My first steps into the exiting world of vintage racing.
My weekend started when I left my mom's house with the car in tow. I arrived at Buttonwillow raceway at around 3.20am found a nice spot in the paddock moved some stuff out and setup my "bed" in the back of the 4runner and quickly fell asleep.
I woke up around 7am with the sound of revving race engines! Sweet! Best of all NO RAIN!! Started to unload the car and setup my little tent and pit area. Got the car warmed up, went to the tech line. I did pass tech but they showed me a couple of things I have to fix for my first event. Lined up at the skid pad for some exercises....that went fine did some drifting and spin outs...then we went to the classroom talked a bit and headed out to a "slalom" course for some runs. They split the course in 2 halves. east loop and west loop. We did 2 sessions on the east course (no passing) then after lunch and some more classroom we ran on the west course. finally on the last session of the day they went to an "open passing" session. WOW that got my attention! I had sooo much fun!!!!
although I was having stumble every time I turned right! I think my float level is too high.....it would clear up as soon as the car would straighten out.
The classroom sessions were informative but relaxed and I picked up a thing or 2. The real value was riding with an instructor. He really helped me and learned some valuable stuff.
Just as I got out of the car on the last session.....Rain drops started to fall!
I quickly covered up my car and put it under my tent. Made some new friends and we all went out to dinner to a small hole in the wall Mexican place a few miles away. There were 15 of us I think. It was loud, fun, great conversation and the food was amazing! It was now raining steadily as we drove back to the track. Setup my bed in the back of the 4-runner again and it was not too bad. Felt bad for the guy in the tent as the rain increased in intensity! grabbed my laptop to watch a DVD and to my amazement the track had WiFi network and I could surf the web too! Button Willow rules! Watched my movie promptly feel asleep to the sound of rain.
Once again I woke up to the familiar sound of warming race engines but as I open the fogged up car windows I saw a clear blue sky and the sun in the sky already warming things up! SWEET!
The first few sessions ran in the wet tarmac and a few people ran off and got stuck in the mud! serious mud too! Luckily we had a classroom session and by time we took to the track all that remained was a few puddles! They opened passing only on the straights for the first session and now we were running the full length track layout. Funny enough my stumble problem disappeared in almost all the corners since I was now going thru them with more throttle and in my theory draining the float level a bit so it would stop stumbling? In any case the only corners were it would stumble now were the 2 slow corners.....annoying but I didn't know how to fix it.
After lunch they opened FULL passing. Now I was having some fun! Not because I was passing people (I was) but more because I could run full speed and not be held up. Rode with the instructor again and after a couple of attempts and passes he gave me some great advice on "racecraft" and setting up passes. Basically told me to calm down a wait and set things up more and the pass will almost naturally occur.
After one last classroom session were ALOT of talk was made about passing and vintage racing rules and emphasis on NO contact! Clean passes etc....
The moment of Truth had came,
time for the final exam! Practice starts!
Much like a real race weekend on the first start we would be placed by the officials. then based on the finishing position of the "qualifying race" is were we would be placed for the "flag" race.
Naturally I rushed to gas up my car and arrived late! so they placed me 2 cars from last place! Actually is exactly what I wanted because I wanted to experience lots of cars around me and lots of traffic so I can learn how I reacted and dealt with that situation.
As the group bunched up in the last few corners and started to focus and dropped into the right gear and just as I exited the last corner I saw the flag! Sounds erupt around me as I quickly shift into the next gear and pass my first car (merc 190SL) as I dive into turn one I have on car on the inside and one car on my bumper! I barely remember the rest of the first lap! It was action packed! I proceeded to focus on my lines and quickly passed more and more cars! I had one kinda hairy moment coming into a heavy breaking zone (star Mazda corner) and just as I was close to passing a celica GTS(school car) I hit the rumble strips on the inside and my car got sideways and got my heartbeat going! Thankfully the '02 is a wonderful car and I was able to handle it with no issues. As I approached the lead group of 2 2002's (autobahn rennsport cars) I thought to myself "this is my life?" ...."sweet" after sucking in behind them for a few corners I passed the red one with no drama then sized the yellow car for a lap....I remembered my instructor telling me to calm down and set it up. So in the last corner leading to the final straight I braked early and calmed the car down and took a great line, while he fumbled a bit and dove in a bit too deep....I made a textbook pass as I carried more exit speed. To my surprise i saw the checkered flag!!! sweet.
As I came into the hot pit to line up for the 2nd practice start... the car was a bit hot....humm...
They lined me up in pole! I guess I did it on that last pass!
My instructor ran up to the car and yelled...."finally a student that listens!!" He congratulated me and told me "...Pedro your ready to race." It felt great to get his respect and realized that I did just execute on something were were working on in the car together. I learned....imagine that!
Being on pole on a rolling start is a big responsibility.....you are responsible for controlling the speed and making sure the group is tight.... Not to mention you can choose your speed for the start......so I got in 3rd AND the flag waved!!! crap should of been in 2nd! The yellow 2002 and a celica passed me into turn 1! What followed was an epic battle for 2nd place between me and the celica. Until 3rd lap when my car showed 220 water temp so I had to back off put into 5th Gear and cruise for a lap until my temp got down to 180 again...then would do 1 lap at full tilt....then have too cool down for a lap again......so then a couple of cars passed me and that's when I ended up at the checkered.
I think the water is just not staying in my radiator long enough. I have no thermostat and running a restrictor in hose and a 320i radiator. The would cool right down so the cooling system is working good....i just need to figure it out..... maybe it's time for the crank pulley to under drive the pump and slow the fluid a bit.....
anyways.....gave all the corner workers a thumbs up on the cool down lap and drove in from the track with all the instructors and organizers clapping and giving all us graduates the thumbs up!
The sun was just about to start setting and it was the end of a magical day for me.
The weekend could not of been better! Everything went great. The car has a few issues that will be resolved and I'm now a racer.
Many thanks to all that helped me get here. Many thanks to the organizers for a great event. Thanks to all my fellow graduates for keeping it clean.
...and now the fun begins.
my first Race as a Rookie.
March 31& April 1st
High Desert Challenge
Willow Springs Raceway
if you want to check out all the pictures from this weekend click HERE!
***I made the stupid mistake of not taking any tapes for the video camera, assuming they would have some at the track or the neighborhood. Naturally no tapes to be found. No video!!! Sorry******
I did buy ALL the pictures the track photographer took and he got some great shots!! so I will be posting those as soon as I get them in the mail!!
