Now that we're finally home thought I would report how things went.
Wow.
Runoff’s week was probably the most intense I’ve had in my 30+ years holding a license. Knew the MX5 wasn’t a Daytona car but it had been ten years since my last Runoff’s and it was Daytona so I wanted to be part of it.
Unfortunately I effed up the bus stop chicane on the back straight late in Monday’s session and pancaked the driver’s side of the car in the outside wall. Broke everything underneath and bent the nose substantially. I had lined up Josh Smith from Panic Motorsports to come down later in the week, so he came early with a truckload of used parts and after thrashing on the car for the better part of two days we had on the grid for the late day session on Weds. Josh was the man, but we had a lot of help from our paddock neighbors- special call out to Ess White and Glen Murphy (crewing for Mike Collins/ Meathead Racing), Mike Cottrell, the MazdaSpeed guys, the list is endless. The car aligned perfectly although it looked a sight with a blue nose and about a roll of black duct tape.
It definitely impacted my driving, took me the rest of the week to ditch the tutu and ballet slippers going through the bus stop and get my head on right. My ribs took a big shot in the crash so the RH turns and bus stop had me groaning but eventually I got it going and had a decent race. Started 17th and finished 14th, mediocre by the numbers but think I would have done a little better without the drama. That said, in the end I was happy just to make the show.
It’s a humbling thing and makes you appreciate what an incredible bunch of people SCCA racers are. I’m gonna hate paying the body shop bill but I’ll never forget the experience.
T4 is going to be a good class, with variety of cars and mfg’s- I like where it’s going. We had 23 entries this year, and expect more for 2016. There’s a lot to balance between all the makes and models. Start/ Finish trap speeds for my car at Daytona averaged 132-133 mph. The winning Civics and RX8’s were about 8-10 mph faster! Next year the Runoff’s moves to Mid Ohio, which should be a much friendlier track for a handling/ momentum car like the MX5.
- Daytona crash 7.jpg (10.37 KiB) Viewed 20744 times
- Daytona crash 6_pull 2.jpg (11.03 KiB) Viewed 20744 times
- Daytona crash 8.jpg (12.65 KiB) Viewed 20744 times
PS. Yes, you can fix a busted cool suit cooler with duct tape and gorilla glue. Ask me how...
