Pretty proud of myself...

[NickW]

So as the title suggests, I'm quite proud of myself.

A couple of weekends ago I participated in the PCA Chicago region RADE (Road America DE). Started in the novice group because I had never driven a rear engined car before, and my car is a bit more of a handful than most.

Got it going in the first session, instructor signed me off before we were done...

Had an okay time the first day (novice day), perhaps my car was a bit too much for most others. Seemed to catch many drivers not looking at their rear view mirrors.

Got booted up one run group the next day (Group 3 of 4). Ran all day there, had similar problems, people not watching their mirrors.

Car was spectacular. I was getting good top end, over 170mph before my brake zone on the front straight (6th gear, 5000-5500rpm). Car was a bit unsettled, perhaps due to the stock shocks/springs being overwhelmed by the bumps on the track. I was spiking rpms over the bumps on the straights, and people could hear it from the hot pit lane.

But the best part of the weekend was, I didn't wear out my rear brake pads! I had heard of people having problems with PSM and prematurely wearing out the pads, but I had no such issues but was very conscious of this. I was clocking in 2.40.xx laptimes in traffic all weekend so I know I had some good speed in the corners, perhaps not going 90%, maybe not even 80%, but since it was my first time driving my car in anger I had no intention of not driving it home. In fact, I just came back from the dealer for the annual service on the car and they remarked that the pads looked great but the fluid was done- so they used up my last liter bottle of SRF which is what I had bled the system with. If all I have to do is bleed SRF and drive the way I did I'm happy as a clam!