Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

VIR "Oktoberfast" 2k15

Well, as the season starts to wrap up, we got one final weekend at VIR in for the year. There was no Friday test/Comp school day, so I worked an extra day last week (eww) and drove down Friday around 1 PM. I-95 was awful all the way to Richmond, because I forgot it was a holiday weekend, but once I got to 360 it was smooth sailing.

Arrived at VIR right as the gates were opening at 6 PM:



Got things unloaded, had dinner with Justin/Casey/Felton and the MM student crowd showed up shortly thereafter. Very impressed at how many students came out - keep that up!

Saturday was a good day with kind of "meh" weather - overcast, no rain save for a little sprinkle around 3 PM - and I was turning consistent 2:19.xx laps all day. Consistency is good but I was really wanting some 18's (or better, 16-17). Got to take every MMer who wanted a ride (except Josh, took him out on Sunday) out in some capacity, whether it was a pace lap or some hot laps, and also got them in some DE 3/4 cars.

The "MM & Friends" paddock was strong this weekend, including a special guest appearance from Maeng



OG Racing party included some great wins - my friend Rob's first Spec3 win (!!) and DJ taking 1st in GTS3 with his new M3, after telling me how awful it was to drive that morning.



Back to the MM trailers for some grilling and cold beers. Had to take a pumpkin-beer selfie. Basic actions for basic people, you know. It felt "just like old times" with all of the people, conversation and grilling. We need to keep that up, please and thank you.



Sunday was full of better weather (about 75-80* and sunny!), some carnage, and better driving on my end. Got my friend Jim in the car first thing in the morning and he gave me a few pointers and was overall very impressed with my driving, which was good to hear. I can drive by myself all day long and turn respectable laps, but hearing someone else say "you have really good control of the car, a great line, and awesome traffic awareness/management" is nice confirmation of your internal thoughts and like, hey, I don't suck.

So, went out and did some TT stuffs, finally got back into the 2:18's on Sunday and felt better about it. My braking at T1 is getting better, but I still need to do more at T14 (end of back straight). I can brake later and I'm too chicken to do it. Oh well, next year. Jim finally got me to take the Uphill Esses 100% flat in 5th gear, a brief brake and then flat in 4th down the hill at South Bend. It was, as I told him in the car "tremendously uncomfortable" but felt good when I got to Oak Tree.

Did some pacing and had to collect the field a few times. HPDE 3 was all over the place on Sunday. A first-gen Viper rear-ended a Gulf-liveried Aston as part of a red flag drill which was no bueno. Ended up grabbing the field for the Thunder race at some point, you can see Jim's M3 in the background:



Realized that as this season winds down, I've been TTing for two years (eek) and have also known my friend Christina for about that length of time. Our cars are all matchy-matchy ("same same, but different, but still same") and we had this moment of "holy crap it's been two years with these busted piles?!" on Sunday afternoon.



Overall a really, really solid weekend. I think all the new MMers who came out had a fun time - several commented on wanting to come back and start driving when money frees up. Ryan did very well in DE 2, according to Christina, who instructed him all weekend. Congrats!

Already looking forward to Summit Point in four weeks and whatever comes in the 2016 season!!



Of course, no post is complete without videos...

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Both "early morning" TT sessions had a lot of cobwebs that had to be shaken off from me and other drivers. Caught some of them on video and, I mean, everything is better with Yakety Sax involved.

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