Sunday, October 28, 2018



Trans Am Pro Round 3 Overall Winner: #900 Brandon Smith (1-2)



Trans Am Sportsman Round 3 Overall Winner: #707 Bobby Lee (2-1, 6-5 overall)



Trans Am Pro Race 1 Winner: #900 Brandon Smith (12 laps, 24:00.581, 7.838" margin of victory, 12 laps led)



Trans Am Sportsman Race 1 Winner: Max Frechette (12 laps, 24:42.490, 2.484" margin of victory)



Trans Am Pro Race 2 Winner: #77 Kevin Juliot (12 laps, 24:09.566, 3.045" margin of victory, 11 laps led)



Trans Am Sportsman Race 2 Winner: #707 Bobby Lee (12 laps, 24:47.041, 22.172" margin of victory)

Trans Am Pro Round 3 Results OFFICIAL



Trans Am overall winner: Brandon Smith
Trans Am pole: Brandon Smith (1:58.455) NEW RECORD
Trans Am Race 1 fast lap: Brandon Smith (1:58.986)
Trans Am Race 2 fast lap: Brandon Smith (1:58.962)

Trans Am Sportsman Round 3 Results OFFICIAL



Trans Am Sportsman overall winner: Bobby Lee
Trans Am Sportsman pole: Max Frechette (2:02.432)
Trans Am Sportsman Race 1 fast lap: Max Frechette (2:02.103)
Trans Am Sportsman Race 2 fast lap: Bobby Lee (2:02.116)

2018 Trans Am Championship Standings Through Round 3 OFFICIAL

1 . #900 Brandon Smith ( AMC GoPro Evol ) 813
2 . #77 Kevin Juliot ( Mountain Dew TUM ) 801
3 . #36 Pat Sweeney ( Red Bull TUM ) 797
4 . #26 Tom Lory ( IROC GoPro Evol ) 628
5 . #9 Eric Richard ( Duracell ) 564
6 . #316 Dave Hutton ( Lucky Strike TUM ) 516
7 . #76 Rich Minkler ( Samson TUM ) 423
8 . Yoan Lamontagne ( privateer ) 417
9 . #250 Dale Beatty ( Garmin GBR ) 162

2018 Trans Am Sportsman Championship Standings Through Round 3 OFFICIAL

1 . #707 Bobby Lee ( Hawaiian Punch ) 543
2 . #8 Max Frechette ( Duracell ) 501
3 . #14 Tim Porter ( K-Tel ) 312
4 . #39 Frank Radosti ( CARtoons ) 303
5 . #48 Dave Carlton ( Skyy Vodka Evol ) 270
6 . Luciano Silva ( privateer ) 186
7 . #05 Barry King ( Supercheap Auto ) 174
8 . #67 Glenn Corliss ( All American Racers ) 150
9 . #16 Jim Carvalho ( Penske ) 0

Race 1 Finishing Order OFFICIAL

1 . #900 Brandon Smith ( AMC GoPro Evol )
2 . #77 Kevin Juliot ( Mountain Dew TUM )
3 . #26 Tom Lory ( IROC GoPro Evol )
4 . #36 Pat Sweeney ( Red Bull TUM )
5 . #8 Max Frechette ( Duracell )
6 . #707 Bobby Lee ( Hawaiian Punch )
7 . #9 Eric Richard ( Duracell )
8 . Luciano Silva ( privateer )
9 . #05 Barry King ( Supercheap Auto )
10 . #39 Frank Radosti ( CARtoons )

Race 2 Finishing Order OFFICIAL

1 . #77 Kevin Juliot ( Mountain Dew TUM )
2 . #900 Brandon Smith ( AMC GoPro Evol )
3 . #36 Pat Sweeney ( Red Bull TUM )
4 . #26 Tom Lory ( IROC GoPro Evol )
5 . #707 Bobby Lee ( Hawaiian Punch )
6 . #9 Eric Richard ( Duracell )
7 . Luciano Silva ( privateer )
8 . #05 Barry King ( Supercheap Auto )
9 . #39 Frank Radosti ( CARtoons )

Monday night

Replays: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ipI2w ... sp=sharing

Official Practice stats:



Qualifying stats:



Race 1 stats:



Race 2 stats:



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

total drivers = 10
Pro drivers = 5
Spo drivers = 5

Qualifying:

Pro pole = 1:58.455
theoretical cutoff to avoid backmarkers = 108.3% (2:08.326)
drivers under 2:08.326 = 9 = 90.0%
101.5% of Pro pole = 2:00.232
Overall drivers < 101.5% of pole = 4 = 40.0%
Pro drivers < 101.5% of pole = 4 = 80.0%
Spo drivers < 101.5% of pole = zero
Overall field spread = 7.069 sec = 105.968%
Pro field spread = 4.647 sec = 103.923%
Spo field spread = 3.092 sec = 102.525%

Race 1:

Starters = 10
Finishers on lead lap = 9 (90%)
Overall field spread = 98.637 sec
Overall closest finish = 0.609 sec
Overall finishes < 1.000 sec of car ahead = 2 (20%)
Pro field spread = 45.002 sec
Pro Top 5 spread = 41.909 sec
Pro Top 3 spread = 8.459 sec

Race 2:

Starters = 9
Finishers = 9 (100%)
Overall field spread = 77.043 sec
Overall closest finish = 0.778 sec
Overall finishes < 1.000 sec of car ahead = 2 (22.2%)
Pro field spread = 38.253 sec
Pro Top 5 spread = 38.253 sec
Pro Top 3 spread = 5.730 sec

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stats are posted

Overdriving.

Early in the week in less than 10 laps I did a 1:59.6 to match my qualifying from 2017.

Unfortunately, that made me believe that 1:58s were a sure thing and I didn't get back in the car till Sunday afternoon by which time Brandon Smith was in the 58s.

On Sunday, I probably did another 40 laps before I matched what had come so easy a few days earlier.

I flailed away with two different final gears, many sessions trying to decide which one to use, unusually deciding against 2017s taller set which I surely had spent lots of time choosing in that season. Under different circumstances I would have done some post-race testing with both gears but in the end the shorter one seemingly should have been better everywhere except for the end of the front straight and between T10 and T11.

Brandon checked out in Race 1, had a good race with KJ for second place, not sure where I gave up P2 to him but it was fun trying to gain it back.

Race 2, I am losing out by being cautious early in the first lap, for I WANT the slower guys to establish themselves comfortably at the front and for us to pass them cleanly but without live race stewards and consequences our standing starts unfortunately are feeling more like motocross than automobile racing to me at the moment.

After watching Cameron Wagner's SCCA Runoffs race and before our race, I found myself pondering rolling starts, even though I hate 'em because I think that they spread the field. FWIW, rolling starts are more common in club racing. Out of curiosity, I'm going to check what SCCA did with the real world Trans Am series. A rolling start for Race 2 only seems like it would be a decent compromise and expand our skills / experience.

Anyway, Race 2 was great fun but and was well on its way to statistically being our best race of the season with the top four Pros bumper to bumper until I slammed into Pat at T14 on Lap 10 which come to think of it is about when and where I went deep in Race 1, probably brakes faded away, impossible to tell without a real life brake pedal. Sorry, Pat and Brandon, ruined their race and mine at that point. Pat saved it but lost a big gap to Brandon, I spun to a stop and something was wrong with the front of the car but secure with P5 miles behind.

Next up is Somoma Raceway, my home track. I am hopeful that a big effort will turn my fortunes around and I finally have a good mistake and incident free pair of races, especially as I've used up my allotment of free races for the season.

The seldom used NASCAR layout makes this a bit of an unknown, have to go back several seasons for stats and the cars have changed a little since then so all we can do is as perform to our maximum and hope that is good enough.

Congrats to the winners and podium finishers.

Couldn't find the 1:59 times I've done before here in practice or Qualy, settled in at 3rd on the grid.

Race one: Got a good start and as the race progressed Brandon and Tom were pulling away from me and I was from Pat in 4th. Looked like Tom and Brandon got to racing each other which allowed me to pull closer to them. Then in the later part of the race Tom started to make some mistakes and I was able to get to his bumper. He went wide in a corner allowing me to get to the inside and from there I was able to pass and keep him at bay. Had nothing left to catch up to Brandon in the last laps, brought it home in 2nd.

Race two: Some how Pat and I were able to get up towards the front leading into turn 1, Pat passed Barry for the lead and I behind in 3rd. Turn 2 I got to the inside of Barry and was able to pass him. From there I chased Pat around for awhile until I was able to pass him to for the lead. With still a lot of race left I was concerned about Brandon, Tom and him raced Pat for awhile for 2nd spot letting me get a little gap. Eventually as the race was going into the later laps Brandon got through for 2nd, but to my surprise I was able to keep out front with a gap for the win.

Although I've had some good results here and in the past I'm not a fan of this track at all and that feeling has been expressed by others, that may have contributed to the low turn out.

Lucked out on a Saturday practice session with Brandon and his setup...Thanks Brandon!
Not like anything I've ever tried but was instantly faster but much harder to drive.
Think I'll try the same set at Sears point
Congrats to everyone for showing up at thunderhill...shes definitely a bitch and I'm with KJ, I run decent here but not a big fan

Results are posted (pics coming).

Ah Tom.................I know Brandon was fast, but his fast times were in the 1:58's and check Sportsman too. I don't think I was off pace by 46 seconds here.

Fixed, thank you for the alert, I was apparently so happy to copy and paste from last week that I forgot to change lap times.

I realized while working on the results for Round 4 that the points for pro class at Thunderhill were incomplete; both the results chart and points standings have been fixed.