Mission Accomplished
First of two SCCA competition driving schools successfully completed
It was a great weekend. Intense, but not truly appreciated until I saw the checkered at the end of my five lap race to conclude the school. At that point, the getting down to business attitude rested and I reveled in the accomplishment of a lifelong dream. It was a liberating and emotional moment that I will never forget.
As I had mentioned earlier, I chose the WDC region and Summit Point specifically, because it is my home track and region. Dad ran in a Sprite and we both were volunteers for many years. I love the course, know many of the workers and felt at home in a newly intense environment.
It was raining hard all throughout the Southeast and Summit Point was no exception last week. I remember waking up in the Camper at 4 a.m. Saturday morning to the sound of rain and thought oh man is this going to be miserable. But by 6 a.m. it was all clear and the sun was out for the rest of the weekend.
I was in Group 3 of 3 total classes - large bore closed wheels. Production, IT and GT cars. I had classed myself in GP because my car best suited that class, but did not really matter, because I am going vintage racing. There were 13 total cars and I was probably 11th fastest in front of a GTL Pinto and an EP '63 Morgan driven by a Michael Mulrooney. My car in more capable hands may have had something more to offer an MR2 and RX-7 who were about 5 seconds a lap faster.
Summit Point is a great track [http://www.summitpoint-raceway.com/]. A long straight, increasing radius turns and several turns that can test your willingness to go fast. It was repaved about four weeks ago, so when dry it has a lot of grip, but all of the reference points were paved over and a lot of dirt was used to fill in around the edges. Which when combined with torrential rains and students created a dirty track.
My first outing out tested my desire to continue. It was not fun. Very wet, I had tons of oversteer, understeer and a good spin in the Carousel left me questioning whether I really wanted to do this. However, as the day dried and my sessions increased (about 10 total over two days) I began to have a blast.
The car ran great considering the odds were against it. It was completely new. However, it all held together well.
The five lap race which ended the week had me grided on pole. The instructors stacked us slow to fast for their enjoyment. So I followed the Ferrari 360 Modena around for the green flag and lost three positions immediately after it dropped. The second start I lost two more and by the third start I quickly found my usual position. However, I was not too far from the pack when the checkered dropped.
Each session, my dad made sure I was gridded first which ensured that for the first couple of laps I had an opportunity to work with traffic, go door-to-door and experiment with different lines.
At the end of the week, I received high marks from the instructors, had only one involuntary off track (got pushed off the road at turn ten by an RX-7), experienced a number of pucker moments and left with the respect that all racers have of how hard it is to be consistent, aware, strategic and safe, but still wanting to win.
I look forward to next year and a faster car. For this same description and more pictures you can see them at:
