Drivers School
Been a while, but I have some time while I wait for jury duty.
First, it’s spring maintenance. Since I didn’t know what was done prior to my purchase, I decided to replace all the hubs and bearings. Now I know when they were done. New brakes, porterfield ft, Nissan stock units in the rear.
A friend had some 550 lb. springs, so they went in the rear. I am hoping that the additional spring rate will help cure the push. I installed a back brace, new belts and changed the oil. I install some fresh Toyo RA1 tires, in full tread configuration. This way, no matter the weather wet or dry, I will not need to change tires.
Since the car didn’t have the required door bars (2), I had to have another installed. A friend and SM driver who owns Convienance Car Care had one of his tech do that for me. It was done at no charge because I have been a safety worker for 8 years. Good to know someone huh?
I show up at drivers school with a great crew. Alicia and Brantly Blue as well as my girl Christine. We set up shop an I go to class. My good friend Tom Broring is my instructor. Of course as my luck goes, it rained almost the entire weekend. I line up first for my first on track session and pretty much fly compared to the others. There is one guy Mike, who is on his second school, who is staying with me, but doesn’t seem to have enough moxie or speed to pass. We had a great time the whole school running together.
In the first session, I realize I was going to have a few issues with some of the cars in my group. There are 2 GT Pinto’s (yes Pinto’s) that aren’t very well driven. They are unpredicitable in the corners, but have more engine than me on the straights. In order to pass them, I have to out brake them in the turns, which is where I don’t trust them. They will be a constant challenge the entire weekend.
The track is wet the first 2 sessions, but starts to dry as the day goes on. The Toyos are pretty good in the rain, so I am doing pretty well. In each sessions debrief, the instructors comments are normally favorable. I need to push it more, but the wet, and other “drivers” are making me nervous.
At the end of the weekend, we get 3 practice starts, and a 5 lap race. On the pace lap, I see the SM group has left a great deal of mud on track at turn 4. There is a dry line, but off line is quite wet. I am thinking, this won’t be fun.
I am 5th on the grid behind 2 of the Pinto’s. On the first start, I pass one in the first turn. He almost wrecks a car in the braking zone, then goes off track trying to avoid me sneaking around on the inside. Even after 2 days, is situational awareness sucked.
On the second start I gain nothing, but did well. In the 5 lap race, me and an RX7 tangle a bit, I couldn’t seem to get by him, but I had a fantastic time.