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A good night's sleep at the Best Western on 34th Street prepared me for the long day's influx of contenders for the National Tour crowns, which swelled the paddock to full and unleashed a fresh wave of creatively decorated race cars and golf carts on the paddock area.
Monday was so calm for me, as Gollum and I were all ready to go after Sunday's appointments and checklists. The East and West courses were opened for walking in the early afternoon, and I solemnly and thoughtfully plodded around the West Course until I could run it easily in my head.
The West course was conceived by a talented sadist (as are all good course designers) who left much to the imagination of the driver - leaving out such superfluous features as apex cones in the wide entries and two of the sweepers - and setting traps for the unwary in the central and more tortuous sections. West course featured a long fast slalom culminating in a cleverly obscured tightening right hand sweeper, and the alignment of the slalom and "clubhouse turn" made for excellent spectating not to mention great driving challenges.
In short it gave the racers plenty of rope to hang themselves, and I contemplated the key points in this course with great attention, imagining that I was doing a Novice Coursewalk back at Devens and picking out the cones that I would love and embrace with proximity the very next day.
Mind you I was blessed by the organizers in two important ways - first, G Street was running 1st heat Tuesday and Wednesday (before the heat became too oppressive) and secondly my work assignment was SWEEP! Oh joy, oh sweet grace.
You see as mentioned earlier I am somewhat familiar with military airfields, but I did not explain the full irony of my existence as a disabled vet.
Not disabled because I faced America's enemies in battle - I served largely in peacetime. Not disabled because of my own cleverness - quite the opposite. Disabled because I had the extremely bad judgement to attempt to free climb a soft rock face out of the river gorge near Spokane Washington when I was stationed at Fairchild AFB attending the Survival Instructor's school back in '75.
I paid the price, fell, and pretty much destroyed my left knee.
After I had failed to complete the Survival course, and left tail tucked for re-assignment as a Military Policeman (aka 'Ramp Rat') I reached the point where despite the reconstructive surgery in San Antonio and again in Portsmouth, I could no longer stand 8 to 12 hour shifts on the ramp holding my little M16 and hoping for something to break the monotony. So the Air Force found me a new job in the computer center, which started my career in IT.
Upon my discharge after four years of service, I was startled to learn that the Air Force wanted to give me a partial disability, and thus I have received a Federal stipend about which I have since been ambivalent.
So what do I do with this situation? I fall in love with Autocross, and start spending 8 to 12 hours standing on the same concrete ramps that I was disqualified from back in 1977. I do feel slightly guilty, but not too often.
Anyway, I cannot run for cones any more, so working in the sweep car was a great gift and a relief to me.
As dusk came Monday evening, and with the West Course tatooed firmly on the inner surface of my eyelids, Gollum and I returned to rest and prepare for Tuesday's battles.
Nationals start early. It is entirely customary to conduct a course walk well before sunrise, and I have seen those who like grey zombies shuffle around in near darkness. That I suppose would be a great test of memory.
Shedding the remains of an overnight shower Gollum and I cleared the entrance in darkness, found the food concessions opposite the courses by feel (and with only parking lights so as not to disturb campers), and ordered some strong coffee from Bruce and Mary Anne at the legendary Buzz Thru trailer.
Between sips and the inaugural daily cigarette, and leaving Gollum to stew, I went out again onto the West course and was reassured that it had not changed, and that I could not improve the plan formed the previous afternoon. Grid assignments appeared after sunrise, and by 8 am the full might of the G Street field was assembled - 25 cars strong.
Five of the contestants had met before at the Dixie National Tour down in south Georgia - including Jack Burns (GTI), G H Sharp (GTI), Trevor Renson (Mazda 3), Reinier Goede (Mazda 3) and myself. All other drivers were new to me, although the mix of vehicles was expected.
And then, shortly, the National Anthem, and shortly after that, 1st heat began with FSP cars going to the line, and battle commenced. As Gollum was only about 11 cars back, we fired up, set Sport, cleared the Traction Control, and strapped on belts and a helmet.
Now this year at Nationals I now know is truly not like my two previous pilgrimages. In 2010 I took the original Gollum (STX) out west, PAX'd 621 overall, and was such a fusspot I drove all the way home without stopping and still sulked for days thereafter. In 2013 Gollum II (H Street) wore Hoosiers at Nationals in the last great purple crack dance for the Street classes and PAX'd 390th - that also twisted my knickers quite a bit as I was hog wild and untidy on the 2nd day and the East Course. At least that time I didn't take my ball and run home!
I know this year is different because I feel prepared, relaxed, and under no self imposed pressure to do anything except drive my best and have fun. I have forsworn my dreams of jackets and accepted that I do this for other important and valid reasons.
I am somewhat prepared by two things - first, I ran in the Pro class this year in NER and thus have a pretty clear sense of how fast I am (compared for example to Billy Davis!), and second because every event this year I took only three runs.
And so when I let out the clutch for the first run Tuesday morning around 9:30 am it was delicious. And it stayed delicious all three runs, although I tried too hard on the 3rd run and slowed a bit.
I loved that fast slalom. Having twisted through the first few elements the course lead around to the left in a pretty good sweeper and then dumped into the slalom at a natural angle - and that slalom was really quick. Beyond that and again through some of the tricky bits another long left sweeper led to a finish set of elements which I would call a "Mini straightaway" in that I never lifted from the apex of the sweeper to the lights. Due to the extraordinary gearing in the B38 equipped F56 I never ran out of 2nd or nicked the limiter. What a rush!
When the dust had settled Gollum had stayed within a second of the fastest car, and just barely stayed in the top half of this very competitive field of drivers.
It just made me grin because I know I am not one of the fastest, and for a driver of my modest abilities to keep up says the STAC made no mistake in putting the little triple in GS when it first appeared in 2014.
It made me grin because Gollum and I held our heads up, despite me being the only bull goose looney in the country to attempt G Street while missing 40 mm of tire, 100 HP, and a cylinder.
It tickles me still, but this Tuesday held more than just Gollum's eager performance.
Every tribe must I think have one or more who act as a sort of glue, and help the tribe stick together. We are blessed in NER with a very large group of great folks - from Bill Goodale and Kathy Barnes to PJ Corrales and Grant Reeve. For me however, the special glue has for a while been contributed by the Davis clan, each and all of whom are extraordinary. It is Pam I suppose whom I principally blame for the wonderful cookout we enjoyed Tuesday night in the paddock row number 6. It was, as we say in Glosta, wicked pissah. I am most grateful to all!
I have not mentioned that late Tuesday the East course became available for walking, and walking there was. As soon as I had stopped running in the morning I had forsworn my affections for the West course, applied as much intellectual sorbet as possible, and starting working on the East course as hard as I could.
Once again fortified by the hospitality of my hotel, and again in a state of dampness so profound that one felt like swimming from lobby to car, I embarked in Gollum in full darkness to meet the 8 am start time on Wednesday.
Again the grey course walk, and again no change in plan.
The East course did not have the wide open expanses of the West which caused existential angst to some drivers, but instead offered a variety of aspects concealed by UN-obvious geometries of cone placement. A creative and challenging sadism in a completely different spirit.
Although I loved both courses, the East course had what looked like another REALLY fast section headed South along the eastern fence line - a section which offered one mighty and elongated chicane in nearly a thousand feet of distance. Among the challenges of the course was thus included a high speed run down a line so narrow that doing it right was akin to sprinting down a crooked fence with one mighty bend at the halfway point. I cannot imagine how fast some cars were in this area during dry weather, as Gollum was over sixty I do believe.
And so once again, and this time after the STXL cars had gone, we came to the line. Gollum was the next car after sweep, so I had the benefit of a minute or two of think time right at the starting line before being released.
And once again the clutch, the short shift and the hard right at the bottom of 2nd gear before squirting west 100 feet to the first left hand hard turn on the course.
Set up wide, trail brake down to the apex, look up to the clamshells and drive hard all the way to the first right hand bend, a dab of brake to settle the nose and around to the slightly offset left hand clamshell, swerving easily around the third one and setting up for the braking area entering the first left sweeper.
Look across to the exit, which again marks the entry to a slalom, and trust the car and be patient all the way around that long left and nail the exit to enter the four cone slalom cleanly, remembering that the exit is a trap.
Leave the slalom with another quick dab to settle the nose into the medium right that lurks after the slalom, and then back on the gas to the most critical braking zone - before the hairpin right leading into the fast section near the fence.
Squeeze early and hard to set up the hairpin and get the line right so that the early throttle can be sustained out the exit without clipping the pinch cone and then look WAY ahead.
Shift left with the throttle wide open and pitch Gollum into the sweeping right entry to that massive chicane, and then looking for the exit cone bend him left again into the final right hand swerve - a maneuver requiring considerable commitment.
And then reaching the southeast corner look around the best concealed sweeper on the whole course, and back out and again left into the southwest corner for a wide open sweeper defined only by an exit cone, and leading into the last section of the course.
And then clipping that exit cone and starting the drive back northwards to the finish do NOT overdriver the medium speed swerves delineated by walls and cones and creating a rather technical finish.
And then brake for the nice volunteer for the time slips.
65.3xx and a DNF.
Oops.
All the Novices I've ever lead around a course, and all my distinguished NER compadres may now chuckle in mild disbelief. Sharp observers reliving my account may note my mistake. My 2nd element was my undoing, as when I looked up from that tight left I looked all the way to the clamshells, right past the first chicane.
Oops. But at least I knew what had happened, had a decent raw time, and could progress.
And in due course, Gollum and I did it properly, and made it around in a respectable time while remaining on course.
And then, after 2nd runs, it started raining.
Which made 3rd runs a hoot - I proposed that we should have side bets on the fastest wet run which found some support. Doing that big chicane near the top of 2nd gear in the rain was exhilerating to put it mildly, but Gollum never swapped ends and we slowed down only about 3 seconds and had quite a bit of fun.
All in all, and after a rather wet impound, Gollum had once again split the field and our final result was 13th of 25, which we achieved wearing the #13 for any numerologists in the readership
As I summarized back at the Crow's Nest on my return, we beat half the heathens while the other half were beating us!
We PAX'd 369 of 1,250 which is a step up, and also split the field of over 30 NER drivers in PAX ranking, all of which is plenty of brag for yours truly who is getting long in the tooth.
But the real grin is that Gollum, like his two predecessors, is a better car than I am a driver, and so I remain delighted with my Mini infatuation as I have been for more than a decade.
Though the rain treated us kindly, it was not so for many others.
Second heat contained C Prepared, where some drivers had no rain tires, and it was a deluge. Later in the week the rain intervened again early in the heat where E Street Prepared was running. In that case the timing was so exquisitely bad that three cars had dry runs and all others did not, which resulted in the most un-level playing field imaginable.
But for G Street the war was over, and we among over 700 others proceeded to banquet ourselves and each other, and to celebrate the spirit of the club and our own, with great success.
Which leaves the echos of the orchestra, and the clowns, and the effluvia of a circus spent. It leaves the trip home with memories to ruminate on.
But first, sleep - and for the first time in Lincoln, a peaceful final evening.
As I write this final chapter in the snug confines of my little studio, and smelling the rotting kelp in Magnolia harbor wafted in by lazy east breeze, the trip home seems a bit of a dream.
Gollum and I made 1,050 miles on Thursday, and pulled into Gloucester promptly at 2 pm on Friday.
I was not a complete idiot on the way home, but I must confess that there is a tide that grabs me midway across the New York State Thruway and which accelerates gradually as I cover the final half day, tempting me to some immoderation. This force abates of course when encountering the inevitable and singular traffic in the greater Boston area, and soon enough becomes moot as the Blackburn Circle hoves into view marking the end of a great journey.
Sometimes the Lord provides and in this case we were forgiven a bit of improvisational passing and rejoined the denizens of the island intact.
Where now only ghosts remain - the vague imprint of the magnetic decals on Gollum's flanks, and the ephemeral remains of the greatest motorsports event of them all.
Charlie,
Sounds like a fantastic journey for you and Gollum, congratulations on your performance at the Nationals! Your story telling is fantastic, I can see the week as it unfolds in my minds eye. Thanks for sharing your adventure we all enjoy your racing accomplishments.
Chuck
I regularly went to nationals from 1990-2003 (won a bunch of trophies and one championship), and sincerely miss it. I went SCCA road racing after that but moved on from that in 2011 ... so without any outlet of my own, stories like this make my day. I remember back in the days of Team.Net that these stories were common but ironically somehow in these days of the internet and social media, you see fewer, not more, road trip and event writeups.
This was all awesome to read and sounds like you had a great time. Keep it up! I might even try to have a go of it in my F54 Clubman S at some point though it's obviously not the Mini to have for autox ... in any class.
So Gollum is on for some tender loving care from the unofficial pit crew at Mini of Peabody. More fresh oil to replace that used on the pilgrimage to Lincoln, a sharp eye on the under carriage, a hard look at the end links for that stiff rear bar, and a coat of wax from the artistes out back that do detailing.
Can you comment on how different the current car feels from the R56 from a handling perspective? re: can you feel the size/weight increase? I have to imagine this car will be moved into HS soon...
Can you comment on how different the current car feels from the R56 from a handling perspective? re: can you feel the size/weight increase? I have to imagine this car will be moved into HS soon...
I can only observe that the sport suspension seems to do a very nice job of keeping the car relatively flat, and if it is true that this option is no longer available that's a pity.
Since I ran the R56 on Hoosiers, and this F56 on Bridgestones, a direct comparison is tough.
09-12-2016, 08:17 AM
