VIR SpinFest '09

What is a sure sign that spring has arrived? Virginia International Raceway and rain. Two years in a row now a bunch of us have gone to VIR in March and gotten dumped on. This year it rained on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We were there for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Well, even Mother Nature needs a break.



My friends Paul (BMW) and Chris (Mustang Cobra) came down on Thursday with me. Paul and I were taking the NASA Instructors Clinic, and Chris was registered for Open Practice. Then Ken & Diane (SVT Focus), Doug (Mustang Cobra), and Rick Jr/Rick SR and Terry (Mustang Cobra) were joining us on Friday afternoon.

The clinic had a Thursday night session, which was very well handled, and there were some Instructor drills as well as open track time on Friday. Here's a video of the first session we went out in on Friday morning, on a very slippery track.

Now, things went pretty well on Friday and Saturday. I managed to stay on track and had a good time. And the forecast for Sunday was bright and clear. So then I took off my rain tires and put on my slicks. I should have known better.

I don't know why, but when I went out on a drying track Sunday morning, I forgot to hit record on my camera. Which is a shame, because I went for the wildest ride I've ever had in my car. On the second lap I just gave it a bit too much gas coming out of turn 2, and the rear end came around and made me go sailing off the track sideways at over 50 mph. As I went flying (skimming?) through the mud, it just came washing into my car and over me...wave after wave, until I thought it was never going to stop. But it did finally, and I had managed to not hit anything. Of course having had my top down, a club requirement, I was covered with mud inside and out. I then realized that getting out of there was going to be another challenge. Slicks in a mud bog are not the best option to have on the car. But by rocking it, I was able to work my way up onto some high ground, where I could get back to the pits. I went straight to a hose, and had the forethought to shoot this video before I started hosing it off.

I was able to get the car hosed of a bit, and managed to make it out in the next session, where it was mostly dry and I managed to make it to the checkered flag with no more drama.

Most of us had a good time, except Ken had an issue where he was trying to lubricate his suspension joints with engine oil. Once that was fixed, his intake electrics succumbed to the wet, and he had to trailer the car with only a couple sessions on it. But he scored big on great motel rooms for the gang, and we had as good a time off track as on.