OK. I'm starting the morning 7/10's out of first place and really need to clean up my times. I get what I'm looking for, to start on the right side. I'm up first. The Bridgestones are good right out of the gate, even with the cool weather. I take 3/10 off my best Saturday right side, bringing me down to 44.5. Now to do the same on the left side.
The left side run gives me a 44.8. Not good enough, but a huge improvement from Saturday. I'm within 3/10 of Jeff instead of 7/10. Jon comes from out of nowhere and rips off a 44.3! Yowza. That's enough to move him ahead of me in the results.
Second runs are no better and I stand on my first runs, leaving me in 3rd place. Jason goes faster with either a 44.8 or 44.9 on the right side, but finishes in 5th place, the last trophy spot. This is a good weekend. Both of us finished in the trophies. The Super Challenge cutoff line is drawn right below Jason. He has a chance to make the Super Challenge. We won't know until after lunch. Now it's time for lunch.
After lunch, we return to see what the status of the Super Challenge is going to be. When they make the announcements, I make the Super Challenge in the 30th spot and Jason does not. There are only 32 spots available in the Super Challenge and it's based on how you fare against everybody else.
Jason's name has been entered into the Bonus Challenge draw, where they draw names out of a hat to race in the Bonus Challenge. Jason's name is drawn. This is cool. Both of us will be running in a challenge. The Bonus Challenge runs first. Jason makes his right side run and is leading. Jason goes to the left side and is ahead here too. Jason comes flying into the finish a little too hot and hits 3 cones. This prevents him from advancing to the next round.
At the conclusion of the Bonus Challenge, it's my turn to get ready for the Super Challenge. I'm drawn against Lorin Mueller in an FSP prepared Ford Focus. I start on the left side and my run is clean, but Lorin is ahead by a couple of tenths. Now for the right side. I have a good run going until it's time to make the tight right into the slalom. I start pushing and don't make it into the slalom well. This is going to be expensive. Sure enough, I still finish ahead of Lorin, but I don't make up enough time to beat Lorin. I'm out as well. If there's any consolation, Lorin goes on to win the Super Challenge.
All in all, it's been a great weekend and we both had a chance to do lots of driving. I feel that this is some of the best driving I've seen Jason do - ever! Nice job buddy. There's more there for both of us. Keep it up. When is the next ProSolo?
It was sunny and warm today. With no natural shade here, the Bridgestone tent was a very popular spot through most of the day.
ProSolo 2010 - brum bum bum bum (Saturday)
The ProSolo has become one of my favorite events. In the past, Jason has missed a couple of these events because he has to do something silly - like work. Actually, it's pretty cool, he usually presents at a conference when the ProSolo is on, but this year the event is later and Jason can make it.
I'm rested after the end of the semester and really looking forward to this event. Tom's course is going to be a challenge. We run in Heat 2, which means that we need to be ready first thing in the morning, but yet, we don't have to rush because we are not first. I think this is my favorite Heat, or maybe 3.
The course does prove to be challenging in more ways than one. There was also an expected change from yesterdays practice starts - there is a lot more grip. The usual time that I would launch at, was causing me to red light. Even after dialing back the launch a little, I was stil red lighting my starts. Even though I was running good lap times, the red lights put me DFL at the end of the morning runs. I wasn't expecting to be DFL - Mike, remember, you weren't DFL ;-) This is an interesting event in terms of tires. In the past, Toyo's have been prevalent. However, at this event, Jon and David (from Arizona) are also running Bridgestone RE-11's. We have come company (and competition) on the same tire. It's also very nice to see that at the end of the morning, Jason is in FIRST place - woohoo!
I must say it was really cool having launch control. Just floor the accelerator and listen to the car go "bum bum bum" off the rev limiter, wait for the lights and GO! We have more than one competitor asking us what we had. It's very very cool - in a car that is 21 years old too. Take that all you high tech new cars with launch control, make way for the Civic coming through. The 60 foot times were nothing to write home about. We were on the slower end of the 60 foot times :( Oh well.
We take a break for lunch. I'm not too worried about the red lights - yet. Once I fix the red lights, I'll be in the hunt. It's a nice day and a perfect photo opportunity. A couple of the ST guys are sleeping in their cars while waiting for their turn.
When the afternoon runs come around, we go out and this time, I get a decent right side run, but am not able to get close to my morning left side time. I'm disappointed, but able to finish the day sitting in 2nd spot, behind Jeff Wong. Jason is in 5th. It's a good showing for the Bridgestone gang so far.
I'm doing well, but I'm not happy with the result. I'm having trouble in the left side turnaround. My choice of line is taking me into a slippery spot and I'm missing my apexes. Very costly turn to be doing this in. The right side is not causing the same problems.
The sun is out and while it's not a hot day, the sun does warm the car up. It's really nice having tinted windows now to keep the car cool. Thank you Bumper 2 Bumper.
No matter what the results are, this is a blast. Now off to get some rest and back for some more action on Sunday.
Click to play
ProSolo Test and Tune
Friday traffic going from my house to El Toro has always been bad. In the past, I would leave around noon and make my way down to El Toro and the drive would take 2-2.5 hours. When there is no traffic, this is a 1.25 hour drive. With me being my own boss now instead of reporting to somebody else, I decide that I'm going to leave earlier - like 11AM instead. This helps. I'm not in a rush and arrive before all activities start. The drive is still a little over two hours. It seems like it's a Friday thing with the traffic.
Jason is working and I'm left to prep the car by myself. I'm not the mechanical one and getting my hands dirty is fine. I'm trying to learn more about the car and it's setup/adjustments. It's odd working on the car by myself. I'm not used to not having Jason around to help prep the car.
Jon arrives and helps prep our ECU for the event with our 'secret weapon'.
The car is prepped and I buy my practice starts. I'm finding that the surface is very slippery and the front wheels are spinning more than usual. After I finish my practice starts, I decide to abandon any more practices. I have not found any rhythm to starting, with my reaction times all over the place. I need to just not worry about it and deal with it tomorrow.
I swap tires and start packing the car. I'm done for the day and start taking pictures. While I'm out and about, I hear an announcement that they are looking for an event photographer. I've never done that position before and I like taking pictures, so silly me, I go and volunteer.
It turns out that with this work assignment, I'm expected to be taking pictures of everybody. That means working all the time that I'm not running. She was even kind enough to ask if I wanted to also still work the computer (my original work assignment). I politely declined. This should still be fun. I usually take pictures of people. This time, I'm to take pictures of cars as well - cool.
Jason arrives after work and we walk both sides of the course. This is a variation of a previous ProSolo course by Tom Berry - only this one is a whole lot more difficult than any previous course and they previous ones were hard already. Ouch. Tom made sure to leave us lots of room to hang ourselves - choice of line, entry speed, braking points, apex - pretty much everything was open to selection. This will be a very challenging weekend.
After the walks, we head off to dinner with the SF contingent and introduce them to Mochilato. I think they may revisit Mochilato again tomorrow.
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