August 21-23: IMSA Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix

Good morning, Race Fans!

This weekend for IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge at Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Virginia kicks off a race within a race. From here, all the events remaining in the season come back-to-back in a non-stop sprint all the way to the middle of October. Every weekend sees us going to, at, or coming from another racetrack. Three of these are IMSA races and two are at the SCCA Runoffs. The remaining three are minor events we’ll attend as non-driving participants.

THURSDAY NOTES:

So. Now it’s summer in southern Virginia. Driving down through Virginia, we see the kudzu at its full growth. It creates odd elephantine shapes in drapes over all the roadside trees. The sun beams on the bend of the Dan River that cradles the racetrack on three sides.

Usually summer here means 90+ degrees and as much humidity with big afternoon thunderstorms likely. This weekend, we seem to be getting very lucky. It’s only in the low 80’s with oddly low humidity mid-day and some cloud cover for a while. There’s no rain forecast and we have just the slightest breath of air moving from time to time. A bit more breeze would be quite welcome.

This is the “home” track for us within the IMSA calendar. On Morgan’s first visit to VIR 19 years ago, he was barely 5 months old. It was less than two years ago that he set the pole time in SRF3 at the SCCA Runoffs. Morgan has a lot of real world laps here and even more in the sim. To say that he loves this place is a bit of an understatement. VIR is a joy to drive because it's beautiful, but also perhaps because it has its challenges too. This is such a rewarding track when you get it right. We are all psyched and ready!

FRIDAY NOTES:

This is Round 8 of the MPC and it’s a compressed weekend - only two days of sessions on track. First up today is a 1-hour practice at 10:40 am eastern. Then we wait a long time for second practice that goes at 6:00 pm tonight. It’s gonna be a long, still, and sticky day.

Practice 1 ends early for us. Morgan only gets a handful of laps, and Gordon doesn’t get in the seat, before a mechanical gremlin in the gearbox pops up. Morgan quickly moves the car out of the fast lane on the track and pulls off around Turn 1. After cycling the car off and on, he’s able to find a gear and get it moving again, but only as far as the cut through at Turn 3. Getting the car off the track is really important and avoids bringing out a red flag on the session to retrieve the car and the penalty associated with that. (The car causing a red flag in Practice will lose their fastest qualifying time. Doing it in qualifying costs the two fastest qualifying laps.)

It took most of the time between Practice 1 and Practice 2 to complete the gearbox change. It's a very complicated process in the Porsche. Three people, one above and two below worked on the car with seemingly all the tools in the toolbox spread around them within easy reach. Due to the dedicated and careful work by the crew, we make it out on time for the late session today.

When Practice 2 rolls around at last, Gordon gets some laps and Morgan gets a few more too. They seem to get comfortable with the handling with each event. That bodes well for tomorrow. Despite the gearbox issue, the crew and the drivers remain positive and optimistic about tomorrow’s possibilities. With just a little luck, we can do great things.

It’s pretty late when we are all wrapped up and headed for dinner. In this largely rural and small town part of Virginia and North Carolina, we are fortunate to find a restaurant still open and willing to seat us at 8:45 PM. Appreciating their closing time of 9:00 we order and eat without delay. The burgers and fries were really good and hit the spot! Back at the hotel after a quick shower, sleep comes very quickly. Every minute of rest makes a difference!

SATURDAY NOTES:

It’s a packed day with both qualifying and the race. Breakfast for the team is delivered early today, just about dawn. There’s crockpot oatmeal and various bread options with all the decorations. Everyone will be well fueled for the day.

Eventually, the campers start waking up. They come out of tents and RVs, even hammocks. We are close enough to them that when they start cooking eggs and sausages, the aroma wafts into our tent.

Qualifying: The trials of yesterday are behind us. The focus is fully forward. It’s time for our 15 minutes of qualifying. We are trying something different this weekend, putting Morgan in the seat. There is tempered confidence as each member of the crew takes their place in the pit box and Morgan gets buckled into his comfy spot. We hold in the box for a bit to release him into a good gap in the traffic. It gives him time to see what the track surface has to offer before working on the flying laps.

After those first couple of laps to gently wake up and prep the tires it’s time to put the hammer down. Then good sector times come in as he passes each waypoint. At the end of the lap, his car number pops up from near the bottom of the list up to 3rd! He keeps at it and finishes the session in 4th. It’s not quite what we aiming for, but it’s a very raceable starting position for this afternoon. See it on Peacock TV or YouTube.

Between: In the 4+ hours between qualifying and grid walk, we have lot of time to socialize while the drivers and engineers hole up in the air conditioned trailer for some peace before festivities begin in earnest. Being close to home, lots of friends are within a reasonable distance of VIR and they come to cheer on Morgan. It's such a good time hanging out together! There’s also extra value to parents used to being directly involved with getting things done but now are hands off the car stuff. We are especially grateful for this time together because we get to do something real and valuable in spending quality time with friends.

When at last we head up to the grid for the fan walk, we find out that we aren't starting 4th. With the Toyota ahead of us having a problem in tech after qualifying, we move up a spot to start 3rd. Not only is 3rd better than 4th, it also puts us on the preferred inside line going into Turn 1 when the green flag flies. It feels really good to be so far up the line and it’s awesome to see such a flood of fans. There are plenty of old friends in the mix too! Some of the fans get an unexpected treat today when the pre-race ceremonies begin before the grid is fully cleared. The lucky ones remaining get to stand with the teams for the prayer and the anthem. Everyone clears out very quickly after that, allowing the drivers their final moments to strap into their seats and start the engines.

The Race: Since Morgan qualified in the morning, he must start the race, and that cast the strategy die for the day. Typically, the stronger driver goes in second, but we plan a strategy that’s different from the norm and most other teams by putting Morgan in first. When the field launches with the green, Morgan makes a good clean start and sticks with the two in front. The top four run well together, creating a sizable gap back to 5th. At 15 minutes in, the first full course yellow comes out. It’s far too early for any driver to have met the required 40-minute minimum drive time. Still, a lot of cars hit the pits for fuel and tires.

With this yellow, our strategy diverges from the rest and makes our twist a good gamble. We do a driver change as well. Morgan comes out of the car, with 10 laps and 22 minutes done, and Gordon hops in. It drops us pretty far down the order, but Gordon is fresh while the others are beginning to tire. He goes out, ready to make up some ground. When the second yellow comes out, we stay out and regain track position while some teams pit to do their driver changes. Other teams wait to do the driver change at the point when they also do the final fueling. The battle is fierce and Gordon is in a tough spot with traffic. He drops a couple wheels on the run toward South Bend Turn 10, losing several spots. Once he gets the tires clean again, he makes up lost spots on each lap.

Upon reaching 43 minutes with Gordon in the car and 29 laps completed, it's time for us to the do the driver change dance again. Morgan jumps back in under green flag with four fresh tires. Over the next 9 laps, he claws his way up through the field from 27th overall to 8th. That's a run that feels really good. On his way up, he puts in a lot of nicely consistent lap times.

Unfortunately those gearbox gremlins from yesterday aren't quite done with us. With just 3 laps to go, the problem is back. The teams decides it's better to retire the car than to risk real damage. It is a heartbreaking end to a tough weekend.

Some days, racing is harder than others, but there's always something to be learned and positives to be found. With almost a month before the next Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they'll go through everything on the car and in the data and in the driver's heads in great detail. They'll find the things to change and improve and that will make us stronger still.

Before that event, we bounce around to a lot of other racetracks, including a home SCCA event. You'll find us at Summit Point Motorsports Park for the Labor Day Spectacular Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series. No driving for us this time, just coaching for Morgan and the Starter's Bridge for us.

Race reports resume with Round 9 of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge from Indianapolis September 19-21.