It’s officially summertime and the weather at Summit Point was a constant reminder. It was H-O-T all weekend.
Saturday’s qualifying was cut very short by a Spec E46 who dropped a wheel around T8ish, spun and stuffed it nose-first into the tires on driver’s right. The car looked mostly fixable but the track was put under full-course red and every tow truck, ambulance and fire truck was sent out.
Hyperfest is one of my favorite events of the year, and this year was no different. I was excited to be back at VIR with full aero and the upgraded differential, plus I had my parents, some family friends, and friends from DC all coming to watch the racing on Saturday.
Over the off-season I admittedly did nothing to my E36. It was the first winter in quite some time that the car didn’t actually need any work to participate in the spring events. And given New Jersey had such a mild winter this year, It was driven to school and work quite often. The one thing I did was store my Bridgestone RE71Rs in the basement in attempts to preserve the compound of the tire. As I found out at South Jersey SCCA’s opening autocross event, it didn’t quite work.
Our events are held at an abandoned airport right on the Bays of Atlantic City. There is constantly a sea breeze, so most early-spring events struggle to reach the 50s.
Second race weekend of the year and my second provisional weekend! I kicked it off on Friday afternoon with a little jaunt down I-95 (only two hours to go 50 miles, wow!), unpacked and headed to the Holiday Inn where Jeff was giving the Instructor Clinic. I passed and now have my red hat, and can hop in the right seat to yell at all you students who come out and do Hyperdrives/HPDE 1.
My driving progressed over the last year or so to the point where I (and others) felt that I was ready for wheel to wheel competition. I decided back in November that 2017 was the year I’d finish the car and do Comp School, and that I’d want to do it at a track where I was very comfortable, so that I could focus on the school as much as possible. I got the car prepped (ish) and headed to VIR on Thursday afternoon.