Week Before:
If you were following the thread from the last track weekend, you know we had a power steering issue that we weren’t able to solve at the track. We finally got it worked out on the Tuesday before, this track weekend. The rest of the week I assembled and checked all the equipment I would need to do some testing.

Friday:
It was a gorgeous day, a little overcast with high clouds, that helped keep the heat down a little. I packed everything up, got the car loaded up and we (Ginger and I) got away, for the track, around 2:30PM. We made the trek to Lancaster something over an hour and a half away, the traffic was not to bad (normally heavy with Vegas runs on the I-15) and checked in our hotel. We went out to track around 5:30PM, I pulled up to the main gate, talked with the attendant, and got permission to go up to the Horse thief Mile track, and set up, if the gates were open, that is. When we got inside the main gate it was so quiet there, no one setting up, no one on the track, very unlike when NASA runs there, and it's always a hustle of cars and people running around. It was kind of eerily quiet, I don't recall, ever seeing the track like this. We made our way up to the track and luckily found that both of the two separate gates were open so we, found a suitable spot, got the car unloaded, truck detached, and all the tent tubing framework setup and ready for the tarp to be added in the morning. We usually leave the tarp off because you always have to be concerned with wind at these desert tracks.

We ate, got back to the room, settled in and I did a final check of things needed for the next day including the palm (I use this to log with) and discovered that it was completely down of battery power. I have installed a program to force the palm to not shut off because it was shutting off during sessions. It must have gotten against something, during the trip, and switched itself on. Upon further inspection I discover that the charger, for it, is in the car at the track. Crap!!! Well I figure if I've lost the Pocketlogger program, at least I have a backup version on the lap top that I can upload back to the pilot. So it's off to sleep, slowly unfortunately, worrying about my logging capabilities for the next day.

Track Day:
Saturday morning, another gorgeous day, we got up early and were at the at gate at 6:30 AM. We were the 1st ones up to Horse thief, by over an hour. I immediately got my palm connected to it's charger. We finished setting things up and no one was there yet, so we decided to head down to Big Willow to check if possibly the meeting was going to be there. Before we got to through the 1st gate, someone was pulling in and confirmed that everything would take place, up here at this track. We turned around and I checked the Palm's progress to discover the screen, just flashing, I left it charging and started doing the car check, fluids, tire pressure, torques, etc., followed by personal gear, helmet etc.. A group of 3 EVO’s parked next to us and one of the drivers, Tom, helped us clad our bare tent poles with it’s covering, for some much needed shade. I rechecked the Palm and Crap!!!, the start up screen is still just flashing and a soft reset doesn't clear things up at all. So it's on to the dreaded hard reset and the ultimate reloading of the needed software. Well, 9:00AM came and went, the safety crew was running late and the personnel of SST came around and did a quick tech of each of our cars. I got everything loaded back onto the palm, and was trying it out, but it was time for the drivers meeting .

The meeting started and immediately, Sam told us that the safety crew was running late but that SRT would extend that time to the end of the day, because we would be getting all the time, we paid for. He then proceeded to tell us that, this track was pretty feared, and that there were a number of spots that if you lost it, you could end up a 30 plus feet down a cliff, not to mention the end of the back stretch where if you miss the braking point, you could possibly end up all the way down onto the Willow big track. That was comforting. He went on to explain that there would be several sessions, and road and drift cars would have separate run groups. He explained that we were to run the track today, in the counter clock wise direction and that this would be better because at least most of the corners would be cambered in our favor. There was some time for questions and answers and then it was back to the truck to check on my Palm. I'm having problems getting the logger to come up correctly and I realize, I haven't put in my registration code, and it's showing as unregistered. I tried to input the code multiple times, but unfortunately, I was not able to get the logger to accept it. So I'm without any way to log, which was one of my major reason for coming, but I’m slowly learning to cope with the difficulties.

The Sessions begin:
The drifters were 1st to hit the track, those guys are totally insane . They had the track for 20 minutes, of which, a large portion seemed to be under caution flags of some sort. Someone would lose it and everything would have to halt, while all the loose gravel got cleaned up, and then in a few minutes it would start again. They were certainly a blast to watch though!!

The next group was ours, I got in the car and went through my usual donning of items and it was off onto the track. We made a moderately slow speed trek around the course. It is a really windy course with carousels at a lot of the turns. The next lap it was all out, full speed, at your discretion. I made several laps, learning the line and increasing speed each time, checking instruments when I could, the course keeps you pretty busy. After a number of laps I noticed my EGT was making it over 900C, so it was back in and blindly fiddle with the SAFC with no real direction, on my part. I didn’t make it back out for the rest of the session, and then started checking the car and getting ready for the next one.

Our next session, I made quite a few laps a right then left then right, and again I was just soaking up this tight track. In a spare moment, I looked down to see that the temp gauge was showing well over 230 so I came in to give it a little rest, cool down time, and check all the fluids again.

The next session I was pushing much harder but trying to keep an eye on the EGT, along with the other gauges. I made a number of laps and I saw some smoke coming from somewhere in the front of my car, it was only briefly and then I saw it again. So I pulled in to discover that I probably hadn’t gotten my hold down spring replaced to it’s nitch around the dipstick . There was quite a bit of oil on the underside of the hood and engine compartment, but it didn’t take long to clean it up. We did sessions all the rest of the day, with no problems, switching back and forth with the drifters. I was really loving the track, but wasn’t able to push things, like I would have liked, because of the EGT.

Synopsis:
My power steering woes are behind me, and we were able to make a lot of new friends. I didn’t get to dial the fuel in on the car, but I really had a super time, at this track.!! I’m also learning to go with the ebbs and flows, of all this, a lot better. You know it just can’t get much better than that!

Thanks:
Thanks again for everyone that helps us do these events. A special thanks as always to Dr. Haiavy and Inland Cosmetic, Allied Automotive, David, and last but by far not least, Ginger.

Tom