ceegeezM3
09-22-2003, 01:03 PM
... in a Spec Miata, but it was still a lot of fun.
It was actually a 6hr enduro at Hallett with three 2 hours stints between 3 drivers, none of us having ever done a W2W race before. But being our home DE track, we had an advantage over a few of the other teams, especially after dark. (Started a 4pm)
I started the race and had a blast dicing it up with some other miata's and a couple 'slow drivers in fast cars.' There was an RX-7 driver I spent about 15 laps passing, and re-passing. I would set him up and out brake him into the corner at least once a lap but he had the power to drive right by me before the next corner. Very fun, but also very frustrating since he was holding me up for so long. I really wanted to squeeze him off the track a few times as we exited the corner, knowing if I could hold him off for the next corner I could stay ahead of him at the exit. I finally was able to use some of the faster traffic to keep him from driving around me again. I'm sure next time I'll have some better laid plans for situations like that. :)
Our night driver was only a few tenths off our daylight times which helped us tremendously once the sun went down, when our competition was 3-5 seconds a lap slower. This was even after the additional 'apex' lights caused the battery to drain, and we had to pit unexpectedly. The car owner just happen to see the lights dimming and had a spare battery for us just as the driver came into the pits and we were back on track in about 5 minutes. But to keep the new battery from draining again, we decided not to use the addt'l lights for the rest of the race, so our driver was the only one out there using just the factory headlights to see with. I honestly don't know how he did it, but having the home field advantage really paid off.
We finished 7th overall (of 17 entries) and 2nd in our class (of 6 miatas) which was the icing on the cake. Of course we started out with the attitude of 'just having a good time' but as we started working our way past the rest of the class it got pretty exciting. I'm definitely hooked and already thinking about getting the M3 track ready for next season. :D
BTW, all my DE, autox, and sim racing expierence really helped a lot out there. Seriously! ;) Stop laughing!
Here's a picture of me finally getting around the RX7.
http://ceegeez.com/images/misc/aag.jpg
It was actually a 6hr enduro at Hallett with three 2 hours stints between 3 drivers, none of us having ever done a W2W race before. But being our home DE track, we had an advantage over a few of the other teams, especially after dark. (Started a 4pm)
I started the race and had a blast dicing it up with some other miata's and a couple 'slow drivers in fast cars.' There was an RX-7 driver I spent about 15 laps passing, and re-passing. I would set him up and out brake him into the corner at least once a lap but he had the power to drive right by me before the next corner. Very fun, but also very frustrating since he was holding me up for so long. I really wanted to squeeze him off the track a few times as we exited the corner, knowing if I could hold him off for the next corner I could stay ahead of him at the exit. I finally was able to use some of the faster traffic to keep him from driving around me again. I'm sure next time I'll have some better laid plans for situations like that. :)
Our night driver was only a few tenths off our daylight times which helped us tremendously once the sun went down, when our competition was 3-5 seconds a lap slower. This was even after the additional 'apex' lights caused the battery to drain, and we had to pit unexpectedly. The car owner just happen to see the lights dimming and had a spare battery for us just as the driver came into the pits and we were back on track in about 5 minutes. But to keep the new battery from draining again, we decided not to use the addt'l lights for the rest of the race, so our driver was the only one out there using just the factory headlights to see with. I honestly don't know how he did it, but having the home field advantage really paid off.
We finished 7th overall (of 17 entries) and 2nd in our class (of 6 miatas) which was the icing on the cake. Of course we started out with the attitude of 'just having a good time' but as we started working our way past the rest of the class it got pretty exciting. I'm definitely hooked and already thinking about getting the M3 track ready for next season. :D
BTW, all my DE, autox, and sim racing expierence really helped a lot out there. Seriously! ;) Stop laughing!
Here's a picture of me finally getting around the RX7.
http://ceegeez.com/images/misc/aag.jpg