Finally!

This would be the first official race that my brother and I would attend for the brand new 2019-2010 season. Unfortunately we had to miss the first one so we were both eager to get out there.

Lot’s of other official “firsts” for this event:

1. First race out on the Regamasters
2. First time on the Bridgestone RE71Rs
3. First race for my brother in the S2K
4. His first time on the RPF1s w/ RT615s
5. His first on “street” tires

I’m not quite sure what to say about the RE71Rs yet… but I will say that putting on these tires didn’t magically make me faster. I ran them in comparison to the Falken RT615K+ and time wise the RE71Rs were about the same… maybe I have to get used to them? They are a great tire (and everything everyone said they’d be no doubt) and much better than any tire found on a typical car, but the best mod will always be fixing the nut behind the wheel.

Run 1

I’ve habitually made my first runs the “warmup” run. Many’ve told me that I waste it if I treat it as such. I’m not babying it through the course, but I typically don’t take it too serious… kinda… sorta… not really…

Run 2

After every one I reflect a bit and this run I felt a little puzzled. Around here is where I kinda have an idea of what I could do to better my time of 33.035, but I couldn’t think of where! Frustrated, I talked myself to remember the basics:

• Look ahead
• Smooth
• Shortest Distance
• Weight Transfer

That’s the order of my primary focuses through my years trying to improve with weight transfer being the newest.

Run 3

Before coming off the line I was still partly frustrated from my reflection on run 2 but after the launch this run just came to me:

• The first right after the start felt great. Released the gas and turned hard.
• Next hairpin felt good too… I did my best to trail brake it.
• Going into the slalom after the wall of cones – I don’t remember if I used the brakes or not, but the slalom itself felt “easy” back-siding the cones though it was decreasing. Reason? Looking-ahead through the slalom 🙂
• The next turnaround was a choice for CW or CCW. I went CCW because it was a shorter distance. My braking point wasn’t ideal, but I took it as tight as I could.
• Trail braked into the next slalom, but the exit was terrible. I didn’t slow down enough.
• Pretty much eased the right hander arc into the finish.

Final time: 32.480 almost 6th tenths of second faster than run 2 where I couldn’t think of what to do.

Run 4

I did my best to replicate this run as run 3 only…

I mis-shifted.

That. Same. Damn. Mis-shift that has plagued me many times before! It upset me, but I carried on, still trying to replicate run 3 despite the mishap and I think I did a pretty good job doing so – I even did that second slalom exit much better. Final time?

32.500 flat. Two hundredths of a second slower than my fastest. That time was pretty much the same as before with the screwup. Which means that I could’ve had a much better time had it not been for that damn mis-shift!

I’ll be ok. After I cry myself to sleep for a few days…

Conclusion

I need to keep the basics at the forefront no matter what. There are also benefits to not giving up right away… I still progress as a driver, even if one area sucks ass from a straw. I also need to get used to applying techniques so that they come out naturally – too many times things felt fast but weren’t and vice versa.

What haven’t I learned yet? To do something fix that stupid mis-shift from happening again!