Wow, time flies when you're having fun. Seems like last week we were up at NHIS for an early April Test & Tune. It was in the 40's at best and flurrying both days!
Since then we've done a grand total of 5 events (Diane did one on her own). We did a raw and rainy mid-June weekend, 3 weeks later Diane was sweltering in 100 degree temps at Lime Rock. We have 4 more to go before we put our things away for the winter. This has probably been our busiest and most enjoyable summer. We actually got so much seat time that we took some time off to let the checkbook recover, and do a bit of suspension work on the cars.
Mt. Washington has been cancelled indefinitely and Club Rally costs have doubled while events in the northeast are dwindling (the northeast has 3 events at last count, and one is being considered for a PRO event for next year). That has really left us with road racing and hillclimbs.
Our first report is here. What follows is a summary up to mid-August.
In mid-May we were at Lime Rock with NY Region SCCA. Diane took the 2nd school for seat time and we both ran the regional race the next day. This was the first race for either of us - we need two "successfully completed" races to finish the requirements for our licenses. One down, one to go.
Three weeks later we headed back to Lime Rock, this time to run with our own region. This was a double regional, but local regulations state there is to be no racing on Friday's at Lime Rock, so we had two qualifying sessions instead. The Friday afternoon session determined our grid spot for Saturday morning, even though that was also listed as qualifying. A little confusing, but it was seat time and we were having a blast.
But the weather - cold and raining. It seemed like many people didn't even run the Friday morning session, probably hoping it would clear up. We have two sets of rains: used Dirt Stockers and a brand new set of Kumho's. Diane went out on the Hoosiers in the morning and we swapped for the afternoon. Tim didn't seem to think there was much of a difference in the performance of the two tires unless we went through standing water, but his time improved drastically on the Hoosiers while Diane's stayed the same. He is also a bit more aggressive, which is why his car has a couple more dents. Seems a tire wall at the bottom of the downhill jumped out at him. ;)
Saturday it was still cold and misting on and off all day. However, the track was dry enough for all those who had to run Friday on non-rain tires, to do well again. Tim with his Dirt Stockers was able to qualify 5th for Saturday's qualifier. It was neat driving down the front straight and seeing his car number up on the board. We both finished the weekend successfully and got our novice permits signed off.
For July 4th, Diane decided to "go back to her roots". The ease of autoxing in a stock class has never really left her mind, so she threw the race tires in the back of the car, along with some tools, a large umbrella, lots of fruit and fluids and a ton of clothes (it was easily 100 degrees by afternoon with very high humidity). The event was the John Stim Memorial race, held at Lime Rock by the MoHud SCCA Region. Even though a number of people thought she was nuts for driving to an event with no way to get home if something happened to the car (hey, we have AAA and it's less than 100 miles away!), the day was a total success and a lot of fun. The only casualty (besides a few pounds!) was the windshield: a clod of dirt on the downhill and a rock getting back on 84. So much for the cool Demon Tweeks banner!
We headed to NHIS for July 13-14. This is the infamous NER-SCCA Pig Roast weekend. This was also our first race at NHIS. Also for the first time we are running with ITS cars instead of the Showroom Stock cars. These guys are fast! Tim feels a vibration in his car during Saturday's qualifying. Diane ends up gridding right behind him for the race. Unfortunately his race only lasts 11 laps before his hub goes. He spends the afternoon putting the spare assembly in.
This is a really intimidating track! While banking is wonderful in general, NHIS has a lot of concrete. Turn 6 especially - something about going downhill towards what looks to be nothing, before you hit the brakes and let the banking take you back up the hill. Or out into the gravel, as the case may be.
Saturday's qualifying was fairly uneventful. Diane again ended up right behind Tim for the race, and had the pleasant surprise of gridding next to Raymond Blethen. Truth be told, Raymond's car wasn't running right, but it was fun to run with "the fast guys" until he got called in for gas pouring out of his fuel filler! Sad to say, Tim only managed a handful of laps before his hub completely seized.
We are taking a few weeks off to do the suspension mods do Diane's car that had worked so well for Tim. See you at the Chili Cook-off in August!
Note from Diane: In reading this over it seems a little - boring! I seem to be running at the back of mid-pack at Lime Rock and pretty much the back of the pack for NHIS (I notice a lot of LRP regulars did not show up for NHIS). Unfortunately there is not a ton of action in the back of the pack, although when running NHIS with ITS, there seems to be a lot of lapping. OK, that's exciting, especially when someone decides they want to be exactly where you are! On the positive side, my little car has been wonderful and I'm still driving it to and from events (sponsor wanted for cash to finish F350). We will be at the test and tune before the next event, with any luck I can shave a bit of time off then. Either way, this is by far the most fun I've had in a long time! :)
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