Lisa Devlin's Racing Diary

SCCA Driver's School at Thunderhill

by Lisa Devlin

There is only one word to describe SCCA School. Intense! From the lecture that started at 8am Saturday to the end of the 5 lap sprint race on Sunday, things were constantly happening. The other thing to note is that this is called "Driver's School" and NOT "Driving School." When you get to school, you are expected to know how to drive. The two hour lecture only covers what will be happening and what is expected of you. They cover flags briefly. The line is mentioned, but not reviewed. You will do that individually with your instructor. The student/instructor ratio was two or three to one. After the lecture, I meet my instructor and haul ass back to the car to get it to the grid.

I have to mention that I was fortunate to have Don there to help me. It would have been extremely difficult otherwise. This freed me up from worrying about the car to worrying about where I needed to be. This may not sound like a big deal, but the entire weekend went 30 minute practice, pit the car, down as much water as possible, find instructor, debrief, hit the outhouse, back to the grid, do it over again. Don was in charge of checking oil, tire pressures, shocks, gas, and any mechanical problems.

The first session was pretty much just follow the leader at very low speeds. This was when we were supposed to be learning the line. The next session we were on our own with passing only on the front straight. During "lunch" we did rides with our instructor to talk about the line and answer any questions we might have. After lunch they opened up passing to the entire track except from the entrance of turn 4 to the exit of turn 5. Let the carnage begin! There were several incidents, but the one that got the black-flag-all, was when a Pinto parked it on the hay bales at the end of the pit wall. They decided not to allow us unlimited passing for the last session of the day. The day ended with a track walk with the Chief Driving Instructor, Dave Arken. While I was on the track walk, Don fixed a carburetor float that had been causing a fuel pick up problem.

During this first day I realized what a benefit it's been to have been driving for so long with Nor Cal. Open tracks with the Shelby Club have been great for learning to drive and getting the feel of the track. My main problem was that I was being too polite, and that I was used to passing on the straights only. Once I accepted the fact that passing on the straight was a bonus, and that if I wanted to pass I was going to have to force the issue, things got much better.

Sunday dawned gloomy and by the time we got to the track it was raining pretty good. Figures, since I didn't have rain tires. I borrowed a set of rain tires from Larry Oka and was back in business.

The first session we were again restricted from passing from turn 4 to turn 5 while we got used to the wet conditions. For the next session they gave us unrestricted passing and by this time it was POURING. I had the windshield wipers going full bore and still had very limited visibility. Sounds to me like a good time to practice passing. Of all the passes I made (including a yellow Z), the best was a late brake pass to take the apex at turn 8 in the pouring rain with virtually no visibility--I don't think you've really lived until you've done that!

The rain had let up to a drizzle for the last session before "lunch." This was a miserable session in which it was too wet for slicks and too dry for rain tires. The only thing notable about this session was some good saves at turns 3, 5, 6, 9 and a pretty spectacular save at turn 1. I did, however, learn quite a bit about tire adhesion...

After "lunch" ("lunch" consists of tracking down something edible while trying to find your driving instructor), we did our first practice grid, start and race to turn 4 going into regular practice. Talk about nervous. I wasn't really sure how a little race to turn 4 would be any different from practice. I found out in a hurry. One lap to get bunched up and warm up tires and brakes, come around turn 9, bring the RPM up to optimum power range, one eye on the car next to you, one eye on the car in front of you and one eye on the starter (it's possible). The second I see green my right foot hits the floor and I start weaving around every other car that wasn't paying attention. All nervousness was gone as the intense concentration took over. As soon as I got to the yellow flag signaling the end of the "race," the intensity diminished and the muscles relaxed. There's no way to even try to describe the feeling or the difference between practice and a race.

During the practice part, I was noticing problems with fuel pick up again. A quick gauge check revealed that I had no fuel to pick up, hence the problem. I took it easy (relatively) for this session to save fuel so I could last the entire 30 minutes. Into the pits, Don takes the car to fuel, I track down my instructor, debrief, then go to find out where I'm supposed to grid for the sprint races. We've been warned, if you aren't on the grid by the 5 minute mark, you're not gonna get on the grid at all, or you go to the end.

I ended up gridded 37 out of 44. Yech! One lap, warm up the tires, warm up the brakes, around turn 9, glimpse green and floor it. I managed to pass about 5 cars down the straight, then going into turn 1 it seemed like everyone was fighting for the outside to take the "fast line" through the turn. I thought it was awfully nice of all those people to get out of my way so I could take the inside line and gain about another 4 positions by taking the apex. At the end of the three lap sprint race I had gained a total of 12 positions (I was passed and I did some passing) and was gridded 25th for the start of the five lap sprint. The three lap sprint had ended with me passing a Vega (yes!!!!) at turn 9 and drag racing to the checkered to finish just behind a Pinto. I was determined to get ahead of the Pinto in the next race. (Yes this is the same Pinto that thought hay bales were for parking cars on.)

Since he had more horsepower, I was going to have to get ahead of him on the start and hold him off through the turns. When we got the green, I jumped ahead of him. He saw this and followed me through the traffic and to the inside of turn 1. He had been very aggressive during practice, but when I wouldn't let him by, he couldn't take the apex away. I held him off for a lap and a half when I passed a car going up the hill into turn 5 and he got stuck behind them. I never saw him again. While I did a lot of passing, I also got passed a lot and ended up in about the same field position as when I started.

After the race, we were waved over to impound and congratulated on completing the course. Pictures, license presentations, and pack up for the long drive home. Overall it was a great learning experience and I'm looking forward to my next two regional races that will earn me a regional road racing license.

To send a letter to Lisa, email to devlin@thunval.com

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