Saturday, June 15, 2013

Auto Interests at Mid Ohio on Monday, June 10th.

#BrapCity (Photo by Kevin Spanier)


You sure can’t beat a day at Mid Ohio, especially when you are running Club course. The opportunity was given to me about a week before the event to run with Auto Interests. So, naturally, it was time to put the effort forth to get the car ready. The car had sat in the garage since last fall, the front brakes were done, the rears we done, but the set up wasn’t exactly “up to par”. So, the rear brakes needed to be attended to, as well as the rear trailing arm bushings. Like always, more problems arose while being in a time crunch.

With all of the things going wrong, having a good friend, Travis George, by my side made it a bit easier. The rear brakes and trailing arms got re-installed, now time for the exhaust and typical “pre-track maintenance”. With the exhaust done and almost time for an alignment, I have one last bolt to torque spec. Boom; there goes the rear banjo bolt. I don’t have Motul fluid at work, etc. So, here it is, the Friday night before and the car still isn’t ready. We get back up to work, knock everything out, and then talk until 1 am.

I had to be up at 6 am on Saturday to head into work. I NEED SLEEP!! After work, I head over to Brandy’s mom’s for a birthday party. By the time that I got there, the party was over. So, I might as well paint my mirrors. I paint the mirrors and in between coats, her brothers and I play PIG. They wanted to go on a bike ride to the park, so we head that way. With the mirrors now drying, I can spend the rest of the night playing basketball at the park. Now is not the time to roll an ankle, so I took it easy.

Sunday comes around, the car has to be packed, plus the “travel” wheels and tires need to be put on. I attend to the car first and get all of that done. Then, it is time for me to pack. Luckily, it is only a one day event, so I shouldn’t need much. Once that was done, we headed to see my dad at the hospital. He was still sedated, so we didn’t stay very long. Bai wanted mint with Oreo ice cream, so we stopped by Culver’s on the way home.

Now that we have stopped to eat, I am about thirty minutes behind my “departure” time. I didn’t have much else to grab, so off I went to get gas, wash the car, and head out. I was meeting Robbie and Ryan in Richmond. I think when I left; I had about an hour and twenty minutes to get there. A bit too close for comfort. I hustled out there and got there around 4:10. We talked briefly then headed to Lexington via 70.

The trip out wasn’t too bad. Some road construction, here and there, but nothing major. They got to listen to the radio and Instagram while I was 9 and 3 with my iPod on!! The directions tell you to take 71 up to 314, but after last year, I know better than that. So, we hopped off where the hotel was, exit 165, OH-97 I believe. We got gas and headed to the track for tech.

We got to the track and got to see the familiar faces. They had to take some stuff out of the car, but I had to swap wheels, etc. While I was doing that, I might as we make a makeshift “spacer” to fix the sagging bumper cover issue. I get that done and off to tech I go. Tech was pretty painless, so we talked for a few, and then off to dinner.

We went and ate at KC’s Steak and Ribs. Brandy, Bai, and I ate there last year. The place is alright, but kind of “weird”. The food is okay, but the service is kind of mediocre. Like I said, the place is a bit “weird”. So, we asked the waiter if the place used to be a strip club since that was the general consensus. Long story short, an old owner owned a strip club up near Cleveland. When those girls weren’t dancing, they would come down and wait tables. Well, after hours, lets just say that it might “got out of hand”!! We left KC’s with 15 minutes to spare until the pool closed at the hotel. Luckily, we got about 45 minutes of pool time before we headed back up to the room for bed.

We had to be at the track early, so that meant being ready for breakfast when it “opened”. We ate quickly and off to the track we went, in the rain! Normally, the rain would be a “good” thing, but not in this case. I didn’t think that I would be using the NT01s at all this year. So, I didn’t store them properly and they sat out through the winter months in the freezing weather. Plus, they are almost slicks after last season.

Once at the track, we go through the instructors’ meeting. Then, the drivers’ meeting and get paired up with some beginners for the parade lap session. I match up with Joe in a GTi and his dad is wearing a Pacers shirt. Awesome! So, I ask if they are from Indy and the dad replies that it is where he is from. I said that I am, too, and he asked what side of town that I was from. Long story short, his dad and I went to the same elementary school!!

The first session was going to be wet, but luckily it was parade laps for the novices. We didn’t know at that time, but they were 20 minutes behind schedule. So, when we got up to grid, they sent us back into the paddock. This was the perfect opportunity for me to take him up to the Keyhole and show him the sealant, etc. We got up there and got to watch the intermediate group go through there. That helped because I could point out lines, etc. We stayed up there for a bit, then back down to grip.

Once out on the track, it was your typical, nothing out of the ordinary. Plus, it was parade laps, so it made it a ton easier to point different things out. The next session was “hot” for the novices, so I went out with Ryan in the wet. He doesn’t like the wet, so we had a few things to work on during that session. The following session, I went out with a local celebrity, well maybe not, but in my mind, yes! Haha. Anyways, Robbie has done several events in several cars. Plus, he has a drifting background, so the car control is there. I showed him a few things, but not much. It finally started to dry up, so I went back out with Ryan again to “help calm the nerves”. That session went a lot better, so we were both happy.

I went out in the wet, but it wasn’t raining because I wanted to see what the tires or the lack there of would do or how they would act. I didn’t push the car remotely hard; I just wanted to get a feel for the car and the track. I also went out with the novices and had Robbie follow. The track had dried up by that point, so it was basically learning the track all over again for them. We ran into some traffic, so we came in for a gap. I don’t think that we ever got a full, “clean” lap in, but he got to see a few different things.

I got to go out a push on the tires a bit since it dried up and the sun was out. I knew the way that the tires would act given it being Mid Ohio, but I didn’t know how hard that I would push it. So, I set the pressures accordingly. Once I was out, I knew that I could push it a bit. Since I was going to push it a bit, it would be a good time to see what the tires do or don’t have left in them. As I pushed, I could tell that the tires weren’t too fond of the heat or abuse that they were taking. Oh well, that is all that I have, so, tires, you’re going to have to deal with it. I kept it around 8.5-9/10ths, but under hard and somewhat hard braking, the car picked up a huge vibration. Also, braking into China Beach was a bit sketchy. The car wanted to dance all over the place and also feel like there was not much grip available. There wasn’t much that was changed to the car besides the exhaust. Yet, the powerband was way different with the car. The rpms that I was carrying into certain fast corners were not the same or close as last year. Last year, I was carrying 4th into t1 and the Chicane. Now, I am at the top of 3rd on both. Being in the top of 3rd going into the Chicane was a bit uneasy. Last year, I could stay throttle all the way into the Chicane. This year, it was more of a heavy breath off the throttle before entering the Chicane. Maybe with more sessions, that would have changed. But, that wasn’t the case, I still felt good about the session. I adapted quickly to the changes and the actions/reactions of the car.

The worst part about time at the track is the time to leave. Whether it be loading the tow vehicle or swapping wheels on the car, etc. It is no fun, the kid in you wants to stay, FOR A LONG TIME!!! Anyways, there is a Wendy’s on the way to the interstate, so that was the food of choice. Once we were on the interstate, we were cruising along. Then, off in the distance, you could see a terrible storm. We were headed right for it and go figure, my passenger window is down a bit. I unbuckle and get it rolled up most of the way. That was just in time for the storm to hit. Once it hit, it was massive. I had Toyo R1Rs on the front and the car was all over the place. Left, right, left, right, and go figure, we were in a tight construction zone. I eventually got trapped behind a truck and semi. They had their flashers on and we were cruising at 35mph. Finally we got out of it and I had to catch up to the pack. Once I was back up with Robbie and Ryan, it was a smooth cruise. I was going to try to make it without stopping, but I had to stop in New Castle to stretch out for a bit. Luckily, I did, check my Instagram (@iamBRAP), because there is proof on why that stop was awesome. When I was leaving Love’s in New Castle, it started raining again. It quit in a pretty quick fashion. Finally, I could see downtown Indy. As I am coming into the north split, I hit a bump/seam in the pavement and it throws a CEL. Great, lucky for me, the driveability doesn’t change. So, I figured that it was an old VTEC issue and a connector it loose. Once I get to the exit, I get the revs up in the VTEC range and there is no crossover. Well, I know what it is, but after checking it out, it wasn’t a connector. The bump broke the ground for that circuit. So, once that is fixed, the car should be ready to BRAP again!


Until next time!!!