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Out
In The Passing Lane
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 The
old adage about practice making perfect is being applied with regularity
at the Weber residence, as we figure out how to unload, turnaround and
park our long car trailer. As I've mentioned previously we've already cut
down a couple of trees and widened the entrance to our driveway to accommodate
the trailer as it pivots. Then we had to decide where to attempt to turn
the trailer around. After two efforts that involved driving onto our front
lawn, we switched to pivoting the trailer in a clearing half way down our
driveway. We quickly learned that we were more successful when Susana drove
and I directed this portion of the task. I was less able to direct Susana
when she then was required to back the trailer some 200 feet around curves
in our driveway into the trailer's parking location. My directions were
too extreme necessitating much time consuming correcting. For that portion
of the task I now drive and Susana directs. Our last effort took only 30
minutes, a new record for pivoting the trailer in a confined space! We
still need to relocate a couple of bushes lining the driveway, and widen
the trailer parking gravel pad. By the end of the driving season I'm expecting
we'll be a lot more confident about the best sequence of events, and our
neighbors less distracted by our shouts to stop before you hit a tree!
No matter how prepared I try to be for small maintenance tasks, I inevitably need to make multiple trips to Home Depot before I have the right supplies. I'm currently changing all the fittings on the air lines and air tools in my garage and in the trailer. The special fittings I purchased from Griot's Garage aren't all that special, in fact they are difficult to disconnect in particular. So I'm switching to more substantial fittings used by NASCAR teams, and in the process changing a couple of air lines. I shouldn't probably be all that surprised by the fact that despite mentally calculating how many of which connectors I might need, I don't have enough of the right sizes. So I'll be headed back to Home Depot for hopefully the right blend of male and female connectors in different size conversions. What are the odds they'll have what I need on my next visit? Right - no chance! This past weekend found me indoors working on this issue of the newsletter (not a big loss as the gray cloudy weekend didn't invite outdoor activities). For background "noise" I turned on the Mosport American Le Mans race. Since we'd recently driven the track, it was fun to watch how the pros drive that circuit. I particularly enjoyed the in car camera views from the 996 GT3 RSs. Early in the race Cort Wagner trashed a Racers Group GT3 RS against the Turn 4 tire barrier, followed only a few laps later by Oliver Gavin doing the same thing to a Corvette. I know that corner well and believe it can be driven at nearly full throttle, but I always flinch when I approach it, as it is initially blind at the entrance and downhill. I suspect Cort and Oliver are much more comfortable carrying their speed through that corner, but their off course excursions point to the consequences if something isn't quite right. The driving of J J Lento in the Champion Audi LMP 900 car particularly impressed me. Early in the race he diced through track with amazing dexterity. The speed differentials between the various classes are significant, so figuring out when and where to pass must be mentally very challenging. One bad guess and you're bumped off the track. F1 Boston's new outdoor go-kart facility is terrific, much more entertaining to race on versus their indoor facility. I've had two occasions to race on the .8-mile track, once at our club event and once during a company conference I hosted. The karts go quick enough to provide plenty of racing action, achieving almost 50 mph on the main straight, and average lap speeds over 45 mph. Our region event was very competitive, with a number of experienced racers participating. My company event featured mostly participants who've never raced on a track in a car or kart. Universally they all came away from the 1 3/4 hours of driving impressed with the physical and mental demands placed on drivers. Most observers of racing have little or no appreciation for how demanding is our favorite sport. I've long contended the professional racecar drivers are some of the best athletes competing in any sport. No other sport places continuous physical and mental demands on their athletes for so long a period of time. A brief lapse of concentration in motorsports can have major consequences, as can physical fatigue. You're not worried about surviving a strikeout; a crash at 150 mph into a concrete barrier is another matter. I'm delighted to see so many people contributing content for the NOR'EASTER. Producing a magazine that people will want to read is a constant challenge. The regular contributors featured in this publication put up with my constant harassing about deadlines, producing in the process entertaining columns. Adding to their contributions are columns from an increasingly broad cross section of the club - new members and old timers. These many varied viewpoints about club activities make for entertaining reading, and hopefully in the process stimulate some of you to want to join in all the fun. We're off to BeaveRun for two days of driving on yet another new track, this time with our region. With a little cooperation from Mother Nature hopefully we get in lots of on track time at speed. I don't want to drive 9 hours to the track only to have to deal with rain, something we've encountered too much this year! |
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