MATT’S JANUARY UPDATE: ENDURANCE SHAKEDOWN AT LAGUNA SECA
January 17th, 2021 - Monterey, CA
Hello! This month’s update is a race weekend reflection from my trip to Laguna Seca debuting Technik Competition’s new Porsche Boxster in a 14-hour endurance event. I also give news about an exciting upcoming opportunity, the details of which will be included in next month’s update.
A quick catch-up; my name is Matt Million, I’m a 20 year old aspiring professional racing driver and college student from San Marcos, California. I’ve been competing since the age of five where I spent eight years in karts. I transitioned to race cars in the Spec Miata category at age 14 developing in the Mazda Motorsports grassroots program up to Spec MX-5 Challenge in 2018. In 2019, I became a class winner of the 25 Hours of Thunderhill and last year I achieved a long-held goal of racing in Germany. I love sharing my experiences as a young racer through these reports with hopes that some who read them can take away value or enjoyment from following my journey. Thank you for the support!
Kicking off 2021, January’s race was set in beautiful Monterey at famous WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. This just the second time I’ve raced during the first month of the year. Maybe one day that’ll change again at Daytona… maybe!
Similar to Daytona’s Rolex 24 Hours, this was a long one. A total of 14 hours split with six and a half on Saturday and seven and a half on Sunday being organized by the Lucky Dog Racing League, a growing amateur endurance series.
I’d rejoin Technik Competition, whom I won 25 Hours of Thunderhill with in 2019. Our mission this weekend was entirely different however. The first competitive shakedown of their new Porsche Boxster project set to contest the NASA WERC and 25 hour later this year. I drafted myself in to help develop the car which meant providing quick and consistent stints to aid in setup baselines, data and tech, and give suggestions on next steps. Basically, we weren’t here to win. We just needed to turn continual laps.
Welcome to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
My first laps at Laguna Seca since the 2016 Teen Mazda Challenge season opener. A cool chance to assess how far I’ve come as a driver since then. I’d be lying to say I hadn’t missed the corkscrew dive into Rainey Curve!
On tap for Saturday was a combined practice and qualifying followed by the race start at 10am. If that morning was any indicator for the rest of our weekend, it didn’t look promising. I hopped in for the second part of practice and all was fine until the shift knob came off in my hand into T5. No, that shouldn’t happen. We pounded it back on and, slight spoiler alert, it turned out to be the only time a part fell off the car thankfully.
Not the case for electrical issues however. A bad engine ground meant firing up became a regular challenge but one we eventually overcame. I was the starting driver, first pilot for her maiden flight! Stints like this give me better appreciation for racers in decades past when you never truly knew what could go wrong or when. Forcing you to walk a fine line between effective data gathering while steadily raising the limit but not so sudden you get enthralled in battle and forgot the mission objective.
I was surprised how quickly I felt at-home. All the different driving situations recently must’ve helped my adaption. An hour passed with just one trip to the pits for a preemptive mechanical check-over.
The car felt unsettled and numb, however, with a tendency to step out dramatically with tiny amounts of opposite lock which isn’t a recipe for confident lapping. We made an adjustment of disconnecting the rear bar and adding two clicks of rear rebound stiffness. Step into the right direction! We now felt what the platform was doing and could give inputs in correlation.
After cycling through the other three drivers, this was already a success. But to our delight the Boxster kept going just fine. I was back in and ready to push a bit quicker and harder. This stint would be the best for both me and the Boxster. Click here to watch our fastest laps of the event from onboard with me!
I can best describe it as a ‘mid-engine Miata with a Flat 6’. With the bulk of the weight over the rear axel, I found myself extracting my best times with very delicate inputs on corner entry and planting to full throttle earlier on exits. The turn-in rotation will catch out anyone expecting it to have the weight transfer of a Miata! I was having to do many small corrections through the mid-corner as I fought a lack of grip with the semi-slicks. And with the engine behind, cockpit temperatures were impressively cool. After six hours we completed day one with a collective shrug, smile, and mechanical check-over.
That evening, it was straight to the SUV to turn my backseat into a decently-lit interview studio. I had a very pleasant chat with two gentlemen involved in an upcoming motorsport program and it was surreal to talk with them. The next monthly update should fully explain what it was about!
Entering Sunday, we had much higher confidence that the car was capable of what we’d throw at it over the next seven and a half hours. So much confidence that we’d actually look at the race standings from time to time! Still, this was a very new project with lots to develop so our attentiveness couldn’t drop.
My task in the cockpit today was to push the car’s fuel mileage capabilities. Turns out that the lightness and efficiency of the Boxster makes it fantastic on fuel! I spent an entire two hours on a single tank. I was able to use the long duration to work on flow mindset and consistency and I came away quite proud of the tight spread in my times over dozens of laps. The track was hotter and tires quickly lost their edge from the day prior. Good lessons in adaption.
Overall, it went far better than expected. Never did we go back paddock for any broken components nor did we slow down due to an issue. All four of us drivers got multiple hours of quality laps and plenty to discuss.
Being able to extract driver data from the AIM computer during each fuel stop was very helpful to coach my teammates on-the-fly! It’s satisfying to be able to illustrate exactly what they’ve got to do to find pace; speed, corner, RPM, inputs, mindset, etc. I’d love to do more formal coaching in the future.
It’s a pleasure to race with Technik Competition again. First time I’d seen many of them since we won Thunderhill. While they definitely make time for fun, what makes them special is an attitude toward precision, organization, and performance excellence which is a bit unusual in these paddocks. Reflective of this, we finished 7th of about 45 on Sunday.
They provide me a racing home to sharpen driving and data skills as well as learn team management, business, and preparation for my future in motorsport. Thank you Peter and Matt for the weekend as well as Nicolas, Molly, Owen, and Andrew for making it productive and enjoyable.
What’s Next
Another semester of studies at CSU San Marcos begins this week. I’m now into my major of global business and it’s going well! Another semester of online classes gives more time to pursue racing, a perk to odd times.
Coming up soon, I will be a participant in an incredible racing opportunity. I cannot divulge details yet but it will be a thrilling experience and very possibly the most influential in my journey thus far. Opportunities like this are rare, but they are the moments that show how much sports car and endurance racing means to me and how far I’ve come. It’s been a fantastic chance to grow myself into a better racing driver and a better person. I’m absolutely humbled to be included and will be completely prepared to give my best performance inside the cockpit and showcase my personality and passion outside of it.
I must once again thank everyone reading. Taking time out of your day to read these make you a part of this. The support truly means the world to me. I have to thank my parents, family, and friends for the obvious support as well.
Please get in touch with me over social media or email. I’d love to have a chat! You can find me at the links below or at mattmillionracing.com.
Sign up for my monthly updates by filling out the form on the ‘Contact Me’ page!
Cheers, Matt Million
San Marcos, California - 01/26/21