Great news for the insomniacs, more fodder to put you to sleep!!
For those of you who know, I had some medical issues that slowed me down a bit – no, I’m already slow on the track, it was a different type of slow. Last month, I attended an autocross with the Mercedes-Benz Club in Winchester to gauge my stamina. The good news was that I had a good time but I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 4p that afternoon!!
Fast forward to last weekend. SCCA had a PDX and MBCA had an autocross. Wanting to do both, I decided to drive at the PDX on Saturday and attend the autocross on Sunday. The PDX was short on instructors so I volunteered as a last resort instructor and hoped for the best.
Saturday morning came bright and early-fortunately loading the car was my only morning task (the Honduh doesn’t have functional windows). Thanks to Eric for holding a paddock space large enough for my truck, open trailer and race car. For once, I arrived BEFORE the All-Hands Meeting so I had time to make and drink a cup of wonderful Summit Point coffee before hitting the track. Aside from setting tire pressures, the car was ready to go, fresh from it’s outing at the Dyno Day. Entering DFL, my initial goal was just to get around the Shenandoah circuit without any drama. By the second turn, that changed as the rear tried to pass the front – nothing serious, just annoying. The rest of the lap was terrible-slow reflexes, late inputs and basically driving like a novice. The crowning glory was pushing too hard on the Stone House Straight and falling off the track. Not my best performance to say the least.
As I prepared to head out for my second session, Eric pointed out that the exhaust was dragging. This made sense since the car seemed EXTRA LOUD in the morning. Hoping to sneak out, I was caught at track-out and did a full lap in order to come off immediately – ugh. Fortunately I have a few friends at the track including the owner of RP Performance in Gasoline Alley. I trundled off to the shop with Brad and Eric in tow. Bret, the owner of RP was at the shop working on Wreck Piñata and was willing to let me use a lift. It’s amazing how easy it is to fix a 2-bolt exhaust flange when you can stand underneath the car!! While underneath the car, I looked at the front tyres and found some rather significant flat spots. That explained why the car handled like crap and why it drummed at speed. After much abuse, Bret pointed me towards some used SM6 Hoosiers. Having been trained by the tyre master himself, Paul Moorcones at Radial Tire, mounted and balanced the two front tyres with Bret’s blessing.
Back at the track, I had missed the Advanced session but decided to go out with Intermediate. Again starting DFL, I started catching traffic almost immediately-ugh. Not wanting to spook anyone or cause heartaches, I hung out and just waited. Then the fun began-I started to get back into the driving “grove”, following seemingly faster cars like an S2000. I eventually made my way past the slower traffic and got a few open laps which was great for my focus.
Towards the end of the second session, I found myself stuck to the rear of a newish BMW M4. Again, I didn’t want to cause problems so I just hung out until the driver gave a point before the bridge. This is the absolute WORST place for me because the Honduh simply has no torque. I hammered the car and fortunately the M4 driver lifted significantly to let me complete the pass. After the session, I ran into the M4’s instructor, Marshall Lytle. He commented that the M4 driver wasn’t thrilled about giving a point but Marshall assured him that the driver in the Blue Honduh wasn’t any intermediate student.
Unfortunately that was my last session because a young man at his first event ever with his WRX suffered turbo sadness. He was there with his parents and younger sister, all of whom were trying to figure how to get the car back to Warrenton. Having been in these situations before, I offered to tow the car home and made arrangements with Eric to bring home the Honduh if I ran too late. Fortunately I was able to get back at a reasonable hour allowing us to make a run for large pieces of cow because Cow Good!!
Come Sunday, I packed my helmet into my ’97 Piñata and headed to Winchester. The Mercedes-Benz Club is a bit of a hidden gem-they are much like the Clubs that I remember when I first started down the slippery slope of Motorsports. They are a social club with an automotive problem so while there is competition, it’s more about having fun and talking trash. I’m still unknown to most of the MBCA folks which is fun especially after knowing so many folks at other events. Showing up with a plain, stock Piñata is even more fun especially when my times weren’t DFL! I started an informal high mileage suspension challenge – the Piñata has 211k on the original suspension and my closest competition had 208k on his CLK55.
Member Matt Y, napping while standing, why not, you probably are too… LOL 😉
At the end of the weekend, I certainly slept well on Sunday night but I survived and proved that I have more stamina than I expected.
Hopefully this will give the strength and courage to run the Labor Day Double MARRS. We’ll see how that pans out.
More photos available in the Vault!
