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Following up on the National event (sorry it took so long)
Posted by
davecarama
,
06-20-2011
·
1,557 views
Wow! I just realized I never updated my "National Event" experience! Well, As you can tell, I survived!
When it was our time, I pulled up to grid, and they put me in P5, which was a nice break. I needed a few laps to get acquainted with my new LSD.
I DID need a few laps indeed. The diff feels almost slippery if you are partial throttle or no throttle (no throttle is the same as an open diff, no?). But when you get on it, you grab and go. That qualifying session, I ended with a 32:something. Not thrilled with my times at all. The other guys were well within grasp, in fact I should have had them for sure. Bummer. I qualified 6 in class and 8 over all (out of something like 22). Not too bad!
For the race, I stuck my wife's Canon T1i in the car with her 10-22mm wide angle lens! I decided to leave it full wide so you can see out my side windows. There and the front windows are the fun ones to see all the action anyway.
So being 8 in group, that put me on the outside of the track, and I could see nothing. I had to do my start by feel. There was a red ITA prepped Miata to my right, and 2 Planed Miatas behind me. The Planet Miata guy rammed the crap out of me on the start... which although totally unnecessary, was fine because, well, it really didn't help or hurt anyone. I think he saw my rookie stripes and wanted to give me a hard time (more on that in a second).
Around turn 1 the red car slipped in front of me, and eventually (I think in the front straight) one of the planet miata guys did too. They actually gapped me pretty well, but then I got my stuff back together and got a fabulous pass on the red car in turn 1, followed by another good one in turn 6 on the planet miata guy. He was not very happy with me being in front of him I think, because he started flashing his lights at me (and ran the remainder of the session with his lights on.) When we went through 9 and then 10, by now he was about 2-4 car lengths behind me, but decided to track full track right in the front straight... all the while flashing his lights and swerving.
I saw it, but was thinking there is nothing wrong with my car. Gauges are good. He is still trying to eff with me! So I put him out of my mind, and focused on the 4th place guy, the montego blue car with the yellow top!
Here is where it really got boring, so I edited the video so it would be small enough to post.
Lap after lap, it was boring and lonely. I had an ITS 300ZX behind me catching ever so slowly (if at all). And then I saw a BMW... There was only one BMW, so I was preparing to wave to my friend John as he drove buy. But no. He never did drive by
Eventually we came around turn 10, the checker flag came out, and that damn ITS car BARELY snuck by me to take 6th place in the group over me and my little Miata. BUMMER!
Anyway, this is the Saturday race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jAmXAqWgo&hd=1
Sunday was unlike any track day I have ever done. I woke up at 10:30, left the house at 12:00PM got to the track and started wrenching. When I got there, it was raining... but stopped before group 6 was complete. No rains for me this weekend The one thing I DID do was remove the 25# weight, and put in 5 gallons of fuel.
I thought I did everything, but when the 5 min marker came out, I realized I never checked my tire pressures! Oh well...
We go out, but this time I am on the inside and can see everything. The Planet Miata guy was somewhat of a sneaky fella. He always held back and accelerated through ten so that when he came around and the green was thrown, not only was he accelerating, but he was full throttle already and gaining on everyone... Hmm... I do have some learning to do with these starts...
So on that start, he got around me pretty quick, but as usual, I took it back soon enough. I was 5th in class and wanted to keep it! I was steadily gaining on the #4 guy, the Montego Blue Miata, but then he made a mistake! He spun in the exit of turn 3, went off down the hill on the outside of the track, and hit the tire wall! I felt REALLY bad! but now I was in P4! I needed to keep that red car behind me!
We hit lapped traffic, and Red would drop back pretty far. I decided to NOT do what the montego blue guy did and dialed it back a little to conserve the car a little.
Lap after lap I thought "when will this be over!" Finally it was and we pulled into the grid. The sign said top 3 from all classes goes to impound. I thought I was #4 so I was relieved. Pulled around and my friends were pointing me into the impound! Apparently there was another guy who ended early! YES!!! I drank some water and Gatorade and went onto the scales. Weighed in and parked the car... chatted a bit... was asked to circle around again for a second weigh. I was 5 pounds light! Ugggg! I was penalized for less than a gallon of fluid oversight! 3rd to last!
Well, I learned a lot. Had a lot of fun. And celebrated by burning my rookie stripes. I am now officially a licensed driver!!!
Some photos of the event:
Photo Album #1
Photo Album #2
Rookie Stripes REMOVED
When it was our time, I pulled up to grid, and they put me in P5, which was a nice break. I needed a few laps to get acquainted with my new LSD.
I DID need a few laps indeed. The diff feels almost slippery if you are partial throttle or no throttle (no throttle is the same as an open diff, no?). But when you get on it, you grab and go. That qualifying session, I ended with a 32:something. Not thrilled with my times at all. The other guys were well within grasp, in fact I should have had them for sure. Bummer. I qualified 6 in class and 8 over all (out of something like 22). Not too bad!
For the race, I stuck my wife's Canon T1i in the car with her 10-22mm wide angle lens! I decided to leave it full wide so you can see out my side windows. There and the front windows are the fun ones to see all the action anyway.
So being 8 in group, that put me on the outside of the track, and I could see nothing. I had to do my start by feel. There was a red ITA prepped Miata to my right, and 2 Planed Miatas behind me. The Planet Miata guy rammed the crap out of me on the start... which although totally unnecessary, was fine because, well, it really didn't help or hurt anyone. I think he saw my rookie stripes and wanted to give me a hard time (more on that in a second).
Around turn 1 the red car slipped in front of me, and eventually (I think in the front straight) one of the planet miata guys did too. They actually gapped me pretty well, but then I got my stuff back together and got a fabulous pass on the red car in turn 1, followed by another good one in turn 6 on the planet miata guy. He was not very happy with me being in front of him I think, because he started flashing his lights at me (and ran the remainder of the session with his lights on.) When we went through 9 and then 10, by now he was about 2-4 car lengths behind me, but decided to track full track right in the front straight... all the while flashing his lights and swerving.
I saw it, but was thinking there is nothing wrong with my car. Gauges are good. He is still trying to eff with me! So I put him out of my mind, and focused on the 4th place guy, the montego blue car with the yellow top!
Here is where it really got boring, so I edited the video so it would be small enough to post.
Lap after lap, it was boring and lonely. I had an ITS 300ZX behind me catching ever so slowly (if at all). And then I saw a BMW... There was only one BMW, so I was preparing to wave to my friend John as he drove buy. But no. He never did drive by
Eventually we came around turn 10, the checker flag came out, and that damn ITS car BARELY snuck by me to take 6th place in the group over me and my little Miata. BUMMER!
Anyway, this is the Saturday race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jAmXAqWgo&hd=1
Sunday was unlike any track day I have ever done. I woke up at 10:30, left the house at 12:00PM got to the track and started wrenching. When I got there, it was raining... but stopped before group 6 was complete. No rains for me this weekend
The one thing I DID do was remove the 25# weight, and put in 5 gallons of fuel. I thought I did everything, but when the 5 min marker came out, I realized I never checked my tire pressures! Oh well...
We go out, but this time I am on the inside and can see everything. The Planet Miata guy was somewhat of a sneaky fella. He always held back and accelerated through ten so that when he came around and the green was thrown, not only was he accelerating, but he was full throttle already and gaining on everyone... Hmm... I do have some learning to do with these starts...
So on that start, he got around me pretty quick, but as usual, I took it back soon enough. I was 5th in class and wanted to keep it! I was steadily gaining on the #4 guy, the Montego Blue Miata, but then he made a mistake! He spun in the exit of turn 3, went off down the hill on the outside of the track, and hit the tire wall! I felt REALLY bad! but now I was in P4! I needed to keep that red car behind me!
We hit lapped traffic, and Red would drop back pretty far. I decided to NOT do what the montego blue guy did and dialed it back a little to conserve the car a little.
Lap after lap I thought "when will this be over!" Finally it was and we pulled into the grid. The sign said top 3 from all classes goes to impound. I thought I was #4 so I was relieved. Pulled around and my friends were pointing me into the impound! Apparently there was another guy who ended early! YES!!! I drank some water and Gatorade and went onto the scales. Weighed in and parked the car... chatted a bit... was asked to circle around again for a second weigh. I was 5 pounds light! Ugggg! I was penalized for less than a gallon of fluid oversight! 3rd to last!
Well, I learned a lot. Had a lot of fun. And celebrated by burning my rookie stripes. I am now officially a licensed driver!!!
Some photos of the event:
Photo Album #1
Photo Album #2
Rookie Stripes REMOVED
