jodz
08-11-2004, 08:21 PM
Last weekend, Compass 360 Racing and Trudeau Racing teamed up once again for a weekend of Grand Am Cup competition.
After the race at Watkins Glen in June, we had a 5 week break until the next one at Mid-Ohio. During that time, alot of work was done to the car by our miracle mechanic, Ian McQuillan at Hockley Autosport. We went to Mid-Ohio with high hopes and lofty goals, and this time we delivered.
I'll just give you the short story from my point of view. For a full race report go to http://www.compass360.com/racing/2004/ohio/index.htm
Neither Karl of I had ever driven Mid-Ohio, but the schedule gave us 3 3/4 hours of track time before the race. The Rolex race ran on Saturday night this time, and the Cup race was moved to Sunday. During our first 2 practice sessions, it was clear by our lap times that there was more than lack of track knowledge slowing us down. Karl suspected it was a problem with the VANOS system on the BMW, so he twisted the arm of our friend and fellow competitor Matt Connolly, who said he'd have a look. That proved to be the "TSN Turning Point". The VANOS system was way off, and Matt thankfully fixed the problem. The next 2 practices, our lap times dropped by 4 seconds a lap!!!!! Both Karl and I have VERY similar driving styles, and we both turned fastest laps that were within a few hundredths of a second (1:42.1).
I qualifed the car on Saturday afternoon, and on new tires, shaved another half a second off my fastest lap time. I was actually disappointed, cuz I was sure the car was capable of a 1:40 time. I ended up 12th out of 25 ST cars on the grid, with the whole field being separated by basically 3 seconds. The parity in Cup racing is astounding---so many different makes and types of cars running SO close to each other.
Ian made some final changes to the set-up before the final practice on Sunday morning, and Karl and I both felt an improvement. I was very excited to start the race now!
When the green flag dropped, we immediately had a full course caution come out for an accident in "Madness". The driver of the Zippo Mustang Cobra obviously didn't listen to all the times people told him to "keep the shiny side up". He ran WAY wide in Madness, hit the tire barrier, and rolled onto his roof. I had an excellent view of this, and managed to avoid the whole mess, and came through it in the same place I started, 12th.
The FCY was 6 laps, and after the restart I set my sights on moving up through field. For the next 90 minutes, I experienced the best racing I have ever been involved with. The BMW was set up perfectly, and in the twisty technical part of the track, I could basically do whatever I wanted. After getting by about 6 cars in front of me, I settled into a groove behind Tim Pappas in one of the Turner Motorsport BMW's (it's a big motivator knowing you can keep up with the big boys). I just tried to run consistently fast laps, and not use the car up too much for Karl. After a few cars fell out with mechanical issues, I found myself as high as 4th in class!!
Then came a fortunate twist. I was about to be lapped for the first time by the GS leader, Devon Powell in a Cadillas CTS-V. I could see him gaining on me for a few laps, and knew it wouldn't be long. At the end of the long back straight, Devon was right behind me. But instead of moving over and letting him by---I knew the BMW was just as fast in the twisty parts---I put my head down and held him off until the front straight. Just as I rounded the last corner, another FCY came out!!! Talk about luck!! Everyone behind us was now almost a full lap down to us!!
After the restart came out, I now had to contend with lapping some of the slower cars in ST, which proved to be difficult, but fun. Like I said before, I felt like I could do anything with the car. My best pass of the race (trust me, it even surprised me that I made it stick) came at the end of the long straight when I outbroke one of the Mini Coopers on the outside as he moved to the inside to block me. I squeezed him down a bit to make him take a tight corner, and we came out of the corner side by side. The next corner is "Madness", appropriately named I might add, and the Mini tried to stay with me on the outside, but couldn't make it stick and ended up dropping a wheel off the outside, letting me pull in front. That one felt good.
The rest of my stint was much the same--lots of action--and I managed to maintain my position. During the FCY that came out right at 1/2 way, we decided to do the driver change and get gas. The only mistake we made the whole weekend was waiting one lap too long to come in to do the driver change.When I jumped out of the car to handed it Karl, he had less than one lap to try and catch up to the back of the field after the pitstop. Unfortunately that never happened, and that let our competitors catch up to us on the track.
Karl unfortunately had to deal with tires that were quickly fading, and a flickering oil pressure light which was making the whole team nervous. But he still put in excellent lap times and only lost a couple spots (to cars that changed tires during their pit stops), and at the end of the race.........we were 6th!!!!!!!!
To say that I am happy with that result would be a gross understatement. I want to thank the whole Compass 360 Team for an awesome race, and a special thanks to my Dad for giving me the opportunity to race at this level.
The next step is finding money so I can run some more races with Karl. We blew most of our budget on these 2 races! If anyone knows any good leads on sponsors, it would be much appreciated!!! With a little extra financial help, I know we could finish in the top 5 and even threaten for a podium finish! What sponsor wouldn't want that kind of exposure!!
Jody Trudeau
p.s. - the race is on SPEED TV this Sunday at noon
After the race at Watkins Glen in June, we had a 5 week break until the next one at Mid-Ohio. During that time, alot of work was done to the car by our miracle mechanic, Ian McQuillan at Hockley Autosport. We went to Mid-Ohio with high hopes and lofty goals, and this time we delivered.
I'll just give you the short story from my point of view. For a full race report go to http://www.compass360.com/racing/2004/ohio/index.htm
Neither Karl of I had ever driven Mid-Ohio, but the schedule gave us 3 3/4 hours of track time before the race. The Rolex race ran on Saturday night this time, and the Cup race was moved to Sunday. During our first 2 practice sessions, it was clear by our lap times that there was more than lack of track knowledge slowing us down. Karl suspected it was a problem with the VANOS system on the BMW, so he twisted the arm of our friend and fellow competitor Matt Connolly, who said he'd have a look. That proved to be the "TSN Turning Point". The VANOS system was way off, and Matt thankfully fixed the problem. The next 2 practices, our lap times dropped by 4 seconds a lap!!!!! Both Karl and I have VERY similar driving styles, and we both turned fastest laps that were within a few hundredths of a second (1:42.1).
I qualifed the car on Saturday afternoon, and on new tires, shaved another half a second off my fastest lap time. I was actually disappointed, cuz I was sure the car was capable of a 1:40 time. I ended up 12th out of 25 ST cars on the grid, with the whole field being separated by basically 3 seconds. The parity in Cup racing is astounding---so many different makes and types of cars running SO close to each other.
Ian made some final changes to the set-up before the final practice on Sunday morning, and Karl and I both felt an improvement. I was very excited to start the race now!
When the green flag dropped, we immediately had a full course caution come out for an accident in "Madness". The driver of the Zippo Mustang Cobra obviously didn't listen to all the times people told him to "keep the shiny side up". He ran WAY wide in Madness, hit the tire barrier, and rolled onto his roof. I had an excellent view of this, and managed to avoid the whole mess, and came through it in the same place I started, 12th.
The FCY was 6 laps, and after the restart I set my sights on moving up through field. For the next 90 minutes, I experienced the best racing I have ever been involved with. The BMW was set up perfectly, and in the twisty technical part of the track, I could basically do whatever I wanted. After getting by about 6 cars in front of me, I settled into a groove behind Tim Pappas in one of the Turner Motorsport BMW's (it's a big motivator knowing you can keep up with the big boys). I just tried to run consistently fast laps, and not use the car up too much for Karl. After a few cars fell out with mechanical issues, I found myself as high as 4th in class!!
Then came a fortunate twist. I was about to be lapped for the first time by the GS leader, Devon Powell in a Cadillas CTS-V. I could see him gaining on me for a few laps, and knew it wouldn't be long. At the end of the long back straight, Devon was right behind me. But instead of moving over and letting him by---I knew the BMW was just as fast in the twisty parts---I put my head down and held him off until the front straight. Just as I rounded the last corner, another FCY came out!!! Talk about luck!! Everyone behind us was now almost a full lap down to us!!
After the restart came out, I now had to contend with lapping some of the slower cars in ST, which proved to be difficult, but fun. Like I said before, I felt like I could do anything with the car. My best pass of the race (trust me, it even surprised me that I made it stick) came at the end of the long straight when I outbroke one of the Mini Coopers on the outside as he moved to the inside to block me. I squeezed him down a bit to make him take a tight corner, and we came out of the corner side by side. The next corner is "Madness", appropriately named I might add, and the Mini tried to stay with me on the outside, but couldn't make it stick and ended up dropping a wheel off the outside, letting me pull in front. That one felt good.
The rest of my stint was much the same--lots of action--and I managed to maintain my position. During the FCY that came out right at 1/2 way, we decided to do the driver change and get gas. The only mistake we made the whole weekend was waiting one lap too long to come in to do the driver change.When I jumped out of the car to handed it Karl, he had less than one lap to try and catch up to the back of the field after the pitstop. Unfortunately that never happened, and that let our competitors catch up to us on the track.
Karl unfortunately had to deal with tires that were quickly fading, and a flickering oil pressure light which was making the whole team nervous. But he still put in excellent lap times and only lost a couple spots (to cars that changed tires during their pit stops), and at the end of the race.........we were 6th!!!!!!!!
To say that I am happy with that result would be a gross understatement. I want to thank the whole Compass 360 Team for an awesome race, and a special thanks to my Dad for giving me the opportunity to race at this level.
The next step is finding money so I can run some more races with Karl. We blew most of our budget on these 2 races! If anyone knows any good leads on sponsors, it would be much appreciated!!! With a little extra financial help, I know we could finish in the top 5 and even threaten for a podium finish! What sponsor wouldn't want that kind of exposure!!
Jody Trudeau
p.s. - the race is on SPEED TV this Sunday at noon