19 Sep FMU At Global Time Attack
Yesterday, we took some time out of the day and headed over to Autobahn Country Club to catch a bit of the Global Time Attack series.
To say that the weather wasn’t cooperating is to put it lightly. With a forecast of 40% chance of showers, we headed over to the Autobahn in hopes that other 60% would arrive before us. It didn’t. As a matter of fact, it never did. It just rained, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. After wondering where everybody was when we arrived (hint: lunch), we remained in the car while the rain continued to beat down. Those without ponchos or umbrellas may have been soggier than the rest, but they were no less happy to be there. Motorsports is an interesting beast; not only will it consume entire minds and wallets, but it has a great sense of togetherness. Just a bunch of people at a track on a Sunday, wrenching and tuning and working alongside one another. It gives you a sense of camaraderie that isn’t seen in too many other sports, where fans are more likely to swing their fists at one another than swing their cameras around, each trying to find the best possible angle in the respective definitions of the verb.
That being said, your humble narrator was without any sort of water protection for the FMU camera rig, and choosing not to sacrifice expensive machinery, I was only able to get up to the track for a single session. The Time Attack cars had recorded their best times during the day on Saturday, and also choosing not to risk their expensive machinery, had closed up shop for the day. The NASA classes still ran, however, and this mix of Spec Miata, Spec E36, Spec 944 and Spec Something (not truly sure, to be honest, as it looked like quasi-Can-Am cars going against Factory Five Cobra replicas) provided for some good shots nonetheless:
Naturally, since it was raining and the track had no chance to dry at any point, there were a few runoffs at turn one:
All in all, it was a fantastic (and fantastically quick) day at the races. Unlike track days geared for the occasional enthusiast, these were extremely seasoned drivers in cars built especially for the track, meaning there were drivers diving into turn one 3-or-4-wide, late braking like they meant it, and passing on both the inside and outside of corners. Given all the dents and dings on these Spec bodies, it seems like they’ve all realized that It Sucks To Roll Hard at one point or another.
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