Saturday came and we only got a couple runs in before the sky opened up and dumped hurricane style rains on us. After the rain let up it was back to practice. There 2 main puddles on the track and the rest of it was drying quickly. The surface is concrete and has amazing traction except in the wet. As soon as the car hit the wet spots it was like driving on ice. We made a few passes just to get the hang of the track in the wet in case of rain on Sunday. After we managed to get a couple solid runs down we packed it up for the day and waited for Sunday to come.
Sunday was completely dry all day and all the drivers were relieved that there was no rain in the forecast. Mid-day it was time for qualifying. I took the line that I thought was the right line for the course but it ended up being a lot slower than the other drivers. On a side note, since this was the first event ever at this venue, DMCC was off schedule and drivers meetings were not on time. I had missed them on both Saturday and Sunday. I really feel that this is where things went wrong for the weekend. I look back at all the pics from the weekend and my line looks too tight on clipping point #1 which would explain the low speeds. Normally the idea is to be close to the clips but there were tire marks very wide on this one which must have been the ideal line for higher speeds.
Picture from after clip 1 into transition to clip 2.
I ended up in the 8th position for qualifications. (Ewww) I usually expect much more of my self. This put me up against Carl Nadeau in his V8 powered BMW. He had tagged the tire barrier in practice and I sat in line marveling over the fact that the trunk had a new latch in the shape of a ratchet strap. I got the word over the radio to stick it to him on the first run (I followed first) Carl had one of the highest speeds recorded in qualifications. I knew I had to give it all she had to match the speed of this car. We took off and I latched onto the quarter panel of the BMW int he first clip but ended up correcting a little but going into clipping point #2. Back on his door for the finish..... We switch spots and I run my line. Carl wasn't as close as I had thought ( back to the tapes ) but his line was better and didn't have any corrections. My minor correction was the nail in the coffin for the weekend.
I am very proud of the wall of trophies I have amounted over the last 7 DMCC events in 2009 and 2010. 7 Podiums in a row has to be some kind of record somewhere. :) I am super excited that I have two of the only 5 Carbon Fiber trophies from 2009 in my possession from first place finishes last year. Pat Cyr has the other 3 so they are super rare. Now the only way you can get one of these bad boys is to win a Formula Drift event.
Pic: I call it "le wall of trophies". Actually: "le mur de trophées"
I am thankful that Carl went on to take the 3rd spot on the podium. All good things have to come to and end at some point and it was just my time. Getting used to being on the podium and then suddenly not being there is quite a shocker but I think this is just the type of reality check that I needed to keep pushing harder for the rest of the season. At the end of this event I end up moving down a spot to 3rd place in the rankings.
You can also get discount tickets for DMCC using promotional code DMCC-23 for the remainder of the rounds.
The next event on my list is XDC New Jersey and then off to Montmagny, QC ( One of my favorite tracks in DMCC ) On that note, I think I'm about due for a front tire change as well.
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