It was a Good Day

Sunday November 1st, I wake in the dark, the sun has not risen yet. What has brought this miracle about? I have a SCCA race at Stadium and I run 1st heat. Luckily did not do anything for Haloween beyond go to The Shack with Fabio for a burger. At least a cute angel served us. So this is the first real event after the engine swap, transmission rebuild, clutch and flywheel upgrade, so this was going to be the test. Fortunately caught the bad injector plug during the test-n-tune.

Some light drizzles driving to Aloha Stadium, but doesn’t look like anything to be concerned with. It’s looking to be another hot day on the asphalt. Sign in, car teched, and then park the little red Corolla, dubbed “Nemo” by a spectator for it’s little flappy gas door. I walk back to the pit to grab my cooler and air guage. As I’m walking back, I overhear a guy talking to his friend, “I’m gonna be sick if I get beat by that hachiroku.” Oh yeah, something has suddenly become my one and only goal. I’m not angry or anything, we all smack talk, it’s a friendly rivalry kind of thing. But now I have to uphold the honor of all the ugly duckling AE86 “Hachiroku” out there.  I take a good look so I’ll know who he is and what car he’s driving. When he goes back to the lineup, I see that he is driving a N/A Subaru Imprezza sedan in my same class. I don’t recognize him, this should be good!

I go for my first run, course feels pretty good. There aren’t too many tight sections, I have a hard time with that. Nemo doesn’t have any torque down low so I do better with courses that I can keep the speed and momentum up. Imprezza Guy is about six cars behind me in the line up. I wait for his finish time. Yes! I beat him. Hey guy, throat feeling scratchy, maybe developing a cough?

I adjust tire pressures a bit, check to make sure the duct tape is holding. Small field so the turnaround is fast. Starting to feel things out. Having difficulties with traction on exits, it’s that one wheel spin again. I don’t have the benefit of “symmetric all-wheel drive”, I have to back off the throttle until I feel the rear end hook up. I get another clean run and cut my time. Again wait to hear his time. Heh, got him again, but the gap is tighter, .4 sec. Still dude, feel like you might be starting a feeveer?

Each run helps me develop a better feel for things. There’s a section in the middle of the course that is great fun, kind of a modified slalom that has a lane change in it. I trim some more time. Wait for Imprezza to finish. Damn! He edged me out by around .4 seconds! Took some zinc, eh?

I figure that slalom is where it’s at, along with trying to anticipate when the rear will hook up and getting on the gas as soon as possible. Gotta let the balls hang out some more on that slalom! But at same time have to remember to burn the speed off at key points or you end up really messing up your lines and momentum. Ooo, the run feels good, I look for the scoreboard, yeah baby! I cut almost a second and hit below my target of 37 seconds for a 36.9! I can’t help but do an arm pump. Hey there Imprezza, did you get your immunizations? I watch him go out for his run…. Oh, he blows it, but there’s talk of him getting a re-run… and the verdict is… no, his time is good and stands! Hey dude, it’s H1N1 for you, muahaha!

In the overall field, my time is far down in the bottom, around 70 of 90, but damn it feels good!