Racing by the numbers
This weekend’s race schedule was one of the busiest ever for me. Saturday included a 30 minute timed practice, a 40 minute qualifying race, a 30 minute enduro practice, and a 70 minute enduro. Sunday’s schedule added another 30 minute practice and a 40 minute flag race. 240 minutes, that’s 4 hours! Take off 10 minutes per event for warm-ups, cool-downs, and pitstops, and that’s still 3 hours at pace. The Wagon burns 9 gallons per hour, so call it 27 gallons of 100 octane Sunoco at $8/gallon. Add in race entry fees, 300+ miles each way to the track with my truck and trailer getting 12 mpg at $4/gallon, food and hotel, and it’s time to start looking for quarters under the cushions…
To keep myself on schedule for this weekend, I ziptied a watch to my steering column support for the first time. It was such a simple addition to the cockpit, but it ended up being an extremely valuable tool. I can’t believe I never thought of this before. I can’t quite wrap my head around GPS, HD cameras, and multi-car digital timers in a vintage race series yet, but I’m making progress.
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