S
SUN RA KAT
Guest
This weekend at the Norwalk V-10 Nationals, I finished 3rd for the meet championship, with a close last race that could have gone either way. I can now declare myself to be decent driver!
I only did two runs Friday in almost 6 hours and the track changed so much on the runs that I had no idea how it would be next.
On Saturday, it pretty much rained all day, but some cars got to run late in the evening from 11 PM to 1:30 AM. I was at the fabulous Viper Pit Party at Calvin Smith's sampling several bottles of wine instead.
On Sunday, there were several fog delays in the morning and then the track came around. My best Friday time was 12.2 ET, so I chose 12.0 ET as my dial in. I knew by the seat of my pants on the first run that I was much faster than 12.2 ET, so I had to hit the brakes hard near the finish so I wouldn't break out of my bracket.
On the semi-final run, I totally let off the gas for close to 2 seconds and hit the brakes at the finish line, but Tony Armour didn't break out of his bracket and won by a car length. I still almost broke out at 12.380 and would have been eliminated. Tony himself came extremely close in breaking out - if he was .066 seconds faster I would have made it into the finals. Tony's reaction time was .070 to my .540. Tony on slicks had a 1.733 sixty foot time and my stock Michelin Pilot Sports at 29 psi got a 1.866 sixty foot time. I feel honored to have been beaten by Tony in a race that close.
I'm pretty sure I would have been running in the low 11's to high 10's had I not been bracket racing.
I only did two runs Friday in almost 6 hours and the track changed so much on the runs that I had no idea how it would be next.
On Saturday, it pretty much rained all day, but some cars got to run late in the evening from 11 PM to 1:30 AM. I was at the fabulous Viper Pit Party at Calvin Smith's sampling several bottles of wine instead.
On Sunday, there were several fog delays in the morning and then the track came around. My best Friday time was 12.2 ET, so I chose 12.0 ET as my dial in. I knew by the seat of my pants on the first run that I was much faster than 12.2 ET, so I had to hit the brakes hard near the finish so I wouldn't break out of my bracket.
On the semi-final run, I totally let off the gas for close to 2 seconds and hit the brakes at the finish line, but Tony Armour didn't break out of his bracket and won by a car length. I still almost broke out at 12.380 and would have been eliminated. Tony himself came extremely close in breaking out - if he was .066 seconds faster I would have made it into the finals. Tony's reaction time was .070 to my .540. Tony on slicks had a 1.733 sixty foot time and my stock Michelin Pilot Sports at 29 psi got a 1.866 sixty foot time. I feel honored to have been beaten by Tony in a race that close.
I'm pretty sure I would have been running in the low 11's to high 10's had I not been bracket racing.
