MARRS 6 - New Jersey Motorsports Park

After a slow haul in summer traffic we departed J&L Automotive in Chantilly in James' 37ft RV towing my trailer at around 5pm and arrived in Millville, NJ 7 hours later!

Registration opened at 7am on Saturday and I was in and out within the hour. We unloaded the car and setup the canopy, compressor, tires, etc... and got prepped for the practice session later that morning. Qualifying was more of a learning experience and my lap times proved it. Driving a new track always takes a few sessions to get to know the line but by the end of the practice session I had most of it figured out.

I was placed 16th or 17th on the grid for the qualifying race on Saturday and after the dust settled I spent most of the race battling with Tom Martin (VW Golf) and Jim Weaver (another 2002) for 10th place. Turn 1 is a uphill blind right-hander that takes a few laps to garner the courage to hit the apex and floor it hoping the track is open once you crest the hill. This is difficult enough to do when you have the corner to yourself now imagine a car in front, beside and behind you all trying to occupy the same space after the flag drops. High on the 'pucker-meter.'

Running a multi-class field does present some problems as the faster ITS/ITR cars will put a lap on you about 3/4 of the way through the race but I give them just enough room to pass me without letting it interfere with my race. However, there was the pesky ITS BMW that was faster down the straight but just could'nt get it together through the twisty parts of the track. His line for turn 1 was ridiculous - fast up the inside, hard on the brakes complete with tire smoke and the rear dancing like it was on ice. Inevitably his slow exit which made his previous actions a moot point. He went off several times during the race but always caught up to me on the straight. Other drivers had problems with a dangerously slow ITS Datsun 240Z but I was able to get around him without incident. I managed a 10th place finish and a much better appreciation of the track.

During my post-race inspection I noticed my front right strut was leaking diminishing its dampening capabilities. Rummaging through my spares I found two rears but no fronts. According to a few more mechanically knowledgeable people than I it wasn't bad enough to stop me from racing on Sunday and besides, the track is mostly right-hand turns and the few lefts were not that high speed.

Sunday's 20-lap race started just as exciting and Tom and I picked up where we left off in the first race. I managed to stay in front of him for the first 5 or so laps but he was able to pass me when we came across some traffic. I trailed him for another lap or two until we came to turn 1 where the aforementioned ITS BMW had overcooked the corner and put at least two wheels in the dirt exiting the corner. The non-track surface is very hard and the fine dust seems to hang in the air for a long time. This apparently spooked Tom and he faded right and opened it up for me to pass him on the left. Now I'm not overly courageous but I could see well enough through the dust that the BMW had already gone so I pounced.

Tom and I continued to circulate with him catching me in the slower turns 3 and 4 where his front-wheel drive worked better but then I would pull away slightly on the faster open areas of the track. We were pretty well matched and I was hoping to stay in front of him for the rest of the race. We eventually caught Matti in his usually much faster BMW 2002 with two laps to go. Matti did his best to hold us off but Tom managed to use traffic again to his advantage and got by me with one lap to go. The section called 'Lightbulb' is a long, banked and fast right-hander leading to the front straight and all three of us were nose-to-tail upon entry. Matti went low and Tom went high. I apparently had more speed exiting the turn than both of them and stuffed my nose up under Tom's bumper with Matti on my right. I don't know how we didn't touch but as we motored past Matti I pulled out and managed to get within a couple feet of Tom's nose before we crossed the finish line; Tom in 8th and me in 9th.

It was a great race and despite losing a place at the end I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and look forward to coming back to NJMP next year. Hopefully James will save me a space in the RV again too.