The videos from the 2010 One Lap of America events are finally uploaded. The articles have also been updated with the videos, but you can just watch them all here:
View Video Album on Vimeo
You can check out all of the One Lap Videos, Pictures, and Story at www.DTROneLap.com.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
One Lap of America Round 10 - Tire Rack Dry(ish) Skid Pad
Coming into the last event, we were sitting in 5th overall, with the 997 Turbo in front of us and the GT3 RS behind us. We were not expecting a very good skidpad performance, if using our wet skidpad result (53rd) as any indication. We got to the Tire Rack early and got the car emptied out before taking it to a parking lot to test the balance. It was cold and cloudy, but dry. While it was oversteering at first, if I could manage to get the rear tires just a bit warmed, it was neutral to just a slight push. I decided that we couldn’t improve on this balance and I would just need to try to get some heat in the rear tires before the run, so I headed back. No sooner did I shut off the car than it began to downpour. Kevin and I threw everything in the trunk that we didn’t want to get wet and jumped in the car, soaked.
With the wet conditions, we figured we were screwed. Before the skidpad event, though, we had to line up for our group photo. They lined up the top 6 in front, which was an amusing sight: Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Porsche 911 Turbo, Corvette C6 Z06, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911 GT2, and a 1990 BMW 325is.
It had stopped raining, but was still wet. This was when we started to hear grumblings of some very good news. It seemed that they were going to grid the cars in reverse order. This meant that, instead of running 7th, we would run 7th from last, so all the previous cars would surely dry out the track!
When it came show time, I gave it all I had in the skidpad, lighting up the rear tires before the run and scrubbing back and forth on my way in. I stayed tight and held the car on the limit, never letting it waver more than 3' from the cones, but trying to keep it within 1'. I was so focused on such a fine edge that I wouldn’t even take a full breath, for fear that it would upset my hand inputs! I did my 2 laps, turned around, did 2 more in the same way, and pulled off. It was good for .995 AVERAGE G, in sub-40 degree weather. It was also good for 7th overall. It sounded like we wouldn't lose a position after all!
When it was all over, we had the opportunity to be turned loose on the skidpad for some exhibition. Kevin had the car half-packed, but we emptied it back out so I could go put on a smoke show. Despite forgetting to engage the high-boost power mode, I had no trouble lighting up those big Michelins and putting on a pretty good drift show!
We headed inside for the reception and I was excited to see that Brock Yates Sr. was in attendance. I managed to get a few autographs from him before we sat down for lunch. When it came time for awards, we did better than we could have fathomed...
4th Place OVERALL
1st in Class - SS GT2 Small Bore
BMW Marque Award - Highest Finishing BMW
Rookies of the Year
We were just simply astounded! By the time we got to the Rookies of the Year award, Kevin and I welled up a little. We just couldn’t believe it. I dedicated that award, as well as our tactically acquired traffic cone, to Glenn Dodd and all the other One Lap veterans who had come before us.
We headed back home to real life, but it may never be the same. This may very likely become an annual event for us! I’m glad to have these recaps and plenty of pictures and video to reflect on, but I’m also writing the article for Roundel (the magazine of the BMWCCA). Look for it in the July issue!
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US AND STREET SURVIVAL IN THE 2010 ONE LAP OF AMERICA!!
A special Thank You to our sponsors: Michelin Tires, Ireland Engineering, MyTrackSchedule.com, Extrudabody, Clutch Masters, 034 Motorsport, BimmerTools.com, APR Performance, Forgeline Wheels, DTM Fiberwerkz, Cometic Gaskets, FastTech Limited, Lamin-X, MyTrackCam.com.
-Anthony Magagnoli
-Kevin Kreisa
With the wet conditions, we figured we were screwed. Before the skidpad event, though, we had to line up for our group photo. They lined up the top 6 in front, which was an amusing sight: Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Porsche 911 Turbo, Corvette C6 Z06, Nissan GT-R, Porsche 911 GT2, and a 1990 BMW 325is.
It had stopped raining, but was still wet. This was when we started to hear grumblings of some very good news. It seemed that they were going to grid the cars in reverse order. This meant that, instead of running 7th, we would run 7th from last, so all the previous cars would surely dry out the track!
When it came show time, I gave it all I had in the skidpad, lighting up the rear tires before the run and scrubbing back and forth on my way in. I stayed tight and held the car on the limit, never letting it waver more than 3' from the cones, but trying to keep it within 1'. I was so focused on such a fine edge that I wouldn’t even take a full breath, for fear that it would upset my hand inputs! I did my 2 laps, turned around, did 2 more in the same way, and pulled off. It was good for .995 AVERAGE G, in sub-40 degree weather. It was also good for 7th overall. It sounded like we wouldn't lose a position after all!
When it was all over, we had the opportunity to be turned loose on the skidpad for some exhibition. Kevin had the car half-packed, but we emptied it back out so I could go put on a smoke show. Despite forgetting to engage the high-boost power mode, I had no trouble lighting up those big Michelins and putting on a pretty good drift show!
We headed inside for the reception and I was excited to see that Brock Yates Sr. was in attendance. I managed to get a few autographs from him before we sat down for lunch. When it came time for awards, we did better than we could have fathomed...
4th Place OVERALL
1st in Class - SS GT2 Small Bore
BMW Marque Award - Highest Finishing BMW
Rookies of the Year
We were just simply astounded! By the time we got to the Rookies of the Year award, Kevin and I welled up a little. We just couldn’t believe it. I dedicated that award, as well as our tactically acquired traffic cone, to Glenn Dodd and all the other One Lap veterans who had come before us.
We headed back home to real life, but it may never be the same. This may very likely become an annual event for us! I’m glad to have these recaps and plenty of pictures and video to reflect on, but I’m also writing the article for Roundel (the magazine of the BMWCCA). Look for it in the July issue!
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US AND STREET SURVIVAL IN THE 2010 ONE LAP OF AMERICA!!
A special Thank You to our sponsors: Michelin Tires, Ireland Engineering, MyTrackSchedule.com, Extrudabody, Clutch Masters, 034 Motorsport, BimmerTools.com, APR Performance, Forgeline Wheels, DTM Fiberwerkz, Cometic Gaskets, FastTech Limited, Lamin-X, MyTrackCam.com.
-Anthony Magagnoli
-Kevin Kreisa
Friday, May 7, 2010
One Lap of America Round 9 - Nelson Ledges
I warned Kevin that Nelson Ledges would not be as nice as the other tracks we had been to. Especially in comparison to the country club-esque NJMP! He complained about not having asphalt to jack the car up on, but he got over it. Nelson Ledges is a dilapidated old track with a rough, bumpy surface and no more amenities than your average camp site. But, man is it fun!
In my first run, I quickly noted that our car did NOT like all the bumps. They were causing the rear tires to rub the inner fenders quite hard and it was difficult to put the power down. The rear end was jittery and it was hard to gauge braking points since the bumps would sometimes cause the ABS to engage more and affect braking distance. My other difficulty was the Carousel. I would claim this turn to be one of the most difficult turns that I’ve ever encountered. Within this one turn, you have to transition from full throttle, to braking, to full throttle again, all while also altering the line to hit the late apex. Having never gone into the Carousel with anywhere near the speed at which I could with this E30 and no room to straight-line brake, I was conservative. I put together a clean, albeit bouncy run, with a best lap of a 1:13.2. It was good enough for 4th overall!
When I got back to the paddock, I was cooling off while Kevin checked over the car. I turned around to see something unexpected, but not necessarily surprising… My parents were walking my way! They had driven 4 hours down from Rochester, NY to see us run! They knew how important this event was to me, but I didn’t expect for them to make the trip. It really meant a lot to me that they came. I showed them the car and we walked the paddock, talking with other One Lappers and looking at the cars. It was nice to have them, as well as my friends Denny and Tim, on hand with Kevin to cheer us on!
Later in the morning session, there was a bit of unexpected excitement, as one of the Mustangs caught fire. It had blown its engine and then had a small oil fire underneath it. Fortunately, the driver was fine and the car is salvageable.
I geared up for my afternoon run and headed out. On my first lap, I carried good speed out of Turn 2 and the bumps in the braking zone sent the ABS into hold-mode, which almost sent me off the track. I managed to make the banked Oak Tree turn, but only just. While I didn’t have any other mishaps, I wasn’t pushing quite as hard through the 120mph kink because the huge bumps were causing the tires to rub so hard. I was actually a little slower in that session, coming in at 7th overall. We were 5th overall in points heading into the last event… the dry skidpad at the Tire Rack.
My parents headed out while we were packing up. When we were done, we met up with a bunch of people at a bar on the south side of the Cleveland, on our way to the Tire Rack. We did the same that night in South Bend, as the sessions at the big tracks were over and people were cutting loose. In between, though, Kevin and I had extensive discussions about our setup for the dry skidpad. If we didn’t do well, we would drop out of the Top 5. We ultimately decided to try our dry race setup, which had been fine-tuned earlier in the week. I would try it in a parking lot and determine if we needed any further adjustment or not.
In my first run, I quickly noted that our car did NOT like all the bumps. They were causing the rear tires to rub the inner fenders quite hard and it was difficult to put the power down. The rear end was jittery and it was hard to gauge braking points since the bumps would sometimes cause the ABS to engage more and affect braking distance. My other difficulty was the Carousel. I would claim this turn to be one of the most difficult turns that I’ve ever encountered. Within this one turn, you have to transition from full throttle, to braking, to full throttle again, all while also altering the line to hit the late apex. Having never gone into the Carousel with anywhere near the speed at which I could with this E30 and no room to straight-line brake, I was conservative. I put together a clean, albeit bouncy run, with a best lap of a 1:13.2. It was good enough for 4th overall!
When I got back to the paddock, I was cooling off while Kevin checked over the car. I turned around to see something unexpected, but not necessarily surprising… My parents were walking my way! They had driven 4 hours down from Rochester, NY to see us run! They knew how important this event was to me, but I didn’t expect for them to make the trip. It really meant a lot to me that they came. I showed them the car and we walked the paddock, talking with other One Lappers and looking at the cars. It was nice to have them, as well as my friends Denny and Tim, on hand with Kevin to cheer us on!
Later in the morning session, there was a bit of unexpected excitement, as one of the Mustangs caught fire. It had blown its engine and then had a small oil fire underneath it. Fortunately, the driver was fine and the car is salvageable.
I geared up for my afternoon run and headed out. On my first lap, I carried good speed out of Turn 2 and the bumps in the braking zone sent the ABS into hold-mode, which almost sent me off the track. I managed to make the banked Oak Tree turn, but only just. While I didn’t have any other mishaps, I wasn’t pushing quite as hard through the 120mph kink because the huge bumps were causing the tires to rub so hard. I was actually a little slower in that session, coming in at 7th overall. We were 5th overall in points heading into the last event… the dry skidpad at the Tire Rack.
My parents headed out while we were packing up. When we were done, we met up with a bunch of people at a bar on the south side of the Cleveland, on our way to the Tire Rack. We did the same that night in South Bend, as the sessions at the big tracks were over and people were cutting loose. In between, though, Kevin and I had extensive discussions about our setup for the dry skidpad. If we didn’t do well, we would drop out of the Top 5. We ultimately decided to try our dry race setup, which had been fine-tuned earlier in the week. I would try it in a parking lot and determine if we needed any further adjustment or not.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
One Lap of America Round 8 - NJMP
I had come to NJMP a few weeks prior to instruct for a NASA/PDA driving school with Scott Barton from MyTrackSchedule.com, using his Porsche 911 and Mini Cooper S so that I could learn the track. I had found it very easy to pick up, but there were 3 tricks that I thought I could use to my advantage. Knowing how fast the blind Turn 1 is, the line over the blind Turn 5, and the line in the Light bulb turn that leads onto the front straight.
Scott met us in the morning as we were getting unloaded and ready. With our morning procedure becoming pretty well defined, things went smoothly and I got ready to go. The Corvette ZR-1 of Ron and Patrick Adee was back from its mid-week hiatus to rejoin us at NJMP. They resumed their position in the first run group and I led the second run group. I was glad I didn’t go out in the first group, because I could see them all kicking up a cloud of dust as they drove around. Either dust or pollen was all over the track and I was more than willing to let them clear the racing line.
The Lightning track was a lot of fun and our car handled it very well. It seemed to be doing everything right. I did a 1:13.4 and my total time was good for 4th overall, only 0.17 seconds off that of the ZR-1!
We got some lunch at the Wawa in town (they really need to have these throughout the rest of the country!) and relaxed at the track for a bit. NJMP is a nice place to do that because it’s all shiny and new, made to look like an old Air Force base. In fact, there is a municipal airport right next door that was used as the first defensive air base in America. The grounds vehicles are even green Jeep Wranglers, decaled up like MP's (Motorsports Patrol)!
In my afternoon run, I pushed harder in a couple braking zones (before the blind Turn 5 and into the Light bulb) and carried a bit more speed out of the Light bulb so that I was actually coming out in 4th gear, rather than up-shifting on, or before, track-out. The results were good enough to drop 2 seconds off my total time, but not enough to best the ZR-1. Or the Z06, for that matter, since Danny Popp had returned to the wheel. I ended up with 5th place in the afternoon, but the day’s results had moved us up to 5th overall!
I found that, despite knowing the track, my times behind the wheel were intensifying. Maybe it was precisely because I DID know the track, and was therefore pushing the limits a bit more. Whatever the reason, I was in need of some decompression after my 2nd run. I walked off for a half-hour to just watch some of the other cars by myself.
Upon my return, I helped Kevin and Scott finish packing before we then returned to our suite so that Kevin could change some driveline fluids before we continued. While they were doing that, I took care of some sponsorship business and reviewed the in-car video. We both grabbed showers before hitting the road. I have to thank Scott of MyTrackSchedule.com for the hundredth time for providing the suite!
Due to conducting the maintenance on the car, were departed late enough to encounter plenty of rush hour traffic in Jersey before finally getting out. With warm temperatures, no A/C, rough roads, and idiotic drivers, we couldn’t escape fast enough. The mountains in Pennsylvania were a nice change, but we had gotten to the point of simply wanting to get to Ohio. While we had plans to stay with our friend, Tim Smith, we opted for a cheap hotel rather than the extra hour of round trip driving to his house and then Nelson Ledges in the morning.
Scott met us in the morning as we were getting unloaded and ready. With our morning procedure becoming pretty well defined, things went smoothly and I got ready to go. The Corvette ZR-1 of Ron and Patrick Adee was back from its mid-week hiatus to rejoin us at NJMP. They resumed their position in the first run group and I led the second run group. I was glad I didn’t go out in the first group, because I could see them all kicking up a cloud of dust as they drove around. Either dust or pollen was all over the track and I was more than willing to let them clear the racing line.
The Lightning track was a lot of fun and our car handled it very well. It seemed to be doing everything right. I did a 1:13.4 and my total time was good for 4th overall, only 0.17 seconds off that of the ZR-1!
We got some lunch at the Wawa in town (they really need to have these throughout the rest of the country!) and relaxed at the track for a bit. NJMP is a nice place to do that because it’s all shiny and new, made to look like an old Air Force base. In fact, there is a municipal airport right next door that was used as the first defensive air base in America. The grounds vehicles are even green Jeep Wranglers, decaled up like MP's (Motorsports Patrol)!
In my afternoon run, I pushed harder in a couple braking zones (before the blind Turn 5 and into the Light bulb) and carried a bit more speed out of the Light bulb so that I was actually coming out in 4th gear, rather than up-shifting on, or before, track-out. The results were good enough to drop 2 seconds off my total time, but not enough to best the ZR-1. Or the Z06, for that matter, since Danny Popp had returned to the wheel. I ended up with 5th place in the afternoon, but the day’s results had moved us up to 5th overall!
I found that, despite knowing the track, my times behind the wheel were intensifying. Maybe it was precisely because I DID know the track, and was therefore pushing the limits a bit more. Whatever the reason, I was in need of some decompression after my 2nd run. I walked off for a half-hour to just watch some of the other cars by myself.
Upon my return, I helped Kevin and Scott finish packing before we then returned to our suite so that Kevin could change some driveline fluids before we continued. While they were doing that, I took care of some sponsorship business and reviewed the in-car video. We both grabbed showers before hitting the road. I have to thank Scott of MyTrackSchedule.com for the hundredth time for providing the suite!
Due to conducting the maintenance on the car, were departed late enough to encounter plenty of rush hour traffic in Jersey before finally getting out. With warm temperatures, no A/C, rough roads, and idiotic drivers, we couldn’t escape fast enough. The mountains in Pennsylvania were a nice change, but we had gotten to the point of simply wanting to get to Ohio. While we had plans to stay with our friend, Tim Smith, we opted for a cheap hotel rather than the extra hour of round trip driving to his house and then Nelson Ledges in the morning.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
One Lap of America Round 7- Mid Ohio
We stayed at friends’ Andy and Sandy Welter’s house on Tuesday night and were just amazed by their hospitality. They had DTR One Lap of America signs on their mailbox so it was easy to find them and they even had a garage space available for us! After getting a good night’s sleep and some morning refreshments, we headed out to Mid-Ohio. Andy is an amateur photographer who has provided many pictures to Roundel in the past. Since I’m writing the One Lap article for Roundel, I had asked Andy if he would like to provide some pictures. He had enthusiastically agreed and he Sandy met up with us at the track. They both kept busy all day, getting as many angles as they could, which was difficult when we were only out there for 3 laps at a time!
I had been thinking about what to do with our traffic cone and came to a decision. After our drivers’ meeting, I requested the megaphone from Brock. I asked all the One Lap participants to sign the cone and we would give it to Glen Dodd. They must have approved, because they responded with a round of applause and people immediately came over to our garage to start signing. I don’t know Glen personally, but he has competed in 21 One Lap competitions, in many eccentric cars. Earlier this year, he fell off the roof of his hot rod shop and, in his words, "should have died." He didn’t compete this year, but his long-time co-driver had picked him up in South Carolina and brought him to the driver’s meeting at the Tire Rack on Friday for the start of the 2010 One Lap. I thought that the cone would be an appropriate gesture to someone who had obviously been a staple in the One Lap community, tactically acquired and given with respect by a couple of One Lap Pups.
In the morning session, we ran the Club Course, which utilizes the chicane between Turn 1 and the Keyhole. We had done all our testing at Mid-Ohio in this configuration but, since then, we felt that we had significantly improved the chassis setup and brakes, so I was eager to see what we could do. Our previous best lap time was 1:41.7.
With familiarity on my side, I was able to hit the track hard right from the start. The car was working well, aside from our continually slipping differential. I felt much better about the chassis balance and finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal. Getting the car turned-in, especially for Thunder Valley, was much improved. I was rather proud that I was able to identify the needs of the car and work with Kevin to make the required changes. The car has come a long way since our first track test! I pulled off a 1:40.1 lap and my cumulative 3 laps was good enough for our best finish thus far, 3rd overall!!
We were hugely pleased with the morning performance and, as much as we would’ve liked to repeat it, I knew that Danny Popp would be driving the Z06 in the afternoon. Car owner, Todd Rumpke, had run in the morning, but Danny is consistently quicker. One thing to note was the individual lap time of the morning’s overall winner, Leh Keen. Leh is a professional racer, running in a modified ’03 Porsche GT2. He ran a 1:35 on the Club Course. It simply amazes me that a car can do that on street tires!
I had felt a brake vibration when I was on course and when we took a look at the rotors we found that I had cracked both the front rotors. We had spare old rotors, so we swapped them on, but made an emergency call to our sponsor, Ireland Engineering. Jeff Ireland came through for us, sending out a set of rotor rings via overnight delivery to NJMP so that we could swap them on later.
Running on the Pro Course, the chicane was eliminated and created a heavy braking zone into the Keyhole and drops a couple seconds off the lap times. I drove basically the same as in the morning, but a touch harder. As the ambient temps went up, our pressure gains did slightly, as well. The front tires got greasy as the pressures got a little too high. It didn’t change the outcome, but was good data for us. Overall, though, I was still pleased. With that performance, we came in 4th overall and moved up to 6th in the overall points standings!
We got packed up and headed out on the long leg to NJ. It was a rather annoying drive, as the roads were bad and traffic worse, especially the closer we got. When we finally arrived, though, we were glad to have a suite directly on the grounds at NJ Motorsports Park. Our good friend and sponsor, Scott Barton of MyTrackSchedule.com, had graciously donated our night’s stay! We parked in the garage below and headed to bed.
I had been thinking about what to do with our traffic cone and came to a decision. After our drivers’ meeting, I requested the megaphone from Brock. I asked all the One Lap participants to sign the cone and we would give it to Glen Dodd. They must have approved, because they responded with a round of applause and people immediately came over to our garage to start signing. I don’t know Glen personally, but he has competed in 21 One Lap competitions, in many eccentric cars. Earlier this year, he fell off the roof of his hot rod shop and, in his words, "should have died." He didn’t compete this year, but his long-time co-driver had picked him up in South Carolina and brought him to the driver’s meeting at the Tire Rack on Friday for the start of the 2010 One Lap. I thought that the cone would be an appropriate gesture to someone who had obviously been a staple in the One Lap community, tactically acquired and given with respect by a couple of One Lap Pups.
In the morning session, we ran the Club Course, which utilizes the chicane between Turn 1 and the Keyhole. We had done all our testing at Mid-Ohio in this configuration but, since then, we felt that we had significantly improved the chassis setup and brakes, so I was eager to see what we could do. Our previous best lap time was 1:41.7.
With familiarity on my side, I was able to hit the track hard right from the start. The car was working well, aside from our continually slipping differential. I felt much better about the chassis balance and finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal. Getting the car turned-in, especially for Thunder Valley, was much improved. I was rather proud that I was able to identify the needs of the car and work with Kevin to make the required changes. The car has come a long way since our first track test! I pulled off a 1:40.1 lap and my cumulative 3 laps was good enough for our best finish thus far, 3rd overall!!
We were hugely pleased with the morning performance and, as much as we would’ve liked to repeat it, I knew that Danny Popp would be driving the Z06 in the afternoon. Car owner, Todd Rumpke, had run in the morning, but Danny is consistently quicker. One thing to note was the individual lap time of the morning’s overall winner, Leh Keen. Leh is a professional racer, running in a modified ’03 Porsche GT2. He ran a 1:35 on the Club Course. It simply amazes me that a car can do that on street tires!
I had felt a brake vibration when I was on course and when we took a look at the rotors we found that I had cracked both the front rotors. We had spare old rotors, so we swapped them on, but made an emergency call to our sponsor, Ireland Engineering. Jeff Ireland came through for us, sending out a set of rotor rings via overnight delivery to NJMP so that we could swap them on later.
Running on the Pro Course, the chicane was eliminated and created a heavy braking zone into the Keyhole and drops a couple seconds off the lap times. I drove basically the same as in the morning, but a touch harder. As the ambient temps went up, our pressure gains did slightly, as well. The front tires got greasy as the pressures got a little too high. It didn’t change the outcome, but was good data for us. Overall, though, I was still pleased. With that performance, we came in 4th overall and moved up to 6th in the overall points standings!
We got packed up and headed out on the long leg to NJ. It was a rather annoying drive, as the roads were bad and traffic worse, especially the closer we got. When we finally arrived, though, we were glad to have a suite directly on the grounds at NJ Motorsports Park. Our good friend and sponsor, Scott Barton of MyTrackSchedule.com, had graciously donated our night’s stay! We parked in the garage below and headed to bed.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
One Lap of America Round 6 - Gateway
With such a late departure from Tulsa, we didn't pass the St. Louis Arch until the AM hours, so we would only get about 4 or 5 hours of sleep. On the way to the track, I repeated my routine of reviewing video and the track map. Gateway is what’s commonly referred to as a “roval”. Or, a high-speed oval with an infield road course. I borrowed a bike from fellow competitor, Dan Corcoran, and took a ride around the track, slightly slower than full speed. The infield looked nice and flowing, but the transition from the banking to the straight and the straight to the infield were somewhat unknown.
In my morning run, I felt out the course, trying to find my turn-in for the long sweeper in the infield. The rest of the course came pretty naturally, but the start line was on the straight of the oval, so the first time I would go through Turn 1 into the infield, would be on my start lap. Eric VanCleef started in front of me in the Subaru STi. He made a hard, smoky launch, which I would later find had broken his LR axle. From a standing start, it wasn’t a problem to get through Turn 1 for me. As I approached Turns 3 and 4, I saw the spectators waving their hands at me. I breathed off the throttle for just a split second as I turned my eyes back down the track, but could not see any obstacle. I stayed in it as I saw a yellow flag ahead. I was able to spot the Subaru off the track to the left and, since it wasn’t in my way, didn’t slow in the slightest. I did, however, feel very bad for Eric, thinking at that time that he may have had an impact.
The car was a bit loose in the last turn leading onto the oval, but it was controllable. Accelerating toward the banked NASCAR turn, I short-shifted by a few hundred rpm into 4th gear so that I wouldn’t have to up-shift in the turn. I could definitely feel the rear wing doing its job through the banking, as the car transitioned to a push in the ~110 mph turn. The car pulled to about 140mph before slowing it for Turn 1. The transition was awkward and tossed the car around. I had opted to over-brake before the turn and coast, or even accelerate slightly, through the turn in the name of safety for my first time by. I repeated my laps, tweaking my line in the banked turn and backing up my braking points a bit, bringing it home cleanly. With the Subaru broken, it turned out to be good enough for a 5th place finish.
In the afternoon run, I pushed a bit harder. I attacked the infield harder, floating corner to corner, even nicking the monstrous curbs a bit. I carried more speed through Turn 1, delaying more braking and my downshift to 3rd until before Turn 2. On my first time through, I trailed a bit too much brake into Turn 2, and the car went into a big slide. I held onto the drift like Initial D and came out with as much speed as I could, but that certainly isn’t the fast way around a turn. Worse yet, I don’t think there were even any cameras focused on that corner! I had been finding the car to be a bit loose on the first lap of each session, so this shouldn’t have surprised me. I finished off my run to repeat my 5th place morning performance and advance to 8th overall!
On our way to Mid-Ohio, we were caravanning with Neil Simon / Woody Hair and Robin Sparrow / Brian Hair as we passed through a construction zone. I thought it would be funny to pick up a construction cone and carry it for a while, so I asked Kevin to pull close enough so I could nab one at 30mph. I pulled my hand back at the last moment, realizing how much that was about to hurt. But then I found my chance when he slowed down. At 10-15 mph, I grabbed one and just carried it alongside the car for a while. When we neared the actual construction, I considered the possibility that they may not be amused by my shenanigans, so I pulled the cone into the car. Once the road opened up, I put my arm in the cone and stuck it out the window as we pulled up on Robin and Brian. They looked over and started cracking up. I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING with this cone, so I started taking sneaky photos of the cone on everyone’s cars while I figured it out. It’s a pain to have the cone between my legs in the car for the remainder of the street miles, but we needed to entertain ourselves!
In my morning run, I felt out the course, trying to find my turn-in for the long sweeper in the infield. The rest of the course came pretty naturally, but the start line was on the straight of the oval, so the first time I would go through Turn 1 into the infield, would be on my start lap. Eric VanCleef started in front of me in the Subaru STi. He made a hard, smoky launch, which I would later find had broken his LR axle. From a standing start, it wasn’t a problem to get through Turn 1 for me. As I approached Turns 3 and 4, I saw the spectators waving their hands at me. I breathed off the throttle for just a split second as I turned my eyes back down the track, but could not see any obstacle. I stayed in it as I saw a yellow flag ahead. I was able to spot the Subaru off the track to the left and, since it wasn’t in my way, didn’t slow in the slightest. I did, however, feel very bad for Eric, thinking at that time that he may have had an impact.
The car was a bit loose in the last turn leading onto the oval, but it was controllable. Accelerating toward the banked NASCAR turn, I short-shifted by a few hundred rpm into 4th gear so that I wouldn’t have to up-shift in the turn. I could definitely feel the rear wing doing its job through the banking, as the car transitioned to a push in the ~110 mph turn. The car pulled to about 140mph before slowing it for Turn 1. The transition was awkward and tossed the car around. I had opted to over-brake before the turn and coast, or even accelerate slightly, through the turn in the name of safety for my first time by. I repeated my laps, tweaking my line in the banked turn and backing up my braking points a bit, bringing it home cleanly. With the Subaru broken, it turned out to be good enough for a 5th place finish.
In the afternoon run, I pushed a bit harder. I attacked the infield harder, floating corner to corner, even nicking the monstrous curbs a bit. I carried more speed through Turn 1, delaying more braking and my downshift to 3rd until before Turn 2. On my first time through, I trailed a bit too much brake into Turn 2, and the car went into a big slide. I held onto the drift like Initial D and came out with as much speed as I could, but that certainly isn’t the fast way around a turn. Worse yet, I don’t think there were even any cameras focused on that corner! I had been finding the car to be a bit loose on the first lap of each session, so this shouldn’t have surprised me. I finished off my run to repeat my 5th place morning performance and advance to 8th overall!
On our way to Mid-Ohio, we were caravanning with Neil Simon / Woody Hair and Robin Sparrow / Brian Hair as we passed through a construction zone. I thought it would be funny to pick up a construction cone and carry it for a while, so I asked Kevin to pull close enough so I could nab one at 30mph. I pulled my hand back at the last moment, realizing how much that was about to hurt. But then I found my chance when he slowed down. At 10-15 mph, I grabbed one and just carried it alongside the car for a while. When we neared the actual construction, I considered the possibility that they may not be amused by my shenanigans, so I pulled the cone into the car. Once the road opened up, I put my arm in the cone and stuck it out the window as we pulled up on Robin and Brian. They looked over and started cracking up. I decided that I needed to do SOMETHING with this cone, so I started taking sneaky photos of the cone on everyone’s cars while I figured it out. It’s a pain to have the cone between my legs in the car for the remainder of the street miles, but we needed to entertain ourselves!
Monday, May 3, 2010
One Lap of America Round 5 - Tulsa Raceway Park Drag Racing
Tulsa Raceway was about an hour from Hallett and this was the only day that had 2 events in the same day. Since we were running in the early run group at Hallett, we got there with plenty of time to come up with a strategy. There were going to be 2 different events. The first was a "low ET" competition for full points, just like any of the other events, where lowest time down the 1/4 mile stip would win.
The second would be a bracket race, where, based on your first run, you "dial in" how fast you think you will run and then you need to come closer to your time than the guy next to you, without going faster, or "breaking out". If the slower car dialed in 15 seconds in the 1/4 mile and the faster car claimed 13 seconds, then the slower car would be given the green light 2 seconds before the faster car. The idea is that both cars should cross the finish line at the exact same time. But, since man and machine are not perfect, it is a challenge that awards consistency over outright speed. Considering that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve drag raced, and the fact that I’ve never launched our car the same way twice (let alone even tried to do a drag racing launch with it), we were fully expecting to be knocked out in the first round of the bracket. Are you as confused as I was? Since I didn’t know what was going on, I decided to intimidate my competition by quoting lines from The Fast and the Furious. "I live my life one 1/4 mile at a time!" LOL!
The Low ET (elapsed time) competition was up first. Kevin coached me on a launch strategy for the car. The nature of his car being turbo-charged and having an extremely aggressive clutch would make this extremely difficult. He and I regularly stall the car when driving it around and I was just hoping not to do so at the start line! On the subject of the turbo, it makes immense power, but only under load and above a certain rpm. The tires cannot hold down the power in 2nd gear unless very warm, let alone 1st gear, so the launch will typically result in 1 of 2 things: A) "bogging" the motor, meaning that the clutch engages and the tires don’t slip much, so the engine rpms are below where the turbo makes power, resulting in a slow start. Or B) obliterating the tires. The engine is in boost and the tires are broken loose, but we just sit there spinning them instead of getting traction to move forward. It is almost impossible (at least for me) to find that perfect in-between. Kevin’s strategy was to hold the brake on with the ball of my right foot, bring the revs up to our powerband for the turbo, and bring the clutch out so it was slipping a bit, building turbo boost and priming the drivetrain, so as to not shock it with a sudden torque spike.
In the actual drag race, the launch would have gone great, but there was a ton of traction compound laid down and there was just immense grip. The motor bogged and so my launch wasn't good, but the traction was unbelievable. As the new Camaro SS next to me pulled ahead on the launch, my 315/30/18 Michelin PS2’s actually held 1st gear and the forward propulsion pinned me to my seat unlike ever before. I grabbed 2nd gear and by the time I hit 3rd, I had the Camaro sucking down my exhaust. I pulled several more car-lengths before crossing the line at a 12.62 seconds at 119 mph. Kevin wasn’t particularly pleased with the number, as low 12’s should be easily achievable, but was understanding of how difficult the car was to launch. While the car is one of the quicker cars in the competition his time was only good for 14th position overall, so not great, but not terrible. There was a new One Lap record set that day, by the stock Porsche 997 twin turbo. That car has all-wheel drive, a rear weight bias, launch control, and an automatic transmission. The result was simply unbelievable, at a 10.90. This was an utterly stock car.
In the bracket race, we "dialed in" a 12.4, in case I got a decent launch and went faster. I actually got a great launch on my first bracket run and stayed in it until I could see that I was ahead of the other car. Once I knew I had him beat to the finish line, I backed out of the gas to make sure I didn’t beat my dial-in time. So, possibly by a stroke of luck, we weren’t kicked out in the first round of the bracket. So half the field got to pack up and get going, while we stuck around to play for another round. This went on a few times and we eventually found ourselves in the Top 8, tieing for 4th place before finally being kicked out. Considering that we were expecting this to be a throw-away event, these were some awfully nice bonus points! We gained a spot in the overall rankings up to 9th and furher solidified our lead in class. This was at the expense of a reasonable departure time, though. We got packed up, though, and headed on to St. Louis.
The second would be a bracket race, where, based on your first run, you "dial in" how fast you think you will run and then you need to come closer to your time than the guy next to you, without going faster, or "breaking out". If the slower car dialed in 15 seconds in the 1/4 mile and the faster car claimed 13 seconds, then the slower car would be given the green light 2 seconds before the faster car. The idea is that both cars should cross the finish line at the exact same time. But, since man and machine are not perfect, it is a challenge that awards consistency over outright speed. Considering that I can count on one hand how many times I’ve drag raced, and the fact that I’ve never launched our car the same way twice (let alone even tried to do a drag racing launch with it), we were fully expecting to be knocked out in the first round of the bracket. Are you as confused as I was? Since I didn’t know what was going on, I decided to intimidate my competition by quoting lines from The Fast and the Furious. "I live my life one 1/4 mile at a time!" LOL!
The Low ET (elapsed time) competition was up first. Kevin coached me on a launch strategy for the car. The nature of his car being turbo-charged and having an extremely aggressive clutch would make this extremely difficult. He and I regularly stall the car when driving it around and I was just hoping not to do so at the start line! On the subject of the turbo, it makes immense power, but only under load and above a certain rpm. The tires cannot hold down the power in 2nd gear unless very warm, let alone 1st gear, so the launch will typically result in 1 of 2 things: A) "bogging" the motor, meaning that the clutch engages and the tires don’t slip much, so the engine rpms are below where the turbo makes power, resulting in a slow start. Or B) obliterating the tires. The engine is in boost and the tires are broken loose, but we just sit there spinning them instead of getting traction to move forward. It is almost impossible (at least for me) to find that perfect in-between. Kevin’s strategy was to hold the brake on with the ball of my right foot, bring the revs up to our powerband for the turbo, and bring the clutch out so it was slipping a bit, building turbo boost and priming the drivetrain, so as to not shock it with a sudden torque spike.
In the actual drag race, the launch would have gone great, but there was a ton of traction compound laid down and there was just immense grip. The motor bogged and so my launch wasn't good, but the traction was unbelievable. As the new Camaro SS next to me pulled ahead on the launch, my 315/30/18 Michelin PS2’s actually held 1st gear and the forward propulsion pinned me to my seat unlike ever before. I grabbed 2nd gear and by the time I hit 3rd, I had the Camaro sucking down my exhaust. I pulled several more car-lengths before crossing the line at a 12.62 seconds at 119 mph. Kevin wasn’t particularly pleased with the number, as low 12’s should be easily achievable, but was understanding of how difficult the car was to launch. While the car is one of the quicker cars in the competition his time was only good for 14th position overall, so not great, but not terrible. There was a new One Lap record set that day, by the stock Porsche 997 twin turbo. That car has all-wheel drive, a rear weight bias, launch control, and an automatic transmission. The result was simply unbelievable, at a 10.90. This was an utterly stock car.
In the bracket race, we "dialed in" a 12.4, in case I got a decent launch and went faster. I actually got a great launch on my first bracket run and stayed in it until I could see that I was ahead of the other car. Once I knew I had him beat to the finish line, I backed out of the gas to make sure I didn’t beat my dial-in time. So, possibly by a stroke of luck, we weren’t kicked out in the first round of the bracket. So half the field got to pack up and get going, while we stuck around to play for another round. This went on a few times and we eventually found ourselves in the Top 8, tieing for 4th place before finally being kicked out. Considering that we were expecting this to be a throw-away event, these were some awfully nice bonus points! We gained a spot in the overall rankings up to 9th and furher solidified our lead in class. This was at the expense of a reasonable departure time, though. We got packed up, though, and headed on to St. Louis.
One Lap of America Round 4 - Hallet
I had been duely warned that Hallett was a highly technical, but very fun track. As I had done the previous morning, armed with in-car video and a track map, I prepared myself for my run. I had a good idea of where the track went and a general line though it, but driving it quickly was another story. There was an extremely sharp turn at the end of the main straight, some long decreasing radii turns, and a blind uphill left-hander know as "the bitch".
In the morning, in an effort to improve our front grip and maximize the contact patch, Kevin added camber to the front suspension and then a little bit of angle to the rear wing. In my recon lap, I got an idea for just how fast turn 1 was, how tight turn 2 was, and started picking my line through the others. “The bitch” seemed fun, actually. That is, until the next time around. On my first hot lap, I came up the blind, uphill left-hander with some false measure of confidence. When I crested the hill, I found myself traveling ~80, but the road went to the right and I was a few degrees off to the left. This took away my braking room and, while I made an effort to get turned, there wasn’t any room and I hit the grass at speed. The crowd in the bleachers went silent, aside from a few gasps. With both feet in, the car rotated around and I allowed it to go backwards, then straightened it up and braced for impact… The car came to a stop, positioned directly between 2 tire barriers, a matter of feet from them. The spectators cheered as I got rolling again. I watched the 997 turbo come over the bitch and then pulled back on track behind him to finish my run.
I met a very nervous Kevin back in the pits and explained what had happened. He looked over the car while I reflected on my mistake. I wasn’t taking it lightly. Primarily because of the near catastrophe, but also because I had compromised our finish by spending time in the grass, rather than on the track. Unfortunately, my video camera didn’t work, so I walked up to the bleachers near the bitch and just asked loudly if anyone had caught the spin on video. I found someone with the video and got it downloaded. While it looked graceful, it also showed me just how close I had gotten to the tire wall. I had a lot of people approaching me and “complimenting” me on a great save (I’m not sure how much I had to do with it) and commenting on the general entertainment of my excursion. We would also later receive a mention in Motor Trend online, although I wish it was for better reasons!
During our lunch break, I expected abysmal results, but it turned out that we had finished in 12th overall. I guess it must have been the fact that I carried so much speed through the grass that I didn’t lose as much as I expected!... Especially when it was factored into the 3-lap cumulative total. Moreover, if there was ever a time for me to have a poor run, it was that one, because the 1st-in-class GTI had had a fuel issue, leaving them limping around the track, and finishing last. This immediately launched us into 1st-in-class and up to 10th place in the overall standings!!
Feeling slightly better about things, I geared up for the afternoon run, determined to run cleanly (first priority) and quickly (always a priority!). The car had been a bit loose and unruly in the morning session, so I asked Kevin to stiffen the front sway bar another notch to see if we could improve the balance. I should remind you that we had significantly upped the rear spring rate between our last test and the One Lap, so, unfortunately, we had to tweak along the way. The afternoon session went great, with the chassis balance finally feeling really good. I was even getting to quite enjoy the track!
When the results came out, we found that we had run 6th overall! We were now securing our lead in class, even with the GTI fixed and back in the game, and ecstatic to be in the top 10 overall! The Hallett circuit was great to visit and the staff was incredibly friendly. We headed over to Tulsa Raceway for the drag racing event.
In the morning, in an effort to improve our front grip and maximize the contact patch, Kevin added camber to the front suspension and then a little bit of angle to the rear wing. In my recon lap, I got an idea for just how fast turn 1 was, how tight turn 2 was, and started picking my line through the others. “The bitch” seemed fun, actually. That is, until the next time around. On my first hot lap, I came up the blind, uphill left-hander with some false measure of confidence. When I crested the hill, I found myself traveling ~80, but the road went to the right and I was a few degrees off to the left. This took away my braking room and, while I made an effort to get turned, there wasn’t any room and I hit the grass at speed. The crowd in the bleachers went silent, aside from a few gasps. With both feet in, the car rotated around and I allowed it to go backwards, then straightened it up and braced for impact… The car came to a stop, positioned directly between 2 tire barriers, a matter of feet from them. The spectators cheered as I got rolling again. I watched the 997 turbo come over the bitch and then pulled back on track behind him to finish my run.
I met a very nervous Kevin back in the pits and explained what had happened. He looked over the car while I reflected on my mistake. I wasn’t taking it lightly. Primarily because of the near catastrophe, but also because I had compromised our finish by spending time in the grass, rather than on the track. Unfortunately, my video camera didn’t work, so I walked up to the bleachers near the bitch and just asked loudly if anyone had caught the spin on video. I found someone with the video and got it downloaded. While it looked graceful, it also showed me just how close I had gotten to the tire wall. I had a lot of people approaching me and “complimenting” me on a great save (I’m not sure how much I had to do with it) and commenting on the general entertainment of my excursion. We would also later receive a mention in Motor Trend online, although I wish it was for better reasons!
During our lunch break, I expected abysmal results, but it turned out that we had finished in 12th overall. I guess it must have been the fact that I carried so much speed through the grass that I didn’t lose as much as I expected!... Especially when it was factored into the 3-lap cumulative total. Moreover, if there was ever a time for me to have a poor run, it was that one, because the 1st-in-class GTI had had a fuel issue, leaving them limping around the track, and finishing last. This immediately launched us into 1st-in-class and up to 10th place in the overall standings!!
Feeling slightly better about things, I geared up for the afternoon run, determined to run cleanly (first priority) and quickly (always a priority!). The car had been a bit loose and unruly in the morning session, so I asked Kevin to stiffen the front sway bar another notch to see if we could improve the balance. I should remind you that we had significantly upped the rear spring rate between our last test and the One Lap, so, unfortunately, we had to tweak along the way. The afternoon session went great, with the chassis balance finally feeling really good. I was even getting to quite enjoy the track!
When the results came out, we found that we had run 6th overall! We were now securing our lead in class, even with the GTI fixed and back in the game, and ecstatic to be in the top 10 overall! The Hallett circuit was great to visit and the staff was incredibly friendly. We headed over to Tulsa Raceway for the drag racing event.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
One Lap of America Round 3 - Mid America
Having stayed 2 hours away, in West Des Moines, IA, we had an early start to get to Mid-America Motorplex in the morning. Since we came in 7th in the first event at Road America, we were now running in the 2nd run group, meaning that we had to be there right at the start. With a million other things to do over the last month, I hadn’t gotten around to studying Mid-America. On the drive to the track, I pulled up some video online (thanks to MyTrackSchedule.com for providing in-car wireless internet!) and studied that, along with the track map. It gave me an idea of the shape of the turns and which way the track went.
The weather was clear and sunny, but the track had been rained on, without any rubber laid down following, so it was not the grippiest surface ever. I took my reconnaissance lap and felt it out, though. The track was open and flat, with many quick transitions, a few throw-away turns, all connected by some short bursts of straight-away. In comparison to Road America, this was more akin to a ridiculously fast autocross. Since we had replaced the new brake pads last night, I finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal and the car was hauling down nicely.
I was leading group 2, but the driver of the Chariots of Palm Beach Porsche 997 Turbo behind me had been to the track before in a previous One Lap, so I let him lead the group. I started about 20 seconds behind him and ran the course hard in the corners, but I was a little conservative on the first few applications of the new brakes, while working on backing off my braking points later and later. By the end of my 3 laps, I had closed the gap on the 997 to within a few car-lengths. The course was quite fun and my time was good enough for 6th overall!
During the break between sessions, the activity around the DTR / Street Survival E30 had heightened significantly. This was essentially the first time we had pulled the hood off other than to check the oil, so there was a lot of curiosity surrounding just what was powering this boxy coupe. Motor Trend interviewed Kevin and I for both print and video articles and a lot of attendees were taking a peek at Kevin’s handiwork.
In the afternoon, I set out for my second session, this time starting ahead of the 997 Turbo. We had been working on our chassis setup, as we had made a significant spring rate adjustment since our last track test and were trying to tune the balance. The car had been a little squirrley in the morning, so we stiffened the front sway bar a notch to transfer some grip to the rear. It did well in the afternoon, netting us another 6th place finish and bringing us another step closer to the GTI that was leading our class. The only notable thing about the run was almost running off the track AFTER the finish line because I had carried as much speed through it as possible, since I didn’t have to setup for the following turn. A little excitement never hurts, right? So, with the car performing well, we set out for Hallett.
The weather was clear and sunny, but the track had been rained on, without any rubber laid down following, so it was not the grippiest surface ever. I took my reconnaissance lap and felt it out, though. The track was open and flat, with many quick transitions, a few throw-away turns, all connected by some short bursts of straight-away. In comparison to Road America, this was more akin to a ridiculously fast autocross. Since we had replaced the new brake pads last night, I finally had a confidence-inspiring brake pedal and the car was hauling down nicely.
I was leading group 2, but the driver of the Chariots of Palm Beach Porsche 997 Turbo behind me had been to the track before in a previous One Lap, so I let him lead the group. I started about 20 seconds behind him and ran the course hard in the corners, but I was a little conservative on the first few applications of the new brakes, while working on backing off my braking points later and later. By the end of my 3 laps, I had closed the gap on the 997 to within a few car-lengths. The course was quite fun and my time was good enough for 6th overall!
During the break between sessions, the activity around the DTR / Street Survival E30 had heightened significantly. This was essentially the first time we had pulled the hood off other than to check the oil, so there was a lot of curiosity surrounding just what was powering this boxy coupe. Motor Trend interviewed Kevin and I for both print and video articles and a lot of attendees were taking a peek at Kevin’s handiwork.
In the afternoon, I set out for my second session, this time starting ahead of the 997 Turbo. We had been working on our chassis setup, as we had made a significant spring rate adjustment since our last track test and were trying to tune the balance. The car had been a little squirrley in the morning, so we stiffened the front sway bar a notch to transfer some grip to the rear. It did well in the afternoon, netting us another 6th place finish and bringing us another step closer to the GTI that was leading our class. The only notable thing about the run was almost running off the track AFTER the finish line because I had carried as much speed through it as possible, since I didn’t have to setup for the following turn. A little excitement never hurts, right? So, with the car performing well, we set out for Hallett.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
2010 One Lap of America is under way!
We got into the Tire Rack on Friday morning and got registered. Kevin has been doing a great job on the transit driving throughout, keeping a safe and steady pace. Our first competition event yesterday was the wet skidpad. Our result was not good, as our car didn't really agree with that particular event and I had never run a skidpad before, let alone driven our car in the wet. We were 8th out of 9 in class and 53rd out of 68 overall. We weren't too concerned, as it was the first event of many, so we packed up and headed up to Elkhart Lake, WI.
Today went much differently. Road America has the longest straight-away of any track in the country (I think) and I was both nervous and excited to get out there. I'd spent an hour or so each night for the past few nights watching in-car video and playing Road America on X-Box. It sounds silly, but it paid off in a big way. In this morning's session, amid brakes that weren't really up to the task of slowing us from 150+ MPH, I managed to keep the car clean and cause people to suddenly take notice of us. We were 7th overall, among Porsche turbos, Nissan GT-R's, and Z06 and ZR-1 Corvettes! We are absolutely thrilled with our finish!
However, the extremely high speeds caused us to wear out our front brake pads more than I ever fathomed. We were suddenly in a crunch because it would be Tuesday before we went back through Cincinnati and no one could ship pads on Saturday. In typical fashion, one of our in-class competitors (Joe from Tire Rack) tried desperately to find us pads. We pursued several possibilities, but one of his suggestions was to contact Pegasus Racing, who was in Wisconsin. In a massive stroke of luck, they had the Hawk pads we needed for our Brembo brakes! They left them outside so we could pick them up later.
In the afternoon, we ran the short course at Road America, which eliminated the 2 longest straights. We started on a connecting road, where everyone stood to watch, and it had cones set up to lead the cars onto and off of the main track. The penalty for hitting a cone was 10 SECONDS! Brock Yates Jr. (event organizer and son of the creator of the original Cannonball Run) told me just before my run to not let a cone determine the results. In other words, "Don't be stupid and throw away your result by hitting a cone!"
With this advice fresh in my mind, I set out for my reconnaissance lap. I was running at about "full" speed, just because that one lap reflected 20% of my total experience at Road America, so I was learning a lot with each subsequent lap! So, I came up to a fast, blind, uphill left-hander, which I actually quite enjoyed in the video game and in the morning session. I came out of it flying and, when I could see the road ahead of me, several expletives and a healthy dose of embarrassment ran through my mind, because I just saw a sea of cones in front of me! I stood on the brakes and held the wheel straight, trying to slow as much as I could. I just BARELY made the turn and, as I went by everyone watching, I shook my hand out the window as to say "Aei, yei yei! That was close!" I could clearly hear everyone erupt into laughter as I headed up to the starting line!
Fortunately, the actual run went smoothly and we placed 7th overall AGAIN! So I guess that means it wasn’t a fluke! The Road America events have launched us up to 2nd place in-class, but we still have a bunch of points to make up on the GTI with the Stage 4 turbo, so we just need to keep doing what we’re doing! We are now running in the second run group (cars 6-10) for the rest of the events, so we will be with some fast company. We stopped at Pegasus and got our brake pads, possibly adding 1-2 hours to our trip. We've crossed into Iowa, though, on our way towards Mid-America Motorplex for tomorrow's event.
I'm posting updates to Facebook and Twitter, so follow me on Twitter (Z3SpdDmn) and set it up to give you SMS alerts directly to your phone, or follow me on Facebook, where you can see some random photos that I'm uploading throughout.
WE ARE STREAMING LIVE IN-CAR VIDEO, thanks to MyTrackSchedule.com! I'm sending out updates to Facebook and Twitter whenever we're getting ready to go live, so you have to follow along to know when to watch!
OR you can simply KEEP UP ON www.DTROneLap.com for all the latest updates!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)