Porsche Club fun

With the car almost set up, I was really looking forward to this event to play with the car again. I was awake from 2AM and couldn't go back to sleep!

In the morning, the event crew announced that todays course was a technical one and that there would be a course walk - I think this is the first time that I've seen them recommend a course walk - in addition to the parade laps. When we walked it, it didn't look too technical, a few obvious traps. However, after looking at the results and the big spread in times, I've come to the conclusion that it was indeed a technical course.

We started with the practice tires that we already knew were going away. The times were decent, but I wasn't happy with the handling. The car was understeering through the fast sweepers and suggested that we switch the tires to the good ones before Jason does his practice runs. As it turns out, we didn't have a choice. On my last run out, I almost lost the back end coming into the finish and by the time I got the car straight, I had run out of room to stop and locked up the front. That ended up cording one of the tires - so we switched the tires.

Jason went out and was putting in some good times, and by the afternoon practice, was within 1/10 or 2/10 of my best time for the day, so he was doing well. I had run a 61.0xx in practice and figured that there was a 60.xxx in there somewhere for me. Then during lunch, we sat with David Palmquist, the course designer and found out that the tough kink at the very end before the finish (where I wiped out in the morning) had changed it so that it was more open. Now I knew that I'd definitely be able to run in the 60's.

I was scheduled to work the first timed group and then run dead last. Since I had been up the night before, I was very tired by now and felt like I was almost falling asleep standing up. I wasn't in the mood to waste a lot of time because I was tired and there wasn't time to take a nap.

I prepped the car and went out to take my first run. I come back with a 60.1xx + 1. Very nice time and knew that there was more time out there. I took my second run and ran a 59.3 + 1 with both cones in the slalom. I loved the time, but couldn't believe that I had managed to shave off another 1+ seconds from my practice time. So I decided to back off a little bit in the slalom to keep that section clean and do everything else the same and see what I would get.

My last run was almost over before it started. The tail was loose on the way out and I almost rotated right into a cone, but just missed it. I kept going and made it through the slalom clean. I decided not to shift to 3rd in a spot that I had been shifting all day and just hold it a little longer. It paid off in a wonderful way. I was able to hold my line and not get squirrely, allowing me to stay close to the line I wanted. I came in with a clean 59.4, so I was very very tired and very happy at the end of the day. The final results showed me in first and Jason second with the rest of the class at least another second behind Jason. Wow!