The Fifth round of the Redline Time Attack at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois was one for the books! This was the most costly race by far in terms of incidents and bent metal, as well as a small fire in the engine bay of the COBB Tuning Motorsports STI. Even with the carnage on the track, the COBB team recorded another win in the Modified AWD Class in the COBB Tuning Motorsports GT-R and a 2nd place in the AWD Street Class in the COBB Tuning Motorsports STI.
Chicago presented a unique challenge for competitors as twice-daily thunderstorms doused the track with hour-long deluges that kept the track slick and difficult to drive. This made finding the proper setup essential, as well as quickly learning the 3.3-mile track and taking advantage of the briefly dry racing surface critical.
After sweeping Round 4 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., the team was confident that a repeat of those successes was achievable. However, rival, Ryan Gates and his 700hp EVO X, has proven that when things go his way, he is able to rival the speed of the GT-R.
After the fast banking of Auto Club Speedway, the team quickly realized that a brand-new setup would be needed for Autobahn and alignment issues would harry the GT-R on this more technical track. With precious few sessions to dial in the suspension, the team had their work cut out as they labored to find the perfect settings.
Brian Lock, driver of the COBB Tuning Motorsports GT-R who won overall at Auto Club Speedway, noted that there were a few issues to deal with in practice. “I knew the weekend was going to be a whirl wind. 2-day events are already pretty packed, but add to that the fact that no one on our team had been to this track before made for a lot of work. Saturday the car did not roll out of the trailer fast at all; we were almost 3-seconds off our final pace. We had made a rear toe adjustment prior to this event that was not ideal for the track, and we had to re-balance our aero with the change to an all-new Aeromotions wing. Both tasks are not especially hard by themselves, but doing this in only three dry sessions while trying to learn the track at the same time proved otherwise. Like normal though, the COBB Tuning Motorsports crew performed flawlessly. We were able to make great improvements all day, and ended the day on top of the leader board.”
Cameron Benner’s STI continued to return strong results following his first win at Auto Club Speedway. Again, the team looked to a repeat performance as the STI, as well as the driver, show more speed at each event. However, despite careful preparation, a failed hose and a little bad luck would come into play.
“We made a few minimal bound and rebound settings to minimize oscillation, to keep the car settled mid-corner and at the exits and also to take advantage of the new OS Giken rear diff. The track is fun, it reminds me of Portland International Raceway, my ‘Alma Mater’. The track itself is rather slick as the track surface is very green, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really fun. It is deceivingly difficult to drive,” said Cameron.
Saturday practice gave the teams a little bit of a peek at what the Chicago area weather had in store for the Sunday race. Like clockwork, the skies would darken and bring brief, but heavy rains, high-winds and lightning, closing the track and also making the track surface slick. Normally, racetracks accumulate a certain layer of rubber which aids in mechanical grip. Because the Autobahn circuit’s surface gets a daily rinsing, this “grippiness” is washed away, leaving what racers refer to as a “green” track. Also, the humid air never lets the track dry fully, leaving a somewhat damp and very slick surface each afternoon. In order to be able to try for good times on a dry track, the team would need to try and get in lap times before the day’s afternoon rain could complicate conditions. With the team glued to the Doppler weather forecast on their laptops, they were able to predict with good accuracy, when the bad weather would arrive.
In order to get in clean laps early, the team decided to take advantage of a new Redline Time Attack feature — the Record Assault. Basically, this is a session where teams try to beat the standing lap record for their class. The catch is that these laps count for the overall weekend’s times, so you can win the event without going out for a normal timed “Time Attack” session. Knowing this and that a weather front was set to roll in that afternoon, Brian went out in the GT-R while the track was dry enough to put down quick laps and have a crack at besting the track record for a Modified Class car.
This proved rather fortuitous as the GT-R was able to post some “insurance” laps so should the rain and lightening close the track, the team would have posted times in the dry, giving them a little bit of an edge and some breathing room.
With the toe and wing issues sorted, the GT-R was able to post a 1:28.1 lap time, with Ryan Gates trailing a few tenths behind. Brian felt sure that the car was capable of a 1:27 or even a 1:26, but the less-than-ideal conditions prevented him from cutting more time.
For the GT-R, these would be the last posted runs of the weekend. Rain would wash out the Modified and Super Modified sessions leaving the Record Assault session laps as the final standing laps. This put Brian and the GT-R solidly in first place in front of Ryan Gates who once again was chasing mechanical troubles.
Cameron was able to squeeze out one last session before the rains came, however, his session would not be without some personal drama. In practice, Cameron was neck and neck with the “Professional Awesome” EVO VII of Dan O’Donnell posting a low 1:34 lap time and knocking on the door of a 1:33. However, Dan was also in the hunt and both drivers hovered around the 1:34 mark. With the rain looming in the distance, Cameron went out and posted at 1:35.093 to O’Donnell’s 1:34.727. With one lap to go, Cameron poured on the heat and was looking to post a 1:33 when disaster struck. On the back-side of the track, the oil-pressure warning light came on and smoke began to billow from behind the car. Cameron hit the emergency shut off and pulled the car off the track and it quickly became apparent that the STI was on fire. Cameron was able to get out of the car and extinguish the flames. The team later discovered that one of the lines feeding the oil cooler core had failed spraying oil over hot brakes and header, causing the small fire. Although the damage was light, it was enough to sideline the car for the weekend. However, rain prevented further attempts. Despite the flames, Cameron had secured 2nd place in the AWD Street Tire class.
As Brian and the GT-R rolled back out on track for the first official Modified Class session, the skies opened up and the organizers scrubbed the session. As the rain began to fall in sheets well into the afternoon, the organizers decided that the Modified and Super Modified Class standings would be decided by the earlier Record Assault times. By late afternoon, the sun came out and the teams prepared for the Super Session.
However, before the Super Session could begin, the track had dried enough to let the Street class back on track for one more timed session despite the fact that the track was not yet dry. To add insult to injury, Gregory Haye in the Challenge/Bridgestone Honda S2000 grendaded his engine in the last corner, sending oil all over the track. This car oiled it’s own tires and spun into the grassy over run. Before the condition of the track could be fully assessed, the Honda Civic of William Chan also spun off, narrowly missing Haye. However, seconds later, the EVO X of Justin Mathews also added himself to the turn 13 mayhem and in the process grazing Haye but severely colliding with Chan. All three drivers were unharmed, however, both the EVO and the Civic were badly damaged.
This was a precursor to the wild carnage that would mark one of the most costly, in terms of bent metal, Super Sessions in Redline history. With a track still slick from the rain and with standing water still on the front straight, the cars made their way to the pre-grid. In a precursor to the mayhem that would follow, one of the EVOs spun on the parade lap.
As the pack rounded the final corner and made their way down the front straight, the green flag dropped and things got ugly. Heeding the organizers directions to ease up and avoid contact at all costs, Brian yielded the line to an overzealous EVO driver who dive-bombed him by putting 4-wheels off (into muddy wet grass) came back on track and punted the Miata of Richard Fischer off track, who was able to gather it together and carry on.
The GT-R was more than a handful in the wet and to make matters worse,the AWD system rebelled in the incredibly slick conditions relegating the GT-R to RWD mode, with standing water still on the track. With his hands full of an ill-handling and bucking GT-R, Brian concentrated on bringing the GT-R home in once piece!
The mayhem started with the Mazdaspeed Miata Fischer losing control on the front straight, spinning and impacting the pit wall armco barrier, shattering his rear window and hitting the timing equipment sending a car battery and other debris all over the track. Fischer was able to continue on around the track despite heavy damage to his Miata. Several officials jumped out on the hot track to clear debris before other cars came onto the front straight.
However, the worst was yet to come. As the Mazdaspeed 5 of Jason Saini turned into turn 3, his car refused to turn and shot off the track head-on into the armco sending the car over the wall where it landed, high-sided on the turn 3 overrun barrier. With two heavy crashes, one car seriously wrecked, the organizers flew the black flag ending the session. Again, no drivers were hurt. At the end of the super session The EVOs held the top spots with the GT-R in third in the Modified Class.
