2009 Grand-Am Cup Season Opener
C360R SKUNK2 DAYTONA REPORT
Jan 24th, 2009 // Article By: Skunk2 Staff // Photographer: Skunk2 Staff
Short Intro
After finishing the 2008 Grand Am Season 2nd overall in the drivers championship behind the factory Chevy Cobalt (Supercharged) team, we were excited to get back to Daytona for the 2009 season and see our friends/Compass360 racing team members. This year would be an exciting year because we were introducing new cars. For the past 2 years we were racing Acura TSX's with great success; 4 wins in 2007 and 4 wins in 2008. In 2008 Acura made the announcement that they would be withdrawing contingency sponsorship for the TSX's. Replacing Acura contingency would be Honda contingency for running the new Honda Civic Si's. So last year, we begin to test the 07 Civic Si. The Si showed promise. It is a balanced and predictable chassis that is much lighter than the TSX. The Compass 360 team worked hard during the off season to build two 4dr Civic Si's from scratch to accompany the 2dr Civic Si coupe from last year. Because Daytona is so early in the year (January) it was a mad scramble to complete the cars in time. Eventhough the team had limited time to build and test the cars, we were fortunate to have the data and chassis settings from the Civic Si coupe from last year,and we were confident that the new cars would not be far off from where they needed to be, but this would not be confirmed until after the cars turned their first laps on the Track.
The Drivers
After a great run with the Compass team in 2008, drivers Trevor Hopwood and Adam Burrows (the 2007 drivers champions and runner-ups in 2008) decided to try their hand at driving for the mini-cooper team. Their seats in the 76 car were replaced by longtime Compass drivers Travis Walker and Matt Pritiko. Walker placed 3rd at Daytona last year in the 76 (TSX). The 75 car was piloted by drivers Bo Roach and long time Honda road racer Peter Schwartzott. And, the 74 car was piloted by returning driver Christian Miller and Honda racing legend Randy Pobst. It was fantastic having some of the 'original' Honda road racers in the cars to pilot the new Civics on their maiden voyages at Daytona.
The Cars
The 74 car is a '07 Civic Si 2dr. This car was built and used in the second half of the 2008 season. With many laps under its belt, this car provided the data needed to properly set-up 75 and 76, the newly built 4dr Civics. Going into this race weekend, their were two big questions 1) would these cars have enough power to muscle their way around Daytona against forced induction cars such as the factory supported Subarus and Chevy Cobalts and 2) how would the newly mandated (Koni) race shocks perform. Because Koni is a factory sponsor all teams are forced to use their shocks, but like all teams we found the Koni's did not have the consistency and adjustability of the shock set-ups we had run in previous year.
Practice and Qualifying
Going out for the first practice session, everyone on the team had butterflies which had been steadily building up over the off-season. However as soon as the cars were on track the drivers feedback coming over the radio quickly eased our minds. With the exception of a few tweaks that were needed, the cars were fast and the chassis were well balanced. These positive comments quickly translated into fast lap times as we watched each of the Civics rise on the timing and scoring screens. The first session ended with Randy setting the fast lap of the session in 74 car, followed by Travis in the 76 car. In the second practice session, the 76 car driven by Travis topped the time charts, and in the final practice session Randy topped the charts in the 74 car followed closely by Travis in the 76 car trailing by only 0.3 secs.
The qualifying session went very well as Miller, Schwartzott, and Pritiko respectively qualified the 74,75,and 76 cars in 4th,5th,and 6th. The team was excited to start the first race of the season on the second and third row ahead of the 30 other cars entered. The good starting position would give the Compass Skunk2 cars an opportunity to break away from the rest of the field early.
Race Review
In the early part of the race, first stint drivers Miller (74), Pritiko (76), and Schwartzott drove very well keeping the cars in good position as well as good condition for the race closing 2nd stint drivers Pobst, Walker, and Roach. From the beginning and throughout the race, the 74 and 76 cars were running in the top 5, and the 75 car ran in the top 10. On lap 40 the 76 car was used a emergency brake for a Mustang running in the GS class that went to the second corner too hot and too deep. Travis did a great job saving the car as he fish tailed off track. As a result of the collision, the rear bumper cover was dangling off of the 76 car. The team brought in the 76 car for an early pitstop; for a splash of fuel and also to rip the loose bumper cover bumper off of the car before the car got black flagged by course officials. Even with a severe aerodynamic penalty resulting from the loss of the rear bumper cover and undertray, working with the 74 car driven by Randy, Travis (76) was able to make its way back up into the front lead the race from laps 50 to 60. The battle to the finish ratcheted up to a whole other level in the last 15 laps as the Compass Skunk2 Civics battled closely with the 00 factory Cobalt and the 111 factory Subaru. Unfortunately the 74 car which was positioned in 4th had to drop out of the battle and come into the pits due to fuel delivery problems, leaving the naturally aspirated 76 car to battle against its forced induction rivals. The battle between the 76, 00, and 111 cars was some of the most exciting racing Grand-Am had seen and the teams were riveted to monitors in the pits showing the live camera feeds. In the end the loss of the bumper on the 76 car proved to be a severe handicap, as the car did not have enough power to overcome the aerodynamic drag preventing the car from using all of 5th gear where earlier in the race the car was easily pulling in 6th gear. Eventhough the 76 car was superior in the corners, it suffered in the straights. With 5 minutes left in the race, there was still time for the 76 car, which had dropped back to third, to get to the front. But before Travis could move up in position, a full course yellow was called and the race ended under caution. In the end the 00 Cobalt (supercharged) came in first, followed by the 111 Subaru (turbocharged), followed by the 76 Compass Skunk2 Civic (naturally aspirated). The 75 car ended up finishing 10th and the 74, troubled by fuel injection problems, finished 12th
After finishing the 2008 Grand Am Season 2nd overall in the drivers championship behind the factory Chevy Cobalt (Supercharged) team, we were excited to get back to Daytona for the 2009 season and see our friends/Compass360 racing team members. This year would be an exciting year because we were introducing new cars. For the past 2 years we were racing Acura TSX's with great success; 4 wins in 2007 and 4 wins in 2008. In 2008 Acura made the announcement that they would be withdrawing contingency sponsorship for the TSX's. Replacing Acura contingency would be Honda contingency for running the new Honda Civic Si's. So last year, we begin to test the 07 Civic Si. The Si showed promise. It is a balanced and predictable chassis that is much lighter than the TSX. The Compass 360 team worked hard during the off season to build two 4dr Civic Si's from scratch to accompany the 2dr Civic Si coupe from last year. Because Daytona is so early in the year (January) it was a mad scramble to complete the cars in time. Eventhough the team had limited time to build and test the cars, we were fortunate to have the data and chassis settings from the Civic Si coupe from last year,and we were confident that the new cars would not be far off from where they needed to be, but this would not be confirmed until after the cars turned their first laps on the Track.
The Drivers
After a great run with the Compass team in 2008, drivers Trevor Hopwood and Adam Burrows (the 2007 drivers champions and runner-ups in 2008) decided to try their hand at driving for the mini-cooper team. Their seats in the 76 car were replaced by longtime Compass drivers Travis Walker and Matt Pritiko. Walker placed 3rd at Daytona last year in the 76 (TSX). The 75 car was piloted by drivers Bo Roach and long time Honda road racer Peter Schwartzott. And, the 74 car was piloted by returning driver Christian Miller and Honda racing legend Randy Pobst. It was fantastic having some of the 'original' Honda road racers in the cars to pilot the new Civics on their maiden voyages at Daytona.
The Cars
The 74 car is a '07 Civic Si 2dr. This car was built and used in the second half of the 2008 season. With many laps under its belt, this car provided the data needed to properly set-up 75 and 76, the newly built 4dr Civics. Going into this race weekend, their were two big questions 1) would these cars have enough power to muscle their way around Daytona against forced induction cars such as the factory supported Subarus and Chevy Cobalts and 2) how would the newly mandated (Koni) race shocks perform. Because Koni is a factory sponsor all teams are forced to use their shocks, but like all teams we found the Koni's did not have the consistency and adjustability of the shock set-ups we had run in previous year.
Practice and Qualifying
Going out for the first practice session, everyone on the team had butterflies which had been steadily building up over the off-season. However as soon as the cars were on track the drivers feedback coming over the radio quickly eased our minds. With the exception of a few tweaks that were needed, the cars were fast and the chassis were well balanced. These positive comments quickly translated into fast lap times as we watched each of the Civics rise on the timing and scoring screens. The first session ended with Randy setting the fast lap of the session in 74 car, followed by Travis in the 76 car. In the second practice session, the 76 car driven by Travis topped the time charts, and in the final practice session Randy topped the charts in the 74 car followed closely by Travis in the 76 car trailing by only 0.3 secs.
The qualifying session went very well as Miller, Schwartzott, and Pritiko respectively qualified the 74,75,and 76 cars in 4th,5th,and 6th. The team was excited to start the first race of the season on the second and third row ahead of the 30 other cars entered. The good starting position would give the Compass Skunk2 cars an opportunity to break away from the rest of the field early.
Race Review
In the early part of the race, first stint drivers Miller (74), Pritiko (76), and Schwartzott drove very well keeping the cars in good position as well as good condition for the race closing 2nd stint drivers Pobst, Walker, and Roach. From the beginning and throughout the race, the 74 and 76 cars were running in the top 5, and the 75 car ran in the top 10. On lap 40 the 76 car was used a emergency brake for a Mustang running in the GS class that went to the second corner too hot and too deep. Travis did a great job saving the car as he fish tailed off track. As a result of the collision, the rear bumper cover was dangling off of the 76 car. The team brought in the 76 car for an early pitstop; for a splash of fuel and also to rip the loose bumper cover bumper off of the car before the car got black flagged by course officials. Even with a severe aerodynamic penalty resulting from the loss of the rear bumper cover and undertray, working with the 74 car driven by Randy, Travis (76) was able to make its way back up into the front lead the race from laps 50 to 60. The battle to the finish ratcheted up to a whole other level in the last 15 laps as the Compass Skunk2 Civics battled closely with the 00 factory Cobalt and the 111 factory Subaru. Unfortunately the 74 car which was positioned in 4th had to drop out of the battle and come into the pits due to fuel delivery problems, leaving the naturally aspirated 76 car to battle against its forced induction rivals. The battle between the 76, 00, and 111 cars was some of the most exciting racing Grand-Am had seen and the teams were riveted to monitors in the pits showing the live camera feeds. In the end the loss of the bumper on the 76 car proved to be a severe handicap, as the car did not have enough power to overcome the aerodynamic drag preventing the car from using all of 5th gear where earlier in the race the car was easily pulling in 6th gear. Eventhough the 76 car was superior in the corners, it suffered in the straights. With 5 minutes left in the race, there was still time for the 76 car, which had dropped back to third, to get to the front. But before Travis could move up in position, a full course yellow was called and the race ended under caution. In the end the 00 Cobalt (supercharged) came in first, followed by the 111 Subaru (turbocharged), followed by the 76 Compass Skunk2 Civic (naturally aspirated). The 75 car ended up finishing 10th and the 74, troubled by fuel injection problems, finished 12th
