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Day Four -
Sears Point (Infineon Raceway)
"Rinse, dry,
repeat"
There shouldn't be a
6:30 in the morning. We dragged our sorry rears out of bed and
got to the track with about ten minutes to spare. Although the
weatherman promised a nice and sunny day, it was cold and misting.
This wasn't looking good. We had the drivers meeting and got
briefed on the details of the track. After the meeting, we
went back to the trailer and got set up.
It kept misting on
and off as we debated about going out on the track. The car
has no windshield wipers, no defroster, and we have no rain tires.
As an added bonus, the body panels aren't sealed in any way.
I'm pretty set against going out but Dave is hot to run and Steve
isn't helping either. We decide to go out with Dave driving
and me as a passenger. We can barely find the track entrance
and as soon as we leave the pits, we know it was a bad idea.
By the third turn, Dave's side of the windshield was so fogged up
that he couldn't even see the track. I could barely see and we
went right passed a turn and between some cones. We crept back
around and back on the track, not able to see anything with the car
as loose as can be. We make our way around at something like
fifteen miles an hour with other cars on rain tires blowing by.
We get near the end of the lap and miss the pit entrance and realize
we have to go around again. By this time, water is leaking
through all the panels, including the roof, dripping on both of us
and the gear in the car. The lap took something like fifteen
minutes or so, and by the time we pull back into the paddock and
under our canopy, the car, our legs, and the digital camcorder are
soaked. Well, that was fun! The car is a mess so we
spend some time wiping it all down and cleaning things up.
Then it starts to rain harder. We move the car into the
trailer and move inside to sit and stare at the rain. The
cafeteria finally opens so we slosh over for breakfast, which isn't
bad at all. After lunch, my friend Kevin and Steve's dad show
up so now we have more people to complain about the rain to.
After the second session, we see the Iron Butt Racing Audi come in
with the rear bumper cover hanging half off. We walk over to
check it out and at it seems that they backed the car into the wall.
Now we know that crumple zones do indeed crumple. The right
side of the truck is stove in and bent, the right taillight is
smashed, and the bumper cover is history, The car is still
perfectly drivable so it would be worse. They rip off the
bumper cover, add some tape, and they were ready to go on the next
run.
We made sure to check
the Flamemobile hot dog after Doug's first run in the rain and he
only managed to get it up to 68 degrees. I think he's just not
trying hard enough!
About this time, the
sun started to come out and dry the track. We pulled the car
out, cleaned up some more and got everything ready for Dave's run.
The track looks great. Dave goes out and we head to the stands
to take pictures. Dave's never been here before but he gets up
to speed quickly and is looking good. He manages to pass a few
people and the car looks great. During that session, another
Evo blew up. It went by sounding bad (not a good bad, a bad
bad) and ended up dead on the track. The word we got is that
they lost a piston. I think that makes three Evos out with bad
engines (or four if you count both of Wayne's). This isn't
impressing anything. Maybe more WRX guys should of showed up.
The track continued
to dry out and I was up next. While I'm idling in the hot pits
waiting for the session to start, we find out that there is oil on
the track. It seems one of the C5 Corvettes had a problem,
spun and dumped oil on the track. After they cleaned it up, we
headed out with me at the back of the pack. Sears Point is a
heck of a track. It's long, it's fast, and it's got awesome
turns and hills. Unfortunately, it's a lot to learn in one
session so I just take it easy and go slow. I think I was the
definition of a moving chicane but I do my best to stay out of
everyone's way. The Corvette must have dumped gear oil because
it smells terrible. I don't learn the track very well, but I
learn where to hold my breath awfully fast. I go slow, have
some fun, and get a taste of a world class competition road course.
When I came in, the
paddock is suddenly filled with make and model of drag racer.
They're blocking the road and our pit area. Great. Once
we get things moved around, we start to clean up and load the
trailer. The Flamemobile comes in from the last run with
Meesley driving. I ran over and check the hot dog and Eric
managed to get it up to 127 degrees. No wonder he's faster
than Doug!
After everything is
loaded, we head to the grandstands to watch the Pro Street guys run.
There are some cool cars. After they run, the rice hits the
track and we hit the road. Traffic wasn't too bad out of the
Bay Area and we make good time.
9:12pm update:
We're still on the road! We've passed and been passed by
the '85 Mustang, Beta Motorsports, and the number 80 Cobra guys.
It's super windy so driving has been fun. We're about sixty
miles from the hotel and a hopefully comfortable bed.
12:15am update:
We've been at the hotel for a few hours, watching TV and
updating the web site. We stopped at the local T&A Truck Stop
for gas and started chatting with the guy driving a F450 towing a
nice forty or so foot fifth wheel trailer. It turns out that
he was transporting two Lamborghini Galardos to a dealer in San
Diego. Nice!
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