Wow...I am back in San Diego (that is NOT good news).
Here are some notes about Atwater.
I was going up as a co-drive in a 1999 Miata, but my partner had to
cancel so I went back to CS in my MR2, but..I never bought REAL tires,
since I did not need them for another month. There was not enough time
to get tires, so I decided to take the Toyos ("Suck for a Long Time!")
up. I have never driven on Toyos on concrete, but I think they will do
better than a slippery surface like San Bernardino.
I didn't have enough time to prep my car, so I threw everything in it
and hoped for the best. (Note to self...use your checklist next time!)
After forgetting my laptop power adapter (24 miles north) and heading
back home, I was on the road again. Made it to Merced at 12:30am, in
time to ask the desk clerk for a 5:30am wake up call. She said
"what....are you nuts?". Umm.... yeah.
The Best Western was fine. Had my own coffee pot and free morning eats.
Still could hear the train! I found it hard after driving (extremely
high number deleted) mph up I-99, to lay down and fall asleep. Think I
fell asleep by 1:45am.
Saturday morning's weather was perfect. Crisp turning to warm air and
blue skies. Thinking it would be cool most of the day, I wore long pants
and a heavy shirt. This will be mistake 3 for those keeping count. 8)
Drove into Atwater (6miles) but I forgot the SCCA papers (mistake 4) and
where the airport was. Panic. Aha...remember this road... See Glen
Hernandez and follow him to the site. The vast expanse of concrete is a
welcome site.
Barely have enough time to dump stuff out of my car and change the
tires. Tech closes at 8:00am and it is 7:30. Borrow a jack (yeah, I will
buy one soon) and find out mistake 5. I forgot my 1/4" spacers. My tires
will NOT fit on the car. Without spacers, I should just drive home.
Panic again.
Andy McKee loans me spacers. Okay... get into tech at 7:57. No problem.
Have time to walk the course once. Great looking course! Also looks
deceiving. I am not sure about the lines. Good thing we get 12 runs.
The lack of practice starts hurts as I find my launch rpms less than
ideal. I keep adjusting them as I go. Also, the launch area is very
grippy and we find many drivers redlighting, including me. The concrete
surface is also very dusty much more slippery than I expected, or it
seems most drivers expected as there is quite a bit of spinning going
on.
The track is somewhat a typical ProSolo course. Launch, straight drag
with a curve away from the center. Thru a number of offset pointer
cones, that you could drive pretty much flat out with small steering
corrections, with a final offset that required more of a turn. Then into
the turn around, which started more abruptly than I am used to, but was
wider, so that it was almost two turns. Back thru some tricky offsets, a
wicked sharp turn that surprised a lot of drivers, then a last turn into
the finish lights.
To Be Continued...
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