This weekend started out with very high (water) temps in the Yukon on the way up the Sunol grade. Abnormally high... 230-240, which is very uncharacteristic for the Yukon. And, for the entire trip up to Thunderhill, I was getting a temperature oscillation between 210 and 240. Technically, it never overheated, but for almost 4 hours, it had me on pins and needles. Not a great way to start the weekend.
Here's the most memorable thing about the whole weekend, though...
And, the air conditioner in the trailer could only keep it down to 85 degrees. Fortunately, Thunderhill provides complementary electric hookups, so we were able to run the A/C 24x7, which was needed just to keep it down to 85 in the peak daytime heat.
The high temps also meant that engines ran hotter. My CHT (cylinder head temp) was between 230-240 - the highest I'd ever seen it. I was so worried, I called my mechanic to see if that was a problem. (Sidebar: in airplanes, we routinely run CHTs in the 450-500 range, but I have no idea what "normal" is for a car.) He said that as long as water temperature was under 212 or so, that everything should be fine. All weekend, it held at a max of 210. Was I nervous? Sure. Was there an issue? Turns out... no.
It was so hot that one of the other competitors said to me later that he got heat (stroke? exhaustion?) and ended up barfing in his helmet during the race. (eeew, gross!) Fortunately, I had a Cool Shirt, and ran it both days. I should note that, at 107, it should be called a "sorta cool shirt". Also note that it isn't called a "Cool Suit" - because the lower half is still cooking.
The other most memorable thing was that at night, from the knees down, I got eaten alive by insects. I must have had ~50 bites on each leg after the first night. I'm not sure whether they were already in the trailer or came in from outside, but it was bad.
The Trackmasters day on Friday turned out to be a very low key practice day. No unusual or noteworthy events.
I had decided to once again run in the Spec Miata race, mainly to see if my increased skill in driving over the last year and a half would make a difference in how I felt running with other SM drivers, but more importantly, the Spec E30 drivers. So, Saturday, I ran both SM (Group A) and PTE (Group C) races. Overall, it was a remarkably uneventful day, with the sole exception being the start of the SM race. A few people decided to take a cross country route rather than the paved one. (video)
But, I found out that I was no longer intimidated by the SE30s, so I decided to continue to run SM races for the rest of the season.
On Sunday, the Time Trial group was running the course backwards (referred to as Llihrednuht) - (that is, clockwise - not in reverse gear) - so instead of the SM race, I decided to switch to TT for the day. So, on Sunday, I ran TT and PTE (Group C).
The Group C race turned out to be very uneventful.
TT was more interesting, since I was one of the few people who had run it (multiple times) backwards. So, I was able to do a ton of passing, as many others were being very tentative. Just running in the opposite direction makes it like a completely new track. You might know where each of the turns are, but entry and exit speeds are all different, something you have to discover. Because I already had that experience, I was passing many higher horsepower cars and loving every minute of it.
There was an interesting moment in the second session between T10 and T9. One car was pulled off the track, and another pulled in right behind him. (video) On the street, it would look like one motorist stopping to render aid to another motorist, but we don't do that on the track, so I never figured out what was going on.
By the time I came to grid for the last session, I realized how many people had apparently gone home already. This is what it looked like just before we went out. Yep. Three cars, including me. The track would be virtually empty.
I never saw another car for the entire session. On my last lap, I decided to take it down a notch and just cruise around. I'm not sure what happened, because I came around T8 a little slower than normal, but all of a sudden I realized I was not set up right and I was going to either spin or go off straight. Hundreds of times I've told people that it's always better to go off with your wheels straight than try to "save it" and spin. So, I took my own advice. (video) But, when I tried to come back on the track, I shot across the track, only to go off on the other side. Add to that, on the other side wa a berm, that felt like hitting a curb. But, the car was ok, so I came around and back to my trailer.
Later, when I went to start it to load into the trailer, the car wouldn't start. It took a few minutes of diagnosis, but I apparently hit so hard, it knocked one of the battery connections off the battery. (Wow!) Once I reattached it, the car started fine.
Just before leaving for home, I decided to check the water in the Yukon. The reservoir was almost empty, so I filled it up halfway. On the drive home, I had less fluctuations, but not gone completely. So, it was going in for a "look see" by my mechanic when I got back. But, there were no issues on the drive home.