Since I’m still on the wait list for the wait list for the last HPDE in October, I decided to go ahead and do the trackcross this weekend. It was raining all day, with the paddock basically covered in 1" of rushing water at times. The track, while wet, didn’t seem to have too much deep standing water on it so the event was not delayed. Rather than get soaked changing tires in the paddock I just left the 185/60/14 Michelin all-seasons on it and decided to just send it and learn some low-grip handling.
The first session went fine. Tiny crappy tires and wet surfaces meant I couldn’t push the car as hard, but man were the limits easy to find. The car turned in surprisingly well, with lift-off oversteer easily managed with more throttle. FWD is actually pretty fun when you can just initiate the oversteer and just ride that fine line between a slide and understeer. I feel like I learned a lot which was nice. Also, out of 45 entrants I managed to score 15th fastest time overall in the morning heat, somehow beating out cars like WRX, Focus ST, Golf R, E63 AMG, Camaro ZL1 1LE, and a few turbo Mini’s including a JCW GP!
The rain actually got so bad during lunch I considered just leaving, but it cleared up to a slow drizzle by the time my second heat rolled around so I stuck it out. On my second run I got yellow flagged because the Focus ST ahead of me pushed a little too hard and wound up in a jersey wall about 50' from the track. I slowed way down and completed the run under caution. The next run I was making my way around turn 7 “Jack’s Hammer” and all of a sudden my car became like 8 billion times louder. I limped it back to the pits with my head feeling like it’s about to explode from the noise, and confirmed that I was done for the day.
Turns out my hack-job on the downpipe had finally had enough. Honestly I’m kind of shocked it lasted this long, but now I have a chance to do it properly. I called a friend who trailered me home (Billy I owe you a steak dinner or something!) and if we can make it through the hurricane this weekend unscathed, I’ll start putting together a plan for a new, better downpipe.