Hmm, where to start? Uh oh, right? Are you holding your breath cause you have no clue what I'm about to type?? LOL! You should!
Dropped the car off on Friday at the fire tower. Signed the tell tale forms and got tech'd in. We went home and when we returned in the morining, it had rained. "Oh S..." was what we were thinking and exclaimed. The road was very wet and we hadn't driven in the wet before on these tires. Not to mention, in 3 years, I had only driven on dry roads because I chose not to drive in the rain.
So, we got ready and Nancy got in the driver's seat and went for the touring run. When she came back she said it was slick. No surprise there. I went up to turn 2 to watch since I had some time. She came thru without incident and I was pretty confident she wasn't going to go crazy. We putzed up the hill for the 1st 2 runs and by the last run of the day, it was pretty dry, minus turn 8(my nemisis) and after the crest past Pagoda. I got in the car, strapped in and knew those 2 turns were to be run cautiously, yet the rest of the course could be driven hard. That's exactly what I did. Pulled off a 125 and was SHOCKED when I got the word of what I had run. The best I did in 08 was a 126 and my next run I crashed. So a 125 was really nice and had me thinking that my goal of 124 might be attainable.
We went to the party and had a great time. Went home and I watched the 08 in-car video a bunch of times, picking out mistake after mistake and wondering if, at speed, I could correct them.
Sunday morning, we got up, and looked outside to see nothing wet, no clouds and we were excited. Nancy wound up with a 137 by lunch. Very good for a girl that had never driven the entire course before except in the Mazda to bring parts up and down AND has limited experience in this car. I think what helped was me taking off the traction control for her. Might have given her a boost off the line and out of some turns.
I got in for my 1st run of the day and just went berzerk. I was bound and determined to get that 124 and nothing was going to stop me...not even that tree I have my name on in turn 8. My launch was great: 3k, slip the clutch a little and romp on it. Turn 1 was ok. The approach to turn 2 is never good for me. But the turn in and apex and all, made me happy. Turn 3 is a pain in the butt so I just write that off and do what I do. I thought turn 4 went well even with the inside tire spinning. Turn 5 is scary because initially I thought I was going to wind up way outside and hit that guardrail so I let off mid-turn. From there thru 5b and the straight, I felt fast. So fast in fact that I think my EGO got in the way at Oh Sh.. because all I did was lift, turn in and get back on the gas. YIKES!!! Turn 7! Slam on the brakes to 7 and in the video you can hear the tires locking 3 times as the anti-locks did their magic. Thank god for anti-locks....yeah, I know...that's cheatin...so what! Turn 7 went exceptionally well and the approach to 8 was good. But I slowed down considerably due to the road being wet there still. Bummer! Turn 8 didn't go badly but still had that inside tire spinning because I tend to put my foot down pretty hard in the corner. Turn 9 is my 2nd least favorite turn on the hill so what ever happens, happens and I don't really care about it. 1/2 way to 10, I blow the shift to 3rd and now I'm pissed. When I came around the Pagoda turn, I just put my foot down and you can hear the tire spin til the 'Rock'. From there, I hit 3rd and at the crest I put it in 4th and put my foot down. I lifted some as I entered the turn just over the crest because I wasn't sure about the wetness there. My foot went to the floor and didn't come up until I went thru the timing lights at 120.3 according to my GPS.
What a run. It felt fast. Next thing I knew, I was getting a text message from Nancy saying 122. NO WAY!!! Not possible, I thought. But when I got down to the bottom of the hill and looked at the tape, it certainly was. WAY faster than I thought I could go in this car. My subsequent runs were in the 123 range so the 122 was genuine.
I have to say that I totally surpassed what I wanted this year at Duryea. Not only did I break my record from last year, I broke it by almost 4 seconds!!! Yeah, I impressed myself and am very very happy with the runs. I have no clue what to do for next year now. Maybe go to Street Mod and do some hp increases. Who knows.
Something to take note: 4 of 10 of the fastest times in this year's Duryea are street cars. Maybe next year we make it 5.
Either way, we will be back in '10 and I will be giving Nancy some serious instruction to improve her times significantly.
On a course worker note. These people do such a great job that it's difficult to put into words how much we appreciate them. To add some excitement, I was waving at them while on my way up the hill. Ask the guys that worked just below the finish line.
Mary Anne and Chuck, John and Mary, Cannon and all the others, thanks for what you do. I am confident that in any dumb situation I put myself in, you guys are there. Last year in 8, the course workers were right on top of it immediately. Not that I have to tell anyone this stuff. It's been proven in many situations that these folks are serious about driver safety in the event of a crash. Thank you again!