I decided to go up to the track Friday morning, and maybe only participate in the afternoon Open Test sessions as a warm up for the weekend races. After all, it had been over 6 months since I'd been on a dry Sonoma track. Unfortunately, between getting a late start and bad traffic, I was only able to run in the last session. Still, it was better than nothing and it loosened up the old reflexes.
During the weekend, I realized that open test days were my only real opportunity to run with Porsches, since they have their own dedicated race group on race days. They have a rather unique driving style I've come to <ahem> appreciate which is a combination of insanel horsepower on the straights, followed by very slow thru the corners. Running with them makes you a better driver, I guess.
Chris was with me for the weekend, and we stayed at the track, which created a very relaxed morning as we got up and got our cars ready at the same time we were having our first cup of coffee. We both like staying at the track a lot better.
Warmup gave us a combination of Group A drivers (Spec Miata and Spec E30) and Group C (a very mixed class, as I've previously discussed, including Thunder Roadsters). At the driver's meeting, after warmup, one of the Group A drivers complained that one of the Thunder Roadsters had been weaving thru traffic and not being careful about passing. This, of course, is standard Thunder Roadster behavior familiar to us in Group C. We just laughed.
Dude... give it up. You race with the E30s, so why are you complaining?
I was also running Time Trials, so there were four sessions of that each day. The first and last of each day were combined with HPDE Group 4, so we had to play extra nice. When you run TT, and especially when you race, you can do things that someone in Group 4 is just not prepared to have done to them.
Next comes qual. Chris had not run in the last race weekend, and the starting order for qual was based on finishing time from the last race, so (with no time) he had to start at the back. Now, this isn't as bad as it sounds because the idea of qual is to set the best lap time which determines start order for the race - and faster means closer to the front. But, when you are at the back, one strategy is to hang back and give people ahead a lot of room, and then go balls out to set a good time. If you are mixing it up with traffic, it will definitely affect your time. Anyway, his best time was slightly behind my best time, so I started the race one position ahead of him. He was not happy.
For the race, it was the usual start - rolling up to start/finish and then a green flag. I knew Chris would try to get in front immediately, so I was ready for that. I maintained my position, and we are very nearly matched (for now), so he followed me for the entire race, looking for an opportunity.
On the first lap of he race, approaching T10, it was me, another Miata (who had gotten in front of Chris), and then Chris. All of a sudden I look in the mirror and see the middle Miata go wide into the dirt. T10 is a very bad place for any sort of trouble, and going off track requires no mistakes be made on reentry unless you want to be on a first name basis with the tire wall. He decided to get to know the tire wall better. (video) Here are some pics of the car.
The left wheel isn't supposed ot look like that.
Neither is the right wheel.
But, now the car is pidgeon-toed.
Believe it or not, the door still opens fine.
Even the rear end wanted in on the action.
When I first saw him go in the dirt, I wondered if he had tried an outside pass on me entering T10, and I had forced him into the dirt to avoid me. But, a review of the video shows I didn't. So, we asked the driver what happened. He said, "I don't know. I just kinda zoned out and next thing I know I'm in the dirt."
Here's a free tip - if you're going to zone out on track, there are better places than T10.
When we got the white flag (indicating last lap) I knew Chris would be more aggressive about trying to pass. The last time I had been in this position, he passed me by going inside on T11, which is the last turn before start/finish - which gave me no opportunity to pass him back. Clever. This time, as soon as he tried to go inside approaching T11, I moved inside as well. This is known as a blocking maneuver. You are allowed one block. He claims I did three blocks on him in a row. The video speaks for itself.
Sunday was a repeat of Saturday except that there was no driver's meeting for complaining. During the previous day's race, Chris's best lap time was better than mine, even though I won overall - that just means I finished first. So, he started qual ahead of me. During qual, I set my best time ever at 2:03:02. Chris might have beaten me as he claims he was on track to turn a 2:02, but at the end of that lap, he got tied up in traffic with one of the faster cars, so he ended with a 2:04. That meant I start the race in front of him. He was not happy.
In one of the early TT sessions, I got stuck behind a white Miata that was slower than I was, but I didn't have enough power to just blow by him on the straight. So, after a couple of laps of having him cut me off on turns, I got a pretty good run on him between T10 & T11, and then went inside, thereby forcing him to the outside. The inside is a shorter radius so if your speeds are approximately equal, this make a good way to pass someone (and what Chris was trying to do to me on Saturday). (video) This is know as "going deep" on him. To be clear, I was pretty well in front of him by the turn. I've had E46s go way deeper on me.
At the start of the race, we are supposed to be side-by-side, in order with odd #'s on the left and even on the right. Since I was even, and Chris was one number higher, that meant that he shold be to my left, one position back. Unfortunately, someone ahead of me screwed up the order, and the person that was supposed to be to my left moved ahead of me, which meant that Chris could move adjacent to me on my left. That would eb a problem for me since if he could maintain that position, I would either have to drop back or go side-by-side into T2 - a pretty risky maneuver, though it has been done to me. I just couldn't get ahead of him, so I opted to drop back. (video) This meant I had to find an opportunity to pass him. So, I hung back and bided my time. A couple of times I got in traffic and he was able to widen the distance between us. Then, at one point, I started closing the gap. I knew it was getting near the end of the race, but no white flag had gone out yet. Then, as we were approaching T7, I coudl tell that an E46 was going to go inside on both of us, and had the power to get his nose in. I decided to try to follow him around, while Chris was forced outside. But, Chris is getting better, so he anticipated this move and, as the E46 passed him, he moved in between, denying me the opportunity. I kept on him, and approaching T11, I saw that I was being overtaken by another E46. The straight between T10 & T11 is shorter than between T6 & T7, so I guessed he wouldn't be as far in front of me as what happened in my last opportunity. I was right. He passed me on the inside, just before the turn and he had forced Chris to the outside on the turn itself. But, he was barely in front of me, so I tucked in behind him and passed Chris while he was on the outside (bascially what I did to the wite Miata, only in this case, I wasn't the one who forced him outside). Chris tucked in behind me hoping, I'm sure, for an opportunity to repy the favor. I figured we would get the white flag as we passed start/finish. To my complete surprise, as we came down the front straight, the checkered flag came out and the race was over. Well, sometimes you don't get a white flag. (video)
I felt bad and I didn't. It was what any racer would do. But, it was my kid. Oh well. Soon enough he'll be able to beat me hands down, and he won't feel guilty at all. Neither will I.
When we got out after getting back to the paddock, he said "Happy Father's Day!"
Oh yeah. It was that too...
