WooHoo!!, I'm Going Racing This Weekend Options

[ChrisFoley]

SCCA National at Lime Rock!

I just painted the QP, rear bumper and f/g deck lid today. All the repairs are now complete.
Mechanically I think the car is ready. Only a little reassembly Thursday and I'm off to the track.
If anyone in the area is free on Saturday and looking for some fun, come on up! My race is either right before or right after lunch.
Admission is $15 at the gate.

[ChrisFoley]

What an awful day!
Actually it all started to unravel last night. When I got to the track I had enough time to go to tech for the car's annual inspection. I guess I wasn't quite rerady after all.
What, no brake lights? Well that would be because I never re-attached the wires that I clipped last fall. NO biggie, and the tech inspector was willing to let it slide, since I would probably get black flagged if they didn't work on the track. Pretty easy to fix.
Uh-oh, the window net wasn't attached either. Once again it is something I won't get past pre-grid if it don't work. And how come only one of the straps I use is with the net? Must be at home still. Ok, no real problem, as it was right where I left it in the garage. Good thing I was planning to go home anyway Thursday night.
The tech guy was nice and didn't write anything up about the discrepancies in my log book. We talked about some other minor issues that I agreed to resolve in the near future, for my own safety. I did a little research today on one of them and decided he was wrong anyway, so I'm not sure I'll do anything about it after all. He claimed my ballast plates had to have 2 half inch bolts holding them to the floor, instead of the four 5/16" ones I'm using. My 2004 GCR doesn't spec any size, just that it be securely installed, which it is. Once again no biggie.
So this morning Mary and I are going over the check list at the track so I can go out for practice without any mishaps. Down to the last item - pull the safety pin out of the fire extinguisher system. Mary, you can do that while I... what's that? God damn it the extinguisher is going off, f_ck, f_ck, f_ck! I'm sorry I'm yelling Mary, I know it's not your fault. I'm the dumbass that neglected to finish the installation, so the pull wire will prevent the bottle from discharging until I need it. Now what? Driving Impressions has no Halon bottles, just complete systems (AFFF or whatever) for $599. There's gotta be someone who can help me for less than that around here. Well, of course no one carries the spares that I need! What's wrong with me? Time for practice now. I can go out for a few laps without any need for a fire extinguisher, right. Yup, I'm just shaking out the car and looking for other trouble spots. Phew, got away with it, did a 1: 05 without even trying and had no big issues. Well, maybe one. The brake pedal is too firm because my Tilton master cylinder selection is too big. I can't really modulate the pedal. At least the car stops though.
A quick call to Racer Wholesale confirms that, yes, they have a full bottle on the shelf, but it ain't ok to overnight Halon bottles since 9-11, or something. Well I'm gonna need it anyway, so just ship it UPS ground to the house. No one important knows I don't have a fire extinguisher on board, so I'll just get a handheld unit from the local hardware store in Canaan and be reasonably safe for the rest of the weekend. One more problem out of the way.
There's more though! It started raining just before lunch. I'm ok with that, I like driving in the rain just fine. After all, my 914 has a roof and a windshield. The rain gets worse though. In fact it's so humid here that the temp is below the dew point in addition to all the water dropping from the clouds. Rain-x and Fog-x aren't enough for the conditions. I simply can't see the track in front of me, and pull in and ask Mary to go get a towel from the paddock. That takes a few laps, while I sit in pit lane twiddling my thumbs. That's ok, because there is a river in several places on the track anyway by now. I go back out, but it's useless. I have the towel in the car, but it's just too dangerous. I've already decided I'm coming back in as I get to the end of No-name Straight. What's this - waving yellow - a blue Mini in the Armco? As my brakes lock up I know the session is over for me. I get around the corner safely though and very carefully return to pit lane, no worse, except for having done the dreaded 3-2 upshift once while trying to see through the fog. The engine sounds ok so it must be ok, right? We'll see.
I managed to qualify 17th (1:30), ahead of all the guys who chickened out, but nowhere near where I'm capable of. At least I'm ahead of Steve Limbert who's driving an EP 914-6, and he was out there in the rain with the rest of us nuts. It seems I'm always faster than him, even though he has twice the 914 building and driving experience I have. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)
I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. I probably won't sleep a wink tonight. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

But don't feel too sorry for me. If I wasn't having a good time I wouldn't bother doing it.
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