After the Crash

The following was originally written on December 4, 2011, but not posted until today, August 11, 2012.

Dear Pat,

Once again I’m apologizing for taking so long to post you a note! You’ll understand, I’m sure. My last note was written on the eve of Petit le Mans, which I had to miss for the first time EVER this year. I did keep up by whatever coverage I could attain (TV, ESPN3) and wow, once again you guys drove like demons possessed to your 2nd place finish.

In the bigger picture, that was one of your team’s three podiums for the year, if memory serves. Fourth in points for the championship. I followed your various updates over the season, and while it was rough for everybody’s exemplary efforts not to be rewarded with more podium finishes and points standings, your resilience was inspiring. Because while your ALMS season was rough, you were doing so many other things. In many cases, your exemplary efforts yielded the pinnacle of results, such as your World Challenge Championship. This is what I was thinking about in my last post, “How You Look at It.”

My driving year was very up and down as well. My one accomplishment, and for me, it’s huge, was to be signed off to drive solo at Barber. Due to various intervening factors, like car problems, and health issues, my novice season stretched from late 2008 until Spring 2011! To be quite honest, taking up competitive driving for the first time at the age of 50, I really needed all of that novice time to get good habits truly engrained. I didn’t grow up throwing karts around, or piloting a scooter. Yeah, I had a bike, and a car when I was 16, but soccer and swimming were my sports. I followed motorsports from early on with my dad, and loved attending races. But it wasn’t until my 30s that I started to get the bug to take up driving as sport.

So I’ve really relished this extended novice period. As I’ve been able, I’ve focused on getting as much seat time as possible, both driving, and riding shotgun with some fantastic drivers (something I would love to do with you…my car and yours!). The competitive driving principles my dad taught me as I sat in his lap behind the wheel starting around age 5 (“The car will go where your eyes go…the way to drive curves is to straighten them out…”) came in handy. Many brave, patient souls rode shotgun with me as I got my head around the whole thing. At the end of my three-year novice season, I may not be fast, but I am smooth. Smooth hands, smooth feet, smooth moves. Heh! I have much yet to learn, and I am looking forward to what’s to come.

Autocross is something I really enjoy, but the year was fraught with conflicts, and I made it out for ONE event all season long. Several Porsche Club folks ganged up and went to the October SCCA Solo event together and we ran in a club class. That was a huge bag of fun! I wasn’t very competitive. I was so happy to be out with my buddies, and hanging with the cars and the noise and the vroom and the squeal and the whoooooa-slides…but I had a hard time getting my head in it. In fact, my being there that day turned into an unintentional middle finger at the gods of fate.

The day before, I had found out that I had colon cancer, and the autocross event I was so looking forward to was on the Sunday before my hastily scheduled Tuesday surgery. There was no reason not to go. My cancer was discovered via routine colonoscopy – I never had any symptoms and was not “sick” or anything. But once you find out you have cancer, there is this time of abject terror and fear between the initial diagnosis, and the point at which they have enough info (from surgery, radiology, pathology, etc.) to say how advanced it is, and what your survival odds are. And whether you will need chemo and/or radiation that can make you wish you were dead.

Anyway, all of a sudden, in my mind, this one little autocross event took on HUGE proportions, and it became massively important to me to just be there, JUST DO IT. The fear and terror lurking with my cancer diagnosis kept trying to remind me that this might be my last. Autocross. Ever. So I went, and it was a cool, beautiful Fall day, and my friends were there, and I told a few of them, and got my introduction to The Cancer Eyes. The Cancer Eyes are the eyes that look back at you from a person who’s just gotten tragic news that their dear friend has cancer.

To me, the hardest thing about having cancer is having to tell your loved ones that you have cancer.

So the fact that I’m writing this is all you need to know about how I’ve survived so far. And I’m lucky in that they caught mine pretty early, and I have pretty good survival odds: 88% chance of living five years, 84% I’ll make it ten years. The jury is still out on whether chemo would help or hurt me; I’ll know in another week or so. But even if I need chemo, the kind they use for my cancer is not known for awful side effects, other than “thinning” hair.

I went to my first post-surgery social event on Friday, the Porsche Club holiday party. I finally figured out how to describe my experience. Other than a few rough days recovering from the abdominal surgery, I have not been “sick” at all. My insides have been seriously re-plumbed, and there are challenges related to that. But I snapped back from surgery like a rubber band, was released with no restrictions on activity at three weeks, and other than getting a little lazy from lying around in my fuzzy slippers and robe, I’m good!

So when talking to people at this party, they would grasp my arm and give me The Cancer Eyes, and I’d say, “Really, I’m good now! Other than having a lump of cancer cut out of me, I have not been sick a day.” Then they’d give me the You Are Joking Eyes, and I’d have to reassure them, “Seriously, I know cancer has the potential to really wreck a person, but they got mine early, and other than recovering from surgery, I have not had any symptoms or illness or anything.”

That really is the truth. I’ve got cancer, but I haven’t been sick. So, what a year, huh? This wasn’t the end I expected to my year, I’ll tell you that much. Travel is tough, being in the car any length of time, certain things about how I go about the day have changed, probably permanently, but I can live with the changes.

Crazy damn year. Catch you on the flip side!

x0x0x
VroomGrrl

Photographic Evidence

Hi Pat,

I still don’t have the CD of photos from last weekend, but I have a couple of shots to share. Nothing flashy, just me and my little 911 at Barber.

Here we are braving the rain down the front straight:

And here, coming over the tunnel turn on my first solo run:

It’s a big day here in Birmingham. Indy cars have been arriving all weekend for today’s testing at Barber, and I just got a Tweet about one of the cars having just arrived at the airport, waiting for a lift to the track. It’s threatening to rain but so far it’s holding off.

You have either been at Sebring testing in Florida, or at Le Mans testing in France. Bad, bad fan, I’m not sure where you are! I’m really curious to see what kind of NASCAR fun you may be having this year after your brilliant showing at Miller in the Camping World series last year. What DO you have in store for us??

Back to the grindstone…
x0x0x
VroomGrrl

And the Angels Sang!

Hi Pat,

For such a big event in my motorsports endeavors, the moment passed without much fanfare – no flashbulbs, no video – just me, my 911, and Barber Motorsports Park. Well, and about 20 other cars! But that just made it more fun! I guess I really have come along. I used to say that I loved driving on the track…except for all the other cars! My head is now in a totally different place about that, to say the least. So finally it’s behind me, my first solo outing at Barber.

I was super extremely nervous sitting in grid. I thought about how relaxed I was about all the things that used to practically keep me up the night before a driver’s ed weekend – everything from what shoes to wear, to how the seatbelt fit over my boobs. You would not believe how much I worried about the damned seat belt and my boobs. As I yanked the thing into place today, I had to smile. Over the 3 years I’ve been doing this stuff, all the goofy crap has fallen away, and my focus was on the driving.

The funny thing is, leading up to this event, I joked with my club guys about who would be my instructor. I think more than anything, they were just flat tired of pairing me up after three years! I think I did my first DE back in 2008 just after I first got my car. 2009 was a busy year, but as you know if you’ve followed my notes here, I was sidelined for most of 2010. So this weekend, they were all, “What? You don’t need an instructor!” and I was all, “OK then, hook me up for a check ride, please!”

In the end, I sort of rounded up my own instructor, an awesome friend I know from NASA-SE, who is now starting up the new NASA-Midsouth. Matt bravely rode with me in the rain yesterday (and may I just add again here…OH. MY. GAWD. THE RAIN!). And this morning, my first session was my check ride, and I was pushed out of the nest!

Of course, me being me, it couldn’t just be a normal thing. Normally one would be “checked out” of the novice group, and advance to the next group. But today, the next group was sooooo full, and I was still the slowest thing in my own group, still. So I ended up in my own little category, a group 1.5 or 1.75, Solo Novice? They just called the grid and told them I was going out alone. And then some of the guys put this on my glass to mark the occasion. Yes, that’s right, a pair of blue balls. Gotta love it!

So..all this yackity yack and nothing about the driving. Well it’s hard to know where to even start! My weakest point right now is still braking. Street braking and track braking are so totally opposite, and I really had to get a feel for that again on the racetrack. And I don’t think I really got where I want to be either, not consistently. Yet. I did improve, and got much MORE consistent, but I have a ways to go. I did not lift in the Esses/Kinks, and I did not brake around the back of the track AT ALL until I got to the turn-in at the last turn that leads onto the front straight. Someday when I am going faster I will need some brakes around those turns, but at my speed, I just did not. And NOT braking where I was so accustomed to at least a tap? Woo I earned those balls!

But then once I got used to it, it was awesome! I really got into feeling the momentum of my car, the weight transfers, the changing sensations from different levels of tire adhesion. So much to think about. Traffic management was not nearly as distracting to me today as it had been in the past. One time, I found myself following a car that had passed me – bad idea! There are some people driving some strange lines out there. MY line is where I need to be. I can change it any time I want or need to, but where I am on the track has to be by MY intention, not the result of mindless following.

I only nailed the hairpin maybe twice the way I really wanted to. Early with the braking. I just have such a hard time staying in the gas going down that little hill into the bowl! I worked so hard on this on a previous weekend, and I reaped the benefits of late brakes and late turn-in there, just never quite got back into that groove completely. Where I did feel much better was the Museum turn. Wow that thing is fun! Hard brakes, then hard turn-in, then back on the gas down the blind hill, then a quick hard jab, hard turn and when done right, you basically get kind of flung out of that thing by momentum. LOVE!

Ok well once again it is late, and I am tired. Back to the grindstone tomorrow, must grab a few winks. I’ll be back with some photos soon.

And I am going to go look at your schedule right now and see what you are up to!

Be well, drive purrrrrty!
x0x0x0
VroomGrrl

A River Runs Through It

Dear Pat,

Life has been happening so fast since I came back from the 24 Hours at Daytona! But at long last, today I got my 911 out on the track. PCA Driver’s Ed weekend at Barber Motorsports Park. A stuck passenger side window sidelined me for my first run session, but I was ready for the 2nd, and oh my heavens, THE RAIN. It got heavy as session 2 ended. By my 3rd session, there was standing water everywhere, and it just kept coming. I have done driver’s ed in my 911 in the rain before, but not at a track like Barber. WOW! WOWOWOWOWOW! Simultaneously the scariest and most rewarding thing I think I have ever done.

And speaking of happening fast, you know what? I am too damned tired to finish this note I’ve started. I may come back later with some photos. We are hoping for better weather tomorrow, and my instructor from today says I am going solo for the first time tomorrow. I’m soooo…so…so…WOOOOO! Haha! Must hydrate, get a good meal, and then to bed.

More later. Promise!
x0x0x0
Kathy

Red Velvet Cake Makes You Drive Faster

Hi Pat,

I wanted so badly to write about the day last night, but I was exhausted! I got a METRIC TON of track time. Turns out, it was just what I needed!

The photo of the red velvet cake that I posted here in my last entry was also posted to my facebook page, and I got a comment back from one of my Honda friends saying simply, “I hear red velvet cake makes you drive faster!” This was the guy who’d told me about this track day, and I had plenty left, so I packed some up and brought it to the track to give him.

But first, I needed to get my plug wire situation worked out. Sadly, My Real Driving Coach did not make it out there as planned to do this before the event started. But my Honda buddies? Oh my heavens. They just jumped in there. The red velvet cake guy? He found the wire that needed replacing, and rigged up one of my new wires in place of that one. Turns out many braces and brackets have to come off the engine to replace the entire set and it’d have taken a good couple of hours. No time for that. Replacing this one clearly bad one (and rigging it into place with zip ties) fixed me right up. My Real Driving Coach showed up in time to go out with me for the first three sessions. He was not feeling well, though, and riding shotgun was not sitting well with him. He ended up leaving after about three sessions.

Again, my Honda buddies bailed me out. One of them, whom I’ve seen in the paddock at SCCA AX events, the plug wire fixing red velvet cake commenting one – turns out to be a licensed racer, and a Porsche nut. He used to race a 79 911, and has had his 86 944 since 86. Who knew? He loves my car, and insisted that he would be my instructor for the rest of the day. How completely awesome is this? Of course, it was a bit of a risk in both directions. But it turns out he is an incredible teacher.

I’m still having a hard time coming up with the words to put on the whole experience. It was mindblowingly incredibly good. Having run this track twice already this year and once last year, it turns out I actually know the line around there pretty well. I had gotten used to doing it mostly in 3rd gear. I was ready to step it up, and changing that is ultimately what was THE NEXT LEVEL for me. Learning how to use my engine’s power. Throttle steering. USING the back end’s tendency to step out to my advantage. Taking turn 1 with NO BRAKES and carrying more speed through there than I ever had, and doing it faster and faster each time. Pushing the limits until, one time, I pushed too hard and around came the back end by about 90 degrees. I reacted by doing the wrong thing, letting up too quickly, and started into a tank-slapper – and it all happened so fast – but I saved it, keeping all four wheels on the track the whole time. I still got in my share of pointing folks by!

But very best of all, I got a real feel for the WHOLE thing, a real sense of the rhythm of the whole and the balance of the car as it moves through the course and and different ways of placing the car on track and using the balance and and….

Really, can you believe it? I’m nearly speechless. My instructor insisted that I shaved 5 seconds off my time in the afternoon with two crucial changes in the last two sessions, and it really felt like I did. I know from looking at some of my onboard video that in the morning alone, I took about 4-5 seconds off my time from the first morning session to the last before lunch. So all in all, I may have cut about ten seconds off my time over the course of the day (about 1:32 to 1:22). We’re talking about a tiny road course, 1.4 miles, so the change was dramatic. Utterly thrilling. So gratifying.

Pat, I am telling you, on the drive home, I just wept. Endorphin rush and physical release and…I’m so serious – it was that completely intense on every level, and I was completely overcome, in a good way, I guess.

Sometimes it’s like this for me with something new. I trudge along with the basics, a little part clicks in here, another little part there, but overall I feel I’m progressing on a very slow incline. And just when I start to feel bogged down, BAM a big leap. It was like this for me playing the violin. And it’s been like that learning high performance driving. It’s not always so dramatic, but wow…just…WOW. I cannot wait to get out there again!

Here’s the feedback from my instructor:

You drove GREAT! Your lines were almost perfect from the start . I am guessing you cut 5 seconds off of your lap times from the beginning to the end. I must admit you surprised me most all of the day. Very good job.

Here’s a video that starts with early laps and finishes with laps from around midday:

TGPR 11-28 snipets for comparison from VroomGrrl on Vimeo.

So I guess what my buddy said is true: Red velvet cake makes you drive faster!

Hahaha!

Now I have next weekend to look forward to: PCA party at Barber Museum Friday night, then straight from there to Atlanta in my 911 to work pit & grid for NASA at Road Atlanta (LOVE). The Sunday race is a charity run and last year they had 83 cars in a single charity race that was a total scream! Then Monday, it’s off to Franz Blam with my car to introduce them. In between, miles to travel for work and much, much to do.

Hope this finds you happy & well!

Finally living up to the name….
VROOMgrrl!

Wired

Hi Pat,

I am winding down and a little late getting to bed, but I have everything ready to leave at 5:30 in the morning for my impromptu track day. This is so awesome I can hardly stand it – a first chance for me and My Real Driving Coach to spend a day together working at a track. It seems so simple, but unless one has buckets of money to do private rentals, it is really tough as a rank beginner to find opportunities to work with a coach if it’s not part of some kind of club-sponsored thing. And as was the case with the track day I brought My Real Driving Coach out to, they are really not set up for doing it that way. When I’m further along, I can buy in to group rentals and there will be many more opportunities. I should be signed off to drive solo early next season.

As excited as I am, that excitement is tempered by recurrance of the skipping in my engine. Gah! On Wednesday, I came home at lunch and switched cars so I could get the 911 out to My Real Driving Coach to get my brakes bled. That went fine, but oh my heavens, on the way there, the car just ran like utter and total CRAP. Skip skip skiiiiiip. Not good. Not good at all. JB got in there and looked around, and it was another plug wire sparking and arcing in the engine. Dammit. This is the third one to crap out, or they may all be crapped out and they are each revealed as we replace them one by one. So when I got back to work, I got online and ordered a complete OEM wireset, and got next-day delivery to get it here by Friday. It arrived today as planned, and fingers crossed, JB will be able to deal with this in the morning.

It’s a 90 minute drive to the track, and I’m just going to take it easy and hopefully there will be no issues replacing the wires trackside in the morning. JB knows to bring tools to supplement my non-mechanic’s collection of bare essentials. We talked about it tonight, and I am braced for the worst but hoping for the best. If the wires go in OK and solve the skipping problem, off I’ll go on a super fun track day. If there are any issues getting the wires changed out, or if the wire change doesn’t solve the problem, that will be the end of my track day. My motto is that I do not want to kill my car, and I don’t need to be running it in a track setting if the engine is skipping. Just not smart. As I said, hoping for the best.

Oh, yeah, Thanksgiving was great! The Red Velvet Cake came out really well. The turkey was pretty spectacular for a turkey, beautifully browned skin and super moist, even as leftovers. Best of all was having my sister and her three kids here to share a few days with me. I’m glad we are continuing the tradition of Thanksgiving at Aunt VroomGrrl’s! Sadly, because of the skipping issue, I decided not to take the car out with the kids for another driving lesson. Maybe next year. Anyway it was just a great couple of days. It’s been a whirlwind with the keeping everybody fed and comfy, then cleaning up after the kid-cyclone once they were on the way back home, then we had the Crimson Tide football game to watch. . During that time, I used the last of the daylight to get my car prepped and packed up. Soon as the game was over, it was off to see some friends in from out of town, then back home and here I am and I better get to bed or I’ll never get up in the morning

Happy Turkey to you and yours! Wish me luck getting my car going in the morning!

Fingers crossed,
VroomGrrl

When Opportunity Knocks

Hiya Pat,

Just when I thought I was done for the year, I got an email about an open track day at Little Tally – this Saturday. I absolutely cannot “afford” it. My husband is still unemployed (he’s found a job but his start date is iffy) and it’s been tight. But I have my priorities! I worked it out to bring My Real Driving Coach with me at no extra cost and he’s available and voila! SEAT TIME! Now I just have to get my brakes bled and I’m good to go. My Real Driving Coach may be able to help me with that as well. I wish I could pay him what he’s worth, but he’s offering a really low rate for a day of coaching and I appreciate the break – it’s going to be awesome! Of course if he can do my brakes I’ll be sure to compensate him for that as well. Seat time! Seat time! Woot!

And the good news is, even if My Real Driving Coach ends up not being able to make it, I know a whole bunch of awesome drivers who will be there, and they have assured me I will not lack for company in the car if I let them know. My Real Driving Coach allowed as how he is really glad for a chance to generate some extra holiday cash, so odds are it’ll work out as planned. I was kind of hesitant to tell my husband what I wanted to do, but I just laid it out there, and he was fine with it. There should be plenty of college football on Saturday to keep him amused. And it’s the cheapest track time around, so that’s good.

As I type, it’s Tuesday night and I have to work all day tomorrow and then my sister and her kids arrive after I get home from work tomorrow night and then we cook, cook, cook and then we get up at 5 and put in the turkey and come 11:00, it’ll be turkey time. I’ve spent a good bit of time getting everything ready, shopping, cleaning, food prep. I’ve made up a couple of dishes which will finish cooking on Thanksgiving Day. Squash casserole is underway right now. My niece asked if I’d teach her how to bake a Red Velvet cake from scratch, and I am all about sharing the kitchen love. So we will be up late Wednesday night doing that.

Well I just stopped in to report on my track day this Saturday. I am psyched for the opportunity to get out there. Yaaaaay!

Hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving wherever you are!
VroomGrrl

On Track

Hi Pat,

What a weekend, huh? You guys must be flying high! What a great year for you.

Amidst the excitement of Laguna Seca, I had my own little bit of fun behind the wheel on Saturday. For the record, the event was the Fall DE offered by the Alabama PCA at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway, or “Little Talladega” or “TigPrix.” We have an awesome club and they have welcomed me so warmly over the past year. As luck would have it, the national president of the PCA was in town for the Barber Vintage Festival, and he came over to check out our event. But he was not driving a Porsche!

The day started rather ominously, I must say, when I was forced to pull over on the side of the interstate just three miles into my hour drive to the track. A car ahead of me lost something that sent a big black cloud of smoke and oil right onto the front of my car. My visibility went to zero and I had to get right off and clean that mess off my windshield. It was AW. FUL. I got to the next exit and found a gas station where I gave the glass a serious scrub-down with the glass-cleaning stuff I had on hand. I had to exit again along the way because, as it turns out, the crap on the hood of my car was still blowing onto my glass. I found another gas station, bought a small bottle of Dawn hoping to get through the oil, and went at it a third time – this time also wiping down the front of the entire car. What a mess!

I’d allowed plenty of time for the trip, leaving at 4:30 in the morning. So even though it took me two hours, I arrived in time to find a spot near the shelter, unload my car, slap on my numbers, and zip over to tech to get my car checked out for the day. Then I had a classroom session with my novice group, followed by a little down-time before my first session.

That was when I got my first deep breath, got my stuff set up, and found a place to plug in my laptop computer. My air card worked fine where we were, and I was immediately able to bring up radiolemans.com and stream their superb coverage all morning long. It was much appreciated by my fellow drivers, many of whom follow ALMS closely – and were rooting for the Lizards! I need to get a long-sleeved Lizard shirt so that I can wear it to drive and work at the tracks (long sleeves required). The race didn’t actually start until the very end of our track day, so it wasn’t until I got home that I got to hear the real fun as it happened! Still, radiolemans.com had a full day’s coverage, and we enjoyed the driver interviews and other features over the course of the day.

Another task accomplished was the set-up for my on-board camera that I was using for the first time at this event. With my computer set up in the shelter, I was able to download my track sessions immediately, then clear the memory card for the next run. I experimented with camera placement a little, but really didn’t have much time to be futzing around with it all. Luckily it was as easy as advertised to set up and use, and the footage came out well enough for me. Not the best quality, and I need to figure out why I am getting no sound at all, but I got tons of footage from the day.

And I scored a wheel crest cap to replace my missing one! I’d ordered a couple online but they aren’t quite right (polished aluminum, not chrome like mine). This one is rough, but it’s chrome, and frankly, the whole damned wheel is rough so it’ll fit right in.

Me and My Real Driving Coach JB

Before my first session, My Real Driving Coach appeared! I was so happy to see him. He knows most of these folks, and we chatted a bit and talked about how we could work him into the existing instructor-student pairings, which had me lined up with one of the club regulars. I had been in touch with all of them ahead of time about My Real Driving Coach coming along for part of the day, so it was just a matter of logistics, wrist-bands, and talking about how we’d divide up the time. He ended up riding with me for my first session, then taking my car out in an instructor session with me riding shotgun. I had two morning sessions and two in the afternoon, each 30 minutes. So two hours of seat time for the day. Three if you count my ride-alongs with both JB and my instructor.

The first session was lead-follow for the first few laps. Eventually the pace truck pulled off, the yellow flags were put away, and we were off! My group, all novices, was a mix of experience levels – some out for their first time, and some, like me, with a few track days under their belts. Yes, my left arm did spend some time hanging out the window to point faster cars by. But somewhere along the way in that first session, I enjoyed performing my first pass. And then my second.  pre=”">Whee! Seriously, it was a bit of a mile marker for me, and a fitting way to celebrate my first year on the track. My Real Driving Coach was so much fun, very positive in the way he delivered his feedback, very encouraging.

During the second morning session, I went out with my assigned instructor and really benefitted from some of his input on steering, and a few tweaks to the line I was driving that he suggested. He has more experience driving older cars like mine (his is a 86) so his feedback on steering was really great. I got so much out of observing him when I rode with him later.

At some point in the morning, I got JB behind the wheel of my car and I rode along. I think my 21 year old 911 is the only older Pcar he’s ever driven. He spends all his time with the brand-spanking new top of the line cars in his job! He’s talked to Hurley about his days driving 911s in the 70s and 80s, and when he got out of my car after 15 minutes of a 30-minute session, his first words were, “Man, that is some work! To think Hurley won 24 hour races in these cars….wow!” He definitely knows from testing the limits of a car, and he was all about pushing mine out toward the edges. I’d say he gave her…60-70% at times. The steering is so crude-feeling on my car compared to newer ones – but when I looked at his hands, they were so incredibly light on the wheel! It was great to sit in my car and to know how much she is capable of. My front brakes were sa-MOKIN when we pulled off the track, and I have a feeling I’ll be ready for those new front pads soon.

We exited the session early because my car developed a noticeable skip. AGAIN. A peek under the deck lid revealed the cover of my air filter hanging open. Ugh! Another plug wire was knocked loose somewhere under there. The skip seemed to disappear once that was sorted. The guys who work on my car, from the only place in town that services older Pcars, were at the track to provide support for the club, which was convenient and helpful. Many folks had much bigger problems than I did, and they were busy all day long.

My Real Driving Coach left after lunch, and I finished out the day with my assigned instructor. It rained off and on all day, but it was very light. There were times when the track was pretty well dried out, and it was good to have the range of track condition and to experience the changes over the day from wet to dryer and back and forth. My newish Dunlops were great! They handled the transitions seamlessly, and seemed very forgiving of my sometimes less-than-smooth inputs on the slick track.

I don’t remember anything remarkable about my third session, except that my instructor took a few moments to go over his assessment sheet with me. My marks are improving! Still not ready to drive solo, but I have improved in several areas, at least in his estimation, from the last evaluation I had in the club. I have some new ideas about skills to work on. We agreed that it would really help me to spend some time on a simulator between track sessions.

What I recall about the final session was that I was flakey as hell! Very inconsistent. In hindsight, I think I was very low on energy by that point, physically and mentally. It was a long day! But I didn’t have any off-track excursions or anything like that. I was a little overly distracted by some of the other cars. Especially the cop cars with their blue lights flashing all over the track! I think I wrote before that we had two “police Porsches” in attendance, seized cars painted in department livery, trotted out to local parades and such. Their handlers were sent to this class to learn how to drive the things – very different from their usual Crown Vics or Dodge Chargers, I am sure. I loved passing one of those guys!

So. I don’t usually need as much brake as I think I do. I did some work on braking later, and harder – more efficient braking would sum this up I think. This work was tempered, of course, by the changing track conditions with the rain, when I did not do any brake experimentation! I need to watch out for pinching the ends of my turns when I should be letting the wheel open up and track out. I got some nice feedback, namely that I am an excellent driver with solid basic skills and a natural feel for where I should be most of the time, and usually very smooth from throttle to brake and back. The last turn into the front straight became my favorite because it is slightly banked. It’s amazing what that little bit of help with weight transfer did for the smoothness of my transitions – and that seamless transition I managed with the banking gave me something to aim for on the rest of the turns. It feels so good when it’s right! I can’t say that having your personal handwriting on top of my head in the form of your autograph on my helmet made any difference in my performance, but I liked knowing it was up there anyway.

I continue to struggle with keeping the whole track in my head, and being able to plan way ahead in my inputs. It’s funny, I struggled similarly when learning to play the violin. The music on the page was so difficult for me to read at sight. But let me hear it once, and I got it immediately. This language of driving is still so foreign to me, though, very little about it is second nature to me still. I stay in the little stuff, with little mental energy left for the bigger concepts? I am not sure. I’m just going to keep getting out there every chance I get. I have definitely learned a lot in my first year. And my car has survived!

Alas, there are some new issues with my car, so I am not sure when I can get her back out on a track again. She’ll be OK for autocross, but I have some fuel lines that should probably be replaced, brake pads, and a few other things that need looking after. I’m getting some clacky valve noise which means, at minimum, that I need a valve adjustment. There are notorious valve cover issues with these cars so….holding my breath. I could really use a tune-up. And so could my car. Badum-BUM! Ha!

On that note, I’m outta here.

Sore, in a very good way,
VroomGrrl

Joy!

Hi Pat,

What else to call this post? I am high as a kite after a really great day driving at Little Talladega. I was able to hear some of this morning’s sessions live – technology is so awesome when it works. I got home and fired everything up here, and there you are, leading GT2! Way to freakin go! So proud and happy for you. Just over an hour to go.

I’m sitting on my front porch with my laptop in my lap, the sounds of your race coming to me live. I’ve got both the team radio and radiolemans.com coverage going. I’ll enjoy watching it tomorrow!

My on-board camera worked really well today. I got lots of footage. I only wish I’d gotten my last session! My driving rather sucked compared to the rest of the day, but I had a couple of unique experiences: chasing a cop with blue lights flashing, and running from one! It was the same car, a 2001 Carrera campaigned at events by a local police department. It has the word “SEIZED” on a windshield banner. Anyway that was kind of funny. I confess, I had a visceral distraction with the blue lights all over the track. They need to re-rig the lights so they can have headlights without all the flashing.

I think I just heard somebody comment, “Bastard” on team radio. Was it “faster”? Hee!

Obviously I’m only half paying attention while I’m typing. And formatting video. And uploading cell phone photos, then grabbing the code to enter here.

Your pit stop in ten minutes.

More later…

OK Joerg – that was an awesome move getting back in front of Magnussen! Oh my Lord. Love the commentators and their excitement. Very dramatic, next best thing to being there. “Bergmeister somehow found a gap, I don’t know where he found it, brilliant! Bergmeister will not be hassled!”

No way. All four wheels in the pit lane? “That will be looked at by the officials.” WTF. Patrick’s take” I’m not sure what the rule is, anyways this is a great figh. These flying lizards never give up….the Corvette guys are a class act. We think we got a little bit of a penalty cone…calling for Magnussen to let us by.” Don’t pull em in for stop/go, just let the other car by because he gained the advantage by going four wheels off in the pit lane. Magnussen went straight through the chicane and you can do that but not to gain advantage.

TIME HAS ELAPSED. LAST LAP.

Snows hanging on in Challenge. Fernandez closer than he’s been all race – can he get off the inside? He’s got a chance. GT2 cars across the line, no checkers yet, one more lap because the leaders are behind you. The leaders cross – Gil de Ferran bows out with a victory just like he did with Indy.

Now down to the GT2 battle. Magnussen’s off, the Lizards take it. They say Magnussen went around the outside, dropped into the dirt, and gathered it up, still 5 car lengths behind. Joerg is holding on – drag race to the line. Magnussen will do anything to stick his nose in there. Bergmeister put him into the wall. HUGE incident. Almost inevitable. Bergmeister by a second, Magnussen in the wall!

I don’t think I can take all the excitement!

More later….

Commentary – In fairness, Magnussen ran through him in the final corner. Bergmeister got across him and Magnuson turned right into the leader. Pat Long’s comments? That’s never what we want to see. There was a questionable hit into the last corner, a little bit of retaliation? A little bit of payback.

Pat, you were such a gentleman. They interviewed Magnussen right before you and he was a whiney bitch! GRADUATE OF THE JUAN PABLO MONTOYA SCHOOL OF CRY BABY POST-RACE INTERVIEWS WAAAH WAAAH WAAH! You took the high road and you shone by doing so.

CONGRATULATIONS LIZARDS! WAY TO GO PAT!!!!!!! YOU DID IT!

I’m wiped out. Whew. So glad I heard it all live. I cannot WAIT to see the finish on the replay tomorrow.

Oh wait. Joerg’s interview. “Jan hit me in the last corner, that’s his only chance to get next to me. He started it and I wasn’t giving that one away. I am sorry he hit the wall, but that’s racing….I’m still shaking honestly.” Way to go!

They’re going to try to interview Jan again. He was too pissed to talk earlier. Joerg shows up while radio is there. “A class act.” Jan has been taken off to the medical center. He’s a little bit shook up. Uh yeah, we heard him give an interview. They just want to be sure he’s OK. They are not admitting that Magnussen did anything to contribute. I’m going to have to call this guy a FUCKER.

FUCKER! God. Feehan: ”They said he shortcut it someplace. It LOOKED like there was racetrack there. We will have to have a look at the tape and ascertain what happened before we make any comments.” Feehan is an idiot. IMSA could have given a stop/go. They are reviewing the end. They better not issue any penalties. There were no penalties of any kind at Sebring two years ago so….

OK. Really really out of gas here!

CONGRATULATIONS LIZARDS!!

x0x0x
VroomGrrl

Track Toys

Hi Pat,

Wow does my car feel soooooooo much better with all six cylinders firing properly! Awesome! I’m so tickled! And probably way too excited about my track day tomorrow. My GoPro Hero wide angle motorsports camera arrived this week, and I’ve got that all figured out and ready to plunk onto my car with the suction mount. If the weather holds, I’ll take it for a test drive this evening. I’ve got to get my act together pretty quickly so that I can be in bed by 10 and up by 4. Wooooo! Haha!

Let me go see how things went for you today in practice and qualifying…

Ookay you’re still at it! I’m going to go listen in – I know there’s live streaming somewhere. Back later.

Later…

Well Radio Le Mans was FUBAR so I missed that, but my phone chimed to let me know that the news was in by text. P5 for #45. I took a quick look at how things went today – new shocks front and rear for #45, and some serious tweaks on #44 as well. So I’m guessing the mad scientists were really at it behind the scenes. I’m not sure how it’ll work out to listen in during the day tomorrow. I’ll bring the technology and if it works out that I can set it up and get Radio le Mans going, I will check your race out for sure.

The weather has cleared for a bit. I’m going to take the car out to gas her up, and test out the camera. I’m not a technically gifted person by any means, and if possible, I’d like to get it set up tonight so that I can literally just clamp it on tomorrow, hit the shutter, get into the car, and go. While we have a break, I need to get the Rain-X going, too. I got most of my stuff loaded into the car just before the skies opened up on us earlier.

In case I don’t get back here, I am rooting for you guys with everything I’ve got. I envision you as literally men on a mission, your eyes honed on your goal, your laser vision seeing your way through the race to right where you want to be. GO GO GO GO GO! I’ll listen in if I can.

Bye for now,
VroomGrrl

PS I have now packed, unpacked, and repacked all my stuff enough times that I have no clue where to find anything. I’d say I’m ready!!