Hello, Race Fans! This is it.
The final event of the 2025 season.
While it's been a long time coming, it's hard to believe we are already here so quickly. The closing race is at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia with the Michelin Pilot Challenge Fox Factory 120 running on Friday. It's a really big event too, with the WeatherTech Motul Petit Le Mans 10-hour season finale on Saturday. The entire Czabok-Simpson Mortorsports Team has worked hard all year to get all three Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS Clubsport race cars into the best possible shape and we are very excited for the challenge of this racetrack.
TUESDAY NOTES:
Set up: Tuesday is load in day for all the series supporting WeatherTech this weekend. We and three other series inhabit the Club Paddock and pit lane on the left side of the front straight and the WeatherTech rigs load into the Pro Paddock on the right side of the front straight on Wednesday.
At the appointed hour, the parked rigs open up and disgorge their contents onto the pavement. Over the next two hours, the trailers, awnings and pop up tents merge into a small tightly packed city, complete with streets, allies, "residential" areas (for the teams), "commercial" areas (for IMSA tech, VP Fuels and Michelin tire staff), and a distinct traffic flow. We arrive early enough to help with setting up the CSM space.
Set up: Tuesday is load in day for all the series supporting WeatherTech this weekend. We and three other series inhabit the Club Paddock and pit lane on the left side of the front straight and the WeatherTech rigs load into the Pro Paddock on the right side of the front straight on Wednesday. At the appointed hour, the parked rigs open up and disgorge their contents onto the pavement. Over the next two hours, the trailers, awnings and pop up tents merge into a small tightly packed city, complete with streets, allies, "residential" areas (for the teams), "commercial" areas (for IMSA tech, VP Fuels and Michelin tire staff), and a distinct traffic flow. We arrive early enough to help with setting up the CSM space.
Each team has a custom built home for the weekend where their cars reside and get service and repairs. There are even pleasant spaces for the people to enjoy as well, with tables and chairs. The whole space is underlain with a snap-together mesh flooring - it looks good, is easier on the feet, and keeps things drier if it rains (which it won't this weekend). The CSM trailers have one of the flattest slots at the top of what is quite a steeply sloped expanse of paddock. That is extremely helpful for doing alignments and weight balancing that require a level platform. It is also located along the hillside facing the public road, allowing a very pleasant air flow through our space. Better still, it's a short walk from here to our box in the pit lane.
Track lay out: Set up takes a couple of hours and overlaps with the time allocated for the drivers to take their customary track walk around the 2.45 mile long 12 turn Road Atlanta. The circuit is shaped a bit like a bone-in pork chop and is laid over the natural terrain, giving it some serious elevation changes. The final turn sweeps onto front straight, one of the low points, and Turn 1 dashes right back up the hill to a blind crest. From that high point, the track again plunges downward in a rhythmic series of esses around the meaty part of the pork chop which require precise placement, deep commitment on the throttle, and judicious use of the curbs to be fast. The esses continue upward again to an even higher point at Turn 5, a fast left hand bend where the car tracks out right next to the wall and a flag station. A marvelous hillside for spectating overlooks the entire expanse of the esses. A more modest downward grade takes the car to the end of the bone of the pork chop, turning 90 degrees right at Turn 6, a short squirt, and another 90 degree right at Turn 7. You need a good exit to rocket out of here because you reach top speed at the end of the bone of the long back straight, which is neither straight nor flat. It rises gently for a while before beginning to drop back into the valley into Turn 10 A and B at the bottom of a hard braking zone which offers a great passing opportunity. Almost immediately, the road yanks you steeply upward to Turn 11, where the road makes a very fast blind right hand bend under a bridge and you plunge back down again to the final right onto the front straight, with big concrete wall on the left. Road Atlanta laps burn fast, well under 90 seconds, and the slowest turns are taken at about 50 mph. That tends to run out the tank quickly. With a lot of right-hand turns, the left side tires, especially the front, take the brunt of the effort. Commitment, confidence and precision are necessary here. Add in stamina and mental fortitude to keep it up lap after lap for the entire stint.
WEDNESDAY NOTES:
We have one practice Wednesday at 12:25 pm EDT, one practice on Thursday at 9:20 am, and we qualify just before sundown at 6:25 to 6:40 pm. The race is on Friday with green flag at 12:45 pm. As always, you can catch the race day action live on YouTube and Peacock+.
Today is the warmest one of the weekend. The clouds come and go, with light breezes. There is a single session today, a one-hour practice at 12:25 pm. Morgan and Gordon spend their time in the session reacquainting with Road Atlanta and figuring out what the car needs for this track. Gordon goes out first, getting a couple longer runs while Morgan takes his turn second. He jumps in and out every few laps, adjusting at each pit stop. We settle the session in 13th and it’s not a surprise that a whole lot of changes are made to the car after the practice session. The last race at Indy and this one at Road Atlanta couldn’t be at more different tracks. What worked well there won’t be nearly as good here. Even though adjustments were done in the shop between races, more are needed to get it right for the high-load, high-speed turns and massive elevation changes here in Georgia.
Today is the warmest one of the weekend. The clouds come and go, with light breezes. There is a single session today, a one-hour practice at 12:25 pm. Morgan and Gordon spend their time in the session reacquainting with Road Atlanta and figuring out what the car needs for this track. Gordon goes out first, getting a couple longer runs while Morgan takes his turn second. He jumps in and out every few laps, adjusting at each pit stop. We settle the session in 13th and it’s not a surprise that a whole lot of changes are made to the car after the practice session. The last race at Indy and this one at Road Atlanta couldn’t be at more different tracks. What worked well there won’t be nearly as good here. Even though adjustments were done in the shop between races, more are needed to get it right for the high-load, high-speed turns and massive elevation changes here in the Georgia hills.
THURSDAY NOTES:
Arriving at the race track before dawn. It’s that magical time of day full of promise and excitement. Sunrise will be obscured by the kind of clouds that glow inside when the light hits them. The moon, just past full, is bright in the west. It's still quiet enough to hear the bird song in the trees mixing with the rustle of canvas tent flaps and the slide of toolbox drawers.
The crews already have the tent walls rolled up and are finishing the prep for the upcoming practice session 2 at 9:20 eastern. Thankfully, today is cool and crisp, the way fall weather should be. The clouds will come and go, but temps should stay in the 60’s with wind speeds dropping from the teens to mid-single digits by the afternoon. It’s far better air than yesterday!
Ahead of us, Mazda MX-5 and Porsche Cup have their qualifying sessions. We root for our friends and their crews to have a good session, but it’s nearly impossible for the Mazdas to get good laps in when the time is broken up by a red flag and yellows for cars in gravel traps. Porsche Cup has both more time and fewer problems.
While those sessions are underway, the CSM crews are in the pit box already, laying out the equipment and making adjustments in placement of tools for our hour-long practice session. Along with a couple stoppages, both drivers take a few hops in and out of the pits for fine tuning. By the end of it, it appears that the set up changes yielded good results and the car is in a good place. Of course, there will be a few more tweaks, but each round of adjustment is smaller and for finer tuning.
Before qualifying begins this evening at 6:25, we have a very long wait. It's enough time to fit all but an hour of the 10-hour Petit Le Mans race running on Saturday. So we spend time with friends and watch some racing - MX-5 Cup and Porsche Cup both have their first races. We got ice cream. It was lovely afternoon!
Morgan has the wheel for qualifying this time. With the cloud cover, he won’t be staring straight into the sun going into turn 5. The air is cool, around 70, as is the track surface temperature, only 73 degrees. As always, we have to wait for TCR to go first before we get our 15 minutes to find the best lap. Morgan has new “sticker” tires and it takes a couple laps to bring them into the operating zone. Once he does, he starts laying down good sectors. Fortunately, this session goes green the whole time allowing him to warm up gently, go for a couple quick laps, back off and cool down a bit, and then go again for fast times.
Morgan gives it his all and jumps up the chart with each go around. Smiles in the pit keep getting bigger. By the end of the session, he is 4th! And the fastest Porsche in the group! And on the way to dinner, we find out that the Toyota Supra in 2nd was disqualified in impound. We move up to start 3rd tomorrow!
It’s looking like a pretty good day coming up for Friday. We have two hours to race, so a lot can happen. Tonight though, we have dinner with friends and get a good night’s sleep. We are back in the morning to watch round 2 of the cup races. Until tomorrow, friends!
FRIDAY NOTES:
This is a gorgeous fall day, with bright sunshine and very cool air. That will give us a warming track surface, but it won't get too hot. Tires will keep heat, but not overheat. The wind is light, keeping people comfortable but not enough to affect the balance of the car. These are conditions that the Porsche likes.
We are rooting for friends in MX-5 Cup first thing, but it isn’t going very well for their last race of the season. We wholly feel their pain at having to drop out from the lead. Next up is Porsche Cup and that goes better for our favorite there.
The fan walk begins at 11:55 and there are a lot of them here. All the RV spots are sold out and there are so many tents too! The entire track is ringed with spectators covering the hillsides, pressed up to the fences, and filling the amphitheater at Turn 10. (We find out a lot later that the event is entirely sold out and not even walk up tickets are available.) The race will go green at 12:40, be sure to tune in to Peacock or YouTube. Until then we will love this excitement and anticipation but also try to remember to keep calm and breathe. Morgan is ready for this!
Since Morgan qualified yesterday, per the rules, he starts the race today. It sets the strategy for us to make two driver changes and it will require a bit of luck with traffic and well timed caution periods to get the best from it. When the green flag drops to start the race, we are all in position, suited up and ready for whatever comes. Morgan's job in his first stint is to stay close to the leaders. The cars around him, a Ford, a McLaren, and a Toyota, are rather quick in a straight line, of which Road Atlanta has a lot.
Turn 1 is a pretty fast uphill right hander, but a little less so on the first lap when tires aren't quite up to temp. Morgan looks for opportunities, but the outside line is a bit stronger going up the hill and the Toyota in 4th slips by him to take over 3rd. Very quickly, the race settles down into a rhythm where the gap between Morgan and the leaders yo-yos, stretching out on straights and closing up under braking and in the turns. We keep a close eye on the camera views of all the turns, watching for something that might bring out a full course yellow that would give us an easy driver change opportunity. There are a couple spins, but nothing to slow down the race. Morgan runs a very solid stint, maintaining position until we pull him into the pits after 19 laps and 28 minutes of green flag running. We are the first to pit and first to change drivers. It's clear to everyone that there will be another stop to put Morgan in again because he's short of the 40 minute minimum drive time.
With Gordon now in the car, he rejoins the field in 22nd, just behind the TCR leaders and just ahead of the GS leaders. That can be a mentally tough spot to be in, but Gordon handles it well, knowing that the GS class will be taking their driver change pit stops within a few laps and he will move back up the order fairly quickly.
A full course yellow comes out on lap 39, but it's just a few minutes too early to be perfectly timed for us. To meet Gordon's minimum drive time, we need to wait until the end of the pit cycle when it's open for all cars to enter. By the time this time, he's moved back up to 11th and he hands it over to Morgan to take it the rest of the way to the checker.
When the race goes back to green, Morgan is in 21st with brand new tires and about 45 minutes remaining. Road Atlanta can be a tricky place to make passes, but Morgan likes a challenge. Once the tires are ready to work hard, he drives it like he stole it, planning his moves to make best use of the Porsche's capabilities, clawing his way upward. He makes it all the way up to 7th by lap 71. From here, he plays wing man to the #28 RS1 Porsche, helping them to secure the GS championship!
This is a pretty great race! There are no mistakes from anyone and no penalties. All three CSM cars come home strong and clean. This feels like a win for all of us!!
Now the race is done and in just a matter of a few hours, even the wrap up will all be over. There will be the mad pack up of the paddock and dispersal of people into the long off season and then the let down.
We will hang around to watch the big show on Saturday and relax in the sunshine on the hill. We have been so lucky and fortunate to spend this year with Morgan. Every minute has been precious.
WHAT'S NEXT?
This may be the start of the off season, but with less than three short months before it all begins again, there is much to do. Morgan will return for the 2026 season to run with CSM in this series again, but that still leaves lots of room in the calendar for other things, some racing, some business, and some fun. There will be a few updates over then next few months so come back occasionally. Thanks for following!
