|
Daily Blog |
May 4 - Day 2 - Mid America Motorplex
Back in the saddle... and into the grass
We arrived at Mid America at 7:15am, frozen, shivering, and sore.
I lined up 26th for the first run, even though I would have been allowed to line up in the first few groups, I wasn't sure what the car was going to do, so I opted to be there with people I knew and had been on track with - Mike Renner in a BMW, Steven Rankins in his STI, and Brad from Honda in the Odyssey.. yes, we got outrun by a minivan at Road America.
I have two things to say about the first run. 1) The brakes absolutly flat-out sucked. I can't feel them, and what I do feel isn't good. 2) The Odyssey is fast. Stupid fast. I got closer to him, but then he turned up the wick for the last lap, and try as I might, I couldn't run him down or pass him. Brad has that thing working and going well, and I am very proud of my SeatTime student. We ended up 10th overall for the run.
(Left, Danny Popp and Peter Lier chat while Popp scans the codes from my GTP)
At lunch we bled enough air out of the brake calipers to supply a GoodYear Blimp, and I went back out for run #2 with much more confidence, I was also lined up behind Leh Keen in the Cayman, and he had finished 8th so I knew if I could jsut pace him then things would go well. Of course, neither of us had plans on going the same speed, and when I entered turn seven (i think) The chain of events that has to happen to downshift an automatic on a roadcourse was disrupted by slight front-wheel lockup, causing my downshift to be a tad late, and the transmission to lock the rear wheels as I turned in.
Spinning at 70mph is not fun. Of course it stalled the engine - try as I might there was no clutch to push - and it took my 17 seconds to get going again. I finished 34th. Leh - 5th.
At the time of my spin I had actually gained a second on Leh.. damn.
We are now 20th overall, and on the road to Texas World Speedway.
|
