PbFut Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Can’t say why I decided to write this. I haven't been out much this year so the weekend seemed somehow more tasty. It’s long, so read at your own risk. It’s 6:45am. Sunday morning The Sun has just finished a spectacular show on the desert horizon to the east. Willow Spring is in a desolate part of the Mojave Desert, but if you look, the views can be spiritual. I was almost inspired enough to join Aaron’s Sunday services. Naugh, lighting would kill us all. The sky is clear. The air was very dry. No dew on the car cover as I fold it up. That means more room for oxygen in the cool morning air. My little coupe is go’na breath well today. The TT boys behaved yesterday and NASA has given the ok for the first session to count in the days Time Trial competition. I jack up the car to rotate the tires side to side from the day before. The track is predominately a right hand turn so the left tires take the brunt of the previous days work. As I start to remove the wheels, a well prepared Corvette fires off a morning warm-up/test. The smell or race gas is sweet as perfume. I finish my morning check of pressures and fluid. Clean the windscreen, look over my harness. Off to the instructor meeting. Fast forward to 8:20. We go out next session. I have a light fuel load and the car can’t be any more ready for the day’s event. NASA has merged the previous day’s times to create the morning grid. I’m right behind the guy that beat me by 4 tenths the previous day. His name may be familiar to some. It’s NASA’s National Time Trial Director, Greg Greenbaum. Perfect wave is on the horizon. I do better chasing a rabbit and there’s nothing better than taking a slice off Greg’s ego. From the previous day, I know I have just a little more, then he, in the corners and Greg has me on horse power. If I allow 3 or 4 tenths gap at the starting line, I can make up 2 or 3 tenths in the corners and draft him out of nine back to the line. If I time it just right I can use his car to draft out of turn nine back to the starting line and catch a good lap time. If I happen to do this on his fastest lap, I catch the perfect wave. We grid, stage, and enter the track as usual. In So Cal, the TT drivers know to go out slow to get all the slower class cars on track. It’s a HPDE start format, not a green flag drop. No one passes or does any thing to foul the grid first lap. The pace quickens at half lap. The air is still cool and very dry. The engine feels crisp. By turn nine we are at speed but the tires are still a little cool. Grip is still coming to us. I set Greg up to practice my plan. We go into turn one, my car falls flat on it’s face. I forgot to turn off the traction control and the BMW program pulls throttle away to lessen the lateral g’s. Greg gaps me pretty good. The driver behind me was far enough back not to put a move on. By turn 5, I’m back with Greg. OK, he’s got Kooks on, I have old RA1 tires. Maybe his tires are not coming up to temp as fast as mine. I still hold to plan and feather out in nine to create a gap. Opps too much. Next lap used to gather him in but it seemed too easy. He looks squirmy. Around turn nine again and down the straight we go. Greg passes the line. Before I can get to 2 on the 1-1000 count I cross the line. If Greg decides this is his lap, and I hit my marks in the turns, I got a shot. What!!. It’s only turn two and I’m all over his bumper. What in the heck is he doing? Greg wouldn’t play games would he? Does he sense my plan? Humm, tires aren’t going to last for me much longer. I get 4 prime laps before the pressures or rubber temps fall outside of optimum. That’s it. I’m passing him. Humm more difficult than I want it to be. He’s too squirrelly in 8. Not comfortable making an attempt and his horse power is coming to play some. Alright I try for the perfect wave one more time. Turn nine I gap back, and it looks perfect. I am launching out of nine like a house a fire. Turn one, and the fuel light illuminates. My light load was just that. One lap light. The perfect wave was gone. Epilog The slow times of Sunday morning gridded me back a number of positions for the mid-morning session. Greg really was having problems because he was further back than me. I bettered my times from the previous day and managed to be in 1st position after the 3rd session. I did not stay for the fourth session so the final standings will be a surprise when I see them. That perfect wave, it’s out there. I just have to be on when it comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
National Staff Greg G. Posted August 14, 2007 National Staff Share Posted August 14, 2007 I finally got the car together in the 4th session and busted out another 1:34 like on Saturday--so you lose! No, just kidding. I ran the PTB race before the 4th TT session on Sunday, and won the race, but by 2/3 into the race, one of my brake rotors must have warped. By the end of the race, there was a violent vibration on braking. There wasn't enough time to change out the rotors and pads, so I called it a day. So, your TT time held up. FYI to everyone regarding something in Dan's post. This is from the TT Rules: 8 On-Course Conduct NASA TT drivers are held to a high standard in regard to track etiquette, driver cooperation, and sportsmanship. Any driver found by NASA TT administration to be “blocking†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max1os Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 Hhhhmmmmmmmm, let's see, If I can do a 1:57.1 @ Thunder Hill and another car can do a 1.56.8 + -, (they obviously grid in front of me), you can't possibly think it is reasonable to DQ me if my time drops from "drafting" them. Right??? Oh wait, I should slow down and create a space, then do my lap. Oh wait again.....there was a car gridded behind me that did a 1:57.4, I would be "blocking" him if I slow down. Oh man, this is making my head hurt. I thought this TT thing was supposed to be FUN for the whole family???? -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PbFut Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 I finally got the car together in the 4th session and busted out another 1:34 like on Saturday--so you lose! No, just kidding. I ran the PTB race before the 4th TT session on Sunday, and won the race, but by 2/3 into the race, one of my brake rotors must have warped. By the end of the race, there was a violent vibration on braking. There wasn't enough time to change out the rotors and pads, so I called it a day. So, your TT time held up. FYI to everyone regarding something in Dan's post. This is from the TT Rules: 8 On-Course Conduct NASA TT drivers are held to a high standard in regard to track etiquette, driver cooperation, and sportsmanship. Any driver found by NASA TT administration to be “blocking†Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PbFut Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 Hhhhmmmmmmmm, let's see, If I can do a 1:57.1 @ Thunder Hill and another car can do a 1.56.8 + -, (they obviously grid in front of me), you can't possibly think it is reasonable to DQ me if my time drops from "drafting" them. Right??? Oh wait, I should slow down and create a space, then do my lap. Oh wait again.....there was a car gridded behind me that did a 1:57.4, I would be "blocking" him if I slow down. Oh man, this is making my head hurt. I thought this TT thing was supposed to be FUN for the whole family???? -M We can make this whole thing out to be more than it is. I think that this particular rule may not be as well known as it should be. In any event, the key here is my intention? Incidental draft advantage can no way be policed and like other rules in the set, are somewhat self enforced. "Fun for the whole family" generally requires responsible behavior in order for the whole to benefit. I for one am a real believer in social responsibility. It may be naive, but conducting myself in a fair and responsible manner is something that makes me feel good. If others choose not to follow, I have learned not to loose sleep over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max1os Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 We can make this whole thing out to be more than it is. I think that this particular rule may not be as well known as it should be. In any event, the key here is my intention? Incidental draft advantage can no way be policed and like other rules in the set, are somewhat self enforced. "Fun for the whole family" generally requires responsible behavior in order for the whole to benefit. I for one am a real believer in social responsibility. It may be naive, but conducting myself in a fair and responsible manner is something that makes me feel good. If others choose not to follow, I have learned not to loose sleep over it. For the most part I was just being a "wise guy" fact is how ever, here in NORCAL the ENTIRE TT group is one big drafting train, at least until things get spread out. I can say without question everyone benefits from the draft, intentionally or not, in the end, the "why" is irrelevant. I have been on both sides. My point is only how confusing and convoluted some of the TT rules seem to be. "Team drafting" seems pretty straight forward though. -M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
National Staff Greg G. Posted August 15, 2007 National Staff Share Posted August 15, 2007 The drafting rule really kicks in once we get to the National Championships. We grid our sessions by lap time at our TT events so that we can get the most number of competitors to get open laps, not so that the slower competitor can draft off of the guy he is trying to beat. As well, there was talk last year that guys running in different classes were going to help each other out by the faster car letting the slower one draft during hot lap. However, if I'm on a hot lap, and catching the car in front of me. I'm not going to go off-line at a corner exit (fail to track out) to avoid a potential draft. I'll use the whole track, even though I may be getting close to the car ahead of me, and then go off-line during the straight section when it won't really effect my lap time. Dan, you beat me fair and square on Sunday. I just hope that it was an older tire issue that I was having, and not a setup problem that I'm taking to Ohio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOTORGOSPEL Ministries Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Dan you would be most welcome at our Chapel Service anytime! As you can see from Hasbrouck's paper entitled "Determining the Probability of Lightning Striking a Facility", "The average overall flash density was 0.45 flashes/km2/yr, ranging from < 0.25 to < 0.5 flashes/km2/yr within a 4-km radius of the facility..." so we're in pretty good shape probabilistically-speaking although this is somewhat site-specific. We'll hope to see you at BW. God be with you Dan, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER-X Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Wow, and I just thought it was good reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varkwso Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Wow, and I just thought it was good reading. That was how I still take it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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