By Trey Dusek
Good morning racers! We have now wrapped up our featured event of the 2024 S2NA season and it was a great success. The IMS and SVRA played host to 20 Sports 2000 racers, many of which were racing at Indy for the very first time. The four days we were fortunate enough to have at Indy provided us with great weather, albeit a touch on the warm side, and lots of track time. While this weekend was a first for many, I don't think it will be a last as everyone expressed lots of enthusiasm for the event as well as the venue!
With all that said, we still have plenty of racing left in this season having just hit the halfway mark for 2024. Our next event is at one of the most fun tracks in the United States, Pittsburgh International Race Complex (PIRC), known for being the closest one can get to a rollercoaster in a race car. PIRC is truly a phenomenal track, and if you are thinking of the PIRC you raced back prior to 2015, think again! With a 1.2-mile addition, the track has been transformed into a bucket list stop for all racers young and old. Be sure not to miss this event, there is still plenty of time to sign up by clicking the button just below! See you there!
INDY WEEKEND RECAP
Thursday:
Thursday was a test day for Indy and required for anyone who had not been there before. Three sessions of track time were available to our Group 5A S2, 7, and 11 cars. After a quick drivers meeting on the 4th floor of the pagoda, finding your way down to the false grid in the iconic Gasoline Alley was the first order of business. Rolling out under the pit terrace stands and onto the pit lane was a truly surreal experience, as the sense of place with the massive grandstand, scoring pylon, and yard of bricks was very exciting. For the 20 Sports 2000 cars in attendance, lots of building speed, experimenting with lines, changing gears, and watching mirrors took place as the group 7 and 11 cars had higher horsepower with more rubber. Regrettably, on one of the opening laps of the first session, two non-S2 cars tangled (on the front straight no less!) resulting in Rob Sherwood being pushed into the inside pit wall, ending his weekend, while Martin Hulick had a cam fail a lobe which he was able to repair overnight.
Friday:
Friday morning saw 19 Sports 2000 cars out of the group of 31 take the green flag for practice. The 3 Non-member Bart Wolf cars of Klein, Myers, and Siedel, all on Goodyear tires, seemed to be quick immediately in the 1:33 to 1.35 range with Trey Dusek just 2 tenths behind in 4th followed by Ted Guenther, Jim Hallman, and Brent Gernert. Mid-pack VS2 would remain close all weekend, with Paiman Owtad, Rhett Merriman and Bryan Gernert seemingly tied together all weekend. Glenn Jividen and Rob Dusek ran closely together and Tom Kane, Angelo Savoia, and Bruce Domeck represented the HS2 group. Regrettably, Tom Kane had a pinion gear fail and could not continue.
Qualifying 1 on Friday afternoon saw everyone running similar times to the morning, however, the Dusek's switched cars resulting in both of them going slower as neither liked the other car and because an upright failed on the #32 Doran necessitating shipping a replacement overnight for repairs on Saturday morning.
Saturday:
Saturday morning was Qualifying 2 and a chance to improve, as the track was cooler. A black all resulted in everyone coming in after a single lap. With 1 Doran repaired, the second Doran of Trey Dusek failed a clutch disk exiting the pits after the black all, so once again repairs were needed. Rhett Merriman came to the rescue with a replacement disk to be installed before the afternoon race.
Saturday afternoon's race got off to a rocky start with some contact at turn 1 between Brent Gernert and Ted Guenther which resulted in Mike Wright and Jim Hallman retiring from the race and ending Hallman's weekend. An early race safety car bunched the field again and Dusek III came from the back to finish 4th overall in S2 ahead of Gernert, Guenther, and Shanel, with VS2 won by Bryan Gernert over Paiman Owtad and Rhett Merriman and HS2 was won by Angelo Savoia. Dusek III withdrew after a protest over a light flywheel despite being significantly overweight in total.
Sunday:
Sunday was a Sports 2000-only Feature race, so the Group 7 and 11 cars were not present, which was a nice change of pace. This race was exceptionally clean with the Wolf cars of Myers, Klein, and Siedel coming home ahead of Member cars of Dusek III, Ted Guenther, (Quadracci), and Brent Gernert. VS2 was won by Bryan Gernert over Paiman Owtad and Rhett Merriman and HS2 was won by Angelo Savoia.
Sunday afternoon, everyone packed up and took the long drive home. All in all, Indy was a wonderful experience that everyone should race at least once in their racing career. Challenging, fast, and iconic, it was a fantastic event!
PITT RACE CIRCUIT INTRO
Pittsburgh International Race Complex broke ground in 2001 as the brainchild of two area attorneys. After compiling the necessary funding for the project through outside investors, the first shovel went into the ground in December, for the grand opening to take place in July 2002. At the time, the complex was known as BeaveRun Motor Complex and was not the track we all tout so highly today. In 2015, the track was given new life with a 1.2-mile-long extension to the existing track adding some of the best features the track is now known for. It is by no means an easy course to master, but once you find your rhythm, you will quickly fall in love with the place!
While there are quite a number of tricky corners on this track, I will focus on the areas where one can find the most improvement in a single lap. T1 is a very important corner as it leads onto one of three “straights” on the track. You enter the braking zone traveling uphill before transitioning downhill just before turn-in. This can be tricky as the balance of the car shifts around a bit, but if you are confident with your brake pedal application you will be just fine. You can turn-in and get back to power sooner than you would expect here as the compression at the apex aids in one's ability to fly through the corner.
The next section we will focus on is the T7-T10 complex. This right, left, right, left combination is a host of fun in an S2000 car as it is fast yet technical when done properly. T7 you can apex at mid-corner in order to continue carrying your speed coming up the hill from T6. T8 you will want to late apex to set the car up for another mid-corner apex at T9. T10 is once again a late apex, but a pretty blind apex at that. Build your speed throughout the practice session here as it can be a bit of a daunting corner.
T14 is one of the blindest yet most important corners on our calendar as it leads onto the very long back “not so straight”. This will be another build corner throughout the weekend as it is simply disconcerting. Be sure not to turn in too early here as it is very easy to run wide, or require you to come out of the throttle. However, if you do plan to lift on exit, be sure to keep the car underneath you as the chassis is loaded up at this point and might just go around on you with too much off-throttle oversteer.
Below is a video from our very own Pittsburgh local (some of the time), Nate Scigliano. This was just after the extension was added to the track but a great example of how to go fast around Pitt Race! Thanks Nate!
We hope that all of the members of the S2NA Club find a venue that works for their schedule and will join in the challenge, fun, camaraderie, and excitement of our racing events. Join now to be included in this season's activities, it's never too late. The membership form can be found on our website under the Members tab (link at the bottom of this email). If you haven't yet, be sure to click the registration button below to sign up for our fourth event of the season with VRG at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Keep it clean and the track stays green!
We would like to thank our club sponsors for their continued support
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