tnord
07-18-2002, 08:53 PM
this past mon and tues i once again helped crew for a couple days at brainerd international raceway for donnybrooke racing. and as usual, we worked from 5 until 10 on sunday night, 7am-11pm on mon and tues performing various repairs to the 11 spec racers running that weekend. but mon was relatively slow compared to other events past, so i got a chance to use the track time that was owed to me. first i drove a Spec Racer Renault, my first real experience in a true race car. all i can say is i wish i had a more aerodynamic helmet because at 100+ mph the helmet wants to lift your head right off your body. as i got more comfortable with it i began to go faster and faster. there was one corner i could take by remaining in third gear and tapping the brakes for corner entry, the only problem was, i was at the top of third. so next time through i just mashed the throttle, shifted to 4th and went for it..........result........360 degree spin and ended up slightly off track. woops. oh well, no damage. i drove it back to the garage just to be safe anyway. next i took out the Spec Racer Fords. these cars are significantly faster. i got about 20 laps in these, or around 25 total. if you get the chance to drive them, i highly advise doing so.
if anybody is familiar with the name Gary Curtis i'd be surprised, so i'll tell you who he is. He drives what i'm pretty sure to be the championship car for the Panoz GTS-1 series in SCCA. well, gary is closely involved with donnybrooke and was an instructor for the day. and since we were short on spec racers for him to drive, i volunteered my car. after his session i asked him what he thought. he said that he liked the car, it was very predictable, very balanced, and fairly capable in it's current form, but also noted he was comparing it to race cars, not street. i asked him what areas need improvement, his response was that i had quite a bit of time to gain from better tires, better brake fluid (these two things i know), and better pedal setup, and was obviously short on power, but overall he was impressed with the car. a professional race car driver likes my car....SWEET. i tried to take picturs, but my batteries went dead. the only picture i got was me next to a lotus esprit S4. i wish i coulda got the RUF Porsche CTR2.......now that was fast. or the devon, if you know what one of these things are..........you know what i'm talkin about. but yeah click here (http://community.webshots.com/photo/41528714/44090834zUSVgO) to see the picture. there is a sweet S4 in the background, as well as the donnybrooke trailer.
if anybody is familiar with the name Gary Curtis i'd be surprised, so i'll tell you who he is. He drives what i'm pretty sure to be the championship car for the Panoz GTS-1 series in SCCA. well, gary is closely involved with donnybrooke and was an instructor for the day. and since we were short on spec racers for him to drive, i volunteered my car. after his session i asked him what he thought. he said that he liked the car, it was very predictable, very balanced, and fairly capable in it's current form, but also noted he was comparing it to race cars, not street. i asked him what areas need improvement, his response was that i had quite a bit of time to gain from better tires, better brake fluid (these two things i know), and better pedal setup, and was obviously short on power, but overall he was impressed with the car. a professional race car driver likes my car....SWEET. i tried to take picturs, but my batteries went dead. the only picture i got was me next to a lotus esprit S4. i wish i coulda got the RUF Porsche CTR2.......now that was fast. or the devon, if you know what one of these things are..........you know what i'm talkin about. but yeah click here (http://community.webshots.com/photo/41528714/44090834zUSVgO) to see the picture. there is a sweet S4 in the background, as well as the donnybrooke trailer.