(no subject)
Went up to willow springs (in the mojave desert) for a karting event this weekend. in the practice sesseions, i wasn't exceptionally fast...posted a great initial time, but ran into clutch trouble (2 others who drove that kart experienced it as well) and so that hindered the practice. for the qualifying, i used a kart i had never driven before, and was about a second slower than i should have been. the race was in 2 groups, each with fastest qualifier...i was in the 2nd group (B), starting 2nd. at the start (a rolling start, not from a standstill), i got a jump, but fell to 5th in the first corner. made my way to 3rd by the end of the 2nd lap, and finally passed for 2nd at the half-way point. spent the rest of the race catching the guy in 1st, setting my fastest times so far in doing so...when chasing somebody, the adrenaline gets going and the mind focuses so much you dont even think about driving, so you get very fast and very consistent, and its great practice to learn a track and a vehicle. with 3 laps to go, i caught the leader, and was all over his rear bumper, never finding a good opportunity to pass. every corner i'd bump him to maybe break his concentration, and he faltered slightly but never enough. i got next to him on the front straight on last lap, but he didnt see me and almost ran me off. i let him back into 1st, and he kept sliding all over the place running about 1 second slower that lap than we should have...last corner of last lap, he slides wide, i get a great run on him, pulled to the left, and we crossed the line side-by-side. turns out, he beat me by less than 6 inches...
that's: [_______________________________________________________]
THAT was the most exciting finish i've ever had, and the most fun race by far. fast time was a 50.6 second lap. so far, so good, given that the best time the INSTRUCTORS had run was a 51 second lap.
for the next heat race (2 heats, 2nd with inverted starting positions, then main event), i started 2nd to last (5th). within a few laps, i was up to 2nd, and spent the rest of the race constantly swapping 1st/2nd/1st/2nd etc. in almost every turn of every single lap, one of us would pass the other, sometimes with TWO passes in ONE corner! i'd pass him going into the corner, run wide, and he'd pass me coming out of it. we were side-by-side through many corners, almost touching wheels many times...in one race, 2 ppl touched wheels in a corner, and the guy in back, went up over the one in front, his kart did 2 cartwheels, then a 360-degree roll which through him out of the kart. he landed on his head, bounced onto his back, then in the air AGAIN finally landing on his back AGAIN. he had minor concussion but was otherwise fine. that ended his day though, and that's why touching wheels in open-wheel race cars is such a no-no. anyways i got to lead for about 150 feet, when he passed me into 2nd to last corner...we crossed the line, me touching his bumper as we crossed (2nd for me, 1st for him).
THAT was now my most fun race ever, trouncing the one before.
for the main, i started 2nd. at the start, i took the lead, but fell to 3rd for just over two seconds in the 1st corner...the guy in 2nd got sideways, i went around him on the outside, and took the lead. this is the hard part. racing is a VERY psychological sport, perhaps the most in the world. it requires the body and mind to operate at 110% from start to finish, while driving on a knife's edge...perfect consistency is the goal, with the kart at its absolute limit, but never exceeding that limit, never falling below it either. when leading a race, one tends to relax to the point where you slow down, and may eventually get caught "with your pants down", as they say...getting passed by 1, even 2 people before you know what hit you. so with that in mind, i remembered that my fastest laps where when i was chasing somebody. so i pictured a kart in front of me about 50 feet ahead, and pretended to chase it...i dont even remember what was on my mind because the focus that one can attain while driving that way, at the peak, is the kind of thing people speak about reaching after 60 years of martial arts training or something along those lines...its the only time when the mind is 100% clear and 100% dedicated, and the body is running at the maximum potential in such a way that fatigue simply does not exist until after the job is done. running this way, after settling into that state of mind simply by convincing myself that i was chasing somebody, i ran the fastest laps of the weekend...every single lap of that race was within a window of 0.3 seconds, with two laps registering the exact same time: 50.4, followed by a 50.4 second time. when the white flag came out to signal last lap, i realized i had a HUGE lead...enough that, were i to try for a blazing fast lap, a mistake would destroy my margin from the driver in 2nd, but not lose me my position in the lead. so i went for the fastest lap i could run, given that my tires were starting to pass above operating temperature. when i crossed the line to take the win, i had run a lap that was 0.3 seconds faster than my previous best lap of the weekend. with adjustments for driver weight, my 50.1 second time was the fastest of the entire weekend.
overall, the best race weekend i have ever had, the best racing i have ever had, my first win in a main race (3 previous wins in heats), and the most fun i've ever had behind the wheel. the closing laps of that main race were the best bits of driving i've ever run.
here's a link to download a video i took driving around the track at VERY reduced speed, to show the layout of the circut:
http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2FPNV4J1KQJB33UX40ORRQ316S
after June 12 2005, if you want the video, email me, IM me on AIM, or leave a comment here (w/email address or AIM sn) requesting the video
btw in that video, i never exceed about 35-40 mph...actual speeds reach up to 70+ mph on that circut, and with the 40 mph winds we had, we may have hit close to 75 mph on some parts of the track before the engines physically could go no faster.
that's: [_______________________________________________________]
THAT was the most exciting finish i've ever had, and the most fun race by far. fast time was a 50.6 second lap. so far, so good, given that the best time the INSTRUCTORS had run was a 51 second lap.
for the next heat race (2 heats, 2nd with inverted starting positions, then main event), i started 2nd to last (5th). within a few laps, i was up to 2nd, and spent the rest of the race constantly swapping 1st/2nd/1st/2nd etc. in almost every turn of every single lap, one of us would pass the other, sometimes with TWO passes in ONE corner! i'd pass him going into the corner, run wide, and he'd pass me coming out of it. we were side-by-side through many corners, almost touching wheels many times...in one race, 2 ppl touched wheels in a corner, and the guy in back, went up over the one in front, his kart did 2 cartwheels, then a 360-degree roll which through him out of the kart. he landed on his head, bounced onto his back, then in the air AGAIN finally landing on his back AGAIN. he had minor concussion but was otherwise fine. that ended his day though, and that's why touching wheels in open-wheel race cars is such a no-no. anyways i got to lead for about 150 feet, when he passed me into 2nd to last corner...we crossed the line, me touching his bumper as we crossed (2nd for me, 1st for him).
THAT was now my most fun race ever, trouncing the one before.
for the main, i started 2nd. at the start, i took the lead, but fell to 3rd for just over two seconds in the 1st corner...the guy in 2nd got sideways, i went around him on the outside, and took the lead. this is the hard part. racing is a VERY psychological sport, perhaps the most in the world. it requires the body and mind to operate at 110% from start to finish, while driving on a knife's edge...perfect consistency is the goal, with the kart at its absolute limit, but never exceeding that limit, never falling below it either. when leading a race, one tends to relax to the point where you slow down, and may eventually get caught "with your pants down", as they say...getting passed by 1, even 2 people before you know what hit you. so with that in mind, i remembered that my fastest laps where when i was chasing somebody. so i pictured a kart in front of me about 50 feet ahead, and pretended to chase it...i dont even remember what was on my mind because the focus that one can attain while driving that way, at the peak, is the kind of thing people speak about reaching after 60 years of martial arts training or something along those lines...its the only time when the mind is 100% clear and 100% dedicated, and the body is running at the maximum potential in such a way that fatigue simply does not exist until after the job is done. running this way, after settling into that state of mind simply by convincing myself that i was chasing somebody, i ran the fastest laps of the weekend...every single lap of that race was within a window of 0.3 seconds, with two laps registering the exact same time: 50.4, followed by a 50.4 second time. when the white flag came out to signal last lap, i realized i had a HUGE lead...enough that, were i to try for a blazing fast lap, a mistake would destroy my margin from the driver in 2nd, but not lose me my position in the lead. so i went for the fastest lap i could run, given that my tires were starting to pass above operating temperature. when i crossed the line to take the win, i had run a lap that was 0.3 seconds faster than my previous best lap of the weekend. with adjustments for driver weight, my 50.1 second time was the fastest of the entire weekend.
overall, the best race weekend i have ever had, the best racing i have ever had, my first win in a main race (3 previous wins in heats), and the most fun i've ever had behind the wheel. the closing laps of that main race were the best bits of driving i've ever run.
here's a link to download a video i took driving around the track at VERY reduced speed, to show the layout of the circut:
http://s4.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2FPNV4J1KQJB33UX40ORRQ316S
after June 12 2005, if you want the video, email me, IM me on AIM, or leave a comment here (w/email address or AIM sn) requesting the video
btw in that video, i never exceed about 35-40 mph...actual speeds reach up to 70+ mph on that circut, and with the 40 mph winds we had, we may have hit close to 75 mph on some parts of the track before the engines physically could go no faster.