stripethree

I didn’t get a chance to comment on this event before taking off to DC for the week. I was up in Phoenix to take their annual driver school Saturday, and got some quality instruction. Usually the school is geared towards novices, but low enrollment allowed them to open it up to more experienced drivers so they could fill slots. Neither of my instructors – Elliot and Clint – were new faces to me and I have ridden along with both of them at prior events. They are two of the fastest driver’s in Arizona, which is interesting because their driving styles have some big differences. Each student got 7 runs in the morning and 7 in the afternoon, but instructors usually took 2 of those runs to drive and instruct from behind the wheel. Adding to the bang for the buck, I was able to ride along with Elliot and Doug (’08 DSP Nat’l Champ) in Elliot’s STX during lunch. Each of them drove my car, then Elliot’s BMW and I could really see differences in braking zones, line, and how they adjusted to the differences the two cars presented.

We also killed some tires.

Sunday it was time to put this new knowledge to work. I ran in Open, partly to try and rain on Dave Webb’s quest for 3000 (I failed, but Doug didn’t) and partly just to try something new since I already wrapped up 1st in ST2 (remember though: big fish, little pond…).

I ran… okay, but had a good breakthrough in TOs. I think, as with Evo School in March, it will take a little time for everything to sink in – we’ll find out tomorrow at the last Tucson event of the year.

Comps: 34.697, 35.292 (+2), 35.438 (+1), 34.510 (+1)
TOs: 35.033, 34.140, 34.566 (+3), 33.795 (+1 cone and a very stupid missed shift…)
DSP Open: 3rd out of 3, 974
Overall: 28th fast time out of 101, 28th PAX also, 931

Now I cross my fingers that these tires can survive one more event, and help me get the points I need to take over 1st within Street Tire in Tucson.