The LazyAssGeek’s

Pictures from VIR:

http://www.lazyassgeek.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=132

Pictures from RCR Museum & Vineyard

http://www.lazyassgeek.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=133

Pictures from JGR and arrival in Pell City

http://www.lazyassgeek.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=134

After last year’s June Dover race Joe & I had decided we weren’t going to do THAT again.  Pretty boring race and god awful traffic were the main culprits, regardless of the fact that we were very well taken care of by the Haas folks in their suite.  Just after that it was announced that Tony Stewart was taking half ownership of the team and that he and Ryan Newman would be driving for the team. So when Ed from Lance Co (the mid Atlantic Haas dealer & service reps) proffered an invitation to this year’s race in September we had to do a 180 in our thinking and give it another shot. This time Val joined us, so in addition to enjoying the race with her we also had a designated driver!

We had another great pit tour, even with bouts of pouring rain. So thanks to Mariah from Haas Racing for showing us around and taking care of us in the suite, even though she wouldn’t rig the drawing to get us a damned hat. The race was a bit more interesting this year, though almost inevitably Jimmie Johnson finally got to the front and ran away with it. We decided we were just going to take our time before getting into the car, even went to the Applebee’s just in front of the track to grab a bite to eat.  Even two hours after the race ended the parking lot was still backed up getting out, but we managed to get home in about 2 hours from the time we got in the car. Not awful, but we are still less-than-impressed with the job the folks from the track do with the logistics.  Nothing like being charged $10 to park and then having almost nothing in the way of organization with the local infrastructure to move the traffic in & out.  I’ll step down off the box before I really get rolling…  Thanks to Ed and the folks at Lance as well as the Haas Racing folks for a great day.

Click the monster for the pics from the day…

Miles the Monster

Andy & Biggi, in a display of suspect sanity, generously invited us to return to their home this summer, so we invaded last weekend.  Andy wasn’t able to join us until late on Thursday after a business trip but we drove up late Wednesday, arriving at 1:30am Thursday. We finally got to meet the new additions to the family – Scarlet & Filou! It being the middle of the night they were wound up and ready to go after Biggi set them free from the bedroom where she’d kept them while we were unloading.  They never really showed any fear of Sport and ensconced on the cat tree (where they generally sleep away the daylight hours) they obviously felt quite safe. By the next morning they didn’t even need that and ran around on the floor with Sport there the way they normally would.

After a short night’s sleep we took it fairly easy on Thursday, stocking up on groceries for the weekend, enjoying the gorgeous day on the newly-improved deck (great job on the underside of the roof Peter & Crystal!). The kids even ventured out onto the pond in the canoe, dragging Val along for the first trip. Sport quickly got over any fear he had of the water once he saw the kids out on the canoe and practically dove in, then trying to swim out to them.  He had a ball running in & out of the water. We finished up with a pizza party and some Rock Band and managed to be awake when Andy got home, though we weren’t awake long after that!

On Friday we headed into Kittery to take in the outlets and make the inevitable run out to Nubble Light so Val and the kids could see what it feels like when it’s not 20 below zero.  Biggi did a great job not falling asleep on her 30th visit of 2009 to that lighthouse.

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Here you go Mike, a link to the Disney pics!

Our 3rd and last day started the way the others had, too early!  But the 5:30 alarm gave us time to have some coffee, my continental-influenced (damn Germans!) breakfast of ham & Swiss on toasted sourdough, and check our e-mail during that limited window of opportunity when the office was open and we were accessible.  Then it was back in the car and down Hwy 160 again.

Random Road Shot from Highway 160

Wednesday’s second instructor was Justin, also known as JJ and according to the back of his helmet, J.Man.  When asked what he actually went by he didn’t seem to have a preference. As Jordan had called him JJ to us the previous day that’s what we stuck with.

The day began as the day prior had, with heel-toe shifting practice.  With 3 of us and 2 instructors it gave those of us still not comfortable with it, in other words everyone except Joe, some one-on-one time.  Actually after a few runs I found myself falling into a rhythm and noticed I wasn’t picking my heel up off the floor as I had been.  Not going to argue with it, so I stayed with it and it seemed to work better for me.  As we had the instructors available I asked JJ to hop in and offer some advice.  Overall he thought I was getting the hang of it and would improve with continued practice. I felt much better about the heel-toe shifting by the end of that session and Clown-foot continued merrily along as well.

The next thing was an exercise & self-test to see how our visual scanning technique was coming along.  Jordan had mentioned the previous day that they would put us on a track we’d never seen before. We assumed that he meant the other piece of the track they have there, the 1.5 mile layout.  Well we know how assumptions go, so of course it was something completely different – the same track we’d been running… but in reverse.  They wanted us to keep the speed to 45 mph and just concentrate on spotting apexes and turn-in points.  WOW does the track in reverse look completely different! The turn-in and most of the apex cones they had spotted around the track were useless so we were on our own. With each lap you got a bit more confident, but turns 2 & 4 (numbered running the track the normal way) were the tough ones as the approaches left you a lot of options for turn-in.  I don’t know that I turned in and apexed those corners at the same point any two laps, but I think I was sneaking up on it.  It was a very educational and fun exercise.

We did a debrief on the reverse track discussing some of the cornering techniques and then it was time to brief us on open lapping sessions.  The first new thing was that we’d have to wear helmets.  All the previous sessions had been speed limited because we were following the instructors so helmets weren’t necessary, but since in the open lap sessions we weren’t limited we had to wear helmets.  This would become an issue as the day moved along, but I’ll whine about that later. We were instructed about where passing was allowed and how to go about it.  They would call for the passes on the radio if necessary, but they preferred we keep an eye on our mirrors and move over on the backstretch (preferably) or frontstretch to let the faster car by. If you were the faster car they asked that you be patient if you caught up to the other car before those areas, maintain a 5-6 car length gap and then pass when permitted.  Also sometime during the first session an instructor had to ride with you for a few laps to sign you off to be able to run in the afternoon hot lapping sessions.

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Day 2 dawned dark & early, though we more or less were keeping ourselves on Eastern time. It made that 5:30 alarm a heck of a lot easier to deal with when your body thinks it’s 8:30. THIS time I remembered my camera, and even the extra batteries. Aren’t you proud? Gee, thanks. So back to Highway 160 we went and off into the mountains for the run down to Pahrump. Here are a couple of shots to try to give you an idea of how it looks, brings to mind a description our Dad relayed to us a long while back about parts of the West of Ireland – “terrible beauty.”

Heading West on Highway 160 on the Vegas side

How's that for a desert road, Biggi?

We got settled into the common area with cups of coffee, chatting with Renee and her husband Bill as well as our instructor Jordan.  We were supposed to have a 4th student and were waiting, and waiting, and then a radio call came in to Jordan that he would not be joining us. He had been struggling to get the car going with the clutch on Monday as it had been a long time since he’d driven a manual and I guess he decided it was just too frustrating. It was really a shame he gave up, because that is the perfect environment to practice.  The C6 is tough to get moving SMOOTHLY because of the torque so it can easily frustrate you, but the torque is actually your friend in getting the car moving.  On the first day the instructors demonstrated this by having us get the cars moving on a level surface by simply letting out the clutch without touching the gas. If you go nice & easy at the grab-point the car will just glide forward. But apparently the frustration factor was too high for this gentleman to deal with and enjoy himself, so we moved on without him.

That left Jordan, and Tuesday’s instructor du jour Barry(that’s a joke you guys, having a different second instructor each day was actually pretty cool as it gave you additional perspectives, even if Barry is a Tony hater) to deal with just Renee, Joe and me.  It was practically private instruction and made for a relaxed environment to learn in. You’ll be relieved to learn, dear reader, that the postings for the next two days aren’t likely to be as long as the post from Day 1, but that’s not because we did any less, it’s just because we would be learning fewer new skills and therefore fewer exercises to describe.  Instead we would be mostly applying those previous lessons and trying to improve on those skills by doing laps, mostly in Lead/Follow sessions on this day.

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