Timed runs - Here we go. Time to put it all together. Run 1; OK, but a little tentative in 1 feeling out the tires, get a little sloppy through 6, but end up ok, about a second behind 1st place. Run 2, again a little sloppy, but picked up a bit through 4 & 5, but overall a touch slower than Run 1. 1st holds steady, still 2nd. RUN 3 - DISASTER STRIKES! Coming through 5 something goes terribly wrong. Did I catch the dropoff inside th apex? Did I just under-correct for oversteer? Did something break? I end up heading straight out of the apex to find the tire wall that I previously hadn't even seen. No control, can't scrub off speed and hit it nearly broadside, with the front fender catching first. Looks like it's a tow. Lower control arm is now a pretzel. Front right wheel de-cambered about 20 degrees, sheetmetal damage, but no damage to the wheel or tire. Leads one to believe that the arm might have failed in the apex as I have survived many oversteer situations there before. Anyway, we try a little hammering, etc, to no avail. But the car is driveable, and it turms out it tracks very straight and tight except over bumps. So I take it home on the interstate with a couple safety checks along the way. Turns out the front frame rails may be bent as well. The frame shop will tell.
End up with a third for the day, as the car behind me (an RX-7 no less) knocks 3.5 seconds off. Not a good season end, but a lot of lessons learned. Still, I got my personal best time of 1:35.381
Now the decisions as to how to continue next year. New car? Repair? Will I even be able to recover given budget or will it be a year off building? Lots of time to plan. Maybe during that time I can get some damage pictures up and maybe even the in-car video.
I run into a couple guys I met at RA, swap stories and compare notes. Get the dressed in the R1s, get through tech and I'm ready to go. Went into Group II this time as I have been around BFR a couple times. This proves to be a good move both schedule and speed wise.
Sessions #1 & #2 - go well except for some gas spillage out the filler cap. Seems at BFR with a full tank, the vented cap just can't keep it in. Switch to the sealed cap after a few checkout stops and we're back in business. I just have to remember to crack it open when I shut it off. Had some good laps with a 944 Turbo and an M3. Lead a little, let'em by and follow to learn. Works pretty well. Sessions #3 & #4 - Now the speed's picking up. These are great sessions to really get into a rhythm. Round and round we go 12-15 times. It's really great to see the tach redline at exactly the same spot lap after lap. Times are looking good (not great) at 1:31 (flying laps). I was really able to discover good AND alternate lines around the track, especially the carousel and turn 5. Things are going smooth. get to dice with the 944 Turbo again, and a 1959 Devin, a fiberglass body around a tube chassis sporting a flat 6. Cool vintage car with a great driver. Learned a lot following him. Session #5 - Go fill up with gas again, then to a pretty much open round as a lot of people have left. Get into some good rounds. Pretty evenly matched up with a S2000 (I was eventually faster), but again watching, learning and dealing with traffic is a good experience.
Overheated the front left brake going into Turn 7 and it stuck on, pulling me into the apex. Killed a cone but all OK. Left side is smokin'! Pulled into the pits jacked it up and kept it rotating while I gently sprayed some Windex. Keft it up for about 20 mins until it cooled. No serious damage done. Guess I won't be using those pads for the AX in 3 days.
I left home at 4:15 a.m. in order to arrive early for registration and tech. I hate being rushed at a new venue where I'm not sure exactly how the schedule will unfold. Better to be early, time to calm the nerves. I get registered, pick a paddock spot, unload and change tires.
As I go about my business, I carry on some discussions with guys interested in the car, or what may be going on during the day. I guess the newbies are the early birds. I end up being one of three or four non-Porsche cars (a turbo Quattro and a '63 E-Jag on bias plys were notable) for the day. But nobody seems to mind, everyone is just excited about getting out on the track. My main goal today is to feel now the cars handles without the rear sway bar, and stay calm and in control.
8:30 - First session. The weeks reviewing in-car video from RA helps tremendously as I have a good mental picture of the track burned in by now. The track looks different between 11 & 12 than I expected, but nothing critical. 12 does come up quite quickly though. Watch those brake markers. The car is handling great, very predictable and controllable. But I'm going about 70%, fairly slow.
Session #2 - A little faster the before. The car is still handling great. Why did I wait so long? The turns that need particular work for me seem to be 3, 5, 14. 6 is a particularly "fun" corner as it is blind coming up the hill, and the car gets light. Hard to find track out point, just seems to take practice and faith.
Session #3 - A brave soul agrees to be an instructor for me on this session. As usual with an instructor, I miss every apex, swing wide, etc. I seem to lose concentration easily as I focus in what the instructor is saying rather than trying to listen and implement at the same time. But the session is VERY helpful. He gives me good clues as to how to handle each of the corners, as well as car positioning in general. He has been thinking of joining the SPEC RX-7 crowd, so in return he gets a good feel for the cars and what they're capable of. He is quite impressed, and likes the handling of the car and it's ability to slide evenly through the turns. It is handing wonderful, and I'm gaining confidence lap by lap. It's really fun to controllably slide the car through a corner. I thought I would never be able to do it, but it's clickin' now.
Sessions #4 & #5 - Best sessions yet (of course). I'm able to assimilate all the morning's experience and learning and wrap it all up into some great laps. Things are all working well together, the car, me and the other traffic. I can still clean up a most of the corners in some way or another, but I'm making it around fairly quickly and smoothly. Still not going 100%, but rather a little easier and let the car last. I can still get a good feel at 90%. A couple of good German beers and some bench racing after it's over perfectly wraps up an unbelievably fun day.
Won't make it to any June events, looks like it will be July 15 AX, Agust 28 PCA, and Sept 16 Drivers school, maybe a late Spet AX too. Maybe Dawn would do the Sept School? I need 2 competition events to stay on board with Mazda Comp, so that is important. Maybe I can put the full cage in and go through a comp driver's school in September, or at least be ready for early next year. Car could always fit into either ITA or EP for the school and MC events early on if I don't get it all the way back to Spec trim.
Doing some graphics work to try to spice it up a bit, make it LOOK more like a race car. Must be the kid in me. I want so bad to decorate with cool stickers and such. Restaint is the key though as I have to drive it on the street and don't want to attract too much attention.