Two Saturday's ago (10/18/2008), I was at a Hockey game with some friends, and my Team-mate John Ryan e-mail's a link to a post on the SCCAforums, concerning an Event 10/26/2008.
As a principle member of Team AwesomeSauce, I was a bit disturbed by the comment, my racing colleague Geoff made... as well as his allegations. A fire lit inside me. I sent out a couple e-mails to wrangle together some local drivers who may have skipped the event due to late-season symptoms. Things like corded tires, destroyed clutches, etc.
We decided to throw John Ryan into STFU STi in the SMS class, and Melissa Britten (A budding Fort Wayne Region Star) into STU L. And Of course, I'd be in STU-X. X designating the Indy region Pro-class to show Geoff an others I didn't wear woman's underwears (well, sometimes on my head, just after they've been finessed off).
First heat was cold (low 40's) and drying conditions. Luckily, none of us had to drve until the 2nd heat, where both my co-drivers were placed. John's first run in the car yielded ended up being his fastest and .001 behind the multi-year reigning SMS Class Champion..Ending 2nd in a hugely subscribed SMS Class.
Both seemed to comment on how predictably the car would rotate/slide around a variable 270 degree sweeper at the beginning of the course.
STU drew 3rd heat to run. My first run was sloppy as hell, one section walked WAY faster than it drove. so i dove into this section, and slid the car side-ways into a cone-wall.. Horrible time.. sickening sloppy run. Came back to grid frustrated, Heard The local hot-shoe (one of my hero's), Kevin Kent come in with a blistering 52.1... barely heard the time being announced over the cheers. I was happy for him, but still hung my head, My day was over. Or so i thought..
.. Went out for my second run, just going through the motions.. kept it nice and smooth, accelerated hard, what the hell, i had nothing to loose. Came into a display reading 50.955.. My jaw dropped, along with about 30 spectators. Timing and scoring paused the event to make sure it wasn't a timing error. at this point Kevin and I were fighting over top-time of the X-class.
Kevin was supportive as usual, If you ever encounter him, you'll note his graciousness, and willingness to help. We discussed shift points, and an apex section. I took on a passenger for my 3rd run.. which I told, not to expect another sub 51sec run, but we went 50.783. Kevin went faster to a 51.432, but still not enough to catch the STFU STi. Our 4th runs we went slower, I had a slide which ate a good second from my time., and Kevin dropped a couple thousandths. Which is a real testament to his computer-like consistency and perfection.
Quite Appropriate, don't you think??
Final Results here:
I'm So stoked from the results of the win, I've registered for the Florida State AutoX Championships. I'll be leaving next Thursday for Sebring. Hopefully, thanks to the help from the guys at Turn In Concepts, Dunlop Tires, and my teammates, We'll Continue the pwnage
