skibigsky's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, an update Okay, so where were we? I think when we last left our heroine, she was getting ready to go to Primm, NV for a weekend of car racing in the Corvette. Charles flew out, and helped us get ready for the trip to Nevada. We got ourselves packed up, and drove to Primm, south of Vegas. About 7 hours. We were staying at the casino where the races were held, so we didn’t bring the dogs; just the truck and the trailer with the Corvette. The plan was that 4 people would be driving the car; Mr. V., Charles, Brandon - another team member, and myself. Three guys and me. Since they only let two drivers run in a heat, and I need (and clearly still do with this car – as will be shown) someone to ride with me, we figured we’d be juggling classes. Not a big deal; this isn’t in our region, and we were all really down there for seat time in the Corvette, not to get ‘class’ points. The plus for me, though? I was NOT running in a class of one; according to the pre-registration, there were going to be at least 3 people (including me) in my class each day. A bit of a novelty for me, and I was excited. Anyway, we survived the drive (it wasn’t bad, just a whole lot of nothing…); Vegas is still the pit that I remember (although that the building just keeps going amazes me, and makes me give a little more serious thought to water issues… how long can they keep sucking water away from the rest of the west?!?), and there was a little tension about the quality of the hotel. Mr. V. wasn’t feeling well, and was touchy about staying in a 2 star hotel (ever since I booked such a gawd-awful hotel for Charles in Kansas, I have questioned my hotel-choosing skills). I kept trying to explain that we were staying at this particular hotel because of convenience; the parking lot we were racing was right outside our door. Casinos, by nature, are a bit odd to me. (I’ve lived in Utah too long, I think.) At one point in my life, I could have gotten into the whole casino management thing (both from an opportunity point of view, and a mindset point of view), but that phase has long since passed. I’m still fascinated by the whole thing though – the people (customers and employees), layouts, ‘other attractions’ (this place had a scary-looking roller coaster – nope, didn’t get on it – a water slide, and a bunch of other family oriented stuff), and the ‘atmosphere’ that each place uses to try to make it ‘unique’. Anyway… The three of us had dinner once we arrived, and settled in for the night. Because Charles is a morning person, and Brandon was his roommate (and thus a morning person by default), they were up and dealt with the car (changed tires, etc., etc.) while Mr. V. and I eased ourselves out of bed. Saturday was beautiful. Sunny, warm, and perfect. We got our classes sorted out (Mr. V. and Brandon would run together), and Charles and I would run together. (Mr. V. has removed himself as my autocross coach. He’s decided that it is too tense for both of us to have him in the car with me, and has been slowly passing me off to another coach. Charles has found himself in the position of being my coach, and since he’s easy-going, but a very good driver, it seems like it will be a good working relationship. Although, I may have scared him a bit much this weekend…. We’ll see.) So… the course was a perfect corvette course; big long straights, with only a few tight sections. The only issue? I was going to have to downshift at some point – something that I haven’t quite mastered in an autocross course. No worries. Perfect place to learn, right? Nothing bad can happen. Heh. And Saturday went fine. We had 7 runs, and after laying down 4 clean runs that left me in 2nd place (out of 3), I went out in the afternoon session and tried downshifting right before a turn, and took out a bunch of cones once, and spun the car – a complete 360, thankyouverymuch – once, before putting down my best run. The spin was fun (again – nothing to hit – so it was worth some serious giggles on both the part of myself and my coach), and wasn’t an issue. I had a fun day, but when it was all over, I was 8.something seconds behind Mr. V. (a big gap for me these days), and 2.5 seconds behind the first place woman in my class. Not great. Still, I was learning the car, and had a good time, so I wasn’t too upset. (Have I mentioned that I LOVE this car?!? Oh… It rumbles. Like deep in your core rumble. And it has this go-fast thing that is also really cool!!! This thing rocks! *grin) Anyhoo, after the races, we had dinner again, and I hit the penny slots. I made a whopping $13 bucks (on penny slots, thankyouverymuch), and promptly spent all of this and more in their too-expensive-but-tasty candy store. Heh. Yep. These places will get your money one way or another. And then there was Sunday. A little cloudy, and a hair cooler. It started off with Charles and I being put in different run groups (the Vegas Corvette group had shown up and they were shuffling classes…. Lots of COOL vettes, including a 2008 Z06 – Mr. V.’s next car, and quite a bit more HP than the 2002 that we’ve got…). Given than Charles was in a class of one, we shifted things so that I’d have a coach. (Good thing, too.) Because Mr. V. and Brandon took their runs, and then in the next heat Charles took his runs. And then I got in the car, and it died. Literally died. Charles (being the mechanical type) starts doing his mechanical thing, and Mr. V. shows up and freaks out that I’ve broken his car, and storms off, having to do his work assignment (we were in the second half of my heat – Charles having run during the first half). Luckily, Charles is a little less excitable, and after a bit of work, decided that our battery had just died, and was able to find us a battery that would work (out of an RV that one of the Vegas people had brought… if I haven’t mentioned it, this was a VERY welcoming region – to lend us a battery out of an RV was just too cool!). Charles got it working, and I got ready to run. But, frankly, I was a bit agitated. After the whole episode with the Mini losing its clutch, Mr. V. freaking out about me breaking ‘his’ car upset me, and I had no business being in the driver’s seat. Charles asked me if I was okay, and I though I was okay enough to drive. I thought I could push down my extreme irritation (when Mr. V. freaks out, he gets rather vicious, and I have this tendency to take it personally) and drive. The short story? On my first run, I did a major burn out – got on the accelerator too hard before I dropped the clutch, lost the front end of the car, and left amazing tire tracks at the start before taking a really heinous 90-degree turn across the lane, and across the track. Basically pulled a wheelie with a 3000 lb car. exciting, but not cool. Luckily, I got the car stopped with nothing wore than a bunch of cones knocked down, a DNF, scaring the hell out of myself, and scaring Charles (probably equally so). The good news is that it wasn’t a mechanical issue; it was all mental. I was still freaked out from Mr. V.’s rant, and hadn’t given myself enough time to calm down. Charles and I talked about what had happened – I was still agitated, and I was trying to get a good start, forgetting that I was in a big horsepower, rear-wheel drive car, instead of the small horsepower, front wheel drive Mini. I took my aggression out in the start, and I got bit. I was still a little scared, but wanted to get back out there, and get that out of my mind. And as I got back in the start, Mr. V. runs over and yells at me about how I could have destroyed the car and killed course workers, and if I had been on the road, I would have certainly killed myself. While I had a decent run, his words didn’t help me. In fact, he brought me back to the agitation that I was feeling earlier, and it took me a while to calm down and get back in line for my next run. It wasn’t as good as the last one, but I finished, and pulled the car into the pit. Charles and I spent a fair amount of time talking about what had gone on, and how I was feeling. (And this is why Mr. V. is not my coach. He would have continued to berate me, and would scoff at Charles’ approach of sorting out what happened and why.) By the time I had eaten, I was calmed down. And, I did have a couple of Utah drivers come over and comment enthusiastically (in a positive way), about what a WICKED burn out I had done. One of the guys is known to be certifiable when it comes to driving, and the fact that I had impressed him made me smile. It was cool. Still, I was a little freaked out. Bad things could have happened. They didn’t and I got past that, and frankly, I learned a number of things: 1) Don’t drive when agitated. Autocross, or on the road. When in doubt. Pull over, or don’t run. In a small race, work with the starter. In a big race, figure out an excuse, like a mechanical. Calm down as much as possible before racing. Pull off when on the road. 2) Races are not life-or-death. Missing a few runs to collect yourself isn’t the end of the world. 3) Listen to your coach. Coaches have the benefit of outside perspective. Learn to know your coach, and make sure your coach knows you so s/he can provide the best perspective possible. In races, your coach is more important and influential than your husband. 4) Ultimately, you are responsible for your own emotions. Mr. V. pissed me off, do I think he acted like an ass? Well, yeah. But I chose to let him get to me. I chose to get agitated. I can chose to ignore people who act like asses. It might be tough when it is my husband, but I can choose to do it. 5) I could stop the car in a frightening situation. Maybe not as fast as I should have, but it could have been worse. I am learning to find the ‘panic override’ switch. Autocross is very good for me. 6) Very few bad things happen in autocross. This is a great place to learn the above lessons. The road is not. 7) As long as nothing bad happens, exciting runs can be very instructive. The best part of the day? After I ate and did my work assignment, I went out and laid down 3 runs that were WAY faster than the ones I had put down in the morning (when Mr. V. was attributing my good run to his ‘feedback’…. Eh… not so much… This is why he is no longer my coach.). I closed the gap, both on the woman in my class (1.7 seconds – still HUGE gap, but closer), and on Mr. V. (6.00 seconds – getting there!). I took 2nd out of 4, and regained my confidence. (Not that I had lost confidence in my driving, just in my judgment). I’ve got a long way to go before I master this Corvette, but I learned a lot this weekend. First, I still love the car, even though I scared the hell out of myself (and Charles – great coach, but was speechless for about 60 seconds after my wild burn out). I think I can learn to drive this car. Mostly because I WANT to. I want to drive this car well. And that alone will make me better. Third, I’m still a rookie driver in so many ways, but I think I’ll be able to kick ass once I learn a) to actually drive a manual transmission (need a LOT of work there) and b) focus to the exclusion of most everything else. I am a rookie. And I scared the hell out of myself, but I came back, and had a hell of a lot of fun. I CAN drive this car. And I will drive this car. Fast. More later on the rest of the trip. Sunday was a hard day for me, but necessary, and I learned a lot – about myself, about why I like autocross more than anything else that I’ve done, and about the people around me. All of this is important. 7:23 p.m. - 15 November 2007 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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