SCCA
RACE: NASA: Sears Point personal report
Sunday 2/2 was our first race of the year. Actually it was a day of several firsts. NASA opened the season at Sears Point on 2/1 with an all day school. David decided to not instruct that day since we were still getting the car back together ...
Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:33 AM
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Sunday 2/2 was our first race of the year. Actually it was a day of several firsts.
NASA opened the season at Sears Point on 2/1 with an all day school. David decided to not instruct that day since we were still getting the car back together (from the dingle I gave it at Laguna last year) and my parents were visiting from Colorado. We left Gilroy around 11 am and ran some errands in San Jose. Finally got on the road and got to Sears around 3pm. We still had some finishing touches to add, get our annual tech, check out who was who, etc. Went in to Vallejo for a quick dinner and back to the track.
This was my first race since completing the NASA school last year. So I had butterflies, no make that eagles, flying around my stomach. So David took me for a walk around the track. Next time we'll take a flashlight, although the lighter at least helped me spot him when we were staking out apexes etc. I had never had the opportunity to walk a track like that. The perspective is much different, the turns go a lot faster when you're in the car, but it was very helpful to be able to walk back and forth, sight back up a hill, look for landmarks, etc etc. We got back to the 'burb and I was able to sleep with those flying things in my tummy much quieted. Thank goodness we invested in one of the egg crate things to put down in the back of the 'burb, pretty comfie.
Up Sunday morning, driver's meeting, coffee, last minute tweaks. I'm out on track first. Gosh it's been a year since I was here, took a couple of laps to reconcile my memory with the walk around last night, picking up speed each time around. I'm on the gas too early in turn 2, the back end gets too light. Man this is fun!!!! Turned in some fairly slow times, 2:22 or so, but that's ok, just getting my feet wet again, getting my confidence back after Laguna. I'm happy.
David has a qualifying, does some 4 wheeling, but forgot he wasn't in the suburban. Finishes second in the first race and takes first in the second!!! I was really proud of him.
Oh boy, here comes my race. Running HPR. Turned in a dial in time that is way conservative of 2:25. I think I had a 40 second lead over the next car. Anyway get out there and am having a blast. Come back around the pit wall and there is David motioning for me to slow down. Ok, slow down. Next time around same thing, slow down more?? Ok try to slow down. Next time around he isn't motioning quite as frantically, ok. Oops, next time he's practically jumping up and down telling me to slow down. Big Sigh. How much slower can I go? The engine's loaded up, backfiring. It wants to go faster too. Oh well I decide to just drive the course. I broke out of my time in a major way, but had a blast. My initial goals were simply to run my first race and bring the car back whole. I did both of those and had the time of my life. When I got back to the paddock and climbed out of the car I was soooo jazzed! David helped my out,gave me a huge hug and spun me around. He was proud of me! What a great day we had.
Can't wait for Las Vegas!!!!!!
Revkah Reitman reit@gwl.com
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