This was a kind of odd event for NASA. Normally, they have racing and a full calendar of HPDE (High Performance Driving Event) in addition to Time Trials (TT). Last year and this year, I had been racing in the PTE group and also doing Time Trials (TT). However, this weekend was a fuller-than-normal race weekend, so no time for most HPDE and TT. Sad, because HPDE and TT is next weekend at Sonoma, but I'm not going to pay for two weekends in a row. So, this is the only racing in May (if you don't count the SCCA Major, which spilled onto May 1st).
So, instead of 7 sessions (racing warmup + qual + race + 4TT sessions), I only get 3 each day. Alas, there are harder fates to endure. And, on top of that, the weather was beautiful.
One of the things that was new for me was this was the first weekend I'd attended where they had the new NASA Prototype NP01 car. And, they were running in the same mixed run group that I run PTE in. Turns out, they are insanely fast, and they are easier to buy than to drive (despite a $72K price tag). And by "drive", I mean "drive well" - i.e., not above your driving ability.
Warmup went without incident, though I did have to get used to what the NP01s were willing to do to go fast amongst slower traffic. They may yet take the banner from the E30 drivers for "most daring" (that's the polite term).
Qual was also fine.
When I looked at the starting grid position for the race, there were only three of us in my class. Hooray! A podium finish. Then, when I got to grid, there was one other person behind me in the lineup. Huh? Four of us? Well, this was going to be interesting.
As the race started, he jumped the start, and got ahead of me. Crap! OK, now to figure out how to reverse that. As I think about it, I decide to just follow him for the whole race, and watch where his weak spots are. He has slightly more horsepower than I do, so I can't overtake him on the straights. But, I find that he over brakes for the corners, so even if I lose a little on a straight, I can just brake late and make it up approaching the turn. Problem is... I can't get by him before the next turn. So, I hang back and keep watching. He brakes too early on 2. OK, that's a possibility - especially if he gets caught in traffic and I can follow them through. He brakes a little too much in 3. 4 is OK, but then he isn't that fast in 5. And, 6...? He way over brakes going into 6. Unfortunately, coming out of 5 and 6 are both uphill, and that works against me with a smidgin less HP. He does the corkscrew OK, and is marginally slower in 9. But, he over brakes in 10 and brakes way to early in 11.
The problem is, if I take him too early, he has lots of opportunities to take me back. So, I decide to wait and bide my time. If I take him in the last or 2nd to last lap, he has limited opportunities to return the favor. And, I get more info about where he might be vulnerable.
Coming past Start/Finish, we get the white flag, signifying the last lap of the race. OK, 11 more chances. There is traffic in turn 2. so that doesn't work out. In 3 and 4, I just don't have the HP to get by him (and he seems to be doing these a little better by now). I try to set up well for 5, but traffic also hinders my opportunities. So, I hang back a little figuring I'll set up well for 6 but again faster traffic gets in the way. I'm not nuts enough to pass in the corkscrew, so that leaves 9, 10 or 11. He blocks me in 9, so I use 10 to gain speed and figure I'll go deep on the inside of 11 and then he won't have an opportunity to recover before the finish line. Great plan. If only everything always went according to plan.
I came in hot to 11, and was successfully able to get inside of him. Hooray!! Wait!! Oops! I was going to fast to make the turn. Crap! I could have over slowed and then he would have hit me, but I figured that was a crappy thing to do, since taking him so deep was also kind of a crappy thing to do (never mind that the E46s do that to me all the time). So, I ended up going into the kitty litter. Double crap!! I spent four laps in the kitty litter during the Western States Championships and didn't want to get a DNF (did not finish) 1000 ft from the checkered flag. So, I kept my momentum up and got back on track, only to realize that I had created a huge dust cloud that blocked all oncoming traffic from seeing where I was - and, they weren't slowing down because visibility was an issue. And, I was right at the "track out" point for the turn - aka the point they aim for. Triple Crap!!! A couple of cars passed me through the dust, as I got out of the way, but it was definitely a few moments of pucker factor. (front video) (rear video)
Sadly, I did not end up keeping my brief standing in 3rd place.