Playing with ST2 field, two 4th place finishes for #48. FFR#11 driven by Pat McMahon won ST2 both days!!
Pat McMahon and I signed up to race in the ST2 class at the NASA-NE TransAm weekend June 13-14, 2015. This is not a typical NASA weekend, as the show was run by TransAm, and NASA-NE along with Porsche Cup and Formula cars were the support races when TransAm was not on track. It was a wonderful experience being part of a bigger event to help entertain the fans.
We opted out of the Friday test day taking advantage to tow down from NH. My “31” year old Grandmother accompanied me on this trip, with my parents driving down separately. Fellow FFR Challenge series drivers Wayne Patterson and Carl Thompson made an appearance as they both live close to NJMP and were excited to watch both the TransAm race and us Factory Five cars challenge for the ST2 podium.
Saturday and Sunday schedules were Practice early AM, qualifying mid-day, and the race at the end of the day – 5:10pm Saturday and 4:50pm Sunday. The ST2 class has a weight/power of 8:1, with the rest of the rules wide open, very different from the FFR class I usually run, which specifies all components of the car making a ‘spec’ configuration. #48 to classify in ST2 has to get an additional 62lb of ballast bolted to the passenger floor, and with hope of using Hoosier race tires to gain the added performance needed to keep up with the Corvettes, Mustangs, etc. Pat McMahon’s FFR#11 race car is a little heavier (he initially built it for hill climbs,) has a full cage around the driver, along with other bits including a 347ci DSS engine (new for this year), opting to also run aerodynamic components to get more grip in the twisty bits. Both cars are right at the 8.0:1 ratio which should be competitive in the ST2 field. Saturday practice had the top 5 in ST2 covered by .465 seconds. Needless to say I was pumped, car seems to be competitive. In qualifying I had issues with the fuel system, in the fuel tank a fuel hose popped off causing my car to stop halfway through qualifying, and got towed back into the paddock. Pat qualified 2nd in class, pumped about his great result yet not all was well with the new engine, the oil pressure was lower than normal. Ford engines should have between 50-60psi at 5000rpm, yet Pat’s only made 35psi. He changed his oil and put in thicker weight oil, 15w50 hoping to resolve the issue. After fixing my fuel system the NASA race director came to inform me I was disqualified for not going through the scales after qualifying, and that I would be starting in the back of the first wave, P24. The race was very exciting, with me at the back of the pack working through traffic early, then a red flag suspending the race, then another restart I managed to get 4th in class. Pat had a great race up front, winning ST2!!!
Sunday we opted not to run the practice session as it rained the night before and track was still damp. Qualifying had Pat P2, with me P5. The race was exciting and frustrating at the same time, with me passing cars early then watching Pat and the other top running ST2 field slowly drive away from me (I was 1-2sec off the pace of the front runners the whole weekend.) Pat won again with me in P4! Great driving by Pat beating the very fast Corvettes and the Mustang!
Next event is Limerock July 3-4, in Lakeville CT, hoping to install some aero bits, front splitter, rear wing, etc.. to get me closer to the top running ST2 cars.
Pictures: http://www.johngeorgeracing.com/gallery/index.php?/category/296