Lisa Devlin's Racing Diary

Race Weekend at Sears Point

by Lisa Devlin

Well my third race was this weekend. The car was finally close to being set up with the suspension and this was my first race with my regional license.

I learned a lot.

1) The start is the second most important part of the race.

2) In order to outbrake someone into Turn 7 you have to have a good line out of the carousel.

3) K-Wall will move when coaxed.

4) Safety equipment is the most important part of the race.

But I skip ahead... let us return to Friday morning. It was a beautiful day at Sears Point. One of those not too hot, not to cold, not to breezy. Track conditions were perfect.

After some major hassle in tech they let me go out to practice, but wouldn't let me race until I got a proper seat back brace... This car has been through THREE OTHER TECHS and no one has said a word, then suddenly at a double regional they say "We'll let you practice, but fix it or don't race and lose your entry fee."

Fine. I agree to just about anything because my practice group is warming up on pre-grid right about now. After practice - and being annoyed - we went to McGee Motorsports and 1 hr 15 min and $62.50 later I'm back in business and thumbing my nose at tech. (For future reference... Don't do this. It's bad luck.)

Practice went great. The car is now FAST. I was still on used tires and getting used to the track and the new suspension and the new POWER. I only had a 15 minute practice due to the delay in tech, but to qualify I only needed one fast time.... I was turning 2:13...

New tires went on for qualifying and qualifying went great. I'm not being passed like in the last races and I'm doing pretty well. Still working on the line, but it's coming along quickly and everything feels really good, although the tire pressures are a little high and the car is pushing.

I ended up turning 2:08 and qualifying 25/31 (my best so far) and I wasn't last in RX7 class! Not only that, but the guy qualifying 24 is also RX7 class and less than a half second ahead of me. This same guy walked away from me at Thunderhill last month. So the strategy... get him on the start.

Saturday morning. Yet another beautiful day. As I'm waiting on grid I notice that two cars ahead of me (and the other RX7) never showed up. This is really going to make my pass at the start much easier.

We're on the track, we go around 11 to 12 I'm pulling on this guy, I've got him going into one and the two cars that were supposed to have gridded ahead of us pull in front of me, cutting off my pass of the RX7.

Great. Now I'm going to chase him the entire way. Which is what I did. I was outbraking him, but he had just a bit more power and I couldn't catch him coming out of the turns. So I started braking a little later, and going a little faster through the turns.

Halfway point and I've only gained a little ground. Now at this point I'm far enough ahead of everyone else that I could have just kicked back and finished sixth, ahead of one other RX7.

Nope. I had to fight for fifth. OK just a little faster through the carousel and I can catch him this time. The rear end got a little loose going through the carousel, I brought it back and I had it... Everyone who was watching said it looked like I had it.

Then, suddenly, I didn't have it and all I saw was white tires. Too late to really do anything but hang on and hope the roll cage works. I went through two layers of tires and into the k-wall pretty nearly head on. Up the k-wall, I saw blue-sky (spectators thought I was going to flip), pivot on the nose of the car and land looking up at the exit of the carousel.

System check. I'm alive. I can move. Can't get my arm out through the window net to give the OK, but I'm sitting under the communications station and I'm frantically signaling OK to them while I'm trying to undo the window net and get my arm out. I got out of the car, walked through the wide gap I'd put in between the two sections of k-wall, and waited for the session to end.

Car to impound, me to medical. I've bruised my hand (figured out yesterday, no fracture) and my neck hurts. Otherwise I'm OK. Car's got the frame rail accordioned back to where the cage is. Motor's OK, radiator's OK, oil cooler OK, bent a camber plate.

I have another car, so right now we're debating whether to move everything to the new chassis or replace the front clip. First get an estimate from the body shop and go from there. If anyone knows a good body shop...

Sunday I pretty much couldn't move. Yesterday I saw the chiropractor and today I'm virtually pain-free. A little ache in my upper back. Pays to be in shape...

So that's all for now. I'll keep you posted as to when I'll be back on track. By the way, my fastest time for the race was 2:06 and a half second faster than the guy in front of me... of course, he finished....

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

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