Out of the Frying Pan...

[GingerGSR]

...and into the air-conditioning. Scheeeeeew, It was HOT down there this weekend!!! I was very glad to get back home where it was 60 deg. I now have a much greater appreciation for the people working the corners. It may look easy but it's not. There's a lot of things you have to remember and you have to think fast and know what to do (or not to do). Hats off to all of them!!!

I had a pretty good TT on Sunday. The car worked flawlessly and I was able to go full tilt through all three sessions.
I qualified with a 1:58 and had a best lap during the competition session of 1:54.5. It came on the very last hot-lap of the day. That’s a 10 second improvement from the FAASST Day back in March.

Thanks to Mark Mauro for his sportsmanship in letting me grid ahead of him for the comp session. His tires were gone and he knew he only had a lap or two before they would give it up. So, he let me go out in front of him as to not impede me. Thanks Man!!!

Thanks to Keith Kohl in the Z06 for letting me by around lap 10. I can now say I lapped the Z06!!! Right... His cool-down laps are faster than my hot-laps! :rolleyes:

Thanks to David Jobusch for the data school on Saturday night. I took some of what I learned onto the track on Sunday and it worked. "Brake earlier and lighter and get on the gas earlier in the apexes.”

And of course thanks to Grand, Josh and David, and everyone else for making the program happen. September seems like it’s a long, long ways away. I can’t wait!

[lonemustang]

That’s a 10 second improvement from the FAASST Day back in March.10 seconds? That's phenomenal! Did you find a disruption in the space/time continuum near Turn 7 or something? :D

Temporal anomaly or not, I'm thinkin' that a 1:54 in a Honda Civic (you knew I had to say it :p ) is an awesome time. A well-carved line in a nicely built car, Mark. Great work!

[GingerGSR]

10 seconds? That's phenomenal! Did you find a disruption in the space/time continuum near Turn 7 or something? :D

Temporal anomaly or not, I'm thinkin' that a 1:54 in a Honda Civic (you knew I had to say it :p ) is an awesome time. A well-carved line in a nicely built car, Mark. Great work!

Thanks Man!

In a word (or is it acronym?) VTEC!!!

Back in March it wasn't working right and my ECU kept throwing a CEL for low VTEC oil pressure. I got it fixed before the May Daze event and it's been fine ever since (so it wasn’t all me). I gained 15-18 MPH on the front straight at PMP hitting 113 MPH one lap.

Plus, I replaced my di-lithium crystals and filled up my anti-matter pods!!! It’s amazing what you can buy on E-Bay. :rolleyes:

[mjmauro]

Damn, 113mph? No wonder I couldn't shake you during the qualifying, despite all of my dirt tracking slides through turns 2,3 and 7, I only clicked in at a max 105. I bet my slides were exciting from your perspective right on my butt; Ii hope you learned something and that helped in your drop of almost 4 seconds from your qualifying to your race session.

As I said before-great job!

[LoCore]

Cool stuff this weekend--and Mark F was flying while Mark M was trying to stay on track as his tires went away.

Was excellent to see virtually everyone (other than me) improve personal bests this weekend.

And it way bloody hot. Yuck.

[usakubko]

Nice job, Mark F! I was not able to improve my times at all. My tires were completely useless, but thanks to the suspension setup (and thanks to Mark B) my times didn't get worse from the last TT @ PMP. And I'm glad Mark M didn't have to talk to me about my turn signals being not visible, because that means my simple fix has finaly done the trick! :p
It was a great eye opener, learning how to drive when you loose your tires (or grip for that matter). The strategy and the driving style completely changes everything. Practice went ok, but qualifying was getting hairy. Especially when I've misplaced my foot and couldn't find the damn brake pedal going into 7 :rolleyes:
And then I was juggling the idea of not running the last session because of the tires going away. It even crossed my mind to put the bald fronts on the back and try some drifting :eek: But then the common sense kicked in (or did it?) and I have done the competition session without changing tires, and to my surprise stayed on the track till almost the end!
Thanks for a great saturday everybody!

Oh, and btw, I wouldn't recommend an early apex at 10. Don't ask me how I know, I started having nightmares after the event...

P.S.: There was a lot of Marks at the event... Almost forgot my fellow STS competitor ;) Glad you showed up!