SpeedVentures 18Feb05: seeing red

[nostatic]

Well, I paid my money, so I felt committed. Or maybe I should be committed...not sure which. 5am came damn early and wet. Thinking ahead, I had pulled out all the floor mats and most of the other loose stuff in the car the night before, and packed it with my essentials...in this case, oil, brake fluid, a few tools, some orange tape, and a couple big plastic bags.

The rain was falling the in the dark as I left, and continued off and on into the lovely Antelope Valley. Pulling into the track, it was obvious this wasn't going to be like any of my previous tracks dates:



I had signed up for intermediate group, but lo and behold, upon registration, I was seeing red:



Yes, for whatever reason, the Speed Venture lads saw fit to put me into the red (ie fastest) group. Must have been the fear of the SCWDP. I was a little apprehensive, but there weren't any real race-prepped cars...but there were a few fast looking Vettes, Evos (at a real advantage I would think with AWD) and S2000s). My faithful air cooled baby was ready with a custom tape job so that I could run my headlights (and hopefully avoid getting smacked):



I headed out for the first session, and did OK. A few point bys, but I got one or two myself (passing one of the vettes). All in all, at least I wasn't a moving roadblack. Things are SOOOOO different when it is wet. And each session saw competely different conditions. First session was rain and a completely wet track. I took it slow and then added speed with each lap...but it would go from grip to slip *very* quick. Turns that were straightforward on dry pavements became moving targets and skip pads. Throttle steering was absolutely required...you rarely wanted to move the wheel, because either the car would plow straight ahead, or get loose. We talk about an egg between the foot and accelerator when warming the car up...well I was imagining one there while on the track.

Some fun from the other groups:





and there was a lot of this:



I only had one spin, and it was on the last session of the day. As I said, conditions changed from lap to lap and session to session. For the last session the track had a mostly dry driving line so speeds increased. But then it started to rain, and in the space of one lap got slick really fast. I was trying to keep speed up in turn 3 (which is a semi double apex dry, skidpad wet), and just couldn't hold the entry speed halfway through the turn. Stayed on track though, let the guy behind go around me, then went on my way. By that time I was fried though...it is really hard work to drive under those conditions. But man, the throttle steering practice was amazing. And hey, at least I wasn't on one of these (yet):



Your humble servant:

[Shuie]

Nice job!

[TRE Cup]

you are a brave soul! sounds like it was a lot of concentration and fun

[jpnovak]

Yeah! success in the wet. Glad you had fun and were able to learn more about the car.

[dd74]

Way to go, Todd! How many cars were there? That was at "Streets," right?

[nostatic]

It was Streets, very low attendance. There were 8 cars in red, about 10 in white, and maybe 10 in yellow. In the afternoon white and yellow combined to give alternating run groups. Tons of seat time, and not much traffic...which was good considering the conditions.

I love my car...

[creaturecat]

well done! thanks for sharing

[vanwyk4257]

Nice write up, but doesn't Jack Olsen have exclusive rights to the "self portrait" photo method?

[nostatic]

Originally posted by vanwyk4257
Nice write up, but doesn't Jack Olsen have exclusive rights to the "self portrait" photo method?

I have previously referred to that as the "Jack Olsen shot", and in doing so, have fufilled my licensing agreement. All further correspondance should be directed to my attorney.

[scottb]

Todd: That write-up was worthy of Jack Olsen....complete with the self-portrait!

[Jack Olsen]

I agree! Excellent write-up!

[k9handler]

I wish it were only wet here! Very nice write up...looks like a fun day even if the conditions were not the best.

[DByers]

Thanks for putting us there. Looks like you will be kicking some ars in April.

[Zeke]

Thanks for the great write up! I think I might have enjoyed that experience. I've actually never been on a track in the rain save for once in a kart w/o rain tires. It was a waste of time in that no one could stay on the track for a whole lap.

You did fabulous.

[450knotOffice]

Nice write-up!

Glad to see you've already cleared "the look" through all concerned parties, though. We wouldn't want to have an incident...

[KobaltBlau]

Very nice writeup, thank you! Weather like that isn't all bad if you have lots of room on the track due to attendance.

[sammyg2]

Oh boy do you have it bad. Driving to SOW in the rain, then doing track time in the rain, then doin the self portrait.
The rest of you folks around the world who are sayin "so what, it's just rain" hafta remember this is So Cal, we are not used to the wet stuff and do everything we can to avoid it.

Won't be long til we start talkin about a car called "Silver Beauty"

[Beethoven]

And then Silver Beauty II...

[speeder]

Originally posted by Beethoven
And then Silver Beauty II...

I know we're in Hollywood here, but let's hope that a little originality kicks in before that point. Don't want to be getting the WGA involved in Pelican matters.

Looks like a fun day, I personally would love to slide around streets in the rain. I might actually have a slight advantage in that I learned to drive on a frozen lake.

[nostatic]

my car will never be a "beauty" again. I think I want to find some middle ground between "beauty" and "scruffy". Maybe "buffy". Hmm...I wonder how the car feels about vampires.