I received my confirmation that I will be one of thirteen participants Saturday and Sunday in the HPDE1 at Barber Motorsports Park.
Pre-Tech:
I called SpeedSouth in Pelham to see what I would have to do to get the car tech checked for HPDE1. They set me an appointment for 2:30 the same day. I rolled up to see they had a pile of cool stuff they were working on. As a former shop owner I had to take a peek. Everything from LS swapped 240s to trucks were piled in with almost no room to spare. They got me checked out and back on the road in about a half hour plus chat time.
First day HPDE1 NASA rules and YouTube videos:
I was starting to get the adrenaline pumping and re-read the NASA rules and watched their videos. I watched the Chin track day Barber turn by turn video, then heel and toe videos, and finally saw one on track day prep that brought home what the rules were saying about the car being ready.
Time to prep:
I started by making sure my prescription glasses fit inside the Snell 2015 helmet. Glad I did because they didn’t. I went to Eyemart Express and they fitted me with a pair of prescription polar optic goggles that would slide tightly between the cheek pad and my temple. This prevented me from destroying my day wear safety glasses to comply.
The car, another once over:
I decided to double-check the car to make sure I had not missed anything. I checked the fluids and the engine bay. All the fluids were good. However, I discovered that the positive battery terminal cover was missing. Since there was no time to order another cover from Nissan I covered the terminal with electrical tape in hopes that it would suffice.
I emptied the glove box and console. I removed the lug wrench and jack and placed them in a rolling tool bag. I’ll take the spare and floor mats out when I reach the paddock.
I checked the torque on all the lugs and found two under torqued. Tires were 31.5 psi cold.
Track Day Supplies:
How to minimize the load and still bring what I thought I might need was a struggle. My gut thinks I need to bring everything because whatever I’ll need will be the one thing I chose not to bring. My reasonable side deliberated it down to these three things and I will add water and protein bars in a cooler to this illustration of my compromise.
Mind Games:
Going over the track with my car in mind and trying to develop a strategy. I will have to forget most of this to learn “the school line”. But, it seemed to help me feel more prepared. Thinking about the track with seventeen turns, 90 feet of elevation change weighting and un-weighting the car, which apexes to avoid/touch/clobber, and when to brake versus where to turn in, and how to manage to heel toe or left foot brake, all seemed to, no surprise, keep me occupied enough to not sleep at all!
I couldn’t be more excited about driving the world-class Barber Motorsports Park. I hope to do well and move up the ranks. There is a zero percent chance of rain. So, I will not need an ezup to keep things dry. I’ll keep you posted!
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