FD ATL was a blast.
Our weekend started on tuesday night right after work. I met up with my spotter and crew chief and we got on the road. 30 hours lay before us and we weren't stopping. We wanted to make Thursday practice to test some new alignment on the car and to also get a feel for ATL. So we rolled into ATL at 6am and got any sleep we could. Practice was starting at noon.
Road Atlanta is a truly amazing facility. It's very picturesque and the elevation changes at the track look so fun.
Thursday practice went pretty bad. I was again finding myself fighting the car and sleep deprivation wasn't helping. We didn't get a chance to really set it up much. With only 4 runs in we felt defeated.
I made sure to get enough sleep for Friday. We were all so exhausted from the drive that it was mentally draining everyone.
We got to the track early and immediately went to work on the car.
We checked every last nut and bolt in the susp and found a few that weren't as tight as they needed to be. I also decided to change the toe settings in the front just a bit since the car seemed really unstable and snappy.
Whatever we did worked and it worked awesome!
The car felt great and really predictable. I went from not being able to link the course on Thursday to linking the course first lap on Friday. The car felt night and day. I also felt a ton better with some rest and a clear head.
The rest of practice was unremarkable. My spotter Pat was slowly showing me where I needed to improve. The toughest part for me was the outer clip on the uphill. It's really deceiving in the car. Maybe it's because my car is low and I sit pretty much on the floor, but coming up the hill felt like I couldn't see where the turn was. It was my crew chief who actually gave me his only piece of advice ever and it worked. "floor it longer". That's all he ever says. But it worked and I actually overshot the clip! Good, now I know where the limit is and where my timing should be.
Qualifying. Since I qualified and finished decent in LBC I got to qualify later in the pack. It's good not being one of the first cars out.
My first run was a total disaster. I entered the 1st turn like normal and got to angle quick. All weekend I had been entering in 4th gear and downshifting to 3rd. Well, I own a T56 and shifting is not something that transmission does. So by the 2nd corner I was losing speed while trying to find a gear. I'll take any gear at this point. So I just rammed it into 2nd and floored it up the hill. I basically did a straightline burnout because my wheel speed was nothing. I also overshoot the outer zone just a tad since I went into that corner faster than anyone else. Oops. I get a 71.
Qual #2 went better. I felt like I drove a ton better and got a lot more angle everywhere. I shifted a lot sooner which helped a ton. Right about my run was when the speed gun broke/malfunctioned/whatever. What's strange is that everyone posted a speed in qualifying with a "broken" gun. I had 7th fastest speed from the recorded data so my 2nd run might have scored a lot higher if everyone didn't get the 10 speed points automatically. I can at least say that my low car can perform while being low which I'm happy with.
http://www.twitch.tv/driftstream/b/317885391Qual #1: 51:12
Qual #2: 2:18:00
My top 32 match up would be Matt Powers. Old low low vs new low low? Hahaha.
He went first and I followed. I got a little too aggressive and spun at the top of the keyhole! GRRRRRRR.
On my way back to the start my spotter says "Uhm, just go 100mph and do a reverse entry!" Those were literally his words. Apparently many of the other spotters thought this was bad advice. You decide.
http://www.twitch.tv/driftstream/b/317996929
I lead and pretty much did a run that felt like my best one ever of the weekend. But it wasn't enough and the spin cost me.
After the battle Matt said I should raise my car. HAHAHA.
And that was our weekend. We spent the rest of the night watching the battles, yelling for our friends, and having a blast.
I'll be skipping FL and NJ cause I'm poor. But I'll be back for seattle, vegas, and irwindale so that should be fun. I like tracks with walls.
Also if anyone knows where I can buy a 4spd dogbox let me know!
