This last weekend, I went to the first UF1 MIDWEST race at The Gate outside Cleveland. After a bunch of changes to my car, I had something I could work with. One of the changes was going to a short battery. I as well 'm always willing to look at things that I think are or aren't working for me, and I wanted to see if I was missing something on the battery. I think everybody else had a short pack installed, and I was still a little off, so I went with a shorty as well.
The lap times seemed to be better with the short pack, at least initially, so I left it in. I was throwing a bunch of stuff at the car and I let that part of the setup ride.
Fast forward to just before the 3rd 15 minute main. The car was right there, and I was looking for a little bit more speed. I noticed my car get a little soft deep into the 15 minute runs, and it was running out of front bite as well. I threw the long pack in just to see what it would do.
Hot lap all weekend was a 9.3 by Brian Wynn of CRC. I know I got down to 9.4, but that is just the hot lap. The car with the long pack reeled off 3-4 9.5 second laps in a row, and felt awesome, so I knew it was on. The car was planted yet felt a little free in the corner due to the pendulum effect of the added rear weight. On top of all that, traction roll was reduced to the absolute minimum.
I started 3rd in the mains, and while Wynn was gone I was able to get past the second place car and hold that position until about a minute to go. I basically roasted the fronts off at about 13 1/2 or 14 minutes in, which was much better than 5 minutes in. Part of this was probably over driving the car, especially with the confidence I had going into the last race. It was also hard to say exactly what I needed to do as I had been changing the car so much. That said, my car was great when I left the track, and I feel like I have proven, at least to myself, that the full size pack is the best choice.
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