Four full days at the track and three days of racing. That is the Labor Day Double Weekend at Summit Point and is a blast.
Flipper got fixed. RP changed the head and re-used the race-prepped valves. The result is an increase from 103-105 HP to 113-114HP and the car felt very good. During Test Day on friday, Flipper immediately delivered 1:29's laps and I a 1:29.457 on Saturday's Qualifying Session, placing me 16th on the grid. The afternoon race was a 10 laps sprint race and went well, as I was able to keep up with the mid pack for the first time. I gained a few positions and finished 13th with a fastest lap of 1:29.863 (2.3s off the lead).
The Sunday Qualifying went even better with a 1:29.135 (2.16s off the leads) and a 15th position. The afternoon Sunday Race was really dicy as it started to rain hard. Pushing to keep with cars just as rain got stronger, staying off the throttle in turn 4 a bit too much to avoid Luis in front of me and it is all it took to unsettle the car and go into a spin. I was very very lucky and avoided the tire wall completely and was able to get back on the track, un-harmed. This happens around 10:30 in the following video. After a couple of laps to regain my concentration, I then caught up with Luis again, which was nice, but was not enough to be able to get my spot back. The video of the full race is here:
Finally, it was time for the 18 laps Monday Race. It was dry all day but started drizzling as I was belting in. Thankfully, it was not a repeat of Saturday and the track as mostly dry. I had a horrible start on the outside and ran out of track and lost 4 positions in turn 1 as I hit the dirt. I had to fight for the next 18 laps to try to gain some positions back. I kept the same (in insight) bonehead move in the inside of turn 1 and 6a and eventually came together with the car in front of me. While it did not waste much of my time, I had to spend the rest of the race to catch up and managed an opportunistic pass just before the last turn of the last lap. Overall, a somewhat messy race that shows that there is a lot more to race craft than going fast. The video of the full race can be viewed here:
One thing I have learned for sure is that having a car that is faster does not make for a better race driver. I found myself stuck behind several cars many times during the whole weekend and really need to work on race craft. An example of boneheadedness is trying to sneak on the inside of turn 6a. This was just stupid and kept killing my speed for the whole Carousel. A perfect example is shown here, in a picture take by Mike Kelley. I should have stayed on the line and been right on Luis' bumper to pass in after turn 9. Lesson learned!
