Race 7 | SCCA Hawaii 2019-2020 | “In the Rain… Kinda”
Race 7 was yet another run with a co-drive in the wonderful S2000. I went into this race weary still shaken from the spin in Race 6. I also went into this race weary, because it started to rain right before heat 1.
As mentioned, the S2000 is already a loose handing car and adding rain isn’t going to make its tail happy behavior better. I felt at ease after walking the course though… there weren’t areas that potentially would induce a spin at high speeds like last time.
As my luck would have it, the rain started to come down right before my first run, stop a bit while in queue, then come down again before my second. This necessitated the GoPro being mounted inside the car. I’m not sure it’s the best place to put it, but it was a nice change from the usual mount behind the the DRIVER.
The rain did clear up the last two runs and my final run was my fastest, and it felt really good, but I unfortunately ended up coning. I chatted with the DRIVER who came in 1st for STR to find that the S2000 he DRIVES, really is only fitted with 215/45 and 255/40 RE71Rs on front/rear stock wheels respectively. Absolutely inspiring!
I know that the civic hasn’t getting much love lately. Stay tuned, because 2020 is indeed going to be very interesting.
“I wish that how I did on my 4th (best) run was how I did on my 1st run and then working up from there,” my brother told me after the day.
I wished that too once before. I saw myself very much like him at one point in my DRIVING career. If there were two things I’d say he (well… myself too actually) would need to improve on:
- Getting on the throttle sooner and keeping it there especially in the high speed areas
- Braking later and squeezing (not slamming) on the brakes for maximum deceleration.
But I reminded him that it takes time to feel comfortable DRIVING like that and that it’s not something that’s going to happen over just a few races. We only DRIVE one event a month after all – it’s not much seat time relatively speaking.
I feel like my brother is progressing at a pretty good rate though. If he keeps this up, he’ll surpass me eventually, and I’ll have no complaints.
Another Sunday accomplished!!
