Saturday, May 8, 2010

Day 8 - Hitting the Rough Pavement

Sorry that the posts are running a day late - but the lack of battery power and internet on Friday during the transfer limited this post to be published on time.

We were excited to pack Nigel up in NJ with the idea that there was one road course left on the itinerary. We also were hauling butt to get out of NJ and through Philly before the rush hour set in. Once trough Philly we only sat in traffic from one accident and then it was open road to Nelson Ledges. We stopped for our first really nice sit-down dinner. Jason found us a spot in downtown Pittsburgh that was convenient to the highway, wthin an hour to the hotel in Youngstown, and had amazing food. We couldn't have asked for more. After some drinks and dinner Greg and I split off to the hotel and arrived in around 12:30 am - which seemed to be the norm for the week.

We woke up this morning to cloudy skies and cold in the air. We finally thought we would need our raincoats. To say it was freezing would be an understatement - everyone was layered up in all of the rest of their clothing - clean or dirty. After a week of high 70's to 80 degree weather, this weather sucked - and I really can't say that enough because I hate being cold. Regardless, Greg walked the track while I got my morning jog in. The pavement at Nelson Ledges makes this place famous. There are smooth parts, but there are rough patches in the most unwanted areas. Driving this course at full race speed takes more gall than I have (or Greg for that matter).

The morning session was full of a lot of surprises. A Mustang lost its motor, a Civic took a slight off course, and an HHR SS popped its curtain side air bags. The air bags disaster was an extremely rare event. Amanda took to the curbing in turn 12, something set of the accelerometer and they went pop! She is fine and so is the HHR, minus its side airbags, she cut them out and went back out for her afternoon session. The Mustang wasn't as lucky. He blew something up in the motor, it created a lot of smoke and a little bit of fire. Unfortunately that ended his One Lap for this year.

Greg drove pretty slow in the morning. I busted him about it through lunch, and so did the Mazda boys. We showed him where the gas pedal was and Jason told him how to use it and Greg was off for his afternoon session. He dropped over 13 seconds from morning to afternoon. Knowing the turns of the track made a huge difference and helped up us retain 58th position overall. The only malady of the afternoon came from the Charger. Poor guys - always changing out a part, but what troopers to throw a 6,000+  pound vintage car around the tracks and the country for a week. As Chris pulled into the paddock he blew a brake line and the fluids caught on fire. Luckily Mike had some quick reaction time with the fire extinguisher.

The day ended with open track time at NL - I asked Jason to take me around in Nigel and show me how it's done. I nearly puked on the first lap. Jason was only driving at 80% and we were cooking through turns and straights like I couldn't believe. It was an amazing experience that both Greg and I had the pleasure of - a huge thanks to Jason for the laps, and Richard for waiting while he drove with us.


We are now off to South Bend. This is our last leg of the journey before the dry skid pad tomorrow and awards ceremony after that. We are looking forward to another nice meal with the crew from NY, followed by beers with the One Lappers at the unofficial-official One Lap hotel.

Mileage 87862: 3602 miles

No comments:

Post a Comment