For the third year in a row, I’ve reset my personal best at my local track at the first event of the year. Cold weather is great for horsepower, so as long as the track is dry and temps get up to about 40F you’ve got a good shot at setting a great time. Last January I got down to a 1:23.6 in my BRZ, this time is moving for a sub 200hp car on street tires (about 1s faster than the spec Miata course record). I only had a couple of laps in the 23's in all of 2019 and I wasn’t sure how much time was left for me to find with my current setup, and I thought it would be a struggle to improve in 2020.
Well, turns out I just needed some great conditions. With fresh tires, low temperatures, and open track I was able to shave off 0.6s and get all the way down to a 1:23.0 (within half a second of my friend with a 2014 Mustang GT who runs the same type of tires, has the same level of modifications, and experience). My only disappointment was that I wasn’t in the 22's, so close. I don’t have another event on the same configuration until the beginning of May so getting conditions that are as good might be tough and my time might stand for awhile.
One of my goals for 2020 was to improve my PB’s at both the tracks and all the configurations I run at them, one down and five to go.