It has been a long time, since I last contributed to my blog. The off season has been slow and cold, but not completely uneventful. Let's get you all up to speed.
GT Academy
I did make it into the top 32 for my region in the GT Academy. I did not, however, make it into the top 8, for the chance to go to Orlando. Which, honestly, didn't surprise me, as there were definitely some quick drivers in that competition. And, from the rumors I have read, some of them were professional racers! The event wasn't all roses, though. It was mired by cheaters and course cutters, that caused numerous course changes, and the cancellation of one round altogether. I think Polyphony learned from this event, and the next Academy here (if there is one) will be a much better contest as whole.
A new CAR!
I hope you read that in Bob Barker's voice. Anyway, I also picked up a new car. It is a 1998 BMW 328is. The intention is for it to be a daily driver that I can run in STX competitively, within the next few years. I have had the car for a couple of months now, and have really enjoyed it thus far. Car came with a bit of work already done, which will save me quite a bit of money and effort in the long run. (I don't have to do the bushings!!! YAY!!) I am hoping to be competitive within the division next year in it, with only a few, slight, mods. Then, maybe, nationally competitive the year after that. Will be a slow, but fun process.
I wanna go FAST!
I took the new car to the first auto-x in the region to get an impression of where the car is at right now, and was quite pleased. My lines weren't perfect and the car was on "High performance" all-seasons, but it was nice to get out again and shake the cobwebs off! Car ran well, and posted much better times than I would have thought with it's current setup. (Only .3 seconds off a well prepped STR S2000 with a pretty good driver!) My good buddy David C. let me me borrow a Go Pro for the event, so I got some video of the car in action.
The season begins for real.
Two weeks later there was a two day event down in KC. Saturday was a test and tune day, and Sunday was the actual event. Time to unleash Bubba. Jon and I loaded Bubba up on a the borrowed trailer (thanks Mark!!!), and headed down early Saturday morning. You could tell the season had officially begun. The "your mom" jokes were flying, I was being my normal, sleep deprived wacky self, and everyone was in high spirits. Man, it was good to be back racing again. Jon and I finally got to ride with each other for the first time since we started running Bubba on Sat., and it was enlightening for both of us I think. We each noticed some things the other could improve on from riding along, as well as from the videos we got (thanks again, David C.!!). Speaking of videos, here is one of my runs from Sat:
Juuuust a bit faster than the BMW, at this point. Ended up paxing 2nd at the test and tune, as well as the event on Sunday. Sunday, I was only .091 off the top pax time! I had two runs that were faster, that would have probably landed me the top pax position, but had a cone on each.
Besides those small things to work on, Jon and I have also learned the value of video at that last event. Thus, we have decided to take some of the race budget, and allot it to getting a Go Pro of our own. I promise those future videos will find their way here, after each event.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!
This upcoming weekend I am the event chair for our local event. I have the basic course laid out, and it should be a riot! I plan on getting some more runs in Bubba, as well as being the typical "car whore" that being the event chair affords. Hoping we can, once again, borrow a Go Pro to get some more video of Bubba in action, as we won't have ours just yet. Either way, look for an update next week about the event, and a basic calendar of the events we plan on attending this season.
