In preparation for the Infineon race in conjunction with Nascar Nextel cup in late June, we went out to test on June 6th. The test was also in conjunction with Nascar, which was a first for us and pretty interesting. Our garage was right next to Carl Edwards and Boris Said testing the Busch cars.
We made major changes to the engine and suspension since Mid-Ohio, and the car was running considerably stronger with a much better cornering dynamic with altered springs, swaybars, and shock settings.
However, early in the day, a major incident struck. It seems that we've had plenty of them this season....
As I was coming out of turn 3, still feeling the new settings and power out, I did a quick brake check on the straightaway to ensure a stiff pedal and continued to approach the brake zone for turn 4. I hit the brakes and the pedal went all the way to the floor, with no brake pressure, and got stuck there. At this point, the speed was 108 mph. With my left foot busy digging the brake pedal out from its underside (I usually utilize left foot braking, since our car is equipped with a sequential transmission that does not require the use of clutch during downshifts), I began to downshift from 4th gear in an attempt to slow the car down. Unfortunately, without brakes, I ended up hitting the concrete barrier (at least there was a set of tires in front of it) at around 20 mph straight on, and the day was over.
We are still investigating the reason for the brake failure and have some leads.
Look out for us to make a come back to World Challenge for the season finale race at Laguna Seca in October. We will need time to fix the extensive damage to the car and continue testing to prevent such incidents from happening. As a first season team with a brand new motorsports program, we are relieved to know that every mechanic problem we have had has not repeated itself throughout the season so far, and we are able to learn from our failures to continue to strive for success in the series.
Stay tuned...
