Where's the Lowe's Smack?

#21

M3Bill wrote:

So does 6th place trophy go for first race? Talk about jinxing yourself!

#22

You can have too much of a good thing.

Craig had good intentions but coming onto the front straight at 120+ gave me a bump that loosened up the rear end of the car and the rear end in my seat.

All I could think about was how stuipid it would look for us to destroy both our cars on the front straight. morons.

Anyway I had to take a knee after that and let my heart rate come down to 180 bpm, Geegar snuck by and then traffic spread us out and put him out of reach.

Good times. Oh yeah he knocked the bumper pretty much off but thankfully it snapped back in place in the garage. Those plastic bumpers look flimsy but mine has taken a h3ll of a beating.

#23

Race 1 - Patton takes the pole on a last lap tow while I got tangled up behind Robinson confused about where to pit in and a thunder roadster using him as a pick for me. My 2nd gear start and an inside line gained me 4 spots into first. I look in my mirror and see someone went sideways and perhaps took out a bunch of cars, like Robinson and Patton… Not sure, but either way, I’m in 1st with no one in sight. I decide to blow the sure win by playing to my competition (myself). Johann and Robinson worked together to come take away my lollygag cruise to victory. I take a 3rd after they get a huge tow by me (the draft is everything when you’re talking about 1.5 miles? of 5th gear flat out) and then I just can’t get by Robinson after that. We diced it up a lot, but a thunder roadster and that same RX8 as previously mentioned (who almost bought another car by turning into T1 incorrectly) decided to ruin my/our fun for the last couple of laps.

Race 2 - It’s on like Donkey Kong. I got a much better feel for the infield now. I get a good start, but so does everyone else. It’s Johann, Robinson, me, Patton, just like the starting positions assigned from the Race 1 results. For some reason in this race, Robinson is much slower. Racer X threw on new sticker-ed tires and somehow managed to gain less grip, which I’m happy to see. So I decide to use his car as a giant front airdam to try to see if we can gain on Johann. After beating on his rear bumper so hard the airbags would have deployed for a few laps, and then almost putting us both “into the wall” I decided it was time to just move on, save ourselves from potential ESPN highlight reels and leave Robinson to fend for himself. Johann is no where to be found. Johann is the Skeen of the south, taking the mediocrity out of our racing. I end up 2nd.

Lowes is quite intimidating at first. The turn in from the NASCAR oval (from absolute top speed) into the infield is truly a slap in the face to common sense and any attempt at safety. The infield is also much more interesting than Rockingham’s with elevation and camber changes so it made for much more fun. You head out onto the NASCAR track out of T8 in 3rd (limiter)/4th gear and are in 5th before you’ve made it a third of the way around. I am curious to hear what Traqmate says for top speed. Plus, you can bump draft and really, really make hay. Or end up in a wall…

Super fun. Highly recommended. Not for children of all ages.

Video and Traqmate data - non existent and regretting my sloth like attitude now…derived from lack of sleep and morning heartburn due to Dave White’s PBR TallBoy turn down service.

Editors Note: Al Taylor had stickered, shaved, R888’s on a brand new set of TD wheels. Seriously. Not kidding whatsoever. I swear to God. That was truly a historical moment.

#24

Lowe’s was a blast. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do a one day track event at a place where it may be years before we return. But it was worth it. Stupid fast and some great racing.

Race 1 was a good race for me. My car felt good and strong… Laura and I battled the whole time with 2 miata’s. Laura is great to race with and I’m never worried about what she’s going to do… Miata’s are a different story most of the time, but on this day they were clean. Laura started ahead of me and made me work the entire race to stay with her. with 2 laps to go (I think), I was able to get past her and finished 7th.

Race 2 was not quite so good. I had a great start working my way past several cars in the mixed field and made it a hair past M3Bill before turn one but he had a better possition going into one and I was gobbled up by a hard charging Thunder Racer on my right and a dive-bombing miata on my left (Miata was in the dirt before t3 :whistle:). But by the second lap I lost confidence in the amount of grip I was getting and wasn’t able to drive quite the way I want to. Losing almost a half second on my fastest lap from the 1st race. By the 3rd lap (or so) Jones shot past me on the front straight like I was sitting still. Which made me dial it up a notch or 2 (still not enough). Once again, Laura made me work hard. Only this time it was to hold a possition, not take one away. It was another clean race, but I finish one possition lower than I started. Combine that with going backwards in best lap made for a disappointing race for me.

The lack of grip shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. My tires haven’t been rotated (or even taken off) since qualifying at Barber :blush: . I guess if I expect to well, I may have to pay closer attention to these things. I also think I may have had a pound too much air for that second race…

Rave video to come

#25

TheRedBaron wrote:

[quote]… due to Dave White’s PBR TallBoy turn down service.

[/quote]

Now THAT sounds like the best part of the whole weekend B)

#26

I slept 10.5 hours last night…

I need to apologize for the lack of blackberry margarita’s and the continued absence of strippers at NASA-se events.

I also am sorry I ragged on Geegar so much…I think I am just frustrated that I will be too old in 18 years, 2 months to talk junk to his daughter.

Much time, money and effort went towards the lowes event, but what happened to me is just part of the game. The races were great to watch, Bill Z and Laura provided some real malox moments in turn 1. Jim Levie was in a battle with 2 944’s and 2 miata’s for the entire 2nd race. I think the only person running alone was Bill Z, everyone else was battling the entire time, which is kinda strange for a track that big.

I learned that the stock gauges are not enough, If I had an alternator light mounted where I could see it easily, I might not have turned my motor into an anchor. The belt came off at the end of the first hot lap, I was concerned about damaging my new 888’s and thought I had a tire rub and the belt wraping it self up smelled like a rub, I continued on at about 7/10’s for another lap and half during which a hose exploded dumping water while the engine got hot enough to start losing oil, it shut down on the back straight and I was able to coast into the pits. I never saw or smelled any steam, but apparently I coated the cars behind me. The motor still turns but has zero compression and smells like burnt tires.

Thanks to Travis Wilson for driving all over the state to come haul me home.

#27

Oh, I forgot, Robert Patton tried to get me drunk Thursday night, not sure what his intentions were but i gotta keep an eye on him.

Al

#28

Wow - last time I saw Al drunk there was a completely innocent cucumber getting molested.

#29

shifter11 wrote:

[quote]M3Bill wrote:

So does 6th place trophy go for first race? Talk about jinxing yourself![/quote]

I finished 6th in both races…spun while running 4th in the first race…drove like an old man in the second race.

#30

M3Bill wrote:

[quote…drove like an old man in the second race.[/quote]

Careful. You could offend about half the field with a comment like that. :wink:

Steve D.

PS - I hate that I missed the race. I tried to talk Chris into doing DE3/4 for our wedding anniversary, but she didn’t find that appealing. Go figure.