Idaho Racing News

I had wanted to do a flat out run through the orange traffic cones for some time. Driving through road construction every summer in Southwester Idaho just didn't seem to be enough for me. I needed some poor defensless cones who's job it was to direct cars going fast and not to announce "danger". An SCCA Solo II event seemed to be just the ticket.

First thing I did was I checked out the SRSCCA on the web some years ago and thought… someday, someday. Then I decided to do it now and not wait until I got my dream car. (I had a car that should work okay for the first time or so.) Then I talked with someone at the motor fest last weekend at the SCCA booth. Got my car ready to come to the event by cleaning out about150 pounds of crap from the trunk, the back seat and the console. "Hey, where did all that junk come from anyway"?

Then after getting up early I went to the event. I tried to get there early but I was running later than I had hoped but it turned out to be in plenty of time. Checked in at the SCCA trailer and check in table where the volunteer officials had a lap top set up. Filled out an insurance form, got a number (N2 – the “N” was for novice, made the numbers with masking tape), paid the fees, walked back to the pit area cleaned out the car, (more junk like my cooler, lunch, lounge chair, (which I didn’t get to use much,) took the car to tech and showed them how well I could clean the crap out of the car, then I walked the course… twice, then I pumped about 45 psi in the front tires and 35 in the back. (the extra pressure is to keep the skinny street tires from rolling over too far and causing bad handling and other things) then the meeting and work assignments (if you drive then you have to work), then another walk through the course for first timers, then the actual work while the first half of the divers ran the course. (My job was to stand up cones if and when they got hit. Luckily my cones weren’t too popular as targets so I was not very busy.)

Later after work it was time to line up in the staging lanes. I lined up between a C6 Corvette and a Cobra. Talk about intimidation. (My car of choice – or default, as the case may be - is a 97 Neon with 175/14 tires.) Waited for my turn, then waited, waited, (actually only about 10 to 12 minutes) then go… hit 3 cones got lost, almost stopped, found my way again, (or thought I did) then missed a gate and got a DNF and hit three cones and had about the slowest time on the course for the day. Time was a 64 seconds. Next time up I ran a 59 something, then two runs in the 58s. After lunch I took three psi out of the tires, down to 42 in the front and 32 in the rear. Then back to work. This time none of my cones got hit. I was about to sleep standing up because I had about 4 hours the previous night and I didn’t have any cones to chase. As I walked back to the pits to move my car to the staging area I talked with friends, Don and Diane Kithcart (from Western Raceway Video, see the link on the Idaho Racing News website), who came to watch and support me in my run through the cones. Four more runs. Ran two mid 59s, put 3 pounds back in the tires, and changed my shoes… hey you never know. The next run I took off over a half second. Must have been the shoes. Then on the last run of the day, (The very last one. I was the last one in the line up and most of the other competitors had gone back to the pits (i.e. the parking lot) except for those who had to be there.) I hit the 3 foot tall cone. Should have been able to see that one. But I was off a bit setting up for that corner and knocked over the big one. Minus 2 seconds – penalty for hitting a cone. Didn’t matter, it wasn’t my best run anyway.

I plan on doing it again in a few weeks. Maybe this time I will be able to think and drive at the same time, (this is even harder than walking and chewing gum) and remember to slow down before getting to the turns, to take a late apex and other things that should make me go a little faster.

Part of my motivation for running the SCCA Solo events is in preparation to eventually do a hill climb. They want to evaluate my car handling abilities so that if they ever let me drive flat out up a curvy mountain road they won’t have to ask “hey did any body see where that Neon went to”. They say it is bad to fall off the mountain and I believe them.

More to come for the next time.