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No Sleep Till Casa Grande

You'd think I'd learn, but no. I knew I had to get up early for the autocross on Sunday, especially since I was riding down there with Evan, and he somehow got stuck doing course setup. So I set the alarm for 3:45, as I get into bed around 12:45*. Really smart.

I wake up at 3:45, get out of bed, and stare at my clock for a few minutes. I think, "3:45, what does that mean? Is that a time, or is that a weight?" I'm not kidding, a weight. I don't know what kind of weight 3:45 would represent, but perhaps it made sense at the time. So you can tell what my level of awareness was like.

All I can say about changing tires on a Camaro is that after dealing with a 3400lb car with heavy 5-lug 16" wheels, it'll be nice to go back to a 2600lb car with 4-lug 15" and 13" wheels. :-D

First run, we don't really know what the tire pressures should be. It might not matter much anyway, because I think we may have been running a wheel and tire package like this:

Seriously, the tires are at least 3 years old*.

I think my first run, I put down a 62.4 or something - pretty slow, but I haven't driven the car in a while*. Evan follows that up with a 62.2, but that's not a big deal, he has more experience with the car obviously*.

Second run I take off a bunch of time, with a 61.0, and I think Evan follows with a 62.0. We're not even checking tire pressures*, but whatever, I'm up by a second! :-P Well...maybe we should be checking tire pressures, I think. Check the fronts, they're at 45*! Bleed those down to about 38. Evan checks the rears, I have no idea what they were, but he dropped them down to about 38 as well. Note that the tire pressure gauge the region gave out for trophies one summer series bleed air slower than anything imagineable.

Third run I drop another half second, down to a 60.5, so I'm feeling pretty good about my 1.5-second lead. Then Evan hits me with a 60.4, bah! My last run I cone the slalom, and that's it. He does the same, so we stand on our third runs, and I lose by a tenth, translating to one pax point. Maybe next time.

All this time, the engine was getting pretty hot during the course of the run*. We really shouldn't have been in the same group, and I don't know when his coolant was last changed. Next event we'll definitely split it up though, assuming he still wants to go.

It seems that most of the day I was looking ahead just the wrong amount*, too, as I felt like the A-pillar was always in the wrong spot. ;-) Of course, I hadn't autocrossed in a couple months*, so that certainly didn't help either.

By now you should have figured it out, but every * represents an excuse - I figure each one is good for about 5 pax points. :-D

Posted by Ben at July 18, 2005 1:18 PM