Hi,
I just finished my first rookie weekend with VARA: the Liberty Grand Prix
at the Pomona Fairplex, July 3 & 4. What a blast! We (myself, my partner
and crewchief Terry, et al) finally got my Sprite assembled and loaded on
the trailer, got all our other impedimentia loaded into the rented truck
and my Mustang, headed North at about half past midnight Saturday morning,
stopped for a snack, and arrived at our hotel at about 3:30am.
The rookie school was at 8am Saturday, so we didn't get a whole lot of
sleep. The rookie track tours were right after the meeting, followed by
the general drivers' meeting, then the rookie practice session at 10am. A
_very_ busy morning. I did OK in the practice session, given that it was
my first time behind the wheel of my Sprite since last August, shifting
lefthanded, with all new engine, gearbox, clutch, brakes, and everything.
I had one minor off-track excursion on the second to last lap: started
into Turn 1 a bit too early and too fast, and the rearend decided it wanted
to come around. I caught it, but ended up pointed off course, side-swiped
a cone (didn't mark the car), and stalled it. Got it restarted OK, and
checked-in at black flag as required, but the session ended before I could
get back out.
Terry tweaked a few things on the car over lunchtime, and I went back on
track for the rookie race at 2:30pm. I did quite well in this session,
starting at 10th of 11 cars on the grid and finishing in 7th after
completing seven laps. I came off the track and went right back to the
grid for The Group 1 Qualifying Race which followed immediately, but I only
completed 1 lap before I ran out of fuel and had to be towed back to the
pits. (At least now we know how far it'll go on 3 gallons of gas!) After
a couple pleasant hours lounging in the paddock followed by the excellent
muchies at the VARA R&R, that was it for Saturday.
With 12 hours of sleep, the Sunday morning schedule was a lot less frantic.
After VARA's steak & eggs breakfast at the track, I had another off-track
excursion during the Group 1 warmup session: braked too late for Turn 7,
decided I wasn't going to make it so chose to go straight instead, and ran
over another cone (this one did leave some marks). But otherwise the car
was running well and I took it a bit easier for the rest of the session
after my stop at black flag.
I was doing _really_ well and having a blast in the Sunday afternoon Group
1 Feature Race, and had gained several positions from my 35th spot on the
grid, when I missed a downshift going into Turn 4 and stalled the engine.
I couldn't get it to restart, probably flooded it, ran the battery dead
cranking it, and had to be towed back again. Ended up placing 30th (full
results are at <http://www.vararacing.com/PomFPFVGP.htm>).
I had a great time overall, especially after my clutch and I sorted out our
differences and I started using the car more like it was intended to be
used. The track was in fair shape overall, given its age, but quite rough
in places. The turns were plenty challenging to keep my undivided
attention, with plenty of run-off space at most of them, the long front
straight and even longer back almost-straight gave lots of room to run
flat-out, and the 95db sound limit was generous enough that we didn't have
to change a thing to comply. I think almost everybody had at least as much
fun as I did. I only heard of two incidents involving contact, and there
were no injuries that I'm aware of. My thanks to VARA for putting on a
really enjoyable and safe weekend.
There're a few new digital pics of my Sprite at:
<http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=48550&a=333314> and there'll
be more, better photos there after we get the film from the other camera
developed and I get them scanned in.
--
Rick Snover, General Partner and CIO
British Speedwell Racing
http://www.toyshop-resto.com/britspd/
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