SCCA NER Finale & Stirling Moss Runoff

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I won! I did it! I took 1st place for the year in B Street Prepared! Today was the season finale for SCCA NER, which is also the Stirling Moss Runoff. At the end of each year, each class winner battles it out for this special trophy.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

The way the Stirling Moss event works is like this:

1. The normal points event is over after the first 3 morning runs (meaning if you are tied for 1st place for the year, you have only the first 3 morning runs to win)
2. If you are a class winner or in the top 10 PAX points after those 3 runs, you are in the Moss. If you are not a class winner, you continue running your afternoon runs normally
3. The fastest of your 3 morning runs is your dial-in time
4. You now have to try to make your 3 afternoon runs as close to your dial-in time as possible

The winner is then decided at the end of the event by whoever accumulated the most points. Points are given as follows:

1. Half of your points come from your PAX (Leader's PAX time divided by your PAX time)
2. The other half of your points come from the standard deviation between your fastest morning run and afternoon runs 1, 2, and 3

Josh and I have been very close in points all year, and after losing 1st place last weekend, I was definitely nervous for this race. After walking the course however, I felt more confident. It was a great course with a lot of sweepers in the racing line, which made me feel good about being on the gas more while turning.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I cleared my head and really focused on learning my line on the first run. I then reviewed my run video as much as possible, analyzing it and looking for flaws in my line. That is when I started seeing how I could make my arches smaller, allowing me to drive that much faster on the course. My only concern was the fast section in where I could use third gear (if I wasn't having transmission issues that is).

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

After feeling more confident with my game-plan, I drove as fast as possible the rest of the morning. I managed to pull my fastest time on my third run, getting down to a '65.9! My lead was almost two seconds after that run, putting me 1st in BSP for the year and entering me into the Moss challenge. I did not do so well for the Moss, but I was more focused on winning the class for the year over the Moss in the first place. Here are the results for the event on the SCCA NER website.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

I also wanted to say congratulations to Grant for winning the Moss! He definitely deserved that trophy, given how fast he has been all year. I also wanted to thank Bud for giving me his Hoosier take-offs from Nationals (285/30/18 Hoosier A6 tires), as they will help me out greatly next season.

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

As for me, I'm very proud of myself. I worked really hard to win this year. Given the level of competition there was in my class and all the kinks/setup issues I had to sort out with the car for most of the year, it was not a simple walk in the park! I can't thank everyone enough for all the help this season, and I can't wait for next year already. For now, below is a video overview of the course on my 4th run, and then my fastest run that I put down in the morning.