Saturday dawned just ducky... perfect for ducks and those who like to
drive in the rain. I like slippery and was actually pretty giddy in
anticipation of the "equalizing" conditions. First session was
combination first time on track/practice/qualifying. What a rude
awakening! [Note to self - Of 10 year old, rock hard AND over-
inflated street tires, rains are not made]. First time I've ever been
the moving chicane and felt like a genuine hazard. I couldn't even
accelerate in a straight line let alone brake or turn. If it wasn't
for really needing the track time, I would have bagged it and come
in. As it was I was being passed by everything, sometimes a pack at a
time on both sides, with the folks on the out-side not having a clue
that even at street speeds I was doing my best not to drift right
into them. Never saw the qualifying times but would imagine I was 3
minutes plus. This was simply not going to do. Skipped the next race
while I went over to the Washington side for new street tires for the
wet [Got a outrageously good deal on a set of Bridgestone's that will
ultimately go on Connie's P1800]. 40 minutes to spare before the
Battle of Britain race and naturally it was clearing and on went the
Hoosiers. By virtue of my miserable qualifying session combined with
a inverted grid, I started 3rd or 4th. Although the car had a bad but
occasional misfire for about 1/3rd of every lap [very audible from
the stands I was told] , I managed to build a pretty good lead and
got a bit complacent. Until Jeff Quick and a whole gaggle of TR4s
appeared in my mirrors that is, and in no time at all Jeff made a
great pass. Then it was on again with us changing positions at least
a few times in the final laps. I've endeared the Plum Pi many times
in the past with statements like "proud of that little car", "never
ceases to amaze me" etc. and even gone so far as to give it a name -
something I just don't do to inanimate objects - but the car must
have something [beyond my understanding] going on. For the last four
laps it mysteriously gave me all 4 cylinders ALL the time for the
win. Very cool that TR4s swept 1st-4th out of a 26 car field. Skipped
the last race of the day and chased the mysterious misfire.
Unfortunate that I played with so many things at once that I'll never
be certain what the root cause was.
Sunday A.M. was light drizzle turning to real rain for the practice -
I passed on that one. Black Flag Fran gave me two great tips. 1- put
2 rains on one side of the car, 2 drys on the other side and wait for
the call to grid to decide which two to take off. 2 - before
deciding, look down the front straight... if it's raining but you can
see the hills, you'll be OK. If the hills are socked in, put on the
rains. Worked and was correct every time. First race was wet and went
OK. Must have been pretty uneventful as I don't remember much other
than that the car ran strong and I didn't embarrass myself. Next up
was the Kastner Cup. A little bird named Irv came by and gave me the
heads-up that we would be gridded first-come, first-served at the
grid and was the first production car behind the specials. Great! Not
a bad start and Yes Bill B., in hindsight I must have tried a move at
turn 1 because after the hit I was never within range again. *****
Break in the commentary here and no offense to any reader, but I'm
getting really tired of being hit in the first lap of the feature
race. Two events in a row now. Sandia 8/15, Alfa hard into RR tire/
fender/door on turn 9 of the first lap. Didn't put me off but brought
me in fearing fender over tire and that was the race. PIR Kastner cup
9/6, hit exactly opposite side tire/fender [missed door] turn 8 [?]
of first lap. [ Note to self - "owning the line" has no power over a
divebomber with locked-up brakes. If I really, REALLY, don't want to
be hit, I had better give wide berth to all unknown vessels.] ****
Anyway, the Cup race started in a downpour but given Fran's advice I
knew I had made the right decision to go on race rubber. The race to
turn 1 went fine as did the next few corners. I think the back side
may have gotten a bit more rain than the start, but at any rate we
all started to stack up a bit coming into the first slowish corner
[8? or is that 7?]. I knew I was about to be hit the moment before
impact. In the moments before going off I had time for two thoughts
[well three if you include s**t, not again]. 1- this club has no 4-
off rule and 2- I'm going backwards off the track... I'm still going
backwards but I'm not going to get t-boned.... I'm running out of
pavement.... but if I crank the wheel right about......... NOW, I can
pull a Rockford Files turn and end up going the right direction. Got
say that it worked perfect - car still running - grabbed first,
straighten out a bit, into second [last time it worked when I needed
it] and eased back on-track at a gentle angle and back in the hunt
somewhere near the back of the pack. ***** Another break in the
commentary for a Op-Ed. - Makes me wonder about the wisdom of no 4-
off rule for our level of racing - having a shaken/startled/maybe
damaged/maybe angry driver come back on track with pursuit in mind
might not be the best thing - glad I was only a couple of those
things at the time . ***** Next time into the chicane was the
next time I was counting on 2nd gear. It wasn't there. I couldn't
believe I missed a shift but none the less, 2nd wasn't there, the car
wasn't about to rotate and there wasn't any way I was going to make
it. Rather than doing something stupid and sideways I drove up up the
chicane and parked - No way to safely come back on after that one. A
few went by and back on again. Found second a time or two after that
but even holding it in wasn't working. Last time I tried it sounded
like the proverbial bag of marbles. Third was soon to follow. Spent
the last laps holding it in third with lots of left foot braking when
I had to but using 4th for most of a lap. Felt pretty good about
working my way back to 8th.
Stay tuned, more to follow.
Greg "Lunker" Hilyer
TR4 #314
Albuquerque NM
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