The MCR77 Racing Team headed to Topeka, KS for the 2008 SCCA National Championship Runoffs in the GT Lite class with the #79 Honda CRX. Mark qualified 13th for the race and finished an impressive 6th place.
October 11, 2008 - Mark takes 6th place at the Runoffs! Congratulations to Mark!
Lap 1 - Mark starts 13th
Lap 2 - Mark makes a great move and already upto 12th
Lap 3 - Mark makes another charge and makes up a few more spots
Lap 4 - Mark upto 9th
Lap 5 - Mark is still 9th. Mark's current fast lap is a 1:51:150
Lap 6 - Just under 1 second behind the 8th place car, only 3 spots from a top 6 goal
Lap 7 - Mark is biting at the heels of the 8th place car, just 0.6 behind. Mark definitely appears to have the faster car.
Lap 8 - Holding steady at 9th, 6th place is only 8 seconds ahead!
Lap 9 - Ugh, Mark drops a spot. Halfway point of the race.
Lap 10 - No change in position, still 10th
Lap 11 - No improvements, still lapping in the low 1:52s
Lap 12 - Mark is back up to 9th now, nipping at the heels of 8th place
Lap 13 - Still in 9th
Lap 14 - Just under a second behind 8th place now
Lap 15 - Mark makes another stellar move and hops upto 7th place!!! Go Mark go!
Lap 16 - Only 0.4 behind 6th... getting closer!
Lap 17 - YES YES YES YES! Mark is 6th!!!! Go Mark! Hang in there!
Lap 18 - Checkers! Mark did it... he's 6th!
October 10, 2008 - The rest of theMcB crew arrived Thursday night at 11PM. Mark and Bridget went to pick up Dad (Mike), AJ and Beth Anselm. Mark was very surprised to see the additional passengers for the ride back to the Hotel.
Woke up Friday morning to take our team photo. Then we put the car back at the paddock on the charger so that we all can watch the races. Towards the end of the day, we loaded everything away, watched the last race and headed back to the hotel. Will eat a good dinner, go to bed early so that we all are ready for the GTL race at 4:15PM.
GOOD LUCK MARK CONNOLLY #79 GTL AND THE MCB RACE TEAM.
October 9, 2008 - Qualifying 3 results are in!!! Mark will start the race on Saturday from 7th row, click here to check out the results. The race on Saturday starts at 4:15 PM, you can follow live timing by following this link.
Arrived at the track for our final qualifying day. Softened the rebound front Penske shocks from 2 to 1. Checked the oil and gas. Checked the bolt to the throttle cable. Secured the air-box. Made sure all the hoses and clamps are tight. Put the newly scrubbed Hoosier tires on the car and torque the lug nuts and the axel nuts. Set the tire pressures and wiped down the car. Mark got suited up while I put the radios in the car. We headed down to the false grid to line up. Cars were released. Mark got a few good laps before he got into traffic. He stated the car felt good. As of right now he is qualified 13th for the race on Saturday at 4:15PM.
October 8, 2008 - Qualifying 2 results are in!!! Mark is currently qualified 15th, click here to check out the results.
Well, made it to track to just go over the car real quick for our morning qualifying session. Made sure we had enough gas and oil. Checked the tires once more. Charged up the battery again. Put the transponder on. Mark got suited up. I put the radios in the car. Set the tire pressures and torqued the wheels. Headed to false grid to line up. Cars were released. About 2 laps in another driver blew a hole in his engine block. Was slick at turn 10. Mar was just getting heat in his tires when they checkered the session 10 minutes 45 seconds into the session. Another shortened session. Coming off the pit lane they did a mandatory impound of GTL. Tech stewarts were inspecting the fuel cells, kill switch. Fuel ports, tow hooks. And overall the motor of each and every car. After about 2 hours in impound we were released back to our paddock. Mark passed all the tech inspections. Mark fell to 15th place due to the short qualifying session. We still have another session Thursday.
October 7, 2008 - Woke up this morning to see that it is raining once again. This is our day off of qualifying. Headed to the track to start prepping the car. Took off the body work to start cleaning. Changed to dry set up on the shocks and springs. Took off the full rain tires and put the slicks back on. Mark fixed a couple of things. Added some more gas and checked the oil. Looks good. Fired her up and she was humming. She sounds good and is ready to go for qualifying on Wednesday morning. Loaded her back into the trailer and we headed back to the hotel to rest.
October 6, 2008 - Qualifying 1 results are in!!! Mark is currently qualified 9th, click here to check out the results.
Rain slowed down to a drizzle. Mark decided to put the full rain tires on to scrub them in. There was standing water everywhere on the track. Just as Mark lined up in the false grid to go out, it started to rain some more. Mark was taking his time the first couple of laps to get the feel of the rain tires on the car and see where all the standing water was on the track. Times were improving every lap. Got down to a 2.11.4 time for the 1st qualifying session. Within 8 seconds of the last years GTL champion. If there was a few more minutes of qualifying, Mark was sure to get down a few more seconds. Mark felt good after this session.
Lunchtime here in Topeka, Kansas and it is full rain. Moved the car closer to the trailer and used the truck to block most of the rain from the car. Mark's qualifying session isn't till 5pm. If it stays full rain, will not go out. not worth hurting the car in the rain. Wait to see what happens with the rain to see if we go out or not.
October 5, 2008 - 1st session - Did not go out. Revisions to the scheduled moved up our time. Decided it was not worth rushing around to get the car done and take a chance of something going wrong.
2nd session - Went out with new tires, new brakes, rebuilt Penske shocks, new airbox and 10 gallons of gas. Group was released and by turn 8 there was 2 cars that got tangled up together that resulted in track blockage. Black flag all. Mark came in to pit lane, turned off the car and waited there for about 10 minutes. The group was re-released. Scrubbed the tires, broke in the brakes. Times improved every lap. Car has a little push in some corners. All in all good session. Mark will go over the car to make sure everything is good.
3rd session - Went out with a change in shock setting. Handling better. During session, a lot of traffic. Slight improvement in times Didn't matter, it was just practice. Finished the day with a track walk. Found out walking the 2.5 mile track when tired makes for a very long walk.
October 4, 2008 - The McB racing team, Mark Connolly #79 GTL arrived at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas at 3:30pm Saturday October 4th. Have gone through registration and the car has been through tech. Have set up our paddock space. Going to the hotel for a good night's sleep to be ready for the Honda open track practices.
September 30, 2008 - Day of preparation! Mark and AJ worked hard through the evening to get the CRX ready for the Runoffs. The team will be heading west on Friday. Stay tuned for more updates, in the meantime here's some photos of the car from the shop.
