In chronological order:
San Diego: Ideal: drive down on Thurs. Get there by thurs night, get a good
night's rest, go to the site early on friday. This allows you to stake out
your paddock spot, prep your car, put the mandatory stickers on, tech, and run
the practice course as much as you want while there aren't too many people
there. Then Friday evening you register and walk the course (which is so long
it takes 15 minutes each time) between 1 and 100 times. They also have free
food and it's generally a very enjoyable evening.
If you can't get Thursday off, leave Thursday night, get as far south as you
can (Bakersfield, Irvine, whatever) and stay there, then drive the rest of the
trip on Friday morning. You can still get everything above done, just not in
the same relaxed fashion.
Arriving late Friday night is not something I recommend. Everything will
happen really fast on Saturday and Sunday and you'll feel really left behind.
Leaving: After your Sunday runs you'll have to pack up, hopefully collect your
trophy, and by the time you're ready to leave you're going to be tired, hungry,
and it's going to be late. We usually stay half way in Bakersfield and attack
the rest on Monday, it's not a bad idea.
San Diego is DEFINITELY worth it!
Nationals: There are probably others more qualified to speak on this since I
flew in last year. But even though I missed the road trip, I still stayed for
the entire week just to soak up the experience.
Peter
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