Newton Family Racing Pacific Raceways Race Report - May 2007

The weather was dry all weekend, albeit a little chilly at times, the track was in good shape and we had four Spec Miatas and an RX-7 all pitted together, using Greg and Christine Bush's 40-foot enclosed trailer as a base of operations. It was quite the social scene- all that was missing were some pink flamingos and a DJ!

Saturday morning practice was really fun- I hadn't been on track down there since August, and really needed some seat time to get reaccustomed to the track. NWR delivered with a 40-minute mixed practice. I had a lot of fun skating around on ancient practice tires, keeping my eye on the mirrors because our group included everything from SMs to Porsches to GT1 cars.

After re-learning the track, I bolted the good tires onto our #79 SM and dumped in a couple gallons of fuel for a quick afternoon qualifying session of only 15 minutes. The plan was for Greg Bush and I to work together and do some drafting in an effort to lower both our lap times, but some confusion ensued and it was kind of a mess. I never did get a good lap that session.

Three of us were on a flyer in the last lap of qualifying, but a GT3 Cup car caught us just going into turn 5, and despite the fact that SMs are just as fast through the back twisties as Porsches, he pushed the issue and got in the middle of us, completely screwing our lap. He then had the audacity to put his hand out the window in a "WTF?" gesture after he went by. Sorry dude, we're out here qualifying too and we're not going to pull over and stop because your mighty P-car appears in our mirrors. (More about the GT3 guy later.)

After beer and burgers at a Neil Bryant's house on Saturday evening, Sunday was a pretty relaxed day at the track. Our only session was a race at 3:00 in the afternoon. Before the race started I had my mind set on which Miatas I could/should pass in the first lap and which guy I really wanted to catch and run with later. As fate would have it, I didn't even get to pass the "could/should" guys, for a couple reasons- first, they were going just as fast as I was and second, I got totally hosed by traffic.

We requested a split start so the Miatas could stay out of the mix with the other cars, but (in my opinion) the officials waited a touch too long before sending us out after the first group, so the other group took the green while we were still on the back side and thus was closer behind us when we got the green than they should have been. After just a couple laps the other cars started coming around and catching us, and everybody who's ever driven an SM (or other good-in-the-turns-but-slow-in-the- straights car) knows the pain of getting blown away at the end of a straight by a big horsepower car, only to lose time stuck behind them in the first corner. That happened to me three times in one 20-minute race, and each time the two Miatas I was chasing (Greg and Bruce, who looked like they were having a great time) got further and further away. I finished the race 7th, but with a pretty decent fast lap time of 1:44.1, my fastest of the weekend so far.

Monday morning dawned (fairly) bright and clear. I arrived at the track in the NFR Pit Cart (my silver '91 Miata) and proceeded to get the SM ready. Just the right amount of fuel for another 15 minute qual, our best guess at the proper cold tire pressures (since there would be no time during the session to come in and set hot pressures) and we were off, first session of the day at 9:05. As usual, most of the Miatas were first to grid, which meant the faster cars started behind us. Sigh.

Luckily, Greg and I had a drafting plan this time, and it worked out a lot better than our first attempt. He led half the laps with me in tow, and we might have engaged in a bit of fore/aft contact, which is just too hard to resist in an SM. :-) One lap I bumped Greg all the way down the front straight to a terminal speed of nearly 121 mph, which is cooking right along (for mid-packers, anyway).

Later in that lap Greg missed a downshift going into turn 5a, going to 5th instead of 3rd with me right behind him. Having nowhere to go, I *slammed* into the back of Greg's #04 car, but luckily we were heading straight enough that both of us recovered without incident. It was quite a hit (his data showed he instantly sped up 10mph when I hit him) but there was nary a scratch on either car. In fact, that ended up being Greg's fast lap for the session, primarily due to the previous bumpdrafting on the front straight.

Now, back to Mr. Porsche. The previous day we found out that not only had he hosed a lap in our first qual session, but he had flipped off several other Miatas and in fact had *brake-checked* another of our guys. So nobody in SM was doing him any favors. Early in the second qual session, Greg and I were heading toward the end of the back straight nose to tail, him in front me in back, when here comes Mr. P- car in my mirrors. I knew he was going to force his way in and try to pass us in the 5-6 complex again. At that instant, as if we were telepathically connected, Greg and I split- I went left, he went right, and we maintained control of the track all the way through 5 and 6. Mark de Regt, who was a little ways behind us, said it looked like a Blue Angels maneuver it was so perfectly timed. It was good for a hell of a laugh in our pits, if nothing else.

That qualifying session ended up netting my best lap of the weekend- a new personal record of 1:43.305, good for 5th and about 1.3 seconds off that session's pole time. Not too bad, especially when you consider the "Craigslist" engine currently in my car cost $150. :-)

Following qualifying we sat around, socialized, ate and watched some racing for six hours, then it was time for our final race of the weekend. We again had a split start, which was quite effective this time. I got an OK start, not great, but my qual partner Greg got a great start and blasted up the middle on my right, taking the position from me. The first lap was fun and uneventful, with plenty of clean wheel to wheel racing highlighted by Ken Sutherland (the National winner from earlier in the day) coming up from the back, as he didn't run the regional qualifying that morning.

I settled in to chase the two Miatas in front of me, head down, trying to run clean and fast laps, with my new mantra running through my brain- "Drive Carefully, and with Precision." I don't know where that came from, it popped into my head during Saturday qualifying and the more I thought about it and tried to execute that plan, the lower my lap times got. I think I'll keep it. :-)

I was creeping up on my rivals when, on the second lap, I see a yellow at the turn 3b station. A 911 was broken down on the back straight, off the track driver's right. I kind of glanced at it and continued chasing the Miata in front of me, but then was alarmed to see an unprotected worker running toward the car from the turn station and I moved left to stay as far from him as possible. That was a huge reminder- gotta drive carefully in a yellow zone people! The workers' lives literally depend on it.

Later on in that same lap Greg, who had been breathing down my neck since the back straight, got underneath me in 8 and slipped past, but I got a run on him coming out and was preparing to pass him just after the kink when I saw the double yellows come out. Three boring laps under caution later, they got the Porsche pulled to a safe location and let us go again. I got a KILLER restart thanks to some lucky timing on the gas pedal and Nicole's excellent green call, and motored by Greg before we even reached start/finish.

The first lap after the restart was nuts, as the caution had bunched up the entire group again and the Miatas had to pick our way through some slower out-of-class traffic. A novice driver in an M3 got passed on the outside of turn 2 by no less than six Miatas, but she did great all weekend staying out of everyone's way and out of trouble.

Down into 3a-3b and on the back straight the track looked like a crowded grocery store parking lot, with cars going every which way and (mostly) staying out of each other's fenders. I found myself drag racing at the end of the back straight with Skip Yocom in his Rabbit, and opted to follow him through 5-6 because it was the safer thing to do and it would have slowed both of us WAY down to go through there side by side. I got alongside him going up the hill and passed him just after 7- good, clean racing in my opinion.

The remainder of the race was spent trying to hold the 5th place position I had at the restart. Greg was chasing me down but spun right behind me in 8, then a lap later Geoff Cochran got collected by another 911 who spun in 8. James Wetter appeared to have checked up big time in that melee, because when I caught him between 8 and 9 he was going quite slowly.

Unfortunately I didn't think there was enough room between James and the turn 9 apex (i.e. giant concrete wall) for me to slip through into 3rd, so I had to slow way down and go through behind James. That allowed Bruce, who had spun early on but caught up during and after the caution, to go screaming past me and get into a bumpdrafting-fest with James, and the two of them had a significant lead on me going into turn 2.

Luckily I made up some ground on the brakes and in the following turns, so I was close behind Bruce heading onto the back straight. James missed a shift back there, allowing Bruce and I to scoot by, and now I was in 4th.

The next couple laps were all about keeping James behind me, which I did somewhat effectively until halfway through the final lap, when I had a run on Bruce up the hill out of 6 and decided to try and get by him for the last podium spot. That was ill advised, as my inside line through 8 killed all my momentum and not only let Bruce (and his Rebello) cruise ahead of me to reclaim 3rd, but also gave James a run on me and he got me by half a car length at the line, so I ended up 5th. Oh well, I had to try it.

Fast lap in the race was a 1:43.4xx, which I was pleased with. Next stop :42s! I would love to get into the :42s with a $150 engine, that would just be too cool.

Pat Newton Pacific Raceways June Regional Video