It was a dark and stormy night. Well maybe just a very cold weekend for a native Floridian. The super school gets all of your school requirements out of the way on one three day weekend. I arrived at the track on Thursday afternoon and got the paddock setup before dark. I went through registration and tech and had everything ready to go. Because of the sound problems we had at Sebring in November, I put the sport muffler back on until we come up with a better solution.
Friday morning was classroom session, so there was nothing to do with the car until later. My crew was not due to arrive until later in the day. The classroom session went well and I easily passed the written test. I have lots of time at this track with drivers ed, so I felt pretty confident. I'm running some old tires, so I'm not going to have the best grip this weekend. The freezing temperatures are not going to help either. Our first session on the track Friday is follow the leader. For most of these people, this is the first time they have ever been on a race track. Looks like the first session for the novice group at a DE.
Saturday is when we first get some green flag time. I get hooked up with someone in a RX7 and we move through traffic pretty quickly. My instructor comes over and asks why I'm driving so aggressively. I told him I did not feel like I was pushing the car very hard at all. He asked me to back it down some, so I did.
The next couple of sessions went well, except I kept locking the right front wheel. We put the car in the scales and found the corner weights to be way off. My crew made some adjustments and the car was much better after that. Only problem was I severely flat spotted the right front. I asked around and I was able to find a guy with a 944 willing to let me use his spare front wheels. I don't remember his name, but he saved my weekend for me.
The only other problem we had
was the battery failed. It took us a while to figure out what the
problem was. Initially the car would not start, but ran well if we
push started it. We thought the starter was bad. After several
push starts, the car started to miss at the top end. That's when
we checked the battery. It had a bad cell. We put the jumper
battery in and the car never missed a beat after that. I made it
through the weekend with no major problems. I got my schools signed
off and I'm ready to go racing.
Here are some pictures of the
event.
Still had this much ice on the
truck after diving to the track from the hotel
My weekend Home
It's going to be cold driving this Formula Vee
Getting ready for the Sunday practice starts/race.
Sitting on the grid with borrowed front wheels.