Day 59...another type of racing

Sorry for the hiatus...I was out of town, and I have not had time to sit down and type...but I'm back!  I took a quick trip out to Santa Cruz, California to see my cousin Gregg.  He has invited me out several times to spend the day with him at Laguna Seca Raceway, and I was finally able to work it into my schedule.

You see, Gregg is an amateur racer car driver, competing in SCCA events in his Porsche 911.  This is not your run of the mill 911 though...it's definitely not street legal (although he drives it on the street sometimes...hmmm)...it's a race car!  

A beautiful daily driver, turned race car!

Anyway...Gregg was going to be driving his car at an ope-track day at Laguna Seca (now known as Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca), one of the most famous road courses in the World.  He invited me to hang out with him and be a passenger while he drove...how could I possibly say no? I flew out of Phoenix Sunday afternoon, arriving in San Jose at 3:30 pm.  After a short trip 'over the hill' we arrived in one of my favorite beach towns...Santa Cruz.  There was a chill in the air, and a smell of the ocean...I was in heaven!  

Fox shock reservoirs, and other high performance parts under the hood...where's the motor?

Laguna Seca Raceway is located about ten miles inland from Monterey, California.  It is nestled in the rolling hills, and is famous for the Turn 8 and 8A combination, popularly referred to as the Corkscrew.  This is considered one of the motor sport world's most challenging turns, due to the drop in elevation as well as its blind crest and apex on the uphill approach.  

Map of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca

Track Day is open to both amateur and professional drivers, and provides them an opportunity to bring out their toys and open them up on one of the most famous racetracks in the world.  The cars that showed up were pretty amazing...Porsche, Ferrari, Maserati, Nissan GTR's, and more.  There was a whole-lotta money out there!  There were three separate categories of drivers; advanced-car, mixed-car, and motorcycle.  Each category had twenty minutes on the track per driving session.  Gregg was signed up to drive in the advanced category, which meant we would be on the track with some very good drivers, and some very fast cars!  The advanced category would begin on the hour, each hour, from 9am-4pm...that's a lot of track time!  

Race cars need gas too!

                                      

 

A small sample of some of the TOYS that were brought out to drive.

The day began early, as we left the house around 6am, and headed out.  Gregg would be driving the (non-street legal) Porsche, while I followed in his daily driver.  The trip would take us about 40-minutes, including a stop to gas up the Porsche.  As we arrived at Laguna Seca, and made our way back into the hills, the race track soon became visible.  I immediately recognized turns 1 and 2, as I had raced this track hundreds of times before...on my X-Box anyway!  Amazingly, the track depicted in the video game is exactly like the real thing!  

Every driver was required to attend a Driver's Safety meeting, where the rules of the facility, as well as the rules of the racing club would be reviewed.  Those who chose not to follow the rules would be endangering themselves, as well as the other drivers, and would be asked to leave.  It was that simple...safety would prevail!

Drivers' safety meeting.

Shortly after the 8:30 safety meeting, the loudspeaker carried the message that advanced drivers could begin lining up on the starting line.  We quickly 'suited-up', donning earplugs, helmet, and fire resistant Nomex gloves.  I turned on the GoPro HD video camera that would be recording the day's events from various positions inside and outside of the vehicle.  Once secured by our four-point safety harnesses, we were good to go.  

Gregg fired up the high performance German made machine, and just like any high performance motor, it did not appear to run smoothly at idle.  One quick pump on the gas pedal however, and the machine came alive...begging to be let loose on the track with its distinct Porsche sound.  As we pulled out of the pit/staging area, onto the track, my heart was racing with anticipation.  A wave of the arm from the track official, and we were on our way...accelerating toward turn-2.  We made our way through the course, slowly building up speed as the tires warmed up and provided greater traction, thus allowing us to travel at top speed through the course.  Our first pass through the Corkscrew was exhilarating to say the least.  It was like a roller coaster, making my stomach rise, then fall quickly, taking my breath away...it was awesome!

By the time we were making our way back toward the starting line, on the main course, we were traveling just over 120 mph as we crested turn-1, once again making our way toward turn-2...the Andretti Curve.

This is the way the day went, every hour, on the hour, for nearly nine hours!  I cant begin to describe just how amazing it was.  Take a look at the video below to get a small taste of what I was fortunate enough to experience.  As you watch the video, take notice of how quickly the fence is flying by, and also listen to how the wind picks up.  When the car's sound is drowned out by the wind noise, we are approaching and exceeding 100 mph!

Now I know this has nothing to do with my training program, but I thought I would share with you the kind of things I deem worthy to interfere with my training! 

Enjoy the ride!