Auto Interests and Wangfest.
I haven’t done many events this year, so I thought about running Sunday with Auto Interests and Monday with Wangfest. I got permission from the boss, Brandy, even though I was kind of against dropping the dough on it. I did because I knew that it would be good for me mentally; track withdraws are tough. The car was ready early, and then it was just waiting.
Sunday morning rolled around and I just had to pack small stuff into the car before I left. I think that I was on the road by 8am. It was a pretty cool morning which was nice, so that I wasn’t sweating the whole way up. I always stop at one of two places on the way up and this time it was McDonald’s for some biscuits. I don’t eat that place often, so it always scares me. What goes in must come out, but sometimes timing is of the utmost importance. It worked out well and the rest of the drive was smooth sailing.
I probably showed up to Gingerman around noon and really wasn’t in the mood to unpack the car. But, I unpacked the car and got the wheels swapped out. It was a great day up in South Haven, maybe a bit hot in the sun, but way better than the 95 degree days in Indy. Auto Interests always runs reverse on Sunday which is awesome. I think I have ran reverse once before, maybe twice. I don’t remember, but I do know that I had a blast running reverse.
The first session was to go out and get my “bearings” again on that layout. The first few laps were a bit funny. I knew where I was going, but was a bit choppy in doing so. The next session, I went out to pick some speed up and continue “figuring” everything out. I was happy with the session and I had just went through T11 (using forward direction numbers) well, so I was going to come in next time around. Well, I came out of T10 and there was Fred and Jordan. Heck, might as well play. I got around Fred and wanted Jordan, but I would close the gap, and then lose it on the straights. I had to “save” the tires for the rest of the “weekend”. The third session, I went out to work on carrying speed through the corners. I know that sounds NASCAR-ish, but it helped with the current state of the tires. I began to trust them more and honestly, the car felt great in reverse. The fourth session, I turned the GoPro on and so did Jason. Haha. So, when he turned it on, it went to picture mode and now I have a picture of him and I turning it on and off. The fourth session was great, I kept working on the mid-corner, as well as picking up speed overall. I wanted to get in another session, but they called it a day before I got back out. Oh well, it is always good to finish the day off with a good session.
I hardly ever eat fast food when I am at home. But, there always seems to be a Wendy’s around the track. There is one thing about Wendy’s, it is amazing. So, it seems every time that I go to the track; I end up at Wendy’s. Kyle, Austin, and I went for a nice, little man date. We sat at a small table trying to hide from the sun. The air conditioning felt awesome, but being around track buddies makes it even better. We joked around for awhile, including the ever so popular “Finger Blaster” line from the Northern Kentucky guys. We also asked Dil and his girlfriend to come, but she “didn’t like Wendy’s”. Well, we are done eating and there goes Dil and Jessica through the Drive-Thru. He looked really good in his floppy hat while driving a Miata! We went back to the track, hung out, got bit by mosquitoes, and watched John Went jump his old EF sedan. I closed out the night by snoring in Kyle’s tent.
On Monday, I was just doing the HPDE portion of Wangfest to burn the tires off. As happy with the car that I was on Sunday, it was the exact opposite starting Monday. I go out, first session around 9:30am, and go about sixty percent. I go into T11 and brake a full marker early. The car is a complete handful; it is all over the place. My first thought was “Oh, here we go again.” And, my second thought was, since Kyle was right behind me, “I bet he is loving this!” I even set the pressures “high” expecting this, so that they would get “up to pressure” earlier. After the session, Kyle comes up and says “Man, we were going into eleven and I was wondering when you were going to hit the brakes!” My reply was, “Who cares about that, did you see what my car was doing?” He says yes, and then kind of does a lateral Miley Cyrus maneuver. I decided to try the Sunday technique and “roll speed” through the corners. I can’t say that it worked due to the braking zones being too “goofy”. If it did anything, it helped my sense of speed and direction. With the rear end “wiggling” like it was, you had to wait, in some cases, before even turning in. The next session, they sent me out right in front of a 240SX and a K swapped hatch. I stayed slow to not get in their way. I planned it right and let them go out of T6. Once I let them go, I figured I would have some fun and let the 1.6 liters of fury go after that K power. Haha. I had fun, the car was still a complete handful, but I felt like there were some times were I wasn’t releasing the brakes smooth enough. So, for the final session, I decided to go out and work on brake release. That session went really well and I called it a day. The day was super nice out, partly cloudy, low 70s I would guess. I managed to start cording one of the tires, so a task complete. I felt like I came out with a little bit more understanding of the car which is always great.
Now, it is a short turn around and then it is time for ITR Expo at Mid Ohio. I get to see all the usual track buddies. Plus, my good friend and one who introduced me to Honda-Tech, Travis George, will be trailering the Brapmobile out. Also, one of the first Honda people that I looked up to, Robbie Seal, will be attending his first Expo. I’m pretty pumped about it and hopefully I don’t get locked up at the banquet given it’s location. Until next time, keep Brappin’!!
Video: https://vimeo.com/73723015
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