It's official, I'm a racecar driver!!Everyone says, this is just a school, get your time in and pass. And I absolutely agree, but I have to tell you, I want to race. The Daytona school was a blast. It was full of drama, both my fault and not my fault. All the way up to the end, but when the steward of the meet said, congratulations, you can now go racing, you could not wipe the grin off my face.
We had a few teething issues with the new car, so we parked it and I rented a Neon from an owner that was there with another student. Since I was sharing the Neon with another guy my agreement was don't rev it over 4,000 rpm, drive it safe, put your time in and pass the school.
The best thing about that part was that it truly taught me that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. By my second session, in a car that I had never driven, I was lapping faster than the other guy who had been driving it all weekend. And, who did not have the restrictions that I did. Slow was smooth and smooth was fast.
Because we were sharing the car, I got bumped from Group 3 (HP, FP, SM and other small bore cars) to Group 2 (Large bore cars). This meant that yet again, I was going to be doing more driving in my mirrors as I was engulfed in faster cars. This bothered me, because I knew that in the B, I would have been a contender and more importantly been in a position to truly race other cars. Now, it would seem that I would be out there doing laps waiting to get lapped. The best part of the weekend was during the third practice start which kicked off my five lap race. I was already familiar with how poorly a particular RX-7 was driving, as well as an ITA Neon. And this was confirmed during the two practice starts. So when the final start came, I had already figured out how I was going to get passed those two guys. I went outside knowing they would brake too early. After all, speeds at that point were nothing compared to the race, because we had just got the green. By going deep, I was then able to take the line going through the International horseshoe and complete my pass of two cars. For the next three laps it was a blast. I swapped positions with the RX-7 about four times. A few mistakes on both he and the other Neon's end and I had the space I needed to keep my position. I crossed the finish line in my SSC Neon having gained two positions. It was the best.
As for the B. It hauls. For the 1.2 mile course 3/4 is flat out in my car. With my suspension and Hap's motor I was posting times that were faster than Group 2. There is some work to do, but I learned a lot about the car, including some changes I need to make. The problems also gave me a chance to learn from Hap as he instructed me on paddock rituals related to the care of the car and how to work through a problem using its symptoms as a guide.
The garages at Daytona will spoil you, the people were great, weather amazing and I made some new friends. The car drew some attention and there was always a crowd in our space talking with Hap. This weekend was an eye opener for me in that Hap and Dwight - my "car owner" - are pros. These guys have won championships and competed at the highest levels as contenders. I just soaked it all up. I know that I won't sit on the grid at the runoffs, but that does not mean that I can't take the discipline and knowledge with me to the vintage circuit. Oh well, I could go on. Thanks for the well wishes. I passed and am official. A dream come true. Now its time to see what it is like for real.
The women were not with us this weekend and normally I ask them to own the pictures, so I don't have many, but I will post some. Also, not many of the car since it only completed about 10 laps :)
