80% chance of rain.Bring your wet suit. McD's anyone?
I'll try to make McDonalds.
Looks like I better get the Shoe Goo out tonight and get to work on any new holes in my top... or just drill holes in the floor to let the water out.
Mineral Wells still has a little grip in the rain. The TMS bus lot has none at all in the rain. Where does the TMS road course fall?
Standing water in a couple of places, pretty slick. Think of a drifting event. It should be a blast....
A Z06 is just like a Miata, but with the other half of the motor . . .
What a miserable freakin' day.Fun course, nice to see everyone, yada yada yada. The weather took center stage and it inhaled vigorously.
Glad the heavy rain waited for 3rd heat while I was working.Even with a motorcycle rain jacket on I was soaked from head to toe.
Third that. Weather really sucked nuts today. For living in an area under severe drought conditions, I certainly seem to have done a lot of racing in the rain this year.
Running in 3rd heat was miserable. We left the traction and stability control on, and even with all of the electronic nannies the car was still barely driveable. I finally managed a clean run on my last run (as did Jon and miata_racer - all of the rest of our runs were dirty), but it was more by sheer luck that the car happened to be pointed in the right direction when it found (a little) traction than through any skill.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
For a rainy ugly day, I have to admit that the overall race went pretty well. We did not even have to wait an extra 15 minutes at the end of heat three for the mod drivers to finish up.
I noticed none of the Esprit drivers were on the course. Probably afraid of the Elises.
Jon had the coolest DNF I have ever seen in corner 4, 3rd heat.
He came in too hot to the first gate going up the hill, missed the right side cone at the gate, whacked 1 of 3 pointers and whooshed off to the next gate. We all tried to figure out how he fit thru there and hit only one pointer.
Or as Matt said at the driver's meeting, "If you hit a pointer and not the gate's cone you're in big trouble".
Jim H.
There were a lot of good DNFs and cone murders out there. I have never clapped at more people in one race!
BTW, we talked about smacking the wall before the race, the guy in the white HS (?) Civic came within about 5 feet from the wall. Whereas other spins would have us whooping and clapping, the three of us went dead silent when it looked like he was going to hit it. Glad he was able to stop in time.
I was none too happy about my spins, but as mad as I get, when I see the corner workers giving me applause, it kind of feels better. It at least brings a smile back to my face.
From my angle he was even closer. The wall juts out and he missed that by about 5 feet but he was still going pretty quick there. I didnt realize he was that close to hitting the other wall too. It was scary. My favorite spin was the 240. I saw the passenger had a camera and was taking pictures of the dash. I muttered stupid ricers under my breath and then the guy put it into the dirt. Good times.
Pictures are up, courtesy of Dennis and AutocrossPictures.net.
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
At least you can't see the look of terror in my eyes in that pic :)
Holy hell I had to remember where the car was not going to turn. I rode with Iain on his first run and it was like....ok grip....oh crap oh crap oh crap we're gonna die we're gonna....oh jesus we're alive....oh crap its not turning again.....ok nevermind.
Fun on the next 3 runs though. But the first one made me wanna quit autocrossing LOL I do love that RX8 thoughThanks again for the drive...I'd love to drive it again in the dry though
David
David Hedderick
Houston, TX
92 Miata SE; 02 RSX-S; 01 Boxsturd; 05 STI
Yeah, that first run without the DSC on, I really thought I was going to put it into the wall at some point.I breathed a sigh of relief every time I saw David come through the lefthander on the back side of the track, thinking "okay, he made it past all of the barricades without hitting anything. Now just don't put it in the mud..."
You're definitely welcome to co-drive again the next time you're in town. Hopefully the weather will be better!
Iain
"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Well, I had a ton of fun. I'm not real sure what my best time was, so I'm kind of anxious to see the results.
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague longing for something salty" - Peter Egan
Results were just emailed out, I hope I did this right. I suck at the internet
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague longing for something salty" - Peter Egan