00 Michael Jimenez 44.856 3 - 0.357 0.356 3
4 24 Kyle Hathcox 44.900 4 - 0.401 0.044 4
5 35 Clayton Peck 45.609 3 - 1.110 0.709 3
6 61 Chris Fosso 46.642 2 - 2.143 1.033 3
7 31c Joe Johnson 48.234 3 - 3.735 1.592 3
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Results of Shifter - Heat One
Phoenix Kart Racing AssociationLabel Value
Date Sep 13, 2008 3:02:00 PM
Track New Track (0.0 miles)
Event PKRA Club Race #2
Group Shifter

Show per class
Show lapchart
Label Value
Best Lap Tm 44.133
In Lap 3
Best Speed
by Michael Jimenez

Classification Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 42 Harley Owen 8 6:00.440 44.163 4 -
2 00 Michael Jimenez 8 6:01.051 0.611 44.133 3 -
3 98P Jason LeVeque 8 6:01.406 0.966 44.365 3 -
4 24 Kyle Hathcox 8 6:01.509 1.069 44.521 6 -
5 35 Clayton Peck 8 6:15.720 15.280 46.039 4 -
6 61 Chris Fosso 8 6:29.554 29.114 47.122 4 -
7 31c Joe Johnson 8 6:32.222 31.782 47.545 5 -
8 1 Russell Errigo 8 6:40.935 40.495 46.634 3 -
9 5 CJ La Due 7 6:24.114 1 Lap 52.737 2 -

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Results of Shifter - Main
Phoenix Kart Racing AssociationLabel Value
Date Sep 13, 2008 3:02:00 PM
Track New Track (0.0 miles)
Event PKRA Club Race #2
Group Shifter

Show per class
Show lapchart
Label Value
Best Lap Tm 44.234
In Lap 12
Best Speed
by Michael Jimenez

Classification Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed
1 24 Kyle Hathcox 12 8:59.894 44.438 4 -
2 42 Harley Owen 12 9:01.040 1.146 44.425 10 -
3 00 Michael Jimenez 12 9:01.045 1.151 44.234 12 -
4 98P Jason LeVeque 12 9:03.781 3.887 44.384 5 -
5 35 Clayton Peck 12 9:22.446 22.552 45.961 4 -
6 61 Chris Fosso 12 9:35.384 35.490 47.077 5 -
7 31c Joe Johnson 12 9:42.797 42.903 47.597 4 -
8 1 Russell Errigo 12 9:46.880 46.986 46.715 4 -
9 5 CJ La Due 10 9:02.182 2 Laps 52.894 1 -

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SCCA Solo National Championships
Intro & Sunday Practice Day
Welcome to the first edition of what will hopefully be a stream of updates from my trip to Kansas, where I’m participating in the SCCA Solo National Championship event. For those of you out of the loop (pretty much everyone due to my lack of communication mostly!), I am in Topkea for a week, covering the national championship event for Modified Magazine and will be writing a feature article about all the happenings. That of course means, yes, I have to compete in order to get the full effect of what it means to participate in the national championships, so I dragged my Acura Integra Type R 1200 miles across the United States to help out with that part. On Friday morning running about four hours later than planned (welcome to racing, everyone) I jumped on the freeway and took off.
The Type R, stuffed with stuff. I stuffed the Integra with six Hankook Z214 race tires, a suitcase, air tank, toolbox, parts, chairs, a car cover and three different cameras to use for my Modified Mag article. Aside from a few strange moments along the way on Highway 54 (see the below picture), the drive up was rather uneventful. Driving along at 4500rpm in the Type R with a noisy muffler didn’t do any favors for my hearing ability, but the ringing has finally stopped, on Sunday, with a day or two to recover before doing it all over again!
Sunday Practice day at Heartland Park
The first event of the Solo National championships was the Sunday practice day at Heartland Park (HPT). Since this is my first time at HPT for the Solo Nationals, I decided to arrive in Topeka early and run the practice day to get acclimated with the surface, the ype R which I have limited Solo seat time in, and the Hankook Z214 tires. Starting at 5am on Sunday was no field trip by any means. As if driving for 15 hours the day before wasn’t tiring enough, Sunday started before the sun came up, and ended well after it went down. Before I left for this trip, many friends hassled me for this little vacation I’m on in Topeka. I don’t know about you, but a daily schedule like this wake up at 5am, change wheels/tires on the Type R, walk the Solo course for 45 minutes, stand in the sun and work for an hour, drive in the practice day, walk around and take pictures for the magazine article, change the wheels/tires back, walk the next days course, go back to hotel and download 400 pictures, work on the article, eat dinner, do homework back at the hotel, check work emails, and so on is no fun, let me tell you. It’s work to be here.
The weather on Sunday was horrible: raining, temperatures in the 50-60deg range, heavy winds, overcast.. walking outside to get in the car was bad enough. I was getting confused at this point, because it was 80-90deg the day before. I spent a few hours in the morning going through tech inspection, registration and putting about 20 stickers on the exterior of the Integra. Let me tell you – good results or not, the Acura Integra Type R #72 sure looks fast!
Starting grid area Since the weather was so bad, accordingly, the track surface at Heartland Park was no treat either. After watching a few cars slip and slide around, I told myself, “Oh, those guys just can’t drive, that won’t me be!” On my first lap in the Type R, I spun out. Partially due to the brand new Hankooks that needed to be scrubbed in, the surface itself was terrible and it was covered in gravel from the ProSolo events the week before. Surprisingly, I managed to get some heat in the tires after just one run and the car gradually improved. I did a total of three practice runs and really didn’t gain anything from it due to the weather conditions, but the Hankooks were scrubbed in and ready to go for the competition days on Tuesday and Wednesday. After my runs were finished, Brian Peters jumped in the Type R for a lap so I could take some pictures for the magazine piece. Other than that, Sunday was pretty uneventful day.
Monday was a day off for the Solo National. Most everyone will be at the HPT site walking around the course, then attending the Evolution driving school in the evening. Competition for my class, D-Stock, starts on Tuesday around noon. I will have an update once Tuesday is finished. See you next time!
-Brady

Here are the links:

1. “Roof Cam” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnV7VxLbcOI

2. “Wheel Cam” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIRKSPW3c8M

3. “Driver Cam” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_1Rc6JmtaY

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SCCA Solo National Championships
Competition Day 2
The Royal Rumble!
Wednesday
After getting pummeled by the competition on Tuesday due to mistakes of my own, I had some work to do on Wednesday to move up a few spots, or at least leave with a little bit of pride! The combination of the Type R being too soft in the long slaloms on Tuesday’s East Course, and of course, my dismal driving performance, left me over two seconds back from the leader at the end of Day 1. Wednesday’s runs were a big improvement driving lines were tighter, turns were smoother, I was using more of the course and I finally started to get my autocross driving rhythm back after taking nearly two years off to go road racing. However, I quickly learned that D-Stock is perhaps one of the most
competitive classes at Nationals. With only 0.6sec separating the top ten drivers in the class, it would take a miracle to move up noticeably in the ranks. Unfortunately, despite my great competition time in the Type R on day two, you wouldn’t even notice by looking at the results.
I had more fun with the camera today. There’s the all new Spoiler Cam”, a new and improved Wheel Cam (that shows the rear wheel movement), and the roof cam to show the course layout. Be sure to pay attention near the beginning of the roof cam video, as I slid sideways through the first slalom on cold tires. The wheel cam was especially informative to me, since it showed my distance off the cones and my driving line around the course. All the links are in the email.
The top time on the West course was a 44.3sec run. My 45.6 placed me mid-pack or better for the day, but didn’t do anything to bump me up overall since the gap from Tuesday was too big to overcome. Regardless, given the limited setup time and little experience on a National level in Solo, at least I didn’t leave Topeka in a bad mood! The level of competition was incredible, and plenty was learned both for me and material for the Modified Magazine piece. Results aside, enough was taken away to give a sense of confidence going into 2009, and give me hopes for a competitive future in D-Stock. My purpose for going to the Solo Nationals was to work on the piece for the Modified Magazine feature, but of course take in the experiences, people and cars that only an event of the magnitude can offer; and naturally, see how I stack up on a national level. I would have preferred a top ten finish,
but being realistic, and of course, completely under-estimating the level of competition wasn’t a wake up call necessarily, but more of a reminder of just how good some of those drivers and cars are! With the 2009 season, including some National Tour events on the west coast this winter, the goals and path to reach those goals are much clearer now.
After the event I hung out for a bit, took some photos and took in a little more of the event to bring back out in my magazine article. Two wheel studs managed to break on the final tire change (changed wheels four times during the week), which was perfect timing considering the competition was finished.
Driving home was rather uneventful, aside from a swerve to avoid a deer, a dramatic drive through the tornado leveled town of Greensburg and about 40 hours of continuous talk radio about Sarah Palin. As I was driving home, results from the Thursday runs came in via text message and on my PC using the free wireless at the Love’s Truck Stop (congrats on your national championships: Brian, Fred, Doug.. and close: Elliot, Jay, Tage!). The odometer on the Type R flipped over to 100,000 miles as I drove through Texhoma (and I’m not sure what state Texhoma is actually in).
I would like to thank Chris at Science of Speed for the help preparing the Type R for the long trips back and forth, and of course the National event itself. A HUGE thanks and appreciation goes out to Hankook Tires for their support at this event as well! The tires were perfect the entire week and their true potential was really shown at the end of the week. I am looking forward to a long association with Hankook Tire as their products are top-level, and the people are really first class all the way.
Thanks to everyone for reading this and watching the videos! I hope to do this again sometime soon.
-Brady
Attached is my final installment from Topeka.. for now! Here are some YouTube videos from the second day of competition on the West Course:
Roof Cam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YScUTmLxJkY

Wheel Cam (new and improved) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdtJSAPvCU4

Spoiler Cam - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrYEiI9wVps

Thanks!

brady

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