You drift into turn 11, trailing brake to get the red
Formula Dodge to rotate smoothly into the turn, as the
long aspect of the Laguna Seca front straight comes
rapidly spinning into view. The bleachers stretched out
to your right are empty, and you never see them anyway.
Your presence on this track in a fast, balanced formula car
has transformed it from a grand theater of automotive
spectacle to just another great road to be driven.
Somehow the aura you have always felt here has stopped
at the pits and not accompanied you out onto the tarmac.
As you feel the right attitude, you smoothly roll off the
brake onto the throttle and the car smartly catches its
rotation and starts to dig into the hairpin. As you feel that
grip, you roll more and more onto the throttle, rapidly
getting to the floor as the steering unwinds straight..
In second gear, the thousand-pound racer blasts onto the
straight, 137 horsepower pressing you back into the hard
seat. Every element of this minimalist car roars and rattles
but you don't hear it, other than noting the engine sound as
it approaches the 5000 RPM limit set for you. 5000, and
the crashbox four speed pops itself magically into third
with a flick of feet and wrist -- just a barely perceptible
blip in motivation as the throttle stays flat. You shake out
of concentration long enough to check the flagstand on
the pit lane -- no messages.
The Start/Stop bridge is screaming at you now, and you adjust
slightly to center the car under the "N" in the HONDA sign
across it. Beneath the bridge, the road disappears into the sky,
glaring afternoon sun blurring everything. No cues from
the road beyond -- it's under the horizon. The "N" is your
only guide to avoid disaster into the unknown terrain beyond.
The car continues to accelerate to 5000. Pop! Fourth and
top and still flat out as you crest the hill. Still no road, but
telephone poles pop out of the ground as you start to fall.
Second pole -- aim for the second pole... Suddenly the apex
of turn 1 is in view, and turn in for 2. At turn 1 you are diving,
starting to free fall at 100 miles per hour at an increasing
slant. Full throttle to the turn in, your instructor said. The
left verge of the track at Turn 1 apex is a little rough, off of the
smoother track surface. But you need every inch of the line to
make this turn. At this speed, the hill at the end of turn two
is rushing you, unnerving you and weakening the calf muscles
mashing the throttle into the floor. The rough surface makes
the car buck and yaw subtly. You just can't make yourself
make it go faster, but the hill is insistent.
Before you can grab control of that throttle you are at Turn In
on the right side of the track. You can see the two connecting
95 degree turns that make up the Andretti Hairpin, the very
technical turn two. At 100 you have only a split second to
turn the car 15 degrees to point at the wooden box on the hill.
Brake! brake!brake! Left front wheel stops in plain sight and
acrid smoke pours around it. ease! ease! the car hauls in at
threshold as you pop! pop! double clutch heel and toe the
non-synchro third then second gear into play. Can you stop?
the lockup will have lengthened your path. Apex 1 turn 2
is here and you ease the brake and turn in left, easing off the brakes
to leave some trailing into the turn. You can feel the rear tires
slipping, slipping around. This is really rotating the car quickly!
you look left, down toward the Track Out past the apex -- or try to,
as the brakes come off and throttle starts rolling in. The rear
end hardens and sticks well. You have rotated enough that there
is plenty of room for throttle and you start to feed it in. Have you
entered too slow? The car tracks through, maybe nibbling at the
road a little as you hit Track Out. The wheels rumble a half
second on the white curb as you reach full throttle and blast
toward turn 3, righthander. Laguna maintains very good,
clear brake markers,
and you pick the 2 to aim for. Pop! third and floored, ease into
line with the left track edge at 2 and touch the brake, but get right
back on a little throttle -- "about 2 out of 10" said the instructor,
and the Turn In comes up at once -- at 1, since at Laguna for
these Skip Barber cars the 1 marker is the perfect turn in point.
Right, and rolling the throttle in, now to 4,... 5,... you clip the apex and
have just a little room to unwind as you reach Track Out.
Boy! Straightening the wheel really lets the car jump!
5000 RPM and fast under the bridge. Dunlop? Michelin?
No, it's just a dark thing over your head. There is just the road.
Turn 4 bends right ahead, and it's a power turn. A brief brake at
2 to 4, then on the gas a little before Turn In. 70 MPH is a guess
-- there is no speedometer -- as you bend right, too. Throttle rolls
in more as you feel the car grip, and you reach flat out at apex, and
again the road stretches out ahead, warped right, and the car
screams by Track Out to eat it up.
Pop! Fourth Flat again in an instant. BOSCH BOSCH overhead,
it's the bridge! and brakes to 5 as the car slows for a half second
and Pop! Instant double clutch and throttle blip in a blink. Faster
than possible! How can I do this? I guess the Jaguar practice for
years has helped. But the transmission is making it happen.
Unlike the Jag gears, this box is made to be shifted fast. The
dog rings pop in and there is no graunch of gears. All this in a half
second and throttle in again at 2 before Turn In for left uphill
turn 5. Roll in throtttle to apex and flat by Track Out, screaming
uphill in third. In this car, the hill is a visual change in attitude, not
a dragging force on the car. The car continues to accelerate under the
main entrance bridge, for you just a darkness. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1 placards
on the right for zoomy uphill turn 6 coming up. A real power turn,
but if you get in hot and lift you're into the tire wall so very quick..
This car will be stuffed into that wall later this day, thankfully
your co-driver is unhurt but the car is seriously bent!
Brakes to 5 about the 3, then throttle again to 2 about halfway between
2 and 1 the settle the car for the turn. Wheels touching the right
curb line at Turn in -- number 1 -- accelerating some as you
dip toward the apex. The camber holds the car, and you roll on more
throttle till you get flat out halfway to Track Out. Some rumble from
tires on the curb as you blast up the back of the Corkscrew hill.
Pop! fourth and flat.
Nothing can be seen but a light standard over the hill, looming over
the track. Aim for the yellow light box and have faith! Faster, faster
into the unknown. The hill rolls down and you see Turn 7 Turn In
driver's left of track -- adjust to hit it and stay flat! stay flat! don't
worry about the cascade facing you unseen beyond. The hidden
gravel and wall just beyond -- somewhere. No cues, but hair stands
up on your neck as the engine screams and only the shortness of
time keeps your brain from getting the command to your foot -- lift!
lift! There's a 3 above the hill, a 2 starts to appear. "Turn 7" is no
real
turn, just an underline on "turn 8, turn 8a!" to emphasize the
exclamation point already on it. Brake, but soft. You are at 4200
RPM in fourth, but the road is dropping away as you crest the hill.
No grip for your tires, you slow agonizingly. Then you see
everything all at once 3..2..1.. Road comes up and presses your
suspension down, your chance to slow. Pop third pop second, still
too fast at Corkscrew Turn In, but you should trail brake here. You can
almost see the first apex, but beyond is blackness. Trees -- three
oak trees. Point at the third through the first apex, faith in
tradition again, but it pays off. You dive into a twisting Yosemite
Falls of your car, just at the second apex thanks to the tree,
powering, powering down and out to Track Out. Pop! third!
Still further the falling track flows and eddies under yet another
darkness -- bridge? and you swing right and brake a little, then
power on through the deep Turn 9 apex on the left. Watch it!
Are you too fast to make the Track Out? Don't lift... More
power, feather it on. The car adds the grip of RWD under
power, and you make the edge by inches. Pop! fourth!
Now a short hop across the track to the 3..2..1 of Turn 10.
They say Mario Andretti brakes from 158 to 134 for this turn,
but you are not that fast yet. You lift a little and power up
before turn in. Ten has a deep apex, and you can depend on it,
but watch the Track Out! Later today you will taste the dirt of
the opposite shoulder after trusting it too much. Right there
you see the 4..3..2..1 for Turn 11. Flat, flat to 3 and a half,
then Brake!brake! Pop three pop two, trail brake into turn 11.
Then do it all again...
Jerry
Jerry Mouton mailto:jerry@moutons.org Laissez les bons temps
rouler!
|