Ladies and gentlemen, please let us present; Time Attack Season!
If you read our last post, you may be aware that our race season has been cut short. Our original schedule included a trip to Mid-Ohio Sports Course for Gridlife's Mid-Summer Meet Event. Luckily for us, the event wasn't canceled, and we were able to load up the trailer and head to Ohio.
One eight hour drive later, we were set up in our paddock spot and unloading for three days of non-stop track action.
Friday
This trip was Brian's second time at this track, so we had two goals: one to have fun, and two beat our time from last year. Our time to beat was a 1:46, and with a drastically different set up from last year, we were optimistic.
Brian attacks all track days, whether an HPDE event or a competition the same way. Get a feel for the car, adjust to the track, and then send it!
With three sessions for the day, Brian hit the track, working to find the best lines and adjusting tire pressure and aero until we could discover what made sense. By the end of the day Friday, we were able to reach a 1:43. While that felt good, we knew that the car had a lot more it could give. We were getting our feet wet and getting comfortable on the track.
Saturday
Full of motivation, we hit the track on Saturday. There was rain in the forecast, but it was supposed to be sporadic, so we didn't worry too much about it. The day started great, and there were even more people than the day before. However, it seemed as if every time it was our time to hit the track, the rain picked up.
Usually, the rain wouldn't bother Brian, he likes pushing in the rain, and he feels confident in our Tire Streets tires to maintain grip. However, Mid-Ohio had its own plans and is notorious for being an exceedingly tricky track in the wet. It isn't easy to find that dry line, and sometimes that dry lines slicker than the rest of the track. Brian wasn't deterred and attended every session, which unfortunately had some black flags and therefore were cut short, which means we weren't able to push to beat our time.
Sunday
As we climbed from our tent Sunday morning, we noticed people packing up their trailers and hitting the road. It had rained almost all night, and winds were over 10mph when we woke up. However, we still held onto hope for Sunday and the weather it could bring. It seemed like everyone had their version of the weather, maybe it would clear up by noon, there would be sunshine at 2 pm! All of those assessments were wrong, and we were left with a rained out track day.
But in true EHR fashion, we looked on how to turn this rainy day into a positive. We took some people out for some ride alongs and got to give back to the people who had supported us over the weekend (shout out to Joe, Austin, and Jeremey for keeping us some socially distanced company). We were also able to test out a lot of our new support gear, including our new long-distance radio set up that allows Kionna and Brian to communicate between the track and the pits. It was also our first opportunity to test our RacePak data recorder, which gives us in-depth information on lap time, throttle input, and more that is analyzed during and after sessions.
Please take a look below at some onboard footage from our crazy weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. And if you have any questions about our Gridlife experience, leave us a comment below!