BCR with new Talent at St. Louis: Trans-Am Report

World Wide Technology Raceway , actually located on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, hosted round 11 of the SCCA Pro Trans-Am series. Very few of us have ever raced there, and a new track, especially a roval, always provides additional challenges for the teams and drivers.

Our set-up was not too far off, but gearing was, as we were forced to make changes to both cars after the first practise session. Barry Boes, piloting the #32 learned the track quickly and we kept improving thru the test and practise sessions. We missed a little on qualifying, the car was a tad looser than Barry likes, so we ended up 16^th. Barry drove a great race, somewhat uneventful and ended up with a solid top 15, in 13^th place.

The big story of the weekend was newcomer, Grant Palmer, never having driven a TA2 car (or any other tube-frame sedan). He immediately figured out the basics, such as shifting and brakes. He refused sticker tires all thru practise and testing as he wanted to understand how the handling would be during the race, on a track where tire degradation is a major concern. Unfortunately, we were heart broken in qualifying when he suffered a deflated tire and could not show his speed. Starting 21^st, he strategically worked his way up running in 10^th when a caution came out. On the restart, he was forced off track as he was trying to pass on the outside, putting him back a bunch. He still managed an 11^th place finish! Well done and hope we get to work with this young talent again!

Watch his fast lap of the race, lap 52;