Things have been pretty busy here. Tuesday night was one of the longest we have had, but I actually magaged to get some sleep. This was our No Problem transit where we slipped through New Orleans for some food and a drink or two - One Lap is supposed to be fun and I just don't buy into making it a job!
To backtrack just a tick, things went well at No Problem. The 135 was quick and more importantly consistent. We were sticking in our 10-15th slot range that the car probably deserves on its own merits with the other Hp cars around. And Vic got to change his forst brake pad with minimal supervision - joyous day!
As we blaze across the country from LA to SC for the Carolina Motorsports Park event, I first give staying awake a good go. We have been through multiple cases of Redbull at this point. At a fuel stop, I locate NRG potatoe chips. They are not a trip sponsor, so I feel completely comfortable in saying they taste roughly like sucking on aspirin. Behold - the dinner of roadtrip champions...
This is our mess of mobile electronics. Laptop, video camera, cell phones, and radar detector all have their slots - except for the brief period that I unplug the radar detector on Alex to plug in my cell - 5 minutes later he is bound for TicketTown. I hang my head and the next day, Harold (friend from New Orleans) gives us a splitter!
We get to CMP and things are good. I have already won a race here this year, even handicapped with my friend Jim as a co-driver, so I think chances are good! We can't quite stick the car in the top 10, but again, we may not have the overwhelming V10 Hp to do it so the fact that we get close is rewarding. Again, consistency is king and ignoring my nasty off at TWS in the rain, we are plugging along nicely!
CMP has always been brutal on brakes. In this event, I am overly happy to have the Performance Frictions on the car. Even though we aren't hitting 150 three times per lap like Road America, we are KILLING the brakes. After the first three lap session, I roll in and park the car. The tires are too hot for Alex to check pressures and in the process, the center cap falls out on the ground, melted. HOT.
Skipping ahead, the BMW Performance Center is a track that I have been at a few times recently for a fun club event, some media testing, and the X6 media release - I have gotten familiar. Even though the layout for the One Lap drivers has changed a bit over the course of the event for some reason, I have been on mos tof the configurations, so we are happy. Seems like preparation paid off and I pulled a 6th overall. What a great wrap-up to a great day!
Next we are off to my home track - VIR. I just finished 3rd there in our World Challenge race and set a new track record the weekend before clicking 1:59.6 in a BMW E30 M3, and I am pretty dialed in and ready to go. NO BLOG! Becuase after 2 tracks and 500 miles on top of the 800 the night before, when we roll into town dinner seems more of a priority. There is a chance of rain, which I like A LOT as we settle in for our long night's rest.
When I get up the next morning at the crack of 8AM (which is wildly late for my One Lap schedule and even more early for my normal non-track schedule), I look outside the windo of out pit suite onto the front straight and see glorious WET TRACK!!! This means power cars are not powering by, so local knowledge and driver skill will play a huge part. I knock off 4th overall in the early session on South course and 3rd overall on North - both times behind other exceptionally fast BMWs - it is a good day for the spinning propeller! We wrap up the day on a dry full course with a very respectible finish roight outside the top 10, which puts us in 12th overall! Kicking myself though - without my TWS antics we would be in SIXTH!!!
On a side note, I destroyed a tire at VIR. We are allowed 6 total, so we are into 5 now. I think it did it clipping a curb, but it had a slow leak and was down by my last lap of North Course. The cool-down on the flat tire didn't help... So the good news is we get rid of our spare tire we have been lugging around all week (for a day, new one coming tomorrow). Notice the over-stuffed trunk at the beginning of the trip:
And the Vic 1 finger close at VIR, post-tire disappearing:
After VIR we head to Beaver Run in PA and take a detour at our shop to address a rear shock mount issue. We installed the JRZ suspension on this car using a reinforced stock mount and it just isn't holding up. Basically, we have had effectively two non-existant rear shocks for the last few days which are not helping with laptimes! Marks looks them over and comes up with a solution with some Powerflex parts we have in stock. Rolling out of Dublin, VA, the 1 feels more planted than ever!
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(If by "handicapped" you mean "carried by".. ed.)
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