Saturday, December 09, 2006

TWS Clockwise, Dec. 9-10

Wife and I are at TWS this weekend, recovering from the first day of driving. It's been good so far!

My spouse is about to be checked for solo status, which is a nice validation of skill and general driving chops. She's getting fast, and will soon only be limited by her willingness to put rollover protection of some sort in the convertible. Many tracks will not let convertibles run without some sort of rollbar.

We're trying to pull together an Austin group of folks that comes to these things, since the Driver's Edge offers a 10% discount for parties of 10 or more. We've almost got it. Edgar, Sheri and me, Josh, John, AC, Chris and all we need is a couple more. Might join up with another club to make the numbers work. 10% doesn't sound like much, but it's fun to put the club together. It also gives us another excuse to go out for good meals and talk car stuff. I am certain that the folks around all our various offices are sick of hearing about it.

I'm driving in the Red group again, and working with the head instructor to see if I can stay there. He's good, but VERY deconstructionist. His approach to problems is to break them into little chunks and work each one until it's fixed. I don't know about that, as driving is a more holistic experience for me. I am listening to what he has to say though, as he's bloody fast and has many years of seat time. It's just that he takes quite a while to say it.

I'm at the slow end of the group, which is an unfamiliar place for me. Normally, I'm pretty fast, but I'm getting passed quite a bit in Red, and it's bugging me. It ought not to bug me, and I'll get up to speed soon.

The car is running well, and it's one of the few corvettes that is. We've had three corvettes break down already. It's like some horrible streak. I told Dean the other day "the less I tinker with the car, the more I like it". It's proving to be a good thing to tinker as little as possible. All the cars that are breaking are highly modified. I can't imagine spending 30K on a car, then 10K more on mods, then 300 a weekend, and only get half the track time and all the frustration.

When I'm doing well, it doesn't feel like I'm going fast at all. It's smooth. It's easy, with no fatigue. Unfortunately, that's also how going slow feels, but the difference is that when you are doing well, and going fast, not many people pass you. That effortles feeling is often what I'm reaching for. I'll get there tomorrow, a little easier than I got there today.

Unless it rains. Rain would work for me, as I need the practice in it, but it's much harder to come off the track and not be tired. Well, we shall take it as it comes.