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We came in and let the car cool off and the crew started breaking down the trailer equipment while I walked the Hot Import Nights car show area quickly. Wow... I cannot describe this scene at all. I felt like I was on another planet. Cars with 15 degrees of negative camber, "poking" and "tucking" and "thumping". I don't "get it", none of it, so I guess that means I am getting too old. I did see the local Enkei rep and got to talk about upcoming new wheels for the FR-S/BRZ twins, which was cool. By the time I had made a lap of the HIN show, the Mustang had the spoiler installed in place of the wing, was loaded in the trailer, and the sun shade was rolled up. I talked briefly with the Mustang driver that wrecked and had the worst kind of day, then we rolled out by 3:30pm. I wish I would have stuck around for the 7pm awards ceremony, complete with video/pictures/champagne, but Amy and I had another day of racing on Sunday and we needed to go home and collapse. We used that saved 3.5 hours to catch some ZZZZs.
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Overall, the GTA event was intense and a lot of fun. We had a crowd watching and cheering, which is rare at any track event, even if they were mostly there to see the drifters (and I gave them some of that on Friday). I got to meet some cool racers, talked face-to-face with more of the Whiteline folks, did a video interview for them, and just had a great time. Before this event I was worried that I would be super slow and way off the pace, but the big 3500 pound Mustang did all right, placing 5th fastest overall and one of only five cars to break the 40 second lap barrier.
For the "class of one win" I banked $300 of Whiteline product credit, a pair of Oakley Sunglasses from FIAT, and get to go down in the record books as the Unlimited RWD track record holder for TMS (shrug). Congrats to AST/Vorshlag Tester KenO for his big win in Enthusiast RWD (he banked $800 in contingencies and the free sunglasses, too). Another local NASA TT racer with Vorshlag camber plates, Jeff Tan, managed to win Enthusiast AWD in his EVO X, also netting $800 in contingencies. I gotta give a big thanks to all the folks who came out to help crew - Ryan and Brandon on Friday, and Amy, Ed, Jason and PaulM on Saturday. The car was rock solid and had zero drama, doing nothing more than eating fuel and gobbling up more track miles.
SCCA Autocross, Dallas Raceway, 9/23
After two days of brutal heat (99°F), we were now supposed to spend a third day in the same heat at an autocross. These three day race weekends never work well for me and this time was no exception. Because we were already fried, we left the house late and arrived behind schedule, limiting us to one quick walk-through on a very complicated, busy, poorly flowing course (sorry JJ!) on a brand new event site that we were unfamiliar with. The site has drainage down the middle that fills with water and then algae, and this section is SLICKER THAN SNOT. The course that day crossed this section on the outside of a corner in an acceleration zone, which made for tail-happy driftoro. Then it got into it again during a heavy braking zone at the start of a tight slalom, which caught me out again many times.
Can you tell I'm setting this up with low expectations? After the wing was swapped for the spoiler (end of day Saturday at TMS), we kept the now well abused A6's on the car and just ran it in ESP as-is. Barely had time to adjust tire pressures and then we had to work first heat. I was the announcer and Amy worked the computer, which tends to run a bit long. We had to run over and grab the car and our gear, then hustle to get into the "two driver lane" in the very compressed grid area. By the time we pulled up they wanted us to run, so I hopped in and took a run. And promptly DNF'd.
OMG it was slick and the course was very ... quirky. Nothing flowed well, you came into turns all crossed up and pointing the wrong way, and the slaloms were tight. The 180° turn-arounds were also tight tight tight for this big car and I was fighting the course and the car all day. The "slick patches" also caught me out badly on four of my five runs. On my first run, the car got so crossed up that when it hooked up, it kicked the steering wheel back FAST. My thumb hooked on a spoke and when the wheel kicked back it ripped my hand so hard it damn near broke my left wrist. Two weeks later and it still hurts. So I finished my first run one handed and favored my right hand all day for driving. Excuses ... I gots em!
In-car video of my 3rd run is linked above, with ample mistakes.
We also had to rush rush rush to get the driver & numbers switched and
barely had time to check tire pressures and spray them a bit to cool them off (it was HOT). Luckily Ed from Pirtek was there and helped us after every run. And who else was running at this event? None other than Jason McCall and his BMW Z3M LS1, which made its debut race at this event!
Jason McCall's Z3M LS1 - It Lives!!!!
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