1.5 Hours of Miami

Driver "Billy Bob" removed from results for not using real name as per Race2Play rules

Enjoyed my first outing here at Race2Play. My goal was to run incident free and get a feel for the drivers overall and I couldn't be more impressed!

Qualified at the back of the NAGT class but had a very stable build on the Mustang so I was good for the long haul. I had planned on 3 pit stops but the tires were off after about 15 laps so I had to make a couple of extra stops.

On one stop I forgot to request no fuel and as a result was carrying almost 20 extra gallons of fuel which made for tank like handling and some slooow lap times.

Congrats to Chris Melton winner of the Fabcar class and Fahn Thomas of Gone Broke Racing for the win in NAGT. My teammate and I finished 14th and 15th respectively to round out the Gone Broke Racing team entries.

Thanks to Jim Wheeler for organizing and hosting. Looking forward to the next race.

Cheers!

That was a great learning experience!
My first race in a Fabcar was a blast; thank you JW for hosting!

I had to run this one as I actually went to the Grand-Am race at Miami-Homestead a couple of years ago. Billy Auberlin had a great run in GT that day.

PRACTICE: The first thing I noticed was how scary the pit exit was! HAH! Thankfully this never came into play during the race.

QUALY: The real adventure! Combined Qualy meant that finding clear track space was paramount. For me, this came near the end of the session and I was able to get in my flyer.

RACE: Holy cow! This being my first Fabcar event meant I had no idea how the car would behave over the course of a fuel load or in traffic. So I had a couple of self spins including this beaut:

right in front of Melton in the middle of NASCAR 4!
All in all, I feel my result is a bit flattering.

POSTRACE: Well done to the GT guys: great awareness and very predictable.

Congrats to all finshers and special salute to Chris and Fahn!

EDIT: Well it stinks that I come home from a wonderful weekend to this, but... Fabrizio: when you lock up your brakes, slow to 70kph entering a corner we normally take at 90kph and slide across the racing line leaving me no escape as I am bearing down on you, there is little I can do to avoid contact. Furthermore, even if I wanted to give you the position back, I was shouldered off track by another car a few meters later allowing both you and Garret to slide by, immediatly rendering the point moot. By the way, the only reason I was able to get past Garret is because you knocked him off the racing line the lap before by overshooting the apex in T8. I am sorry you waited in the lobby for some 30 minutes after being DQ'd just for an apology for a simple racing incident. How was I to know I damaged your car or that you were still in the post-race lobby sitting in front of your computer with your arms crossed? I know in Italian law there must always be a ruling of culpability, so I can't help you find a resolution.
As for track selection: like I said earlier, Grand-Am/GT actually race multiclass here and it seems to work for them.

It wasnt one of my funnest race here at R2P :-(

During qualy session I read in chat an insult to Toni Palermo............and none kick him or require apologies (I dont read his name in results page).

By the end of my first stint at about lap 23 Douglas runs into me and damages my rear suspensions............he doesnt give position back and doesnt apologize in post race.........bah!

The game DQed me after second pit stop owing to speed limit in pit lane due to my button that doesnt work properly.......my fault I have to repair it! ....but my spotter didnt tell me, when I saw Drive-Through icon on the top left it was too late.

Too much traffic on track which cleared gap on my chaser and it was impossible settle a good pace......all NAGT cars are innocents but Homnestead and Sebring Clubs were both unsuitables for multiclass racing and the most tracks of the rest of the season..........and I am not sure will race next races beacause I dont have fun run on short tracks with multiclass which penalize each other.

I had only a fun battling with Garret for the whole race who was fast, clever and correct.........really a gentleman driver ;-)

Congrats to Chris and Fahn on their wins, well done guys ;-)

Thanks to all NAGT drivers for room ;-)

See ya in another season, have fun ;-)

Well, that was disappointing.

I qualified P3 and was comfortably running P3 in GT in the race. I could pull the rest of the GT field but did not have the pace for Paul and Fahn. So, I was settled in just to pass the 90 minutes away and score a good podium.

Unfortunately, I was not expecting a 41 MINUTE lap (Targa Florio this was not) right at half way. What happened was my 5 year old refused to stay in bed and my wife had had enough of him. So, I had to get him settled back down and asleep. Well, by the time all was settled, there was 7 minutes left in the race and I was, oh, 23 laps down or so to the next GT guy. Still wanting to finish, I restarted the car (I had parked outside of T2 next to the fence) and circulated to the end.

So, I'm happy with my pace but not too pleased with my household circumstances. I'll try again in a couple weeks, and maybe my kiddo will stay asleep this time! LOL!

Cyas!
Rob

Personally for me, this was the most fun race I have ran at R2P ever. Not only because I had a top 5 finish, but the level of difficulty of getting thru traffic deffinitly made the race more fun for me.

Qualifying went uneventful and I posted a decent lap time. During the race, I knew there was no way that I could match the pace of the top 5, and I knew I would pull away from the bottom half of the pack, so I had a feeling I would be alone for the most of the race.

There was so many times I got caught in traffic, but I knew to be patient and pass them on the straightaway. NAGT guys, you guys did a GREAT job. Thank you.

Anywho with my pit strategy I was able to make my way to the top 5. See everyone in 2 weeks!

Congrats to Chris and Fahn for their wins in class and to the rest of the podiums for their strong finishes.

Struggled in getting ready for this track, then for the qually and race themselves, found I had lost a couple of seconds per lap, just because. The only saving grace was that I was still marginally faster than the NAGTs, and some great work by the that crowd for head's up driving, which I appreciated.

My apologies to Kelly G, who I must have given quite a fright with a VERY late turn-in at T1 as he was braking wide to give me plenty of room, and to Jan S, who I sidled into at T7 as I juggled (poorly) coming up on traffic as traffic was coming up on me.

Looking forward to Bathurst.

First off, congrats to Chris on the win!

I was pretty happy with my qualy time. There was probably a bit more to gain, but I'll take a top 4 start any day.

The start of the race saw the lead DP cars taking it super cautious into the infield the first few laps which caused some accordion effect and some tight racing.

The DP's spread out a bit, well, Chris took off basically with Fabrizio and Doug in tow. That left me to battle with Elizeu until he had a mistake.

Doug and Fabrizio came back to me with their own mistakes and the three of us had a really nice battle for quite a few laps. Good stuff guys.

Fabrizio had a moment into turn 3 and Doug and I checked up. I hit Doug in the rear and I wound up with nose damage. After that, my car was really difficult in the turns with no front end grip.

Doug had trouble and faded, leaving Fabrizio and myself running together exchanging places all the way until Fabrizio got booted. Nice racing Fabrizio!