Well, NNJR opened its season at historic Lime Rock Park in the Berkshires Wed and Thursday. It was cold. Very cold. And it was wet. very wet. in fact it rained most of Wednesday, except when it snowed. Yes, snowed. Thrills and (truly) chills, both readily available on track. Chilly wet tracks provide lots of thrills, some unwanted.
What tires did i run? well, the ones that i drove up on have little snowflakes on the side-walls, and that seemed apporopos. Yes, boys and girls, i ran snow tires and others were jealous. That evening we were treated to a keg of ice-cold beer which, oddly, we enjoyed and took on our track-walk, guided by the head instructor of the Lime Rock Club - Simon Kirkby. Its always instructive to see the track, its camber and features by foot - you see soooooo much more. Especially with ice on your nose and a cold beer in your hand.
Thursday the skies were cloudy, but only a little snow fell, and essentially no rain. Its odd when that seems like a dramatic improvement. As the temperatures soared into the upper 30s, and the track dried, i got out real tires, many returned to the track, and we all actually had a terrific 2/3 of a day on track. With a little coaching from Simon (thanks Simon!) i ran some pretty good times - I'd estimate 1:08 ish, from a stopwatch sorta thing. I didn't have a timer going, so i cant say much more - but it felt very good too. I think i finally figured out the uphill, or maybe got brave enough to trust that the rising earth really will catch me.....as well as how to brake at "1" entering big bend - easier of course in a slow car.
So, to recap - two weeks ago i was skiing at 13000' in a t-shirt. This week i was driving with every article of clothing i had with me on simultaneously.
And had fun at both.
Grant
Grant
gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com