,
The rain also put large muddy puddles in all the wrong places, most notably at corner exit for the Bus Stop. Amazingly enough, the only off did not result in the tow truck needing to come out to drag a car out of the mud, doubly so considering a Radical on slicks found the Bus Stop puddle the hard way and went four off straight across the infield towards Talledega. With all the mud likely stuck to the bottom of the car, the car shouldn’t have any problems during weigh-in.
Despite the perfect ambient temp on race day, the rain from the day before left a few puddles on track which made for some “interesting” moments. 
Despite the fair conditions, we were the only car to make the practice session in Project G20 – likely due to camping in the pits in MotoIQ’s HQ on wheels – turning in a 2:03.673, good for 10th quickest in the field (which included Group D cars like Super Unlimited).Qualifying brought out the entire MPTCC TU field. The track had dried out, but again the infield was a muddy disaster, so the cars took it relatively easy. Qualifying P1 was, as usual, Edo Stepanyan with a 2:00.208 time in his fourth and final lap. I was next up in Project G20 with a 2:02.806, not bad considering this was my first time running this track in this configuration since my first race in Project G20 in 2004. Bringing up the rear of the field was Patris in his turbo DA Integra with a 2:14.433. Unfortunately, the car was breaking up pretty badly, and he was only able to turn in one lap.
On his last qualifying lap Edo belted out a 2:00.208 which would be good enough for P1.Patris wasn’t the only car to see problems in qualifying. Project G20, which has been super reliable since we solved some of the teething issues with our turbo setup, had an ignition issue crop up again that we had thought resolved during offseason practice, and the right rear strut was literally pissing fluid out of the adjuster all over the strut tower and rear window (not bad considering 10 years of racing abuse without a rebuild). The ignition issue was resolved easily, as the coolant reservoir had overflowed a little (it was filled to “max” before qualifying), but with no ability to rebuild the damper in the pits we figured we’d run the car as it was and hope for the best. Common theme in our team strategy, it would appear.
Edo’s car, as usual, was reliable. Guess that’s what happens when you build a motor with off-the-shelf parts (albeit Frankensteined together) and have been running the car since Christ was a sailor.
Your MPTCC field taking their place in the NASA pre-grid and ready for race 1 of the 2014 season.
