VIR Recap: Two Podiums, One Bent Control Arm, Zero Regrets
Our March endurance weekend went exactly as planned — until lap 87. Here's the play-by-play.
Friday: the boring day that makes the weekend
Friday is scrutineering, setup checks, and driver walkthroughs. It's also when we do the thing that saves us every year: every driver sits in the car, adjusts their own seat and belts, and practices getting out. Nobody wants to figure out a harness release for the first time in a hurry.
Practice pace was where we wanted it. No hero laps, no drama, everybody within the window.
Saturday morning: green flag, long game
We started conservatively and it looked slow on the timing screens for about forty minutes. Then the first wave of attrition rolled through — a couple of quick cars off in the esses, one with a mechanical — and suddenly our steady pace was a top-five position we hadn't spent anything to earn.
That's the entire strategy in one paragraph. We don't out-drive people early. We out-last them.
Lap 87
Contact from a car that had committed to a gap that closed. Not malicious, just optimistic — the kind of thing that happens in mixed-pace traffic. Our driver kept the car pointed the right direction and brought it to the pits under his own power, which is exactly what we ask for.
The control arm was bent. The crew had it changed in under twenty minutes because we carry a spare for every part we've broken before — a list that gets shorter every season and never gets to zero.
The recovery stint
We lost two laps. What we didn't lose was the car. The next two stints were the best driving of the weekend: consistent, clean, and quietly quick. We clawed back one of the laps by simply being on track while other people weren't.
Sunday: two podiums
The second car ran a genuinely clean race and finished on the box. The repaired car came home a few positions further back but running strong — and its two rookie drivers left with real racing experience that no simulator sells.
What we're taking away
Every weekend leaves us with a list. This one was short.
- ◆Carry two control arms, not one
- ◆Move the driver-change board somewhere visible from the hot side of the wall
- ◆Radio discipline slipped during the repair — one voice at a time, always
- ◆Rookies did exactly what we asked. That's a coaching win, not luck.
Thank you
To the crew who changed a suspension corner in the time it takes to eat lunch, and to the drivers who trusted the plan when the timing screens didn't look flattering yet — this one was fun.