2018 GRIDLIFE MID-OHIO | APR 14TH & 15TH

RACEDAY 

“The first event each year is always the Hardest…”

After a 7 hour drive to Mid-Ohio, we unloaded all the cars and gear, made sure all the cars got through tech inspection, then we set up camp and got prepared for the next morning. Everyone knew we would have one, maybe two session to lay down a respectable time before the rain came, much easier said than done, the team was basically shaking down their new cars, Lester had never driven this track so he really had his work cut out for him. Sitting in the Silvia I had multiple concerns with over-heating due to the new front mount and ducting, I wasn’t sure if the wheels and tires would rub under load, was the grip going to be there? had I done everything right to have a safe car? I would soon find out the answers to all these questions, and as team captain my thoughts were about all my teammates and that they were going through the same thought process. As we started our out lap Mark led the team followed by Mike and Les as I brought up the rear. My goal was to load up the car a little bit more every lap, lap two Mike and Lester gave me the point by and I bumped the car up to about 65%,  constantly checking the gauges, trying to put heat in the tires and listening for odd sounds or tire rubbing. About 3 laps in I felt a wave of relief fall over me, the car was working! A quick look at the solo showed that I had cut a 146.08 not a fast time but all things considered it had felt like I had just won! And with the gas gauge showing I was on fumes I pitted with a huge smile on my face! parked the car and anxiously awaited for my teammates to finish up and come back to the pits, One by one they started rolling in, it was hugs and high fives all around! I was one proud man. After the track high subsided a bit we started looking at times. We knew our street FWD guys we looking good and boy were we right! after one session Lester was sitting in first place with a time of 156.55 followed closely by Mike with a 159.34 putting hard times in 1st and 2nd. All eyes would turn back to the radar as the rain was going to hit sooner than later. During the cold track lunch break the rain started to fall. I was on slicks and knew that my day was over, Mike had also decided to leave his car in the pits for the rest of the day. Rain is a funny thing at race tracks, after it had poured for hours it was apparent the the dry times would stand for everyone that weekend, Leaving hard times on top of street FWD. The end of Saturday would see conditions improve from soaking wet and standing water to a damp track, and with this street FWD would see the late entry of a brand new civic type R, a car known in this class as a ringer car, Anthony Cuthbert would end up bumping Mike and Lester down to 2nd and 3rd. The sun set and some hard earned beers were shared as we all swapped war stories. But once again all eyes were glued to the radar. It was pretty clear that Sunday would see more rain and with more rain we knew the times from Saturday would stand. Lester and Mark would go out and practice their wet driving skills as the rest of the team watched. Then it would be time to collect some hardware and hit the road back to Chicago.

All in all it was a great weekend and even though we only had four of the seven Hard Times car out the tone had been set. Gridlife Mid-West will go down in history for us as it will be the first time that all 7 cars hit the track together, as always there is a ton of work to get done between now and then. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. You gotta be there to win! 

Hard TImes Racing drivers list for Round 2 is as follows 

Lester-Street FWD -Integra 

Mike -Street FWD -Integra

Mark- Street AWD r32 GTR

James- Street RWD Mustang GT 

Ben- TrackMod- RWD Mazda RX7 

Sam-Unlimited RWD  s13 180sx 

Charlie- Unlimited RWD  s13 silvia

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Hard Times Racing is a supporter of the GRIDLIFE event series. Konig is proud to provide quality wheels for part of the Hard Times Racing team!

Charlie Ensslin 240SX is running the Flow Formed Konig Dekagram in 18×10.5 all around w/ et18mm offset. The Konig Dekagram is Flow Formed.

Make sure to follow Hard Times Racing on INSTAGRAM!