Indianapolis Raceway Park SCCA drivers school on 4/3/99.
Thanks to fellow Spec 7 racer James Offutt for the web space!
Members from all over Cendiv helped put on a great school for all of us newbies. After putting the car together over the winter (a Spec Rx7) it was time for it's annual inspection Friday evening, ("What? You want to drill holes in my nice new roll cage?") then we had a classroom session and test.
My 1983 Mazda Rx7 GSL. Even with only 100hp it managed to hit 100mph at the end of the main straight. On Saturday we had five 1/2 hr track sessions plus a couple of ride alongs with instructors. Thanks E.B.!! The ITB record is around 1:57 and I managed a 2:07 lap during session 3, our driest session.
Unfortunately, the weather didn't exactly cooperate and IRP has a drag strip for it's front straight. This means it's covered with VHT, a traction agent which is great when it's dry but it get's very slippery when wet. Think ice racing slippery. T15 which leads onto the straight was always an adventure.
This wasn't the only Porsche to hit the wall and repairs aren't cheap for these things.
The rain lead to a lot of these types of sightings, this one going over the bump in T7. Actually, the TR7 driver did a nice job of saving it.
Four rainy Rx7's in a row. I felt sorry for the open wheel/convertible drivers not to mention the corner workers. Glad I didn't buy that Formula Vee!
The big V8's took off down the straights but I got'em back in the corners, (well, some of them). I started the day on my full tread Kumho's (spec tire) but they were almost down to slicks after the mostly dry 3rd session. The car pushed coming out of the corners after that.
"This doesn't look good"
We did practice starts the last session. The MR2 didn't end up hitting anything/anyone but raised my heartbeat a few more notches.
"Hey, what class is he in?"
Unfortunately the wrecker had a busy day
A (rented?) Honda Civic got upside down after hitting the tire wall
"Jim, I think it's dead!"
I wonder what agreement/insurance the owner had beforehand?
Quite a few open wheels cars had off course excursions too, and I don't even have pics of all the wrecks. This is one reason I started building from a $2,000 car, not a $20,000 one. Did I bring my car home in one piece? Well, I did manage to spin it once in T5. Yes, that's next to the oval tracks outer wall.
Things look good here
but they're definately going wrong here. The tape shows I didn't jerk the wheel so I'm not sure what caused me to go around. Notice the flying hands.
I remember consciously thinking, "Do a Rockford". The tape shows it wasn't just luck and that I actually did turn the wheel the right way. More flying hands.
Believe it or not I didn't swear, just a couple of "Oh nooo's!" and that wasn't so much fearing for my personal safety as how much it would cost if I tagged the wall.
Now this looks better. Put it in gear and kept going. Whoo-hoo!!
Click me for a 1 meg .mpg movie of Jeff's spin.
Yes, I was very lucky. I shouldn't have been trying to keep the Neon behind me. Les Moore did a good job of missing me by putting two wheels out on the grass. No harm, no dents, no foul. The only surprise of the day is that there weren't any surprises. The new car was perfect. I wondered on the trip down if it was all worth it. The time, money, hassle, details, etc. Judging by the smile on my face, it turned out to be everything they said it was. 3 hrs of wheel to wheel track time makes 6 minutes of autocrossing look silly. Next stop, Road America/Elkhart Lake May 15/16th!
Spec Rx7 Racing Info on inexpensive wheel to wheel racing.
Back to Jeff Cashmore's Home page
Back to Jeff Cashmore's Racing page