Streets of Willow...Race Day. Wake up call, 5am.

WHERE TO BEGIN when so much to talk about? I know, the begining!

I awake from that oh-so-cozy bed I showed you in my last post to this etheral sound. I swear it's angels softly singing. Then as complete calm starts to take over my body and my eyes open I feel an instant sense of dread. Did I die? Am I asscending? That is quickly brushed aside when I hear this deep voice say, "good morning Kevin." It's Dave. My room mate for the night and racing buddy.

Apparently he wanted to get me up calmly, to ensure a "positive feelings" and calm wakening. I have to say, it works. I suggest it to anyone who currently uses a "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!" alarm. So after a shower and pack up we quickly leave, it's 5:30 am.

We get to breakfast. A hearty and quite perfect McDonalds bacon egg and cheese combo. I think God himself had a hand in the creation of this tasty treat. The new ice premium coffee wasn't half bad either. Although the girl behind the counter was rather insistant I have more than one "shot" of flavor additive. She asked me THREE TIMES. "NO!"

Dave chose the new Southern style chick biscuit combo. He said it reminded him of breakfast back East from where he's from.

As you can clearly see he is deep in thought for what lay ahead in the day. One can only imagine the technical happenings going on in that mighty brain of his.

After breakfast we head off to the track. We had fueled our cars at the local Chevron earlier. Cars drink quite a bit of gas while racing, but more on that later.

After a short drive, there it is, Willow Springs Raceway looming in the distance.


As we drove through the gates we saw some of the American Iron series cars that would be running on "Big Track" at 145mph most the day. Big Track is right next to Streets of Willow, where we'd be racing. There's three main tracks out there, the last being the Horse Thief Mile.

The Iron cars are pretty much all Fords and Shelbys. Cobras, Ford GTs, GT40s, GT500e and so on. Sexy, sexy, sexy.

(here's some crappy in car cell phone pics)

We pulled in to our area and set up "our pits". We had to remove every loose thing from the car. Dave had a fairly robust tool set, air compressor, air guage, floor jack, oil and so on. I brought chairs, sun block, a cooler with food and water, the other essentials. Speed Ventures who runs this does include all the vitamin water and water you can drink as well as lunch from the in pit roach coach too.

Here's a better shot of the cars wearing their attractive "I don't want a front full of rubber and rock bits" paint job. (3M painter's tape)

After the 7am driver's meeting where they explained rules, flags, proper passing and so on, we were released and waiting for our group to be called. We were BLUE group. It's considered intermediate. One group below us, white, and three above. The last of which is RED. They do full "race like" conditions. Race-like in that there is no apex blocking, or late braking allowed.

LETS RACE!

Let me start by commenting on the entire real racing vesus sim racing. I come from a sim racing background. Real racers tend to roll their eyes when they hear this and we all know the debates on how useful sim racing might not be or be. Well now I can finally make an informed decision. Here is what I experienced. And when I say sim racing I mean something like the GTR, Race, fRactor series. Not GT or Gotham Racing folks.

Sim racing most definitely can help you learn a track lay out. It can help you learn to process information faster. It can help you to learn passing and managing off course incidents. It can teach you how to stay calm when some one is on your ass. I say all of this because I experienced all of this.

The driver's meeting hit pretty hard on processing information quickly on track while staying calm. Checking your mirrors quickly but not obessively. Knowing the line, knowing not only the current turn but the one after. There's a car behind me and I need to let him by. All these things would have NUKED my brain, as it did others this day, if I had not already experienced a lot of it in sim racing.

I was completely aware and calm my entire time out. When I got back in I was rather amazed at how much FUN it was but how little I was frazzled. Even when I dropped wheels and had to cut a chicane straight through in the dirt, I did it nearly automatically. No panic, just in an instant realizing, "oops, fraked that one", then drove through (all while doing 90mph). Others as I will detail later were not so lucky.

There's one other point about real racing versus sim. This would be an issue that happens in BOTH but for different reasons surprisingly. In a sim race it can be hard to judge speed. You don't have inertia or g-forces pulling on you. It's not "3D" so that further confounds distances. Without those referances it's hard to know when to brake and then turn in. Or if you are too hot in to a turn.

Well in real racing this same issue exists except for a different reasons. And this is the thing that caught me off guard the most. See in street racing you have all matter of reference. Signs, trees, buildings-eh'hem-other cars and so on. When out on the track there's nearly none of that. You are staring at this big, wide, featureless tarmac. Which often dips out of view on the next turn.

Add to this that you are going about twice as fast as you normally would in a street race (I hate to keep using that as ref but it works) but it doesn't feel like it. The tarmac is smooth and as I said, featureless.

So you're flying in to turn one, enter wide and then cut in for turn two and then......OH GOD I HAVE TO STOP!!! BRAAAAAAAAAAAAKE! Oh, wait, I have another 30 yards before the turn, crap. This repeats itself at arious turns most the day. This is where the folks that know put on the show. It's amazing to see the speeds they maintain right up until the last second.

I did get better throughout the earlier morning. But later my times settled in to nothing as good as I did earlier. Fatigue and tire wear starting to play a factor. I was a bucket of sweat after the first session. Staying hydrated is key.

It is hard work too, don't think it's not. It's not just the wheel control but the forces. In my case the shoulder belt was making things far worse too. It doesn't adjust for height. So it would be cutting in to my neck on the high speed turns giving me, well, a sore neck. But it was also cutting blood flow and making me have to breathe deep and hard to keep things moving inside.

My lap belt was perfect. I installed the "CG-Lock" after reading about it various autoX forums. This thing really works. Even though I worried if it could keep my 350lbs in check. It did it just fine. It's no replacement for a full race seat and harness but for casual racing it does the job. It allowed me to keep my legs and feet free, no bracing against the doors or console. Hips firmly planted. All for $40. Gnarly.

As the day progressed my sunburn got worse even though I was wearing a safari hat and sunblock. As I said earlier it all wears on you. I have even more respect now for people who do this for a living. I only did 4 sessions that day and skipped last I was so beat. I started the day with a lap time of 1m 46s. My best time was 1m 41s. A nice improvement. If I was in the base group, white, I would have been near the top. But in blue, I was near the bottom. Dave was hitting 1m 31s all day and at the top.

I should also mention I was the only LARGE driver and LARGE V8 car there. In fact I was not only the only Mustang but the ONLY American car. All others were German, Japanese and Korean!

Which leads me to my other discovery. "It ain't the car, it's the driver." TRUE TRUE TRUE TRUE. If anyone tries to tell you differently it's because they are clueless.

I got passed by a Hyundai. A HYUNDAI!!! All it had on were some 15" wheels with performance tires! I saw Honda Fits pasing EVOs and STIs! I saw Civics blazing by M3s! Miatas making silly of S2000s! This particular track, Streets of Willow, POWER is not your friend. It's weight, brakes, tires and then the skillz. Sure in the straights the faster cars pull away only to be caught again at turn two!

I have all new respect for any car now with a proper driver behind the wheel. It was truly stunning to see. Stunning and funny really. I will never mock a Fit again.

Now I did do some passing myself, I wasn't always waiving people by, just so you know.

That's how the day went. It would have been a nice normal one too except for two things that popped up late mid day. For the first time in four years of running these events, and my first time out at one, two cars, TWO, we're destroyed.

The first happened to a new driver. It was their first track day as well. They were getting tired but still wanted to push their car. Problem is they chose the worst part of the track to do it in. That chicane I mentioned earlier that I had to cut. They decided to take it at 100mph. Something only the pros should be doing. They missed their turn in and then to make things worse they then cut the wheel to try and get back on line. That did it. Sent them sideways and then in to the dirt where their wheels caught sand and...flip...flip...flip...bam. Shiny new car was on it's roof.

They were taken away by the track rescue and they towed their car off. It was a wreck. In fact a friend of mine did the same thing to his car but on the street a couple years back. It was sort of like dejavu.

They pulled everyone in and had another driver's meeting re-enforcing all the rules and track behavior. Sent everyone back out.

About an hour later, it happened again, and in the same spot.

This time is was a cherry and sexy late 90s car. This car was tearing up the track and looking good doing it. But then a cloud of dust and again....flip...flip...bam. Car on it's roof. Front glass popped out as it was designed too, car's frame twisted. Ruined. The driver hopped out though and was fine. Turns out they too, a new driver to racing, and also NOT their car. It was their buddies. Who was standing behind us when it happened. "That's my car out there. Shit."

They pull us all back in again, smack us around. This time they place cones leading up to the chicane to show drivers where they need to start braking and turn in. It worked. No more incidents for the day.

And there it is. My first outting at Streets of Willow. We ended the day at "Dave's Famous BBQ" in Palmdale.

My car is fine. Hats off to Ford Racing, the suspension was fantastic. Car leaned and went flat through most the turns. The Agent 47 brake coolers along with the Hawk HPS+ pads kept the brakes strong and clamping all day. No fade, very nice. My paint is fine too, no chips or funkyness. Tires held up great. I went with Eagle F1 GS-D3s at the last minute as I couldn't get the Dunlops. After 60 racing laps, I averaged 7.2mpg as well. YIKES!

HD video of the day will be on line soon. A friend of mine is transferring everything.