Coming into this weekend, the last of the season, I had few options with my car virtually destroyed - both body and engine. I looked at the points standings for the season, and it turns out regardless of what happened, Justin would finish 1st, I would finish 2nd, and Doc Brown would finish 3rd for the season. So, I decided to just take the red Miata (which Michael now was callling "his" car) and run in Time Ttials, and just have fun. There was no HPDE this weekend, so Michael couldn't go, but Chris wanted to go, so we'd have another nice father-son weekend.
I got here early on Friday to score some decent paddock space, but apparently not early enough. I ended up parking in a spot that was being claimed by the USTCC (US Touring Car Championships) folks, after moving three times to accomodate other groups. Finally the USTCC director came by and agreed that we were fine where we were.
Then, I settled in for a nice dinner. Who says staying in your trailer and dining at the track has to be uncivilized...?
Saturday started out wet. It was raining, and some people had never driven Sonoma in the rain. Our first session was very wet, but we didn't have any problems on track - mostly because everyone was being very gentle. I got stuck behind Pandora who had never run in the rain here (maybe anywhere - she's from Nevada). I was going to pass her at one point, but the back end got loose, so I just decided to follow her for the rest of the session.
During our second session, people apparently started to get bolder. On the first hot lap, a BMW got on the throttle to heavy too early coming out of T3, and ended in the dirt (mud?) driver's left.
When he came back on, he put mud across 1/2 the track, which forced people to alter their line a little between T3 and T3a. A few laps later, a Mustang decided to get up close and personal with the wall at the exit of T10.
That pretty much ended the session, because if you are trying to set a "best time", there's no way to do that when you have to slow for the rescue trucks every time you go by.
At the post-session driver's meeting, Scott showed up, which was a bad sign. We all got chewed out for pushing too hard. I personally felt good because I wasn't one of the people guilty of that. But, in addition to the "spin & continue" and the Mustang in the wall, apparently two people had passed under a yellow flag. They got royallly chewed out (deservedly) and were not allowed back on track for the rest of the day.
By the third session, the track was dry. So, we could push a little harder. But, being in an underpowered car on rain tires, I didn't set any spectacular lap times. But, still I had fun, and passed a couple of slower cars. Then, without warning, as I came around T8, they balck-flagged the whole course, ending our session early. At the driver's meeting, I found out why. Apparently, someone had elected to pass Walt (who is one of the NASA instructors, and a reallly good driver) between T3 and T3a. This messed up his exit from T3a and one of his left tires hit the rumble strip when he tracked out. According to Walt, the car just "snapped" (as in "entered a spin") and shot across the track, thru the dirt and into the tire wall. During the next session, the ruts which were still there, told the story.
It turns out that having a car other than mine kind of messed up a rythym that I have for getting everything ready. After the third session, I realized that I hadn't checked tire pressures. I wasn't that concerned becuase the kids run pretty much the same pressures that I do, and the car had been handling fine. But, the first tire I checked read 10 lbs. Huh? Must have hte gauge in the wrong mode or something. It didn't look low at all. But, I put in a little air anyway and now it read 16 lbs. Apparently the problem wasn't the gauge. So, I filled it and checked the others. Everything was fine.
The fourth session started well, albeit with more traffic that made getting a good lap time difficult on the first lap. The second lap was better, but coming around T2 on the third lap, the back end got a little loose. Hmm... Hadn't noticed any water, but it was that kind of day. I also got a little loose in T4, and by T6 I could tell that something was wrong with the car. After the low pressure before going out, I was 90% positive that it was a flat tire. When I got back to the paddock, I found out I was right. So, now we had 7 rain tires for 2 cars. That was going to be a problem, but one we would solve tomorrow.
For the Saturday night BBQ, the cook had decided to BBQ a whole pig! (shown below is only 1/2 the pig). Awesome!!
At the BBQ, someone mentioned that this weekend was a "double points" weekend - meaning that instead of getting your normal amount of points for each race, you would get double the points. That meant that Doc Brown could indeed finish ahead of me.
Change of plans.
Sunday morning, I change over to do the race. Since Chris is running Spec Miata (in Group A) this weekend, I can do the PTE race in his car in Group C. I don't have to do well. I just have to finish the race. Even doing one race this weekend should keep me in 2nd place overall for the season.
Rain had been forecast, but when we woke up, is was dry. Then, about 30 minutes later it starts, and it picks up quickly. Chris changed his tires back to rain tires jus before his warmup session. Good choice. When the weather radar looks like this, you're going to have a very wet day.
And, in case you doubted the radar, here was the live view from the paddock.
After seeing that picture, someone asked me how wet it has to get before they cancel the race. Let's be clear - they don't!!
After getting all switched over from TT to PTE, we had to work out logistics for the day. Group A and Group C have a combined warmup session. Hard for Chris and me to both go, so I let him go. Maybe I could use the practice, but it's his car. Then, my thoughts turn to my qualifying session. That was about when the heaviest rain was supposed to blow through. To top it off, if I'm being careful (which I would be), I would likely not set a good time, which would mean I would start at the back of my class. If I don't run the qualifying session, I also start at the back of my class. Seems like all risk and no reward. So, I decide to skip qualifying, and just do the race.
Not doing the qualifying session turns out to be a good choice. The heaviest rain come thru during the session. And, just as the session finishes, it stops. A quick check of the radar says we should be dry for a while. Fingers crossed. I'd much rather race on a dry track, especially if it's not in my car.
By the time Chris runs his race, the track has dried, so he puts on slicks. But, just as his session is ending, it sprinkles a little bit, and he says the track has gotten quite slippery. So, in addition to moving the driver's seat back so I can fit, we also switch to rain tires, just in case.
The race itself was pretty uneventful. Not many people had stuck around, between the rain and it being the last race of the day. It turns out, Doc Brown hadn't stuck around either, so I didn't actually have to run it, but I was all signed up and I did. Right away, i got stuck behind a yellow RX-7 that was overbraking in the turns, so I could catch him pretty easily. Unfortunately, he had enough power on the straights that I could never get past him. (video of one lap) At one point, I was thinking of a dicey move going deep on him into a turn and then came to my senses. It doesn't matter where I finish in this race, as long as I finish! So, I backed off and had a fairly leisurely session after that, pointing everyone by as soon as I could. I finished without incident, which should clinch a second place finish for the season.
Now, to work on fixing my car.