I just got back a little bit ago and it was a pretty decent weekend overall. It looks like the results are already posted (!) which must be some kind of record as far as I can remember.
I had a bunch of trouble on Saturday and just couldn't put together any decent runs. I knew exactly what I was doing wrong but I just couldn't shake a case of the "blahs" which put me far down in the order in the morning. I managed to move up a couple of positions in the afternoon session but I still wasn't driving very well in a few key spots which was still costing me a bunch of time to the leaders.
I even managed to put my (directional!) tires on backwards in the morning on both ends and I didn't notice it until I was torquing the final lug nut. I was feeling way too lazy that early in the morning to fix it so I just dealt with it for the rest of the day. I had at least 5 of my competitors politely come up to me and inform me I had them on backwards. Each one of them started with nearly the exact same phrase: "You probably already know this but..." Yep, I'm a car-prep master!
David Spratte and I reviewed our video Saturday evening and it was painfully obvious where we were both having our troubles. We even talked about those spots at length during our early course walks but we both proceeded to do exactly what we thought we should avoid. Sometimes you just have days like that...
Today was much better for both of us and David pulled off some very good looking runs in the morning and picked up a spot or two. He did very well for his first Pro and started to get in the groove with the different format. It can be very confusing at first dealing with 2 courses despite the fact that they are supposed to be mirror images of each other. In this case, while they did resemble each other, they were very different mostly due to the massive (and fun!) elevation changes of the lot we were using.
I finally started driving better and had a great left-side final time. My 1st run on the right side was a red-light but both runs were marred by a fuel starvation issue at the top of the hill which I'm guessing cost me .5+ seconds-- I'll have to check the datalogger later to see what the actual penalty was. I still managed to pick up a tenth from the previous day on the right side (which really shows how badly I was driving on Saturday!) but it still wasn't enough to get close to Andy Hollis for a possible challenge birth. I think I was one of the few people out there that went faster on the "slower" course as a result. Oops.
I even looked at my gas gauge on the way to the event in the morning wondering if I was going to make it but decided that I'd be fine. It had slightly less than my usual amount at just over a half-a-tank but the long extended sweeper at the top of the course was too much for it. Did I mention I'm a car-prep master?
Even with my best efforts, I could only get within a few tenths of Hollis on both sides. I think it may finally be time to install some of the go-fast(er) parts that have been sitting in my living room. I'll probably have to clean them of cat fur at this point as some of them have been sitting there upwards of a year. Did I mention I'm a car-prep, ah, never mind...
Anyway, it was a fun weekend as always and I'm wiped out once again. I'll post some video tomorrow if anybody is interested in seeing the courses/lot.
Off to do my best imitation of a human vegetable,
Jim
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Some nice pictures of Adam though.