Day: 5 (Grand Bayou)

We got in to Circuit Grand Bayou around 4am. Or we got to a gas station off the highway at 4am. Then we drove to where the GPS indicated the track was and found a construction site and a cop there instead. We decided it probably wasn't the track, and that it was in our best interest to not disturb the cop. So we headed back the way we came, and then happened upon the track afterall. Since it was, by that time, 4:45am we decided to just park and sleep in the car... something I'd kinda been planning from the start. In part, just to try it out. In part, as a nod to the old school One Lappers. And in part, because I didn't particularly figure there'd be that many open rooms left. It wasn't *real* comfortable, and the car got a bit cold; but the real bummer was not having a shower.

However, the upshot was, we got a garage space (first come, first serve), and I managed to walk the track 2x before hand. This was good, because I was having difficulty holding the track in my head. Then it was sit & wait time, hang out w/ Walt & JC Krueger in the RX-350 (that's a 1989 RX-7 w/ a chevy 350 in it). Then it was time to grid up and wait, where we got to hang out with Jim from Jim Bob racing who has been running exhibition laps after he blew the motor in his corvette at Summit Point.

Then it was my time to run. I did pretty well, got a feel for the track... but did still manage to forget the final R/L/L/R 'hump' complex before you enter the long right hander that slings you onto the... "front" straight that takes you down the "braking" area of the drag strip in the first session. That was a bit of surprise, like "oh! yeah! there are more corners here!" I also never managed to take the left/right off the front straight flat out. The car can probably do it, but I was having trouble judging the turn-in. I got close in the final session. I left a bunch of time on the table, but then again, this is less about nailing every course perfectly for me. I'm still an intermediate level driver. Taking this car as close to the edge as I've been able to at a track I've never been to is a victory in itself after my first trackdays after buying the car. I got comfortable enough to nab some braking between corners and even *in* one or two.