This past weekend saw us taking home our third SCCA NationalSeries victory in as many weekends, but it was anything but typical. Running in the fourth and final heat of each day with temps running in the 90’s, it was difficult to keep the driver cool and focused, much less the car and tires. And with C-Prepared running in our heat, there were copious amounts of gooey rubber being laid down which changed the feel of the track dramatically from what we had experienced during the Friday Test and Tune sessions.
During Saturday’s competition runs, we adapted quickly to the changing surface improving our driving on each run. However, the heat was taking its toll on the brain as we started off the third and final run with the parking park set! There was a slight incline at the start and we had clicked it up to keep from rolling back while we awaited the “go” signal. It took until about halfway through the run where the course exited a slow 180 until it was clear that something was amiss. Reaching down and releasing the brake made the car rocket forward, but the time damage was already done.
Reviewing our MaxQData logs after the slower final lap showed that we ran the second half of the course 4 tenths faster than the previous run, but the first half was over a second slower. This allowed our competition to close in to within a half second on the first day, but it was reassuring to know that we could have run much faster save the mental error.
On Sunday, we decided to stay in the air conditioning of our tow vehicle most of the day, and even did so between runs. This kept us mentally fresh, and we were able to put down strong runs right from the beginning. Good thing too, because others in the class ran similar times to ours. In the end, though, the total margin of victory was a solid 8 tenths.
With 10 wins at National events this year out of 11 tries, and 11 Pro Solo victories in a row starting early last year, its time for a change. So we’ll be shelving the STS2 Miata for a bit and bringing out our STS Civic for the next round of Pro Solo events (Finger Lakes and Toledo). This also makes sense due to changes in the prize money offerings by Honda and the SCCA. Not to worry, though, as we have plans for the Miata.
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