Third Place Finish in TTE with NASA at VIR

A weekend that predicted rain on Saturday...what...rain....again...say its not so....OK...its not so. We did get rain in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Well so I was told anyway since I slept through it in the trailer. It was enough to soak everything as well as enough to keep the famous VIR dust in the paddock from covering everything during the weekend. Saturday turned out to be a great day with cloudy sky's and a few scattered sprinkles that only lasted a couple of minutes. Not enough to wet the track down at all. I lucked out with two great students for the weekend...again. But I will say they were nothing alike. One was timid and one was aggressive. Made my job more of a challenge. Keri my timid student has only a couple of track days under her belt did quite well. She listened very well to simple intruction and learned fast. Most of the weekend we worked on getting off the brakes and carrying momentum through the turns of the track. She was doing very well with being smooth on all her inputs. We did get into T1 hot one time and spun. That was her first spin ever. I hope she keeps the after the spin in mind for the future. Stop...wait...proceed when told by the flag station. Thats a good learning point for HPDE.

Rob, another fellow miata driver and from what I heard a very good AX'er also did very well. I must admit hit 99 miata with a suspension package did very well. My biggest challenge was taking an AX'er and dialing him back to run a road course. This was Rob's first HPDE as well as the first time at VIR. Obviously from the start I knew he could handle his miata...so I let him push some limits right from the get go. After his first session on track he was really doing well and running smooth laps. I decided to have a little pep talk with him about the changes 150 lbs less would make, the importance of being courteous on the track and keeping it under control. Well....he did very well on his first test, a red flag drill. He did just what he was supposed to do. Though after that he got into a turn a little too hard and had a weet and great with the tire wall. Even though it was very minor on the damage side it was enough to end his weekend one session short due to the grass wedged between his rims and tires. Even though the repairs were smooth and easy...I feel bad about it and wonder if I turned him loose too soon.

As for my weekend...gee how can I sum it up other then awesome. I ran Time Trials Saturday and took third in class. Though the funny part of this for me is that I thought I was fourth by not looking at the times close enough so I missed the awards party because I was ready for some awesome chili and cornbread. But I am going to tell you....Ralph's chili and cornbread was worth missing trophy girls and pictures with them. Though the spontaneous combustion from it made the trailer an interesting challenge for all...LOL. We have one more weekend at the track in TT this year. I hope to do well...if not...its been a fun season for sure and has given me some really interesting stories to share with others. Have to give special thanks to Mom, Bev and Ralph for making an awesome weekend for me and the gang. These three people make our weekend feeding frenzies so easy and tasty. We could not eat so good without you guys!

Results can be found here

Octoberfast Best TT Run at VIR from Ronald Roderick on Vimeo.

Here is a picture...please check out the photo section for more pictures soon along with video in the video section.