The ARRC Experience
It's highly unlikely that many people give a crap, but if time permits I hope to document my first ARRC experience. It will be a week/weekend of many firsts, the primary two being the first time I've seen, let along driven Road Atlanta, the second being the first time I've driven a brand-new car with lots of unproven components (I hope this isn't foreshadowing).
The trip was cancelled and then on, then cancelled then on several times over the last month, with the primary influences being lack of progress on the car, and loss of my job in the middle of October. Losing the job has been a blessing in disguise because it gave me the time to finish the car. Sort of. The lsmart person that cares about his family's welfare would've to cancelled the trip and not incurred significant expense when there is no more income. Surprisingly, my wife and family urged me to go, after all the effort we've put into the car and organizing the Championship (presented by Taylor Race Engineering and Phoenix Race Works.) She also knew that she would have to live with me moping around the house all winter if I didn't go.
The trip down to RA started in earnest yesterday at 5pm when I left Green Bay and picked up my crew (Craig Jarosinski and Jon Jeffords) and a diesel pick-up in Milwaukee (a huge thanks to John Norton.) The drive was fairly uneventful but longer than I anticipated. The worst thing to happen was around 5am we hit a large tree limb that was laying in the middle of the road around Bowling Green, which pierced the front of trailer and went through the front wall and through the cabinet door inside, poking a big hole in the door and knocking it off the hinges. Luckily there was no damage to hamper forward progress so we progressed forward. Arrived at the track at about 1 pm local time and met up with Sean O'Connell shortly thereafter. The gates hadn't opened yet so we headed to the hotel to scrape 38 hours worth of filth off and get a pizza. Now it's back to the track to meet up with the rest of the F1000 group that will be testing tomorrow, and put some final touches on the car.
Tomorrow we get to find out if the last 2ish years of work have paid off...
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Originally Posted by Mike B
. The parking guide said there were over 300 cars this weekend so I can't see how this place could ever hold the Runoffs without some extraordinary processes or significant changes.
Lucky for us, George Dean is here and came to the rescue. Craig, my crew chief, understood the problem better than I did but we changed the carb needle positions and rerouted some vacuum lines. In the fourth session, the engine ran like a champ, pulling cleanly up to 11,700 in any gear from any rpm, putting a big smile on my face. A BIG thanks to George Dean!
and Ulrich was just besides himself too.
