Good afternoon, Race Fans!
It’s hard to believe that Round 10 is here. It will be gone before we know it. CSM returns with Morgan Burkhard and Zach Veach in the #2 and Ismaeel Ellahi and Ayrton Houk in the #3. The Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo race cars are ready to show their stuff in this last event of the year. It’s only Wednesday, but we are off to a flying start to the final round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. This is the Fox Factory 120!
The Paddock: We are at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, outside Braselton, Georgia. The Pilot Challenge and other supporting series use the Club Paddock and the Tower pit lane, both on the outside of the circuit. The first thing you notice is that not one thing about Road Atlanta is flat. Not the circuit, not the paddock, not the infield. Every bit of it is sloped, sometimes rather steeply sloped. Finding a bit of pavement level enough for the scale pad is tricky, but necessary. There is just enough flat-ish space for it behind the trailers. When not on the pad, the cars rest and get their service under the awning. The tables and chairs of the hospitality area are under there too. Shift around too much in your chair, and you'll slide a little bit downhill.
The Track: This is a great 2.54 mile racetrack draped over the hills and valleys of red Georgia clay. It is a beautiful and challenging place to race. Turn 1 follows the relatively short front straight and swoops uphill to the right. You arrive quickly at the blind turn at the crest and plunge left and downhill through a series of high speed esses. Upon reaching the bottom, there's a big gravel trap to catch you if you've gotten it wrong. If you have done it right, it's back on the gas hard, continuing the esses, and rising up to Turn 5. The flag station and wall on driver's right have been pushed back here some, but you still track out close to it using all of the broad curbing and a wide open throttle. While the road is straight for a moment, you aim diagonally right to left going slightly downhill to set up and brake for the banked 90° right that is Turn 6. Just a short squirt on the power before you're back on the brakes hard for the slowest and tightest turn on the course. Carry the best speed you can exiting Turn 7 because it's a long, long way flat on the gas down the back "straight" that is neither straight, nor flat. It's mostly uphill, with plenty of dips, and it bends subtly first left and then right over the 6/10 of a mile leading up to the crest.
From here you can see the notorious section of the track - Turns 10 and 11. Quickly, you drop 60 feet over the remaining 2/10 of a mile on the straight, brake really hard and whip it into the left-right chicane and the lowest point. Before the exit there, you're dragging it back uphill as fast as possible, preparing for the blind right under the bridge at the crest of the hill. You really leave your stomach behind there and hang on while you drop eight stories, well in excess of 100 mph, still turning and tightening for the final Turn 12 and back onto the front straight. Don't track out too much - there's only a couple car widths of dirt between the edge and the 10-foot high pit wall. What huge commitment it takes to be fast at Road Atlanta!
Wednesday, September 30
We left behind the barest beginnings of fall color, but there's no evidence of it yet this far south. One might think that October could bring lovely fall weather to Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. Instead, we get the crisp, cool (but humid) morning air only for a couple of hours. Then the sun beats down and it gets toasty. At least the cooling systems in the car seem to be working this weekend. There’s lots of rubber getting laid down on the track surface as the many groups get their time out there. Sometimes that makes it very sticky. Other times, that rubber build up gets hot and slippery. That’s the way of it - conditions constantly change.
Practice 1 was our only session of the day, right in the middle of the day, and 80-85°. Sunshine took the track from 96° up to 109° - not good for grip, especially as the tires age. Morgan had the first third and Zach took the rest of the time. We pitted a couple of times for minor adjustments and the session was broken up with a red flag and a few other incidents, ending five minutes early under a second red. We were quite thrilled to see the #2 and Morgan had stuck at the top of the order at the end of the session. His 1:25.427 was more than two tenths ahead the next car, which feels pretty excellent. Both Morgan and Zach had lovely things to say about the Aston. It’s always good when the drivers are happy with their machinery.
The standard post-session work and preparation for the next one always takes a while to complete. Rather than arriving ridiculously early tomorrow, they'll do the bulk of the work tonight. Tomorrow morning, Practice 2 lasts an hour, starting at 8:35 AM, Then we wait all day for Qualifying to come at 6:45 PM.
Thursday, October 1:
The Pit Set Up:
The Tower pit lane is on driver's left, a good ten feet above track level. We can see the cars swoop down into Turn 12, but we can't see them on the straight. There's another quick glimpse of them as they rise out of Turn 1, but they are gone from view before Turn 2. We always know when someone has used all the pavement or more coming out of Turn 12 because a big cloud of red dust rises up and floats over the pit lane. It will be a two-hour dirt shower during the race and the cloud can be so thick that the drivers really can't see through it. It's a leap of faith to keep your foot down and hope that whoever kicked up the dust isn't still in the cloud.
With the WeatherTech teams using the Infield pit lane, we don't have their extensive pit mini-buildings to use this weekend. Instead, CSM and the Michelin Pilot teams have their own pit box set ups. The two CSM cars have adjacent boxes and are right next to a pass through gap in the pit wall. That provides clear entry into the boxes, but the exit is far less free with the short box length. The pit "wall" here is just two bands of guardrail, just like you see at the edge of public roads. It's low, but you can't stand on it. Instead, we have a long bench set next to it.
We have a double-sided pit cart with the monitors and computer spaces set between two pop up tents. With this arrangement, we can put all the equipment, nitrogen bottles, fuel rig, tire racks, and everything else right where we want it to be for both cars. The pit stop choreography is easier because everything is in the same place for every session.
Practice 2:
We didn't see much of the surrounding area on the way to the track this morning. A foggy ride in the dark obscured much of the landscape. When Practice 2 went out an hour after sunrise, it was under heavy overcast and thick, soaking mist. The one short session before us didn’t have long to clean and dry the track - it was pretty greasy most of their session. Temperatures were quite cool, only around 67°, and while that was pleasant and visibility around the track was sufficient, conditions for driving were not ideal.
Zach went out first and had most of the session. This session also had one red flag half way through and a few other incidents, but we got lots of good running time in. Zach got a good time in the car - 1:25.973. His time was good for third in the session. Morgan jumped in to take the closing minutes and he set good times on the used tires. It's very helpful to know how the car will handle under different conditions because the race will hand you those kinds of variables to manage.
In the combined results from both practice sessions, Morgan remained on top and Zach sat in 8th. They were a mere half second apart. The top 15 driver’s times were covered by one second. It's shaping up to be another closely contested race tomorrow.
By 2:00, we reached the half way point between this morning’s Practice 2 and this evening’s Qualifying session. There was plenty of time to wait for the cars to cool completely before diving into the post-session work. Enough time to sit down and have a leisurely lunch before starting the qualifying preparation. It was a pleasant and jovial time together swapping stories and telling tall tales.
Qualifying:
The long day is finally done. The sun finally burned off the overcast and mist, bringing sunshine, blue skies and rising temperatures. In the afternoon, the sun was fully out and baking the paddock. The breeze trailed off and it got sticky. The wait for the qualifying session to begin felt interminable. Fortunately, race tracks are full of friends to hang out with and other races to watch. Nobody gets bored!
When 6:00 finally arrived, shadows were growing long and it was time to gather up the gloves, radio, and earbuds and head down to pit lane for our 6:45 session. The cars were all glinting in the low sun, drivers all keen to get this thing going. Everyone was cheerful and optimistic, especially given the quick times set in both practice sessions.
What is always needed is time to warm up the car carefully and a good gap in traffic to get in good run. We got both of those. In 15 minutes, there aren’t more than 10 laps at the very most to be had. It’s fewer when you pause before leaving the lane to get into the gap. And more time is lost if there’s a red flag, which we had right at the end of the session. Zach had the job of qualifying the car and he put in 8 laps, including the slow warm ups and the red flag lap.
When it was all said and done, the results put the #2 on tomorrow’s grid starting in 6th. It’s a very raceable position to begin. Zach will have the wheel for the green flag and we will see what options the race presents from there.
Coverage begins a few minutes before the green flag drops at 11:40 AM. Watch the 2-hour race on Peacock TV or YouTube and, of course, root big time for Morgan, Zach, and the whole CSM team!
Friday, October 2:
The Fan Walk:
It was another hot and humid day at the races, about 87° +/- 2° and 61% humidity on average. Occasionally, big puffy clouds would give us some shade, but it was mostly clear blue sky for the Fan Walk and the race. The #2 was parked far down toward the pit out end of the lane - not very close to our box, but not a long walk like some other tracks. Lots of fans were there to collect hero cards, meet the drivers and get close up to the racecars.
And in the blink of an eye, they fans were gone, the ceremonies were done, and they were calling to clear the grid of all personnel. We were only moments away from the start of the last race of the year. It is all in Zach's extremely capable hands now.
The Race:
Zach started the #2 CSM Aston Martin in 6th place. The outside lane might be better for getting through Turn 1 because it's a fast rising turn. You can take a wider arc and carry more speed than those on the inside line can. It sure worked for him today when he scooped two spots before Turn 2. The leader pulled out a gap in the first two or three laps, but the next five positions included three Astons running together with a McLaren and a Mustang, all shuffling places during the first 26 minutes. Zach was obviously having a good time with the race.
Out of the blue, Lap 19 brought us a difficult blow. The #2 was given a mechanical black flag requiring us to pit immediately to effect repairs to the rear diffuser that had rattled loose. This exact situation is why the crew stays dressed and ready to act from start to finish. Zach stopped in the box right on the marks and the crew jumped over the wall, putting the car up on the air jacks. In 2:13, they filled it full of fuel, assessed the issue with the diffuser and taped it solidly in place, and changed to four fresh tires. These repairs dropped us from 5th to last in class, P31. We were a lap down and behind all the TCR cars too. The leader was 2:32 ahead of us and we were a mere 25 seconds from going two laps down. There was a 7 second gap up to P30 and 1:15 up to P29. This felt like an impossible deficit to repair and the dejection showed on everyone's faces. Somehow it feels heavier when there's no real error or incident that sets you back so far and it seemed like we were all three inches shorter with the weight of this misfortune. We were still in it, but we would need a whole lot of luck and have the unpredictable things in racing fall in our favor to recover very much.
During the stop, the strategy pivoted to run Zach deep into the race, well beyond the 40 minute minimum. We would pit again between the go home fuel stop (52 minutes) and just short of maximum drive time (42 minutes), or under a yellow between those points. Zach was able to run very strong laps on his fresher tires while others had slower times on older tires. He was rapidly closing the gap. Watching him take huge chunks out of time out of the lead lightened the atmosphere in the pit box and a glimmer of hope returned.
At the 40 minute mark and Lap 28, minimum drive time requirements had been met for the starting drivers. Two thirds of the GS field pitted over the next four minutes.
We stayed out. That helped us improve our track position further. By Lap 31, the pit cycle for the cars ahead, compounded with a monster drive by Zach, had put us back on the lead lap and in P26.
At about 51 minutes, a car left some debris on the track at Turn 7. It was large enough and obstructive enough, that a full course yellow to remove it was a high likelihood. Some cars took the little window between the appearance of the debris and the call for the full course yellow on Lap 32 to dive into the pits. Most of the rest came in when the pits opened for GS cars under yellow in the hopes that they might make it to the end on a single stop - but they would all need more yellow flag time to be really sure they could go all the way. This was still a little too early for our strategy to work so we continued to stay out. Now we had the lead lap and the yellow erased the time deficit to the pack. We had real opportunity once again!
When the green returned on Lap 38, Zach was in18th and in touch with the field. But they all had newer tires at this point. We were all feeling a whole lot better about the situation now and optimism started to grow a bit. After seven green laps, we had 50 minutes to go, and Zach's monster drive had us steady in 19th!
Now, it was time to do the driver change under green flag. We took a bit of extra time to give Morgan four new tires while packing it full of fuel. We aimed to give him every possible tool to take back into the battle.
When Morgan entered the track, he knew this was going to require a perfect and lucky run to get any kind of decent result. He was in 27th and again a lap down. But he also knew that the only way to achieve the goal was to be patient. Plan the attacks carefully and execute them wisely.
He got the lap back right away when the lead car pitted on its next pass, initiating a cascade of final stops over the next few laps. Combining Morgan's storming pace with other cars stopping for fuel and only a pair of tires or having issues causing retirements, he flew up the order. He would pass one or two in a lap, then run down the next car up the road and set him up too.
With three minutes to go, Morgan was running in 11th and preparing for a pass on 10th as they came through the final corner and onto the front straight. In the space of a couple hundred yards, there were eleven cars all scrapping for space, with six GS cars moving around three of the top five TCR cars and one lapped car from each class just adding to the traffic challenge. Three wide and flat out rarely works cleanly in the high speed, high-G load Turn 12, and it did not in this case either. Contact led to spinning and more contact, with the right side of the track essentially blocked. Several cars dropped tires into the dirt on the left to keep away from the ones involved directly. A huge cloud of red dust obscured sight lines through the mess. The replays show how much happened over a short distance and time, all right in front of Morgan.
Here, you have to understand just how many calculations the driver's mind must make and then decide what actions to take in less than a quarter of a second. Morgan was just far enough back that he could see all the chess pieces on the board as he was still dropping and turning through Turn 12 when the spin blocked the right side of the track. He must instantly predict how all those pieces will move and interact to find the safest path forward. Everyone will brake, but how much? He has to brake too so he doesn't contact the ones in front, but not so much that the ones behind hit his rear bumper - either one just adds to the mess. When cars move left into the dirt, how will they handle the loss of grip - keep it straight, or spin, increasing the chaos? He can't see them through the dust, effectively eliminating that route as a good option.
Now he's on the flat road of the straight and he takes a peek to the right to see how the spin is developing. Is anyone else involved? Yes. Are those chess pieces moving predictably or not? They are all off to the right. There is a gap between the cloud and the damaged cars. That's the opening.
Morgan slipped through the hole and came through it unscathed. Somehow, all but one car escaped the scene. That one remained off on the right side and a second damaged car found a safe spot to get clear a couple of turns later. Obviously, the full course yellow came out immediately and, this close to the end, the green did not return. Morgan passed one car in the chaos, the one that pulled over in a safe spot, and the one found responsible for the incident who pitted ahead of the checker and took a time penalty. When Morgan got to the checker, he was three spots higher, in EIGHTH!
The Result:
What these two drivers and this crew overcame and accomplished is nothing short of astonishing. Despite going a lap down twice in this race and feeling the full weight of being that far behind, nobody gave up. Nobody let it compromise their performance. If anything, resolve and determination to give it every ounce of effort increased. That dedication and professionalism showed in the result. On a day like this, eighth place feels like a win!
How can this be the end of the season already?
And just like that, the season is done. It started in January at Daytona, went all over the country and wrapped up here in Atlanta. It has been an incredible year, serving up both disaster and elation, often in the same weekend. We have changed cars and changed drivers, but CSM has been the constant and dependable foundation all along.
We all are immensely grateful for the leadership, confidence and camaraderie from Matthias Czabok and Stephen Simpson. We are thankful to Dan Dunn for keeping it all running, and Melanie Wright for keeping us well fed and watered. The amazing crew for the #2 across all the races was anchored by Zach Hoffman and he was supported by Johnny Salada, Chris Patoni, and Ty McBride at most events. Additional appearances by Ira Baptist, Gabe Nieto, Mike Dunkle, Scott Lynch, Ryne Hoover, Derek Brookshire, and Anthony Nader filled gaps and extra roles when we needed them. Strategy and data had a strong team led by Mike Wright, with Xander Grey, Lily King, Layla Hefflemire, and William Savard keeping the plan strong. Morgan had the pleasure of sharing the car this year with Gordon Scully for the first eight races, Madeline Stewart at the two long ones, and Zach Veach for the final two events.
When you have such an awesome team, there is always something great in every weekend! Thank you CSM!
What's next?
For one thing, it's the "off" season. It may be 112 days long, but not one of them will be dull. There are holidays and birthdays and parties to celebrate along with all the business of getting next season sorted and funded. Never a dull moment!
I hope you have enjoyed this season as much as I have sharing it with you. Stay tuned! There's always more to come!
Check out the Schedules.
Photo credits to Sasha Guinot, Jason Ramirez, John Burkhard, Beth Burkhard.
