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The short version:
Drove to Alabama on Thursday, ran Little Talladega
(www.tgprace.com) with the S2000 club on Friday, drove back to Knoxville on Saturday, and then ran SCCA regional number 5
on Sunday.
The long version:
I managed the trip from Knoxville, Tennessee to Oxford Alabama in a shade over four hours using a little over ¾ of a tank, and pulled into the hotel at about 3:30 CST on Thursday the fifth. After having to take some evasive action on account of a disintegrating truck tire just west of the I-40 split, the remainder of the trip proved mercifully uneventful. I must say that this is a particularly un-stressful drive unlike, say, driving to/around/anywhere near Atlanta. I noted periods of time where I no visual contact with another vehicle on the road, on a weekday, in the middle of the afternoon. Of course, if you are looking for something to do apart from a racetrack, Oxford may fall a little short of the ATL.
Once I settled into the hotel, I went back
out and grabbed some dinner at Zaxby’s, which by divine fortune, sat literally across the road. I
have no idea why, but I had been craving some chicken since I hit the Alabama border. Random hankering
sated, I headed back across the parking lot to see if anyone else had arrived and ended up talking to a couple of S2K owners
that would also be at the track the following day, one of which was also from Knoxville. Apparently people
from AL & GA are rather jealous of our proximity to US129…I can’t imagine why. We shot
the bull for a few minutes before they decided to head out to meet some other Honda folks for dinner. I
retired to my room for the evening after going over the mental check-list to make sure I didn’t need to hit a store.
The next morning I made
a point to stop at a gas station and grab some Powerade. The forecast called for temperatures in the 90s
and I tend to sweat, if I’m honest. The trip to the track did not take anywhere near as long as the
Google-map estimated it would, so I was parked out front about twenty minutes before they opened the gates. In
hindsight, I highly recommend this course of action as I was able to procure a parking spot under a bunch of large trees,
which made for a much more comfortable day. The shade proved indispensable while changing tires, which
I didn’t even want to think about doing out on the tarmac.
Once the car was unburdened and had been inspected, it was time to hit the drivers’
meeting. After some discussion, the organizers assigned the drivers into one of four groups, the least
experienced drivers and the slowest cars comprised group 1 and the most experienced and fastest made up group 4.
I fell into group 3 mainly because of a large number of first-timers. After the requisite safety
and rules overview, the meeting adjourned. The organizers elected to start the day by sending every car
on a couple of slow-speed touring laps so people new to the track, myself included, could get a feel for it before jumping
in with both feet.
Orientation laps dispensed with, the run groups got underway. I tried to pay attention to see which sections
gave people the most trouble as I waited for my group to cycle around. I noted that, running counter clock-wise,
turn 3 and the turn/chicane leading onto the pit-straight seemed to catch the most people out.
Talladega Grand Prix Raceway
provides a 1.4 mile ribbon of asphalt winding through what I will call 8 turns and 2 kinks. From the front
straight, turn one is a significantly bowled left hand sweeper, only just short of a karussel-type turn. I
felt that I was definitely “dropping into” it, as opposed to just turning, and hugging the pit-exit cones until
tracking out to the right side of the main straight. If I took turn one bravely, I would wind out
third gear and either hit the limiter or shift into fourth just before braking for a left-hand turn 2. I
played with taking turn 2 in second and in third. I finally decided that maintaining third was smoother,
if not quicker since it eliminated two shifts, and I kept hitting the limiter in 2nd as I went through the kind
between turns 2 and 3. Finding the proper line for turn 3 right-hander proved rather tricky.
In the end, I decided to almost turn in twice: Once gently at the entry after downshifting to second,
and then again to rotate the car towards the very-late apex. Coming out of 3 I shifted into third before
arriving at the turn 4-5 right-hand complex. I turned into 4 in the middle of third gear, tightened my
line towards the middle and then exited on full gas through turn 5 and onto the back straight. I needed
fourth gear about 30 yards prior to a small hump towards the end of the straight. Braking for the 6,7,8
chicane could wait no longer than just after cresting the hump.
If I waited any later…and
I did once, I ended up backwards. Done correctly, one should be able to turn into 6 on line for a slightly
late apex, and then straight-line 7 and 8 back onto the pit straight by way of a slight left hand kink, thus completing a
lap.
In total, I completed about
ten laps during the course of which I reeled in and disposed of three S2000s before I disposed of myself. As
I indicated in the track tour above, I managed to over-cook it a little into turn 6. That extra entry speed
combined with tire pressures in the rears about five pounds up from lap one, and I suspect a little fluid from a leak all
conspired to send me on a short agricultural excursion. I pulled into the pits to make sure nothing had
shaken loose, and everything was fine save for the small epoxy patch I had stuck around the fill-cap on the transmission case…which
was now dripping at a less-than optimal rate. As a result, I pulled back to the paddock and after considering
my options packed it in. Normally, I would have been done for the day…
Not so, on this day. I had been talking earlier with a fellow
from Alabama that was an MR2 fiend and had brought a lightly modified ’93 turbo which he was planning to run along with
his friend’s S2K. After politely declining initially, I gave in to his insistence that I drive his
MR2 for a session in exchange for my opinion of its setup. This ‘2 had a CT20B J-spec turbo replacing
the standard CT26 unit, a manual boost controller, larger throttle body, more aggressive clutch, KYB adjustable shocks, and
17” rims shod with Falken Azenis 215 front/235 rear tires.
This MR2 required more effort to drive than mine; a result of the heavier clutch and lack of power steering
and ABS. The suspension felt noticeably tighter and the engine noticeably more responsive both on boost,
off boost, and in transition. It made me realize just how squidgy the stock shocks feel on my car.
The combination of shorter sidewalls, and firmer shocks managed the weight transfer in transition much more efficiently
than the stock units. I also appreciated the fact that I could actually use positive throttle to adjust
the car, particularly in turn 3. Really apart from a somewhat finicky third gear, the car felt really good.
It had what I would describe as an “athletic” feel. It was not hugely powerful, but
it certainly has a leg up on an unmodified car in terms of straight-line performance as well as handling feedback.
Once I’d had my fun with the tuned
MR-deuce, I also bummed a ride with a fellow in a 2004 NSX. He didn’t let me drive, but it was still
fun. That done I spent the rest of the afternoon poking around some of the cars and talking to a few of
the owners. In general, I was very impressed with the knowledge and attitude that the Honda crowd brought
to the table. The guys I talked with definitely put a dent in the normal connotation of “Honda owner”.
I’m sure there might have been some yo-phat-tyteness thrown around at the car show the next day, but by-and-large
the ladies and gents at the track were reading from a more sensible book of knowledge.
I left the track having had a good time, stopped
by a parts store and grabbed some more temperature resistant epoxy and headed back to the hotel. I hit
Zaxby’s again while waiting for the car, and the weather to cool off a bit. After dinner I walked
back to the hotel, bummed a cup and some plastic utensils from the breakfast bar and administered a fresh epoxy patch to the
transmission case and then called it and evening. The return trip does not warrant a paragraph.
I decided on Sunday that the car remained sufficiently
intact to contest the autocross at Pellissippi State that afternoon. In short: it was
hotter than dammit, I ran uncontested in B-stock, finished 5th overall in raw time, 4th overall in RTP
index time, drank 2+ gallons of water, still ended up dehydrated, and went home with a hellacious sunburn…but it was
a really fun course.
So, on to next weekend…
