--On Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:08 AM -0400 tyson@irobot.com wrote:
> I just wanted to say that I had a great time in Topeka and look forward
> to a future in CM.
I had fun too, despite a difficult year. Very few events due to birth of
our first child in April. (Tim has the same excuse and he finished 0.031
ahead of me... Coincidence?)
I was especially amazed (and impressed!) by the closeness of the
competition, especially on Tuesday. All the trophies were within half a
second!
We had throttle response problems on Tuesday, which we thought we had fixed
for Wednesday, but we hadn't. Thanks to Pat, Gary, Eric, and everyone for
the help. I was thrilled to have driven through the problem to an 8th
place position after Tuesday less than half a second out of the lead; I
consider that a triumph given the situation.
Many thanks to Pat, Tim, and Jim for saying yes when I asked if I could
drive their car on Wednesday; unfortunately I'm too light to make weight in
any of those cars. Triple thanks to Pat for allowing Bob to co-drive.
So I hopped in Greg Vincent's 1984 Van Diemen (thanks, Greg and Anne!).
I've driven that car about half a dozen times over as many years, and I've
hated it every time, so this really was something of a last resort for me.
I last drove it this summer at the Northeast Divisional Championships after
we broke second gear, and the car was downright undriveable.
But by the exit of that first big right-hander leading into the CP slalom
on the north, I had the car pretty well figured out. It was horribly loose
on corner entry, still loose mid-corner, and had a bunch of wheelspin on
corner exit, but it was extremely predictable. It did the same thing every
single time, so it was very comfortable to be aggressive, take risks, and
go for it. This car has never felt so good. I didn't remember how much I
hated it until I got to the guy writing the times at the exit of the
course, when the support bars for the roll hoop got in my way and I
couldn't stick my hand out to take the paper. :-)
In a borrowed car I moved up from 8th to 6th, so I'm certainly pleased. At
the same time I'm disappointed; I'm sure I could have done better had I
been in my own car, and had it been working properly. I'll take the strong
moral victory for the second year in a row. :-)
Anyway, Greg's car will be for sale, or so I've been told, and I can say
with authority that it's a fast car and fairly easy to drive. It probably
could use a little less rear rebound and/or a little less rear bar. Or
with a little study, there might be some geometry opportunities with ride
height, but nothing that's not solvable. Definitely a capable trophy
winner, probably a capable championship winner. Someone (preferably someone
in the northeast!) should buy this car...
Mark
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