I've got a couple of neat updates. Took the Jeep out wheeling for the first time. We went to a cool little wooded area in Parrish where I've played before when we had 4 wheelers. Ate some tacos at the little Mexican food truck, rode about 15 miles of trails, took a dip in a little creek, and my buddy rolled is Land Cruiser onto its side. I pulled him upright with my winch and the damage was minimal. jeep performed great and we had a fun day!
Last weekend, I took the YXZ over to the Bullring track for a night of door-to-door racing. I've been out there before to watch and been pretty hesitant because of the potential carnage. But since the Firm has stopped allowing SXS's in their main rallyx series, I decided I needed to give it a try. I signed up for amateur naturally aspirated class. There were 9 other cars in this class. (There were 8 or 10 total classes). They split our group into 2 heats. We got 2 practice sessions before the racing began. It didn't take long to figure out that the track is tight and passing is very difficult. The whole experience behind the wheel in this scenario is very chaotic. Things are happening very quickly and your mirrors are near useless with dirt flying and the cars sliding around constantly. At least in Champcar, or on a circle track, you can glance to your mirrors to know who's close and where they are. Not so much out here.
In my heat race, I started inside of row 2. It was a 6 lap race. I was able to pass 1 guy and got passed by another, for a 3rd place finish in the heat. This earned me an inside of row 3 start position for the 8 lap main. Between my heat and main, I watched 5 or 6 cars roll over, one of those pretty violently with 3 or 4 rolls, several tires debeaded, and an intentional hit to a driver's left rear to take him out. The level of anxiety waiting around between races is always very high for me and I don't have much fun during that time. The things I was watching out there weren't helping.
Finally it was time to suit up and get in line to take the track. 5th starting position out of 10 cars. With the track's lack of good passing opportunities, I knew my best chance would be at the start and into turn 1. As we're doing a pace lap, I'm thinking to myself, "I really should have wiped down my visor better, the baby wipe left some smudges". We come around to the last turn to the "hit zone", where the leader gets to choose when he hits the gas, and the group starts screaming. I get a pretty good start, aim low, and get 1/2 a car under the guy in front of me before the turn. Most of the group stays mid track for a good line into 1. I dive down low and brake late like a maniac! As the turn tightens, I'm forced waaay inside going right at a big tractor tire marking the inside of the corner. I stay aimed mostly at the tire because I'd rather hit that than smash the side of a competitor. I hit the tire pretty good and get hung up on top of it, then, Bam!, someone whacks me in the back and pushes me off the tire!
As I accelerate away from the tire, "Holy E36 M3! there's only 2 dudes in front of me!" Those 2 dudes mostly avoided any of the bumping and resulting delays in turn 1. They've got a little gap now. After 2 or 3 laps, I'm up on the bumper of 2nd place, but there's just no good way to make a clean pass. Had he made any mistake, I'd have got 2nd, but I was very content to be on the podium and not willing to drive dirty or push him out of the way to try and move up. I was definitely not expecting a podium. I got very lucky with my aggressive turn 1 move. It was a wild night and I had a blast!
The car took a couple of good hits through the night, but all appears to be ok. The door-to-door stuff is a whole different ballgame than rallyx. The adrenaline is much higher, but so is the risk. I think I prefer the rallyx game more, where you can focus more on your own driving. It is certainly a much lower stress activity than the door-to-door racing. Took home a podium, a little trophy, and a little cash. I'll cerrtainly be back to watch again, I'm unsure if I'll be back to participate.
