I spent half of this past Tuesday and all of Wednesday and Thursday enjoying the rolling hills of Virginia International Raceway this week. I am going to follow up with a more comprehensive piece on the time spent there, but for now here are a few words I put together my first night along with some photographs.
Late yesterday afternoon I followed a friend up to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) so that I could participate in two days of high performance driving education there. Today I spent my day getting that education.
About four years ago I spent my time going to four of these events at VIR and loved every minute of it. It had been too long since the last one and I was anxious to see how much I had forgotten and how much I remembered about how to drive fast on a road racing course.
I like VIR a lot. It has a nice layout of turns as well as substantial elevation changes. It also has some really great looking grounds and the facilities are top notch.
The day started off with some rain. Not a heavy rain, but not a light rain either. With a heavy rain the track is rinsed of all the loose dirt and any accumulated oils. Even though it makes things wet, you can still get pretty good traction as long as you don’t encounter standing water. This rain was the type that just made things wet. It also made driving quite a challenge.
It was on the third lap of my first session when I was rounding into turn two that I managed to lose it and ended up spinning into a grass covered berm. Nothing was damaged except that particular lap of the course. I restarted the car and slowly made my way across the grass until I could see a corner worker’s station and was waved back onto the track. Then I made my way around and pitted so that the car could be visually inspected for any damage that might keep it off the track. Fortunately everything appeared to be in order and I was allowed back on the track to complete the laps of that session.
Driving a car fast, successfully, around a road racing track consists of facing a surface that demands perfection if you want to transverse it as quickly as possible. So you are trying to make as few mistakes as possible. When you do make a mistake you cannot take the time to agonize over it because you have the rest of the track to navigate and speed requires that you maintain your focus on what is ahead and not get mired in what is in your wake.
At the same time you must treat your vehicle with the utmost respect. You must remember to never force it into doing something you wish it to do. Instead you must ask it to do what you would like it to accomplish. Your car is your dance partner and you must both find the rhythm that allows you and your vehicle to get through so quickly that it flows like pouring water into a glass.
Here is an interesting link about how the temperature of the gasoline we pump could affect how much we are REALLY paying for our car’s energy: thanks Rachael!
It was another two-day drive back home. The first night I spent just outside of Indianapolis, IN. Traffic was not too bad and construction delays have been minimal.
I made sure to start early and the dark mornings are spectacular in their own way with the sun in the east and the road stretching out letting me know I had over a thousand miles to go.
Illinois has really taken to windmills to supplement its electrical energy needs. I even saw trucks carrying blades for more windmills.
On the second day there was a lot of fog for the first part of the trip and after fifty or sixty miles there was a wreck on the opposite side of the highway. With traffic stopped it clearly showed just how much the trucks have come to dominate the highways as they deliver goods to all the “big box” stores.
Traffic was not bad. Soon the hills of Virginia were spreading out in front of my windshield. Home would not be too many more miles.
So in West Virginia I paid $3.99.9 for a gallon of gasoline. It was 93 octane since my car demands it. Turbo, remember?
It left me wondering if we should move to a price of liters instead of gallons. It might not change the final total, but you wouldn’t feel quite so shocked – maybe.
Finding 91 octane is quite a chore on this side of the Mississippi. Some places only offer 89.5 (yes, there really is a decimal point) as the top rating. I have found a place that sells 92 octane and I will be doing my fill-up there for sure.
I got up at six in the morning and cleaned myself up so that I could get the free continental breakfast the hotel offers. It was okay.
By seven I was off. Heading down the highway to Iowa and then to Minnesota. But first I had to go from Indiana to Illinois. There was not much of Indiana left before I crossed into the Land of Lincoln.
More semi’s were rolling along. The rest areas are full of them in the mornings and many have parked on on-ramps over night as well.
What is it with speed limits? You cross a state line and the limit changes. There is no rhyme or reason. You’ve got to wonder what difference it would make if they were raised another 10 mph. The Evolution makes it very tough. This car could easily cruise at 100 and not cause any problems except freaking out other cars. There really weren’t that many cars on the road out here.
I never sniffed any police radar usage either. That seems to be reserved for the eastern states. You would see the troopers sitting on the side of the road once on a very great while, but no radar.
Deer carcasses can be seen often on the side of the Interstates. I watched a deer jump the fence on my side of the road, sprint across the two lanes and the median, stop in the fast lane on the oposite side, and spin around only to jump back over the fence to where it had been. Scary since they move so fast and can get in front of a car before you know it.
I made it to the folks by 4:30 in the afternoon, their time. We spent some time catching up with conversation. This might be it until I head back on Monday.
Today I headed off on a personal road trip. I will drive for two days so that I can spend Mothers Day weekend with my parents. They live in southwestern Minnesota and I just hope that the snow has stopped flying.
About halfway is Indianapolis, Indiana, the home of the famous Memorial Day weekend race. I won’t stop by Indy on the way out, but I might do so on the way back. It is an interesting place as the teams prep for the big day.
Most of the fans I find disappointing as they seem to use the event as an excuse for a tailgate party and there is no indication that they have any appreciation for the technology. I hope I am selling them short and that in actuality they know a lot more about the race cars, the teams, etc., but I don’t think so.
It will be a Danica event, but that’s okay, too. She deserves it and so does the Indy series. Now that CART is no more, IRL needs to learn from NASCAR and do what is required to suck in the fans and impress those that sponsor the cars.
Aside from that the road trip is going fine. A state trooper did stop me to make sure that I knew that my speed exceeded the limit by nine miles an hour. Just a warning, mind you. Whew. Other than that, there are a whole lot of semi’s on the interstates and construction hasn’t been a pain.
Today I dropped by the NCSU (North Carolina State University WEEL labs and watched as the team worked feverously to complete their entry in the 2008 Formula Hybrid competition that will take place at the New Hampshire International Speedway on May 5.
These students have been working all night and will continue until they have to drive to New Hampshire with their entry. Their car is a true hybrid using sets of Prius batteries fed by a Honda EU 1000i generator to ultimately provide power to a pair of electric motors that produce a total of 110 pound feet of torque at the optimum motor speed of 5000 rpm.
It is a throttle by wire system using Alltrax motor controllers instead of a mechanical transmission. Chain drive provides power to the rear wheels via a Torson differential housed in a custom case.
Take a look at this YouTube video as well a the photos that were taken today.
Between Charlotte and Greensboro, off of I-85 in western North Carolina a new road racing track is being born. It has been designed by no less than Elliot Forbes-Robinson and will be a 2.15 mile long road course that will host events starting in 2009. This 14 turn, course is designed for all types of racing from motorcycles, to sports cars, as well as NASCAR.
This will also be the nations first “green” race track with an emphasis on recycling and re-purpose construction debris, gaining approval from the local government on sediment and erosion control during construction. The facility will also include commercial and residential buildings that will meet “North Carolina HealthyBuilt Homes” guidelines.
As well as hosting races from many sanctioning bodies (FIA, FIM, AMA, SCCA, NASA), this will be a premier test track for NASCAR racing teams.
Use of the track will be made free to companies and researchers developing alternative fuels and vehicles.
Posted by jimsgarage 
Posted by jimsgarage 
Posted by jimsgarage 
