Lisa Devlin's Racing Diary

Testing at Thunderhill

by Lisa Devlin

Testing at Thunderhill went well. The car handles much smoother with the new bushings. It actually shifts now with the new tranny (and Redline MTL) and it stops with the new rotors and pads.

I only had one little adventure with the braking. I was breaking in the new rotors with organic pads. As I drove out of the pits, I kept telling myself, "Take it easy on the brakes, you have organic pads."  Well I completely forgot by the second lap just how bad organic pads are and as I went into turn 5 the pedal went to the floor.

Now Turn 5 is a 15 degree uphill blind left hander to a 20 degree downhill off camber right hander, so this isn't the best place to lose your brakes. I got the car pretty much pointed in the right direction, did a couple more laps and figured the rotors were good to go.

Then I put in the new pads (Hawk blues) and didn't even think about the brakes for the rest of the day. I was turning some pretty good times (6 seconds off the class record), and things were working well.

Mom did really well in the school on Saturday. She consistently got smoother and more aggressive and had fun. But I'll let her describe that. (Mom, want to take a shot at it?)

The best part of my weekend was when I got to drive Ted's DSR. That was more fun than anyone should be allowed to have. I can't wait till I finish mine.

My RX7 is riding a fine line of being up for sale so I can put all my time into finishing the D as quickly as possible. The D is powered by a Kawasaki ZX-10 and I've never driven a motorcycle, much less a sequential shift before. When I asked for a test ride back and forth in the paddock to get used to the shifting, I was told to "just get out there and go."

So I get in this car that I've only ever sat in and I don't know how to shift and get to go out with all these other cars that weigh at least 3 times what this car weighs, although it handles better and has a better HP to weight ratio than any other car out there. No pressure there!

My first lap was just getting used to the car. Of course, even on my first lap I was still going past people like they were standing still. I saw a lot of differentials that session. Taking it easy and fighting traffic (we're only allowed to pass on the straights), I still turned times faster than pushing the RX7 on a clear track.

The next session, I tried to get a head start by getting to grid first. Things were going well until I got to Turn 5 (remember that one). I braked, pointed and got back on the throttle. Only this throttle really responds. I launched it over the top of 5 going over the berm and into the dirt.

Leading to my second test at A-Mac. Tuesday night I got to put my newly acquired fiberglassing skills to the test... I passed. The next note will definitely be about racing. I promise.

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

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