Time Flew...

...when you’re working 10hour days in a sealed box. Add to that ~3 days without internet connection, and it'll explain why I don't have a post up about my first track day @ VIR with the miata.

14 hours, 855 miles, no top, not tunes, and 40-50degF OATs, and I was still grinning like an idiot when I got to Miami... other than getting lost in downtown miami. Google didn't know they shutdown I-95 4miles from my their prescribed exit; and my google-maps-phone thought my GPS coordinates indicated I was swimming in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Francisco. Fun times.

So, back to the track.

My instructor's name was Bernie. He drives a miata too. Only w/ race seats, and big sticky kumho vx710s.

We met right after the driver's meeting, and talked about what kind of driver I was, the miata... stuff he needed to know to be a good instructor. I also met Bill, who's parked next to me, and is running in advanced with his b18 swapped civic hatch; who's apparently not far from me in a home setting too.

Bernie took me out in the 'Advanced Group' to show me the line. He was complaining about the cold temperatures, and the tires not sticking as well. It was good to go out with him before my session, because driving the miata is quite a bit different than the Fit... or at least the way *I* was driving the Fit. Particularly turning in much earlier... and how much speed the car could hold through corners; or so I thought.

We ended up gridding late, ending up the last cars onto the grid, behind the skyline and M3. They were quite slow during the yellow flag warmup lap, with the first car out (and aggressively driven S4 Avant) catching up to us. We eventually got around them both, and pulled a little bit away from that S4. I eventually slowed up a little in the 'first' part of the track and let the S4 by under the tunnel. Braking was an area of concern, since I ended up doing my own bed-in, and it seems they weren't quite all the way bedded in. So we worked our way up to braking later and later...
especially into turn 14. Eventually Bernie said 'Brake at the 1'... and I did. However, something in the grey matter didn't like the speed and chucking the car towards roller coaster. So it went for more brake, which ended up locking up the brakes.
Cue the billowing smoke, with Bernie adding "Ok, turn in" before I went off the track. Getting back on the gas I was greeted a nice 'oscillation' in the tires. I tried to collect myself and ended up going off line through roller coaster. We kept driving, and worked up the speed again, ending the session 'ok'. We came back and took at look at the car, and didn't find a flat spot in the tires. I went out to the restaurant to record my thoughts, and download my video... which turned out like carp. During that is when the cold caught up with me.

Second Session
I could tell it was starting to warm up. The 'thump thump thump' of the tires is only bad in a couple of spots so I decided to keep on driving on it, Bernie didn't think it was a big deal; just cautioning me that if I locked up again there was a good chance I'd lock up in the same place. Apparently this can blow a tire.

The session went pretty well. I Passed a mustang after jostling around with a couple of CTS-Vs at the same time. The Mustang let me by under the tunnel, and I had to take the off line way through the upper esses. Bernie was happy with how I took it. Slow up a little to compensate for the bad line, and make sure to hit that first late apex to set yourself up for the follow-ons.

Third Session
That slow M3 from the first session picked up speed, so I let him by. Well, I caught him again, since he was ending up off line a lot; he just seemed to be using more of his engine this session. So, while I hounded him in the corners, he pulled away on the straights. Most likely his instructor was saying to stay out in front, if I'd let him by that meant I thought he was going faster. Meanwhile the 2 CTS-Vs caught up to us, and I let them by. Then I caught up to the M3 again, heading into 14. Bernie was egging me on, to get up on him so we'd get a run going down the front straight. I knew he was going to brake early, so I pulled by brake point back 200ft, trying to use my superior comfort with braking to close the distance. Well that worked too well, as he grabbed more brake than I expected... Hello Flat Spotted City! This time it was the right front. However, I did the right thing, got out of the brakes to stop the lockup and kept it together a little better going through roller coaster. The M3 still wouldn't let us by, and Ryan Fitzgerald was closing up in his well driven 330i so I let him by on the front. I finally got around the M3 going under bridge 6a-7 after hounding him through the bottom esses. Good times, hooked up some areas better. Almost over did it in the lower esses once. Even with all that, I got signed off solo for last session of the day :)

Last Session
Was doing pretty well, had to jostle with some of the cars... and was keeping up pretty well with the Red 'vette after I let it through. Then I got concerned when I got to Oak Tree 1/2 through the session and saw the black flag out. "Man, what'd'I do!?" So I moved over down the back straight and let out of it a bit, signaling the vette by... didn't want him riding me as I was trying to go into the pits for my talking to. But he just sat there, so I waited 'till I got to the top of the hill, and saw from that flag station that the whole track was black flagged. So we all went in and waited for one of the R32's to get pulled in on a tow truck, from what looked like turn 1. After that we got let out under 'green'. I don't know how it happened but the white RSX got around the 'vette and was raring to go. Let him go at the tunnel then tried running hard in a couple of areas, and realized I was starting to get a bit tired... then about two laps later, going down the back straight I looked at the gas gauge which had been
at 1/4, was now on the bottom line. That wouldn't be good to run out of gas, and have to get towed back in, I was by myself and decided to call it a day.

I ended up not going back for the second day. I was worried about my tires, and the impending snow... which might or might not cut the day short. I spent that $160 on two new front tires instead, banking on the fact that it'd be better to have two round tires for an 850mi trip. Ended up with Kumho Solus KR21's (?), which seem ok. I think I'll probably match the rears up with the same Kumhos at some point... and see if I can fit the enkei's from the fit on the miata with their OLOA Kumho's still on. Could make for some better track time fun... and would help the budget a bit.

Ok, end of my book for now.