Day 1 - Tire Rack & Grissom Air Force Base

"Here we go, one more time, everybody's feeling fine... Here we go nowwww" - Thanks to N'Sync for providing just the right motivation for the morning. I'm sure my brother will be horrified when I post this but that's what's on the repeat reel in my head right now and I thought I'd share the throwback love! :).

Finally! The first day of official competition!

 

Today started out with the wet skid pad time trials. For all of you who don't know what that means here's a diagram.

It's basically a flat paved roundabout of sorts with an entrance, turnaround, and exit. The goal is to go around as quickly as your tires and car will allow (without spinning out). Now, add sprinklers to the entire ordeal. That's a wet skid pad. They make you do two full revolutions in each direction and give you a score in G-forces calculated for each.

While Dave wasn't the fastest- he got a very solid score (especially considering he's never run his car in the "rain" before. Here are some pictures I captured of the entire process- waiting in line and then running the skid pad! We have a video from the inside of the car but I think it will be too large to upload here...

Once the wet skid pad time trial was done we packed up as quickly as possible and started the 80 mile trek to Grissom Air Force Base further south in Indiana. This place was not at all what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a paved airport racetrack like on the famous British car show- Top Gear. Nope. We drove into a paved area that looked like I had been desolate for years- cracks everywhere, uneven in places, grass growing through, etc. (I'm sure this is probably some old corner of the base that they don't use anymore).

Anyway. Dave left me to unpack the car while he quickly went to walk the auto cross track. I don't know how he does it- that sea of cones makes me so confused!

Each car had a chance to run the course 3 times. Here are some of my favorite shots. Dave gave me a mini camera lesson on how to make cars crisp but everything else blurry... Pretty good for a first timer I think!

Here's Dave!! So proud of my big brother.

Cars went through the grid a lot more quickly than expected and we were able to leave around 2:15pm. Time to pack up our pile (everything loose must be out of the car for each track event) and head out. Here's a picture of said pile. Tools, supplies, extra wheel/tire, luggage, electronics, food, etc.

Would Kyle (our previous trainer) approve? You tell us. Necessities people!!

Now we're off to Gadsden, Alabama for as much sleep as possible, then up early to head to Talledega! Rain has been a bear this trek- but we're thankful to be through one of the two long hauls (11 hours).

Oh yeah! I can't forget! Dave and I are notorious for naming our cars. After a morning modification - we're calling it an "on-the-fly intake rain guard" - we thought it appropriate to name him KC. Spelling still TBD. :)