One week later, I was entered in my first race at Sonoma International Raceway. Wow! Was it different from HPDE.
It started with Warmup, early in the morning. My notion of “warmup” was to go out, let the first cup of coffee hit the veins, start out easy, and build up as you go. You know… warming up!! No, apparently when you join a race group, Warmup is merely the first race of the day – one for which you don’t get credit, but who cares!! If you’re a racer at heart, EVERY session on the track is a race.
Next comes Qualifying. The idea behind Qualifying is to set your best lap time, because in the race, cars line up in the order of their qualification times – lowest to highest. This makes sense since, although it seems to disadvantage the slower drivers, it’s unlikely that they will ever pass the faster drivers – at least, that’s the theory.
Then comes the race, mid-afternoon. Spec Miatas are combined with Spec E30s (think early 90’s BMW 325). That’s because the performance of each car is about the same. The Miatas can corner better, but the E30s have slightly better acceleration in the straights. What they don’t tell you is that the E30 drivers are ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!! They don’t think anything about “bumping” one another to make a pass (or to make a point).
It was extreme, almost to the point of being terrifying. But not quite. It was also an adrenaline rush!! Where did I finish? Last, of course.
Sunday, we were running the course in Nascar configuration. I had never run Nascar configuration on Sonoma, but I had Warmup and Qualifying to get used to it. Then, comes the race.
The first couple of laps, all is well, but then, between 3a & 4, I’m approached by a Miata on the left side and 2 E30s on the right. No sooner do we complete T4, all three pass me – 1 left and 2 right. As I assess the situation, I decide that the guy who has passed me on the left is going to have to cut across my path to navigate T7a. So, I back out a bit and give all 3 cars room. When I’m a few hundred feet from T7a, the E30 to my immediate left tries to take the turn, and is T-boned by the E30 on his right. Suddenly, the track is littered with mangled cars and car parts (a bumper, headlight, etc), and the Miata also gets into the action. The only thing that saved me was backing out of the mess beforehand. I slow down and successfully navigate the carnage. Once on the other side, I’m beginning to accelerate again and BAM! I’m hit from behind by an E30 driver who is apparently not paying attention to what is in front of him. CRAP!! DOUBLE CRAP!! When you have a Provisional License, any incident will bump you back to square one – start over.
But, the car seems to be OK, so I elect to finish the race.
I report the “body contact” as required by race rules, and after tracking down the other driver, they decide it was no ones fault that we just “got collected” (a new term for me) in the other collision. “Got collected” my ASS!! The wanker behind me either wasn’t paying attention or – I don’t know what. But, he had plenty of opportunities to see me and, oh, I don’t know… Hit the brakes?
But, since they viewed it as not my fault, I don’t get my provisional taken away. I get credit for Saturday’s race but not Sunday’s. And, the car goes to the shop for 4 weeks to get fixed.
Here are some puictures of the damage:
And note the crumpled trunk on the right side...
$3400 and 4weeks later, it was ready to go again - just in time for the next race weekend... At Laguna Seca.
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