I have not (to some people's relief) been posting much about racing lately, mostly because I haven't been racing much (see previous annoyed posts regarding brake problems) but also because I just didn't feel like it. After a couple months of non-racing, I went to one today, just got home. It was in Packwood (huh huh packwood), which is south of Mt. Rainier. I don't go to many Packwood events because it's a longer drive, but on the other hand it's very scenic and interesting enough to not get dull. I went a different route this time which involved about 25 miles on a narrow, twisty forestry road alongside a river.

Anyway, I wasn't in top form today. I've only raced the BMW a few times, and was generally out of practice. Every time I've raced it, I've found myself being too cautious, pulling back from giving it 100% power for fear of overdoing it. Today was even worse than usual, both because it's been a while and because the course, with more space to fill, was faster then I'm used to. Top times of the day were around 50 seconds, and I think the top in my class was about 55. My first run was a 70 (plus one cone), worse than nearly everyone and embarassingly slow. I could feel myself only going halfway, even on the straight fast parts. So my next run I tried to push the pedal down harder and be less cautious, and was rewarded with an improvement to 65 (though two cones). Same thing on my third run, more confidence and more speed, down to a 64 or so (still one cone). On this one I could feel that I was pushing the car harder -- on a couple of turns I could feel it almost at the limit, wanting to break away. The problem has really been that I don't push it as hard as I could in most places, then I'll go too hard somewhere and spin it. I'm still trying to find that balance. Anyway, before my last run, someone gave me some advice: rather than braking hard in turns and losing too much speed, I should try to carry more speed through the slalom by coming in a bit wider and giving myself more room to turn without slowing down as much, and just try to be smooth, instead of going hard on the gas, hard on the brakes. Anyway, I tried this throughout the course, carrying more speed into turns in several places by going wider and giving myself a smoother arc. It seemed to work, since I sped up again, to a 63 (and clean!) but felt smoother and less in danger of losing the car.

So, not a great day but at least I don't have to feel too embarassed with my final time. I learned something though and will hopefully be able to apply it next week (in Everett; now's your chance to check it out, curious Seattleites). Regardless, it was a good day, waking up early, driving down there, racing, and driving back.