I'll admit it. I'm a slacker sometimes. For instance, one of the "basic" techniques of racing is heel and toe. What you do is press on the brake with your toe while you simultaneously roll your heel to push on the throttle. Why do this you ask? Well, when you're going really fast and a corner is coming up, you need to brake (of course). So the typical scenario is brake as late as possible and as hard as possible without locking up the wheels (usually while driving in a straight line, although you can trail brake as an advanced technique, meaning you brake while turning). You then turn in, and try to get back on the throttle as quickly and smoothly as possible. The quicker you're on the throttle, the faster you'll be at the turn exit. The problem is you've got 3 pedals and only 2 feet. And if you just downshift and drop the clutch, it will upset the weight balance of the car...and if you're driving at the ragged edge, you'll spin. So what you do is brake, push in the clutch with your left foot, then roll over your right heel to tap the throttle while downshifting. If you do it right, the revs of the engine will match the revs of the new gear (lower gear means higher revs, hence the need to increase throttle), and the car is smoothly downshifted and is ready to go hard.
It can be tricky to learn, especially in my car as my distance from throttle to brake pedal is especially long, and I have big (size 12) feet that are hard to bend at the odd angles needed to hit the pedals. But I've finally gotten to a point where I'm driving near the edge most of the time, and downshifting in turns is slowing me down because I have to be more careful because I don't rev match. And so starts the slow and frustrating practice of heel and toe. This is one reason I want to get a manual car for my daily driver again, so I can practice every day.
Anywho, today was an STS event at Streets, I was reminded how much I like the track...lots of turns, very technical, very challenging. And I've started running in the red group, as it is generally the smallest (and the fastest). I sometimes am in the bottom third of the group but hey, somebody has to be there. And to top it off, I vowed to work on heel and toe on the toughest corners (2, 6, and 9).
Even though I've got a few physical ailments right now that make almost everything uncomfortable, I did my best. The weather was damn hot, but what do you expect from the desert in June? At least it wasn't as hot as last year when I was instructing and got sick. This time I chose to pass on the instructing to be kind to myself and my body, knowing I'm not quite hitting on all cylinders.
The heel and toe worked a few times, and when it does, what a difference it makes. Not sure if it was that or just that I am getting better, but I managed to break below 1:33 for the first time, and in the 4th session (the last one that counts for time) I did a 1:32:704, which was good enough for first in my class by about a second, and broke the old track record for the class (which I oddly enough had) by 2 seconds. I'll take the victories where I can. I quickly packed up and passed on the last run session and the awards, as I figured I'd try to save my tires and save my body. Back to LA to a messy apartment (laundry and cleaning tonight) and the need to hit Petco and Ralphs as I'm out of most everything. Then hopefully to the couch to try and rest and stop aching so much. That reminds me, time for some Motrin. Fun times...
