It begins...

I've made it to the track. Actually I made it to the track then left to go to the hotel. But I did go to the track.

I'm normally at the track, but I'm with the workers. What the teams and drivers do is sorta voodoo. Magically, they are all there with cars ready to go. Now I get to see how that all happens! The crew that I am with let me help out with setting up the trailers. I mostly just moved stuff around and put ice in the drinks coolers, but I was happy to be helping out the team. Additionally, I sat in the #39 car and got everything sorted out. The pedals had to be moved back toward the car so that I'm not having to struggle to give it full throttle. With the pedals closer, I will be more comfortable and have more control over the pressure I put on the pedals. I also put on a HANS device for the first time. My helmet also is back with a radio mic installed in the helmet. I can talk to the team while I'm driving!

In preparation, I had been playing a lot of iRacing.com. Its been a combination of things. I drove the Spec Racer Ford (SRF) in the rookie series to get used to driving the car with other cars on the track. The rookie series has MX5s and Solstices so I have the opportunity to pass cars that have different strengths than the SRF. This was mostly to practice the SRF, but also to practice starts.

I also ran the SRF at Laguna Seca in iRacing to learn the racing line. iRacing laser scans the tracks in the simulation, so they are very very accurate. A couple of things have changed at Laguna since iRacing scanned it, but its nothing of major consequence. Part of training with Laguna was to learn where you can and can't pass. Turn 2 is a pretty good spot, as are turns 11 and 5. Turns 4, 6, and 8 are probably areas where I don't want to be two-wide.

iRacing has helped me to learn some lessons that could be very expensive had I learned them on the track.   For example. On the starts its best just to let everyone get settled down, even if that means losing some spots here and there. Once the field gets sorted out, then you can start racing and getting spots back. Its also not just enough to look at the car in front of you, but you have to look in front of them to see whats going on. Normally they might brake at a certain spot when the track is clear, but if something happens ahead of them, you are going to want to brake sooner. Simple, but its still a good lesson to learn where it costs nothing to repair a car.

Tomorrow, I'm on track first thing. I'm tired, so I'm off to get some sleep. The post of brief, and maybe a little disjointed. I'll post more tomorrow from Laguna Seca!

What am I doing?

Just over two weeks remain before I go racing. I started this blog a month ago, but with life getting in the way, I never made a post. I had wanted this to be about my prep and experience racing. I can do the latter, but the former is mostly finished. Lets do a why-what-when-where thing.

Why am I going to race? Its the fulfillment of a dream. I've always liked racing, but it was always one of those things that other people do. I assumed autocross would be the closest I would ever come to racing. Autocross is fun, don't get me wrong, but its not racing. You never overtake anyone in autocross. You drive your best and compare times with your rival later, but you never get that rush when you overtake someone on a track. 

Its like physical chess at speed. This appeals to my intellectual side because of the planning of the pass. You have to spot a weakness in the driver ahead of you, and then you have to exploit it. Thats the chess bit. Like in chess, you set up a move long before it happens. Occasionally and opportunity just happens, and if you are alert, you can take advantage of said opportunity. Most of the time, they seem to be planned a few corners prior to the actual pass. A lot of times they are even planned two or three laps back. When you make that move, and its sticks, its just a rush. 

After moving to California, I started working with the Emergency Crew at the SCCA. I wanted to be at the race, as close as I could get. I thought, if I was lucky, I might get on the track sometime. Even if my track time was just to walk across the surface at the end of the day, this would be enough. First day on the crew and I'm in the truck going down the front stretch at Laguna Seca. Dreams were fulfilled that day. I was going around a track, and I didn't care that I was in a diesel powered Chevy tow truck. I did frown at going through turn 2 at Laguna Seca on a vinyl bench seat in the tow truck. If you want to start grabbing at things, then take that ride. 

Fast forward a couple of years, and I was awarded a scholarship to go to driver's school. I never would have done that had I not worked on the Emergency Crew. I went to school in a Spec Miata at Thunderhill Raceway (or the Thunder Dome as one person calls it). It was great, to put it mildy. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be on a track, much less on a track racing. There where two races in school. The starting position was based on the teacher's choice. I started 3rd in both of my races. I have no idea what criteria were used to decide that I started 3rd. Both races were started in 3rd, and both races finished in 3rd. For 3/4 of a lap, I was in the lead. Talk about awesome.

So the why: because I wanted to.

What. What car? Spec Racer Ford. The first cars I saw when I joined the E-crew were SRFs. I didn't really like them, to be honest. I liked the production cars, but as I learned more about them, I was drawn to them. They are spec, so all of the cars are equal. Its way more spec than say Spec Miata. The best driver wins. This is relevant to my interests. I'd love to be a great driver, or even a good driver. Taking the car out of the equation seems to be the best way to judge myself compared to others.

Where. There are three tracks in my local SCCA region. Thunderhill is a great track. Its forgiving, challenging, and fun. Infineon is where NASCAR runs, but the runoff area, in most cases, is a wall. For the financially challenged newbie, this is a recipe for banking disaster. The third track is a little place called Laguna Seca. Few people have heard of it... no wait, thats wrong. Just about anyone who is watches racing has heard of Laguna Seca. Its one of the most prestigious tracks in North America. Bonus: Its included in a lot of racing games that I own (Gran Turismo, Forza, iRacing, Project Gotham, etc). Its not perfectly simulated, but I have the general idea. I can spend less time learning the track and more time driving. I can get in a practice or two as well online. Virtual prep is better than no prep, so yay me! 

Now its time for when. When is in a week and a half, or next week. My gear is in place, except for the visor tear-offs that I should be getting tomorrow. I've been playing iRacing at Laguna Seca in an SRF. I did a track day to test my gear, and it is good. I picked this specific event because it is 1) at Laguna Seca, 2) it has a test day attached to it, 3) its an SRF Festival race, so I get a third race for free. The test day will be huge as I've never driven a real SRF. I've never driven a purpose built race car. The Spec Miata is a race car, but its a street car made into a race car. The SRF is purpose built to race, so extra seat time is great.

My goals are to have fun, not wreck, stay out of the gravel traps, and pass some people. Oh yeah, and to do my best. And to upgrade my Novice Competition License to a full (regional) license. And to be a race driver. And to go fast. etc

So in review. Because I want to. Spec Racer Ford. Laguna Seca. Next week.

NEXT WEEK.