10/06/2007
Grand Bayou Race Series Round #1
Well this past Saturday the Grand Bayou Race Series held its first event of the 2007 - 2008
season at No Problem Raceway in Bella Rose, Louisiana. This was my first event of the
season. They were around 50 drivers competing in 4 classes on Saturday. I had the #32
VIP Garage Eagle Talon in the Sport Touring (Blue Bracket) class.
Watching the weather report Friday night after a lively evening in the hotels "Stardust
Lounge" said there was a 40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. We were hoping to
avoid those, but mother nature has her way when she wants to. So Saturday morning and
we arrive at the track at 8:00 am to get the pit area setup and its really overcast and
threatening to rain on us. It holds off for us and we get in our 15 minute warm up session at
about 9:45 am. The car feels pretty good, really about the same as it did last weekend at
our practice session. Rear end is sliding around just a bit so we took the pressure down to
25 all the way around (cold) and they heated up to 30 in the front and 28 in the rear and
the car seem to be a little more stable in the turns.
Qualifying - In the Sport Touring class all 4 brackets (including the Spec Miatas) are on the
track at the same time. So in our qualifying session I was up against everyone in the class.
All the little Miatas all the way up to the fastest Touring car drivers at the event. They
actually sent the Miatas out last so they would not be lap traffic too soon in the session. I
ran fairly well for about the first 10 minutes of the 15 minute qualifying session. Not pushing
the car to the limit, just trying to stay smooth and hitting my marks. With about 5 minutes to
go, I can see Miatas in front of me as I have caught up to them and the fastest guys (red
bracket drivers) in my rear view mirror. So the last 5 minutes or so of the qualifying was
trying to get around Miatas without holding up the faster guys either. Overall I qualified 3rd
in the Blue Bracket with my best time of the session being 1:33.00 Actually close to my
personal best on the track which made me very pleased with the outcome.
Heat Race - Well as our heat race approached, so did the rain. Well more like torrential
down pours. It was raining so hard at one point that you could not see the other end of the
track from the grand stands. So off we go in the rain for the heat race. 2 by 2 coming to the
start line and we get the green flag. The first few laps I don't think anyone got out of
second gear. Everyone was trying to feel out how everyone else was going to slide around
and carve a new line in the rain. Around the 3rd lap I was following the #2 guy in our
bracket in a 5.0 mustang, we go into the sweeper and he gets a little sideways sliding in his
rear wheel drive and I tuck underneath him to go into second place. I set my eyes on the
BMW who is running up front in our bracket. In the 20 minute heat race, cars a sliding all
around the track and off the track left and right. No one is going fast and no one really
could. As the session went on the rain got heavier. As the session comes to a close, I see
we are getting the checkered flag as I come down the front straight, good thing too. I took
the turn a little too deep in the rain and we on a wild 360 ride through turn 1 and off into the
grass about 20 yards off the track. Took a few tries to get the car fired back up but no
worries and limped back into the pits. No damage, just allot of wet grass clumps and some
mud.
Feature Race - In the 20 minute feature race, since I got 2nd in the heat race I got to lineup
a little further up in the grid. Even ahead of some of the "faster" bracket guys who slid all
over the place and I passed in the previous heat race. We're off in the feature race on a
somewhat drier track this time. I dive in behind a yellow bracket driver and the BMW (driven
by Allen Simpson) who is leading our Blue Bracket. Through about the first 10 minutes it
was just me giving chase to the BMW. About this time I see 2 of the Red Bracket (fastest
Touring Cars) coming up on. I let them go around and just try to follow them around the
circuit. With around 5 or so minutes to go, I latch onto a Yellow bracket Porsche 951's
bumper and follow him around the track for the duration of the feature race. I finish the
feature race 2nd in my bracket out of 5 drivers and 10th overall. All and all a very good first
event for me in the series to start off my rookie season. Next race is November 4th !!!!
~Eddie Garrison
season at No Problem Raceway in Bella Rose, Louisiana. This was my first event of the
season. They were around 50 drivers competing in 4 classes on Saturday. I had the #32
VIP Garage Eagle Talon in the Sport Touring (Blue Bracket) class.
Watching the weather report Friday night after a lively evening in the hotels "Stardust
Lounge" said there was a 40% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. We were hoping to
avoid those, but mother nature has her way when she wants to. So Saturday morning and
we arrive at the track at 8:00 am to get the pit area setup and its really overcast and
threatening to rain on us. It holds off for us and we get in our 15 minute warm up session at
about 9:45 am. The car feels pretty good, really about the same as it did last weekend at
our practice session. Rear end is sliding around just a bit so we took the pressure down to
25 all the way around (cold) and they heated up to 30 in the front and 28 in the rear and
the car seem to be a little more stable in the turns.
Qualifying - In the Sport Touring class all 4 brackets (including the Spec Miatas) are on the
track at the same time. So in our qualifying session I was up against everyone in the class.
All the little Miatas all the way up to the fastest Touring car drivers at the event. They
actually sent the Miatas out last so they would not be lap traffic too soon in the session. I
ran fairly well for about the first 10 minutes of the 15 minute qualifying session. Not pushing
the car to the limit, just trying to stay smooth and hitting my marks. With about 5 minutes to
go, I can see Miatas in front of me as I have caught up to them and the fastest guys (red
bracket drivers) in my rear view mirror. So the last 5 minutes or so of the qualifying was
trying to get around Miatas without holding up the faster guys either. Overall I qualified 3rd
in the Blue Bracket with my best time of the session being 1:33.00 Actually close to my
personal best on the track which made me very pleased with the outcome.
Heat Race - Well as our heat race approached, so did the rain. Well more like torrential
down pours. It was raining so hard at one point that you could not see the other end of the
track from the grand stands. So off we go in the rain for the heat race. 2 by 2 coming to the
start line and we get the green flag. The first few laps I don't think anyone got out of
second gear. Everyone was trying to feel out how everyone else was going to slide around
and carve a new line in the rain. Around the 3rd lap I was following the #2 guy in our
bracket in a 5.0 mustang, we go into the sweeper and he gets a little sideways sliding in his
rear wheel drive and I tuck underneath him to go into second place. I set my eyes on the
BMW who is running up front in our bracket. In the 20 minute heat race, cars a sliding all
around the track and off the track left and right. No one is going fast and no one really
could. As the session went on the rain got heavier. As the session comes to a close, I see
we are getting the checkered flag as I come down the front straight, good thing too. I took
the turn a little too deep in the rain and we on a wild 360 ride through turn 1 and off into the
grass about 20 yards off the track. Took a few tries to get the car fired back up but no
worries and limped back into the pits. No damage, just allot of wet grass clumps and some
mud.
Feature Race - In the 20 minute feature race, since I got 2nd in the heat race I got to lineup
a little further up in the grid. Even ahead of some of the "faster" bracket guys who slid all
over the place and I passed in the previous heat race. We're off in the feature race on a
somewhat drier track this time. I dive in behind a yellow bracket driver and the BMW (driven
by Allen Simpson) who is leading our Blue Bracket. Through about the first 10 minutes it
was just me giving chase to the BMW. About this time I see 2 of the Red Bracket (fastest
Touring Cars) coming up on. I let them go around and just try to follow them around the
circuit. With around 5 or so minutes to go, I latch onto a Yellow bracket Porsche 951's
bumper and follow him around the track for the duration of the feature race. I finish the
feature race 2nd in my bracket out of 5 drivers and 10th overall. All and all a very good first
event for me in the series to start off my rookie season. Next race is November 4th !!!!
~Eddie Garrison