After a tough weekend at Lime Rock, RSR Motorsport team owner, Randy Smalley gives us the weekend wrap up:

Photo by Mark Lindsley

Some good news and some bad . . . 1st the good.

We had the fast time of the weekend and now hold the ST record at Lime Rock with a 1.00.191 @ 91.509 mph avg. Owen Trinkler was behind the wheel and backed up the time with multiple sub 1.01 times. The cars were FAST and the paddocks were buzzing all day.

196: I was behind the wheel for the Q session . . and frankly, I blew it. We knew that a 15 minute Q session with 50 cars on the track was going to be a problem. I intentionally waited to the very end to see if I could get a clear run. As I exited pit lane with cold tires, the 1st pack of cars were coming down the hill. I needed to get up to speed immediately but the tires were not ready. I over-cooked the downhill and spun the car. A big time rookie mistake! . . . and I am extremely mad at myself for this. This brain-fade error probably cost us the race. I was done for the session but still managed a 1.02 that put us 30th for the grid.

With a bad starting position, the plan was modified to turn the car to Owen at the 1st caution to make an early run on the pack. When that early caution came out, I came to pit road. There was some problem at pit exit and they held Owen up and we went down a lap. A good plan gone bad.

At that point Owen stormed through the field with as impressive a drive as I have ever seen. The car was clearly the fastest car on the track. He got as high as 11th but eventually just could not make up the lost lap. A pit stop for fuel toward the end dropped us to 16th.

Were it not for the bad Q session and the screwup by GA, we could and should have won this race.

197: Mark Congleton started the race and had a spectacular drive as well. He was bunched in with a fast pack of cars and they went hammer and tongs for an hour and a half. Peter London took the car at the mid point and continued. Somewhere along the way, the left front rubber boot on the CV joint was damaged. We think we ran over some debris. There were body parts scattered all over the track. The torn rubber boot leaked axle grease onto the brakes and eventually the axle failed, retiring the car.

THIS IS THE 1st TIME AN RSR CAR HAS FAILED TO FINISH A RACE DUE TO A MECHANICAL FAILURE. It was disappointing and a bit of bad luck. Mark and Peter drove a great race and it was a shame to miss the checkered flag after such a hard fought battle.

198: Rick Johnson was our best qualifier at the 13th position. He eventually moved up to 8th. Rick was a ‘man on fire’. It was exciting to watch. I personally think it was Rick’s best performance ever. He was just awesome. Unfortunately, lady luck intervened. Rick was broadsided by a Chevy Colbalt in big bend, knocking off the right side mirror and sending him into a ‘bog’ where he got stuck. Eventually, the safety crew hooked him out and got him back to the truck where Craig Hansen took the wheel and re-entered the track. He made a valiant attempt to salvage the day but it was not to be. Driving without the mirror created a blind spot and he was hit by another car that broke the right rear wheel. The car got stuck out on the track and was unable to make it back to pit road.

The end result, 16th, DNF, DNF. Bad luck has plagued us at the last two events. We are disappointed at the results but are very high on the car performance. All 3 Mini’s were at the top of the field and it’s clear that the elusive podium will come shortly.

The next few races are ‘Mini friendly’. We will soldier on and are looking forward to Mosport.

Thanks to the Mini owners who visited us at the transporter. Your excitement and enthusiasm made up for an otherwise frustrating day!

Randy

[ RSR Motorsport ]