I haven't seen any other reports on the San Diego National Tour, so
I'll fill you all in on what went down. This is my first national
level event, so if anything I write makes you think "well, duh!",
that's why.
Many of us arrived at the site early (for me...say 10 O'clock) and
snatched up some space in the paddock area. We had a relaxed time
getting tires changed, decals applied (reusable vinyl is a real pain
in the butt, you know?), and gear emptied out. Tech was a breeze, and
I got to have my car weighed just for fun (the 2001 Miata really is
150 pounds heavier than the 1999 Miata, somehow). Once we were
checked in, we migrated down to the practice course, a 30-second down
and back sort of affair with offset gates and few pointer cones: John
Kelly's nightmare :-) I spent the first three runs just getting to
the point where I could remember where to look ahead to find the next
course feature. Plus there was a ditch in the runout lane that took a
few people (including Rick Gould) by surprise. The lines were short
in the morning, and you could pretty much run through as often as you
wanted to. Around 2pm, the line went from about 2 deep and 6 wide to
8 or 10 deep. Evolution instructors Joe Goeke and Ron Bauer were nice
enough to drive or ride along with a few people who wanted some last
minute tips. After practice, we all registered and then walked
Saturday's course until our legs fell off.
Friday night, it rained. Hard. It had stopped by morning, but just
as I was leaving my friends' house it let loose again. When I arrived
at the site, the course looked mostly dry, to my amazement. People
who had stayed closer to the stadium hadn't noticed the morning
shower. But then, in the middle of heat 1 (of five) it started
raining. That lasted about 5 minutes, and the course was quickly dry
again (A Stock was running, and those Corvettes really heat up the
pavement...). The rest of the day was dry, but cold. It was hard to
get any heat into our tires. The really competetive (and smart)
drivers had insulating skirts to put around their cars while on grid
to keep the wind from cooling the tires too much. There were two or
three of those on Saturday. On Sunday, a whole lot more people had
them. The Lowe's next to the event site probably had no idea why they
were suddenly selling rolls and rolls of aluminized bubble-wrap
insulation. The course was wickedly fast, with a lot of elevation
changes and changing-camber turns. Usually when I'm in third gear
it's on a straight, but there were slaloms, turns, and chicanes that I
went through in third (yes, the gearing on the 6-speed Miata is pretty
low). It was good fun, if a little intimidating. After everyone was
finished with their runs, we walked Sunday's course until our legs
fell off. It was too dark to see by then anyway.
Sunday was sunnier and warmer. In fact, it was pretty darn uneventful
aside from the ominous clouds that showed up just before heat 5. The
course was sort of like a rollercoaster, or downhill skiing, in that
the first section was spent getting to the top of the hill, at which
point you turned around and blasted all the way back down through high
speed sweepers. It might have been even more fun than Saturday's
course, although my times weren't as good due to a couple of cones I,
er, gently tapped.
And now for the results:
Erin O'Boyle put in some blazing fast runs in the S2000 to take the
win in BS ladies.
Joe Goeke from Seattle took first in BS, but Derek, Andy, and Teresa
got the next three places. Anna Goeke, Teresa's co-driver, took
fifth.
Travis Lane finished one spot out of the trophies in C stock.
Kevin McCormick and Pete Mottaz took the two D-stock trophies, and
Katie Elder won the ladies' class.
Peter Thana was one place out of the trophies in E stock.
Mike DeJesus and Eric Martin finished 2nd and 4th in F stock.
Alan Perucho placed 3rd in G stock in his Celica GT.
Tom Ellam and Chris Cox finished 3rd and 4th in CSP, with Rick Gould
just missing a trophy in 5th. Rick took his second run on Saturday in
Tom's RX-3 after a sound disqualification on the first run, but he and
Chris did manage to muffle the Miata so they could finish the event in
it. Pilar won CSPL.
Ben Martinez took the win in DSP, with Arie Villasol in 3rd, out of a
field chock full of SFR drivers (six out of seven).
Bill Martin won CMod.
Kathy West won STS ladies.
Vic Sias and Navid Kahangi took 2nd and 3rd place in Street Mod, behind the guy
who
designed the course. Elise Geiger won SML.
And that's how it happened. See you all at Atwater in May! I'll see
if I can do any better than third from last place...
--
john@idsfa.net John Stimson
http://www.idsfa.net/~john/ HMC Physics '94
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