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It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
I hope that no one will claim to know the final answers; no good comes from prophets. But even when acknowledging our falibility, we must nevertheless continue to think about these matters and give the advice to others that intellect and conscience dictate. And let God be our judge, as our grandparents used to say. - Sakharov
Baka ni tsukeru kusuriwa nai (There's no medicine to cure stupidity) - an old Japanese Proverb
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Home Blog Archive Go-Fast-Crack-Pipe 2006 August 11-13 Thunderhill NASA race report
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2006 August 11-13 Thunderhill NASA race report |
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Monday, 14 August 2006 |
Getting ready for this race weekend was something that I procrastinated until close to the last minute. I tend to do this for race events lately... I
think its some kind of psychological blockage. Maybe its because racing is becoming more work than enjoyable, or maybe its the lack of good comraderie. Its something I've been struggling
with and need to resolve soon.

Turn 10/11
All 8 of my tires are close to the end, so on August 3rd I decide to go ahead and order some tires otherwise I'd be screwed. We've been talking about
going to 225/45/15 from 205/50/15, but I'm not sure if they will fit on the car without serious rubbing... I don't have time to try it out, but
order them anyway. I order them from a local vendor BigWheels.net, since I met the owner when he came by to test the Miata I had on sale on
Craigslist. The TOYO RA1 race tires were $168 a piece plus overnight shipping just in case they don't make it in time from Texas. The TOYOs are usually shaven down to
3/32 inch for better grip, but these were full treaded tires. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that this would actually be worse since they chunk and
deteriorate faster without shaving them. Turns out later that I could have bought them from AIMtire.com, that would have delivered the tires straight to
the track and shaved for about $150 less. What a waste of money. Ugh.
I talk to my boss on tuesday the 8th whetehr I could skip out from work on friday. We're having serious database issues which about 200 people at my
company depend on and I'm the primary contact for maintaining it. My boss was reluctant, but let me go since I was working late and long for the last week.
In order to cut some costs, I decide to try camping at the track and then stay over at my buddy's house in Chico which is about 45 miles away from the
track. I arrive at the racetrack located in Willows California about 11PM on thursday night and set up my tent on the asphault. The ground is still warm
from the hot day and when I kept getting sweaty from the heat. I got out of the tent and tried to sleep on a picknick table in a nearby covered shed, but
still couldn't sleep due to getting mosquito bites all over my face. I finally went back to the tent and probably fell asleep around 3:30am. I was
then awaken by cars and trucks starting to populate the paddock around 6:30am... sucks, I was tired.

Lets go racing!
Friday was a bonus day and was part of the $299 race entry fee we usually pay for a normal 2 day race weekend. Andrie and I went out 3 times for a total
of about one and a half hours of track time. In the morning I was only able to get to a 2:07 or so. Andrie tried the car and got it down to
2:05s, there is definitely something wrong with my driving still. I then put the new tires on during the next session and got down to the 2:05s as
well. The new tires definitely provided an improvement in cornering and overall confidence in the car. Friday night I decide to go ahead to go to Brandon's house in Chico to get a good night rest. We watch VH1's heavy metal history show and then I go to bed
around 11:30PM.

H4 cars ready for action
I get to the track around 7:30 in the morning and go out for a super short 3 lap practice session... which was a joke. I don't get any clean laps in
qualifying, but I get a good enough time to be gridded second after Andrie. The race gets started pretty well, but Andrie pulls away like a rocket...
within 3 laps I don't see him anymore. About 6 laps in a Spec Posche 944 car blows his motor and spills oil everywhere between turn 3 and 4... I almost
lose control, but catch it in time when I first hit it. That area of the track was yellow flagged for the remainder of the race. A Miata which was
following me through the yellow area was going way faster than he should and almost hits the rescue crew protecting that area and goes up the hill. In
the following day's driver's meeting we all learn he has been suspended for a minimum of 6 montsh for being a bone head. Sucks to be him, I think he was a
rookie too. I finish the race 2nd behind Andrie.
My car had been consuming more oil than it should and I noticed some heavy grinding of gears during the race. Wayne our Redzone sponser and crew for
the weekend tried to fix a part on the side of the engine we theorized that could be losing oil. Also we changed the tranny fluid in hopes to relieve the
shifting issue. I had R-Crew fix the 1-2 syncros and clutch before the last race and had only Mobile 1 Synth in the tranny. I tend to be really hard on
the tranny and cause the oil to get too hot. I need to practice being more gentle.

Waynee working on the car for me.
Sunday is pretty much the same story and stay in 2nd position throughout the race. I see Donna and Brian duking it out behind me for lead posistion in
H4. Eventually I don't see Brian anymore, but see Donna trying to close down on me. I have some trouble dealing with traffic and Donna slowly
creeps up on me. I have a horsepower advantage so I keep the distance by going faster between turn 14 and 1. After the race we go to impound to get
our cars weighed, as I come into the impound area I see Donna and Brian get out of their cars and start screaming at each other and calling each other
names. I found it funny to watch Brian complain to Donna about her driving style... seems like he has difficulty accepting defeat, but who knows, maybe
there is some history there I don't know about. Donna is known to be aggressive, but complaining to a girl about full contact racing seems a bit
funny. Racing afterall isn't a sport for sissies. Turns out Andrie partially breaks a few laps before the end, Jim later tells me that I was gaining on Andrie at 2 seconds a lap, but
still Andrie finishes the race over 20 seconds ahead of me.

Derek blows his motor... major burn.
All in all a good weekend, but it was damn expensive...
$1350 - 2 sets of TOYO RA1s
$299 - Race Entry Fee
$198 - 30 gallons of 100 octane fuel
$80 - gas for the S2000 to get there
$100 - food misc
$77 - Engine Oil
$158 - Diesel fuel for tow truck and trailer
Total: $2262!!!!
The Go-Fast-Crack-Pipe dries out the bank account...
I probably could have partied in Amsterdam _real_ hard for over 3 days with that kind of coin. Oh well, not many people will ever know the adrenaline
rush of going 2 wide through turn 5 and turn 8, so I shouldn't complain too much.
More Photos from the weekend here.
Full Race Results with laptimes. See Group A
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