On Monday, July 21, 2003, at 11:03 PM, Paul and Meredith Brown wrote:
> It was miserably hot. The only event I can remember that came close
> was the CMC "nationals" held in Ardmore, when it was both hot and
> humid. Little Rock Pro in '93 or '94 wasn't even this bad. A towel
> dunked in icy cooler water took only a few moments to get up to body
> temp. I spent a half hour holding my helmet in the A/C in the truck
> before my first-round Challenge runs, but took it to the car too early
> (must have been 6 or 7 pairs before I ran); it was hot to the touch
> before I put it on to run.
Hmm, I'd expect someone from NM to handle it better 8). In the
challenge I used ice water from the sprayer to periodically cool off
which worked quite well.
> Kudos to the Utah folks - I question their sanity, as they have some
> say in when the event is scheduled, but they did (as always) put forth
> a great effort. Wendover is a rather pathetic place, but the event is
> always one of the best on the schedule.
Well what do you want? Guaranteed heat and wind or the possibility of
the same heat -or- bitter cold and rain? Wendover can do that to you
earlier in the year. I don't know for sure, but I don't think we've
ever been offered the option of having it in late May/early June before
when it might be reasonable there. I'd rather do it then, Utah is very
nice at that time of year.
Maybe next year we could contract with the guys who did the CART race
at Cleveland to put up lights and we could run at night when it's
_only_ 90-ish?
> In the late rounds of the Challenge, despite a considerable effort at
> cooling them, our Hoosiers were getting really unhappy and doing more
> sliding than sticking (not that anyone else was in better shape).
Hehe, I am SOOOO glad we got off the Falkens for this event. If we
hadn't I fear we would have been out of tire about 1/2 way down to the
turnaround.
> That turnaround was a really dirty trick - I don't think it ever felt
> "right" even if one managed to drive it optimally. Good to see things
> like that once in a while. These were some of the best courses I've
> ever seen - Pro Solo or otherwise.
>
Yeah, a big shout out to Dave Kizerian and George Curtis for a great
design. I too never felt I did that turnaround completely right - some
felt better than others, but it never felt perfect like some of the
other places on the course.
> Break-outs were not a big problem in the Challenges, mostly due to the
> heat. It was hot enough that we not only lost engine power, but also
> tire stick. We actually considered spraying down the tires before my
> first run in the Challenge, on "cold" tires!
I think tire heat was why I beat Joe Goeke in the first round. We
talked afterward and he complained about being on grease both of his
sides. It probably didn't help then when the clocks malfunctioned on
our second sides and we had to rerun. Fortunately that didn't happen to
me otherwise I think he would have embarrassed me.
-Mike
PS: Personally I would rather have the heat and lack of wind than the
normal 5deg cooler and 15mph or more average winds for the whole
weekend like it normally is.
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