skibigsky's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last weekend Event #2 (for the MSoloTeam, #4 for the region)., or Another Autocross, Another Car. So, the Utah State Fairgrounds. Charles left for California last Tuesday afternoon, and drove the Corvette back last Friday. We think he’s a closet masochist. Maybe not so much on the closet part, eh? Anyhoo. Charles arrived on Friday evening, and after much organizing on Saturday, as well as a trip to Wally World so that Charles could build at a ‘driving shoe’ for Mr. V.’s cast. As you are all likely aware, Mr. V. is in a second cast, (pink with black racing stripes) but has been given the approval from the surgeon to push in a clutch). Mr. V. had major surgery, and was on serious painkillers. He’s now off the drugs, but is still uncomfortable, making sleeping while still in excruciating pain almost impossible. Which, incidentally, also makes the wife’s sleeping almost equally impossible….. but that’s neither here nor there…. So, Saturday included the Building Mr. V.’s Driving Shoe experience – an experience made complete by a pair of size 12 sandals, some duct tape, and some sticky-sided Velcro strips from Walmart. (I’ll post the pictures as soon as I get them off the camera.) After the building of the shoe, which, according to SCCA rules we could find, would be classified as an A Mod Cast Racing Shoe (no wing on the back, but and the packing of the car, we prepared for Sunday. We parked the truck and trailer at PC RV, just for convenience (we really should look at buying a lot there, we are there so much….), and so at the a**-crack of dawn, I got Charles down to the truck/trailer/Corvette, and I then went back home, picked up Mr. V. and headed down to the fairgrounds, him still mostly asleep. (Alas, I don’t have pictures, as I was busy with, oh, I dunno, lots of stuff!) Once we arrive, Blaine teched the Corvette, the Mini, and Mr. V.’s A Mod Cast Racing Shoe. There was much tugging, testing, and yes, the cast passed tech! (Woohoo!) Then there was the course walk. We didn’t really think this through, as a good pit bike would have made Mr. V.’s life a lot easier. As it was, he had to do the course walk on his crutches. Again, really not the best idea; if we wanted to shorten his day this was probably one of the biggest ways to do it. Lesson learned. Pit bike. Charles has been given his assignment. He’s all over it. And then Mr. V., Brandon and Ryan (driving the Mini) got ready for their runs, while I was the ‘cone counter’. Heh. Cones. I should write more about cones. Anyway, Mr. V. did his runs with this humongous boot on his cast. Luckily, you COULD run the course in 1st gear (a couple of tight turns made it so that you were hitting the rev limiter on the straights, but not losing TOO much time – especially for those of us who aren’t exactly expert in downshifting…. I seem to always find 3rd rather than 1st…). And frankly, he drove REALLY well, especially since he took only 4 of the 10 available runs. In truth, it was a hard day for him; he got up very early, had to ‘walk’ the course, and did most of his work assignment. For someone who has been, essentially, in bed since March 18th, this was BIG. A very tough day. We did plan ahead, and had two vehicles – the truck and trailer (with the Corvette) and the Pacifica. Mr. V. took the Pacifica home at lunch, leaving me to get more runs in the Corvette. Okay. The Corvette is bitchin. There is NO question about that. A C5 Zo6 is just fucking cool, in ANY configuration (although some are scarier than others!). 400+ HP. That IS cool. Anywho. Charles is one of my designated coaches. To do that, I get to ride with him when he drives, and see what he does, and he rides with me and gives me feedback. One issue with the Miata – no passenger seat. In our NEXT prepared car (*grin), there will be a passenger seat. Because there is a lot of set-up to be done (relatively – moving the seat, setting up the harness, adjusting everything), it is easiest for one person to take all their runs first. True, it is also advantageous to the second driver and illegal at big events. But for a small, local event, where our goal is to teach me stuff, it works perfectly. So Charles took his 5 runs, and then it was ready for me. Like last weekend, I had vague goals. I was in a different car, and again, didn’t know what to expect. Bigger car, more HP, and just a different feel. Charles has been telling me all winter that if I can learn to drive the Corvette, I’ll be wicked fast in the Miata. I’m beginning to get a sense of why he said that. Anyway, goals. IF Linda was there, I wanted to keep the same time gap, or close it. If not, I wanted to be closer to Charles than I had been in the last event (same driver-same car setup for both events). I also wanted to improve my raw time standings and my ‘PAX’ standings. And, again, I wanted to get comfortable. I was still a bit gun-shy after my big burn out in Primm last November. I was over it then, but sort of like crashing in the downhill, you really need a good run in gates several months later to banish the demons. Luckily, Charles is essentially unflappable (even after the burn out last year, he just sort of looked at me – no recriminations, just more of a ‘WTF?’ look), and I had been with him on the course. Which may or may not be a good thing. I mean, generally, it was – I would have DNF’ed my first run if it weren’t for him. However, he had a few moments where the car got ‘loose’ and I was a bit worried that I was going to be going all directions around sideways. What I DIDN’T think would be an issue was the width of the car. The Miata is a little car. And the Corvette is a beast. I thought I knew where the passenger front corner of the car was, but…. Well… not so much. 10 runs, total, 18 cones. 18. 18!!!! (In all fairness, I had one run where I lost it in the finish, got tail-happy, and couldn’t straighten it out…. 6 cones right there.) I only had one clean run all day (although I might have had 2 – there is some debate…). Some were getting used to the car, and some cones were just not knowing where the car ended and the cones began. BUT. I kicked last week’s PAX results, and smoked raw times, even with a much smaller run group – and I was less than 2 seconds behind Mr. V. (okay, so he’s a gimp, and he didn’t take as many runs as I did, but since I’ve been lucky to be within 5, this is huge), and 4 seconds behind Charles. Last weekend, I was more than 5 seconds off Charles. And I improved 4 ‘PAX points’ where he only improved. So, I’m thinking that means that I improved. Did it feel like it? Yeah, sort of. My big issue this weekend was that I Hit So Many Cones. One the one hand, cones will clean themselves up. I really don’t know where the sides of the car are, and that does make it tough to avoid the cones. And there was that run where things got loose in the finish, and I was trying hard to not hit the timing lights. But, did I have fun? HELL YEAH. And no, I didn’t do any serious burn outs (and the starter got warned, even….. thanks, ‘team’ members). I actually did some good starts. But I had fun. Interestingly, I kept it in 1st gear the entire time (again, it’s that shifting thing – I’ll be working on that with the Mini), and hit the rev limiter in a few spots, and am not ever sure that I heard that rumble that I so crave (but again… 1st gear… not much rumble there…. Although the sucker is nice and throaty at launch). But when I finally learn to drive? I think I’m a Prepared chick at heart. The Miata is just primo. If I could learn to drive the Corvette, I could certainly drive the Miata (yep, Charles is right!), and I could begin to learn to drive my (fantasy) CP Mustang. *grin. Gods, I love this season!!!!! 9:01 p.m. - 25 April 2008 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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