It's that time again, first qualifying session yesterday.
http://www.scca.com/eventresults.aspx?event=15558&hub=1

Results of 1st round GTL practice..........a CRX Honda with S.I.R. goes 3 seconds under the lap record....hmm....and it needs a bigger inlet?? ???

Interesting to note Dave Cormier from Sanich in GT-2 and Jim Hargrove in both GT-3 and GT-L (busy boy).

Mike

You'll also notice Jim hasn't been able to qualify yet, busy with problems maybe.

With both cars :(

Jim is qualified in 8th in GTL as of this morning.

Top 3 GTL are all Honda CRX w/SIR, all under old lap record. Guess the restrictor is going to get even smaller for next year, right? 8)

Kyle Oberndorf is in 4th after Q1 and Q2.  FB class in his Stohr

James

Sign_Guy wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2010 at 6:48am:

Top 3 GTL are all Honda CRX w/SIR, all under old lap record. Guess the restrictor is going to get even smaller for next year, right? 8)

And thats why people will be leaving the class.  The Hondas will be breathing through a straw in 2 years ::)
SCCA has a real problem with limiting new engines to match the power of old relic engines. I for one would rather run GTU or GT3 once I install new 15" wheels.

And the point I made was that even with S.I.R.'s, at this year's runoff's several of the restricted cars are well under the old lap record. (ie: faster!) Your own car is proof of that also - look at your own lap times compared to the GTL record at River's Edge.

Anyone have any idea why Jim H. didn't qualify in GT-2?

Yeah, but that's what GT class cars are all about. Trying to work within the rules to make your car faster. The owners of the new cars and new motors have a huge steep learning (and spending) curve while all the old cars had that experience years ago when they were new to the class. Each year for quite some time you are going to find some guys have figured out (at great expense too, I might add) how to succeed in making their cars faster even with the ridiculous rules constantly trying to slow down the newer cars. Even I will abandon the class soon if all we are going to get is rules that are meant to slow us down so we can't possibly go any faster than the old antiquated stuff that has not been produced for 30 or more years. Why make us spend thousands and thousands of dollars building motors that suck through a straw and still not get back to the manufacturer's original hp and torque ratings for the stock motor.
Let's face it nobody wants to destroy those old race cars by expecting them to keep up with new technology so let's put them in a class where they only have to race against cars of a similar vintage.
Oops, did I say Vintage  ::) Yeah, that would be a good place for them or at least maybe we should go back to GT4 and GT5 type classes with the stipulation that GT5 should be about old technology small displacement engines and GT4 should be about slightly bigger displacement newer technology type engines. I am sure we would attract a whole new breed of competitors if we went in this direction because not many new racers want to or know much about the old stuff, they want to race the new stuff.
At least in GT3 right now you could actually take a Honda motor and get it to make more hp and torque than a factory powerplant which is what we all want to do with our motors anyway, make more power, go faster not spend more money, go slower !

Paul

Yeah, what happened to Hargrove in GT3. He was listed after the second qualifying as no time and then the third qualifying time he's not listed . Hope he didn't have to pull out. :(

I heard Jim burned some valves in GT3 testing and does not have the motor back together yet!
Question is with the new 120% rule will they let him race anyway?
SCCA is  not very good at bending rules.
Lets hope.

PS: Big Daddy is 5th in GT2, should be fun to watch him stir up the troops!

GT should evolve or it will die. The insanity of trying to keep those old antiquated engines competitive with modern design will only satisfy the oldest of competitors.
Funny, I'm calling anything produces in the last 25 years "modern design", thats how crazy these rules  are.

Woo-Hoo Jim!!

11:03:34am  CHECKERED FLAG for Peter Shadowen and his first National Championship by 0.211-second over Jim Dentici. Kent Prather is third, followed by Rob Macfarlane and Jim Hargove.
11:03:09am  Shadowen drops a wheel in 14, Dentici drafting but can't get by.  
11:02:13am 13 Dentici tries to pass in the Kink but can't get it done.
11:01:41am 13 Dentici has caught Shadowen under braking in Five and may be setting up to draft between the Kink and Canada Corner.
10:58:41am 13 LAST LAP. Shadowen still leads Dentici by one second. Prather is a distant third, followed by Macfarlane, Hargrove and Goodale.
10:56:41am 12 Two to go--Shadowen leads Dentici by 1.1 seconds.
10:56:12am 11 Shadowen leads Dentici by 0.810-second. It's 17 seconds back to Prather in third, followed by Macfarlane and Hargrove.
10:55:42am 10 Bob Clark off and on at the Kink in sixth. Goodale gets by.
10:53:29am 10 Bill Gilcrease into the gravel at One.
10:51:04am 10 Shadowen leads Dentici by 0.448-second with four to go.
10:50:14am 9 Shadowen leads Dentici by 0.346-second. Prather is 12 seconds back comfortably in third.
10:49:06am 8 Shadowen back into the lead.
10:48:42am 8 Bovis again pits.
10:47:38am 8 Dentici leads Shadowen by 0.8-second. Prather is 8 seconds off the lead, followed by Macfarlane and Hargrove.
10:47:07am 7 Bovis is back on track in ninth but is smoking.
10:46:13am 7 The lead duo are battling at a record pace, both cars turned lap times in the 2:33 range.
10:45:14am 7 Bovis into the pits out of third. It's now Dentici, Shadowen, Prather, Macfarlane and Hargrove. Bovis may have had leaves in his grill.
10:43:58am 6 The lead duo are pulling away slightly from Bovis. Prather is slowly reeling in Bovis.
10:42:32am 6 Shadowen and Bovis side-by-side for second at the stripe and Shadowen holds the position. Prather turns fast lap of the race at 2:34.3.
10:42:15am 5 Dentici into first in Canada Corner!
10:39:07am 5 Dentici is bump-drafting Bovis in second and third. Dentici into second place  
10:36:32am 4 Shadowen leads Bovis by 0.2-second, then Dentici, Prather and Macfarlane, who set fast lap of the race at 2:35.8.
10:35:57am 3 Bovis and Shadowen side by side and Shadowen into the lead in Five.
10:34:36am 3 Bovis led at the stripe and Dentici tried the outside in one which allows Shadowen by into second in Turn Three.
10:33:14am 2 Its a Honda breakaway at the moment at Canada Corner.
10:30:19am 2 Bovis leads Dentici by 1.2 seconds, followed by Shadowen, Macfarlane and Prather.
10:28:20am 1 GREEN! Bovis to the lead on the outside of Turn One.
10:27:59am  This will be a 13-lap race for the National Championship.
10:18:05am  Pace lap is under way. Top five on the grid are No. 72 Peter Shadowen (Honda CRX), Chris Bovis (Honda CRX), Jim Dentici (Honda CRX), Kent Prather (Mazda Miata) and Rob Macfarlane (Toyota Celica).
10:14:33am  Race will go green at 10:30 AM.
10:10:49am  Welcome to the 2010 GT-Lite National Championship race at Road America. Weather report: Overcast, 60 degrees with a westerly wind of 18 mph gusting to 36 mph.

Congrats JIM!
5th in North America sound pretty darn GOOD!

Great job Jim, with gusts up to 36mph bet you wish you could'a set sail and showed them what's what but 5th is pretty good in my book ! WTG !

I agree. Well done, Jim.

Sorry, I didn't see this thread till today. Peter Weedon is adapting my blog for the next issue of pit pass, but you can also read about it here: http://blog.raceenergy.biz/. Peter has some extra photo's that aren't on the blog or on my facebook page as well for the article.

Thanks for all the kind words. It was an adventure!

Jim