AARC/TT event @ road Atlanta 2021
Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2021 7:07 am
Quick writeup for you all since I know most of the RR guys don't seem to post here much.
Went to Rd. ATL this past weekend for the final SCCA TT national Tour that ran with the AARC event and what a wild time.
Let me preface this with that Other than the Corvette experience @ NCM a few years ago ( which you DO get to push some ) I've never been on a road course at speed until this weekend. The fact that it was RA was like jumping into the deep end of a pool when you aren't sure how to swim and you forgot you left 10 lb bags of lead in your shorts.
My goals were simple - Stay out of the way of the faster cars, keep the car and myself scuff free, and have fun. The 1st was not simple and the only saving grace was that my pace was slow enough that after the 1st day, I was way far back in grid and didn't have much behind me to worry about passing issues. The practice session was so intense that I was questioning if I should be there. I was rattled and freaking out a bit.
1st TA session was a LITTLE better since we were grided by our times, but by the end of the 25 minute session, I still was getting lapped and I at least got better at managing traffic.
That night I watched a lot of in car videos of others and realized where I was really hurting myself as well as some line choices. Got some good advice from TomO about how to handle point bys and where and when to go offline to allow passing vs staying on line. That helped a bunch.
Sunday I felt a bit more at ease and had a plan where to get faster and be a better 'team member' out there. Sunday's very chilly start went well. I smoothed out my lines and started pushing a bit more. Dropped 4 seconds off my practice time ( down to a 2:04.1). Wasn't anywhere close to the front of S6, but started having fun.
Afternoon sessions after a 6 hour downtime meant that it was like walking a course and not driving until last heat. We did 'short sessions' where instead of all of us going out for 20+ minutes, smaller groups went out for 10+ minutes, which meant you only got 2-3 flying laps to get it done. No matter what I did, I couldn't get down lower.... 2:05.8 and then 2:04.2.
Looking at those sessions, the lap times were really consistent so I need to just get settled faster.
Huge thanks to the national staff and ATL region for putting this great event on. I'll definately be back for more TT events next year.
Went to Rd. ATL this past weekend for the final SCCA TT national Tour that ran with the AARC event and what a wild time.
Let me preface this with that Other than the Corvette experience @ NCM a few years ago ( which you DO get to push some ) I've never been on a road course at speed until this weekend. The fact that it was RA was like jumping into the deep end of a pool when you aren't sure how to swim and you forgot you left 10 lb bags of lead in your shorts.
My goals were simple - Stay out of the way of the faster cars, keep the car and myself scuff free, and have fun. The 1st was not simple and the only saving grace was that my pace was slow enough that after the 1st day, I was way far back in grid and didn't have much behind me to worry about passing issues. The practice session was so intense that I was questioning if I should be there. I was rattled and freaking out a bit.
1st TA session was a LITTLE better since we were grided by our times, but by the end of the 25 minute session, I still was getting lapped and I at least got better at managing traffic.
That night I watched a lot of in car videos of others and realized where I was really hurting myself as well as some line choices. Got some good advice from TomO about how to handle point bys and where and when to go offline to allow passing vs staying on line. That helped a bunch.
Sunday I felt a bit more at ease and had a plan where to get faster and be a better 'team member' out there. Sunday's very chilly start went well. I smoothed out my lines and started pushing a bit more. Dropped 4 seconds off my practice time ( down to a 2:04.1). Wasn't anywhere close to the front of S6, but started having fun.
Afternoon sessions after a 6 hour downtime meant that it was like walking a course and not driving until last heat. We did 'short sessions' where instead of all of us going out for 20+ minutes, smaller groups went out for 10+ minutes, which meant you only got 2-3 flying laps to get it done. No matter what I did, I couldn't get down lower.... 2:05.8 and then 2:04.2.
Looking at those sessions, the lap times were really consistent so I need to just get settled faster.
Huge thanks to the national staff and ATL region for putting this great event on. I'll definately be back for more TT events next year.