Time Trials Adventures

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Well run event by Central Carolinas Region. Big thanks to all of the workers, officials, event organizers and sponsors. Yes, sponsors! In addition to the series sponsorship from Cool Shirt, Racefan.com and The Valvoline Cup, we also had goodie bags from Continental Tire. And if that wasn’t enough, they fed us lunch both days and pizza at the Saturday evening social.

You want track time? The results would lead one to believe we got in as many as 25 runs each. The fact is that by the middle of Sunday, timing and scoring was running out of room to print times on the sheet, so they started just printing the fastest lap of the three lap run group. I probably actually logged about thirty hot laps, plus a warm-up / cool-down lap for each timed session, plus about twenty five minutes of un-timed practice. It’s a really good feeling to be satisfied that you have had enough when it’s time to pack up and head home.

Open practice rocks! Everyone was well behaved, and several drivers took the opportunity to watch competitors’ lines and practice going off-line to be overtaken. While the cars are spaced out to prevent contact, I know of at least two drivers who said they got faster by being able to watch someone for a while after they had been passed.

Coming from a road racing background, I was initially concerned that having the overtaken driver pull off-line to be passed would feel unnatural. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The overtaken driver is right there where you can see them, and they are in control of the situation. If they don’t point and pull over, you don’t make the pass. It is also easy for them to add more brakes if needed so the pass can be completed. They will have time to get back up to speed before they get to the braking zone for the next turn anyway.

Marianne Jones mentioned that in the morning, when the open practice was run, tends to be the fastest time of the day. That is a valid point, but I can’t think of any other time when it is suitable to conduct practice sessions. This is true of whether the format is open, lead-follow, or just un-timed runs. At least everyone is on an even footing later during the day when the runs are being timed.

Ready to go faster than you can at an autocross, but not quite ready to buy all the stuff you need for Solo I? The second Solo Trials held in the Southeast this season was on Sunday, and it gave competitors the opportunity to go full-bore on the west end of the race track. The pylons used to slow things down for the Solo II on Saturday were all gone on Sunday. It was rather enjoyable to hear a couple of Ferraris at full song coming down the 1000’ front straight as we waited on the grid on pit road.

Oh, did we mention that the weather was fabulous too?

-- Ruthie Cartlidge and Art Thompson

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