My racing season is now officially over, and it was kind of reminiscent of the beginning of it, which is only fitting, after all.
As you may recall, I had my second SCCA school at Nelson Ledges, in the freezing rain and snow. This past weekend was quite wet, and the paddock quite muddy. Blah.
I was paddocked next to young gun Mark Carpenter - you know, another one of them annoyingly talented young whipper-snapper, driving a wicked fast 2nd Gen integra prepared by Anthony Serra - Brad Barnhouse in a Civic Si and Art Jaso in an unfortunately out-gunned MR2. Good people, all of them.
Anyway, down to the details. On saturday, as all you Northern VA area folks know, it was raining. A lot, all day. This time around ITA/ITB was in group 7, meaning our first qualification was late in the morning, and the second one in the afternoon.
After putting on the semi-treaded Toyos and looking longingly at Mark Carpenter's Dirt Stockers, we went to play on track. Well, it was wet, and I realized that I had never driven Summit in the rain. So I experimented with various lines, and qualified 17th overall, I think 10th in ITA. Not all that much fun since the car was hydroplaning in several spots, and the carousel was just awful. Standing water, and a river: ugh. A couple of cars went spinning in front of me, but i kept the car shiny side up and on track. Mission accomplished.
I talked to the King Rat about the rain line and got some good pointers. Thanks Alex!
The ITA and ITB drivers made and served lunch for the corner workers on saturday, and I went out there to help out. It was a very nice little lunch. We borrowed the Rattcliffe's grills (thanks! ) and grilled up some burgers and hot dogs, and had all the workers come over and grab some food. That was a very cool thing. We got to meet a lot of the people who watch over our collective asses and do a little something nice for them. I understand that other driver groups "just" get a catered lunch - which is nice, but I agree with Matt Yip (the ITA driver rep) that it doesn't have the personal touch. Anyway, any driver rep reading this: it would be a good thing to do in your region/group/sanctioning body.
For the second session, we were hopeful as the rain had abated a little, but as soon as we got on track, it started pouring - of course. I pulled in after about 4 laps: I couldn't see crap. The windshield was all fogged up (Fog-X does NOT work), and the wiper wasn't wiping enough water for me to see anything. After a Volvo almost collected me in the carousel (he started losing it, and I didn't see that until I was quite close to him) I just called it a day.
Looks like Alex's pointers were good as in 4 laps and no visibility whatsoever I was a second faster than in the first session. 16th on grid, 8th or 9th in ITA.
Thankfully, Sunday was dry. I showed up around 12:30 at the track, put on the shaved Toyos, topped off the gas and was ready to go. I like me a low maintenance car. The race start was pretty fucking ugly. As the green flag came out, I hit the gas and was immediately blown away by a yellow golf who must have started hitting the loud pedal WAYYYY early. He squeezed in between my car and the one next to me and proceeded to pound into the rear of an RX-7. He hit it on the passenger side, and actually drove OVER it with 2 wheels. Nice. I dodged that mess and proceeded to dodge another clusterfuck in turn one. I didn't know what happened other than there were a bunch of cars sideways, off track, and general pandemonium. I somehow managed to avoid getting hit and found myself in pretty good position.
In turn 10, a BMW went off right in front of me and threw up a gravel screen. You know that scene in days of Thunder when he drives through the smoke? Same thing here, on the outside of 10, except it wasn't smoke, it was gravel and rocks. I need a new windshield. After that, the race was pretty clean, other than a pretty Audi parking it outside turn 8, on fire. There was a yellow flag there for the last 3-4 laps of the race, unfortunately.
I hooked up behind John in a nice yellow RX-3 and we started having some fun. That was a total blast as I passed him 2 or 3 times, and he passed me back, like the rookie that I am. I got a run on him in 10, and he went on the inside in 1 - twice. I need to learn the defensive line through there.
On the last lap, I thought I had him, as the audi had left some oil in the carousel and he found it ( ) I was going to go under him, but there was that damn yellow flag and I couldn't pass. I then made a mistake. Instead of thinking ahead and setting him up for a run in 10 where I knew I could get him, I just kinda let up and drove, without thinking much about it. He crossed the finish line ahead of me. I was 4th though, exhausted and smiling.
We had a great clean race, I made a bonehead move on him passing him in 10. I had a good run, but timed it wrong and had to go way to the outside to avoid bumping him. He saw me at the last minute and gave me some room to get back on track without have to go through the grass.
The car ran well, and was much more predictable than before. I guess it's better when your camber stays the same throughout the corner. It does push more now, though: especially in turn 1 and 5. I was hoping to have some test time during qualifying, but the rain blew that idea. I will probably try to disconnect the front sway bar next time I am out on track, and see how that feels.
I was also trying the Carbotech XP-10s this weekend. I think I bedded them in ok in the rain, but who knows? It was definitely a bit too much brake in the wet. It was hard to modulate with non-rain tires, and standing water. When we got to the dry track though, they worked great. No fade, lotsa bite - harder pedal than the Cobalt Spec Bs. You can tell that these pads were meant for a heavier car and I locked up the front wheels a few times. Also, the pedal stays higher, which made me try harder to do proper heel-and-toe. I do like the fact that the backing plates are thicker, time will tell if they resist bending better than the cobalts. I think I like these pads quite a bit.
That's it for me this year.
Events:
1 HPDE, 2 schools, a 2-hour enduro, 3 MARRS races and 1 NASA weekend.
New tracks:
VIR, Nelson Ledges, CMP
Old track:
Summit Point
Next year... well, my wife is pregnant with kid #3. Which means that she is sick as a dog, and will be until she delivers. Which means I am going to have to stay home and watch the kids on the weekend. That also means that next year's racing budget just took a big ass hit. This was accidental. And this also means that I will be spending about 1 set of tires' worth on elective surgery next year to prevent further accidents. :shiver:
So we'll see. I may do just 2 SCCA races to keep my license current - preferably enduros to rack up as much track time as possible, or do the labor day MARRS double at Summit. A lot of this will depend on money and time.
I want to thank all the people I met this year at the tracks, and on line as well. The racing community, despite its love of bickering, bench racing and pissing contests (Well, mostly on HT anyway) is still the best damn bunch of people I have met to date. From the drivers who will go WAY out of their way to get their direct competitor back on track and racing, to the workers, officials and crews. Ya'll rock.
Peace out, y0!
As you may recall, I had my second SCCA school at Nelson Ledges, in the freezing rain and snow. This past weekend was quite wet, and the paddock quite muddy. Blah.
I was paddocked next to young gun Mark Carpenter - you know, another one of them annoyingly talented young whipper-snapper, driving a wicked fast 2nd Gen integra prepared by Anthony Serra - Brad Barnhouse in a Civic Si and Art Jaso in an unfortunately out-gunned MR2. Good people, all of them.
Anyway, down to the details. On saturday, as all you Northern VA area folks know, it was raining. A lot, all day. This time around ITA/ITB was in group 7, meaning our first qualification was late in the morning, and the second one in the afternoon.
After putting on the semi-treaded Toyos and looking longingly at Mark Carpenter's Dirt Stockers, we went to play on track. Well, it was wet, and I realized that I had never driven Summit in the rain. So I experimented with various lines, and qualified 17th overall, I think 10th in ITA. Not all that much fun since the car was hydroplaning in several spots, and the carousel was just awful. Standing water, and a river: ugh. A couple of cars went spinning in front of me, but i kept the car shiny side up and on track. Mission accomplished.
I talked to the King Rat about the rain line and got some good pointers. Thanks Alex!
The ITA and ITB drivers made and served lunch for the corner workers on saturday, and I went out there to help out. It was a very nice little lunch. We borrowed the Rattcliffe's grills (thanks! ) and grilled up some burgers and hot dogs, and had all the workers come over and grab some food. That was a very cool thing. We got to meet a lot of the people who watch over our collective asses and do a little something nice for them. I understand that other driver groups "just" get a catered lunch - which is nice, but I agree with Matt Yip (the ITA driver rep) that it doesn't have the personal touch. Anyway, any driver rep reading this: it would be a good thing to do in your region/group/sanctioning body.
For the second session, we were hopeful as the rain had abated a little, but as soon as we got on track, it started pouring - of course. I pulled in after about 4 laps: I couldn't see crap. The windshield was all fogged up (Fog-X does NOT work), and the wiper wasn't wiping enough water for me to see anything. After a Volvo almost collected me in the carousel (he started losing it, and I didn't see that until I was quite close to him) I just called it a day.
Looks like Alex's pointers were good as in 4 laps and no visibility whatsoever I was a second faster than in the first session. 16th on grid, 8th or 9th in ITA.
Thankfully, Sunday was dry. I showed up around 12:30 at the track, put on the shaved Toyos, topped off the gas and was ready to go. I like me a low maintenance car. The race start was pretty fucking ugly. As the green flag came out, I hit the gas and was immediately blown away by a yellow golf who must have started hitting the loud pedal WAYYYY early. He squeezed in between my car and the one next to me and proceeded to pound into the rear of an RX-7. He hit it on the passenger side, and actually drove OVER it with 2 wheels. Nice. I dodged that mess and proceeded to dodge another clusterfuck in turn one. I didn't know what happened other than there were a bunch of cars sideways, off track, and general pandemonium. I somehow managed to avoid getting hit and found myself in pretty good position.
In turn 10, a BMW went off right in front of me and threw up a gravel screen. You know that scene in days of Thunder when he drives through the smoke? Same thing here, on the outside of 10, except it wasn't smoke, it was gravel and rocks. I need a new windshield. After that, the race was pretty clean, other than a pretty Audi parking it outside turn 8, on fire. There was a yellow flag there for the last 3-4 laps of the race, unfortunately.
I hooked up behind John in a nice yellow RX-3 and we started having some fun. That was a total blast as I passed him 2 or 3 times, and he passed me back, like the rookie that I am. I got a run on him in 10, and he went on the inside in 1 - twice. I need to learn the defensive line through there.
On the last lap, I thought I had him, as the audi had left some oil in the carousel and he found it ( ) I was going to go under him, but there was that damn yellow flag and I couldn't pass. I then made a mistake. Instead of thinking ahead and setting him up for a run in 10 where I knew I could get him, I just kinda let up and drove, without thinking much about it. He crossed the finish line ahead of me. I was 4th though, exhausted and smiling.
We had a great clean race, I made a bonehead move on him passing him in 10. I had a good run, but timed it wrong and had to go way to the outside to avoid bumping him. He saw me at the last minute and gave me some room to get back on track without have to go through the grass.
The car ran well, and was much more predictable than before. I guess it's better when your camber stays the same throughout the corner. It does push more now, though: especially in turn 1 and 5. I was hoping to have some test time during qualifying, but the rain blew that idea. I will probably try to disconnect the front sway bar next time I am out on track, and see how that feels.
I was also trying the Carbotech XP-10s this weekend. I think I bedded them in ok in the rain, but who knows? It was definitely a bit too much brake in the wet. It was hard to modulate with non-rain tires, and standing water. When we got to the dry track though, they worked great. No fade, lotsa bite - harder pedal than the Cobalt Spec Bs. You can tell that these pads were meant for a heavier car and I locked up the front wheels a few times. Also, the pedal stays higher, which made me try harder to do proper heel-and-toe. I do like the fact that the backing plates are thicker, time will tell if they resist bending better than the cobalts. I think I like these pads quite a bit.
That's it for me this year.
Events:
1 HPDE, 2 schools, a 2-hour enduro, 3 MARRS races and 1 NASA weekend.
New tracks:
VIR, Nelson Ledges, CMP
Old track:
Summit Point
Next year... well, my wife is pregnant with kid #3. Which means that she is sick as a dog, and will be until she delivers. Which means I am going to have to stay home and watch the kids on the weekend. That also means that next year's racing budget just took a big ass hit. This was accidental. And this also means that I will be spending about 1 set of tires' worth on elective surgery next year to prevent further accidents. :shiver:
So we'll see. I may do just 2 SCCA races to keep my license current - preferably enduros to rack up as much track time as possible, or do the labor day MARRS double at Summit. A lot of this will depend on money and time.
I want to thank all the people I met this year at the tracks, and on line as well. The racing community, despite its love of bickering, bench racing and pissing contests (Well, mostly on HT anyway) is still the best damn bunch of people I have met to date. From the drivers who will go WAY out of their way to get their direct competitor back on track and racing, to the workers, officials and crews. Ya'll rock.
Peace out, y0!
Seriously - CONGRATULATIONS MARK!! NICE WIN!! 
, beverages 
and some good old-fashioned bench racing 
I had one of those Days of Thunder scenes also on the 1st lap, driving past the spinning Alfa in a cloud of smoke saying "just drive right through it Cole!" then clear open track afterwards. Hope to see you next year some time, good luck and congrats on your 3rd child.
I couldn't believe how he launched of that damn RX-7. I would have been looking for him in the paddock if I were the RX-7 driver. I had a front row seat, and I sure wish I hadn't (again) forgotten my camera. 