For some reason, the weather gods smiled on us all during the Cobra build process (we had perfectly beautiful sunny weather for almost the entire month of July) and then cried buckets as soon as we started driving the car.
COMSCC held a Time Trial on Sunday and Monday, August 13 and 14. This event's weather followed almost the same pattern as that the week before at NERC. We had nice sunny weather on Sunday, the practice day, and then rain all day on Monday, the day of the timed runs. This rain was quite variable, with periods of torrential downpour - which flooded the track - interspersed with periods of no rain - during which the track drained off and got much quicker.
In the three days since the NERC event, we had installed a new Flaming River steering rack in place of the "stock" Mustang power rack, and had replaced the Mustang power master cylinder and distribution block with a manual master cylinder (see Tweaks for details). These two mods made a huge difference in the handling and braking of the car. I now had sufficient strength to turn the wheel as much as I needed to in turn 2B and in turn 6, and the brakes were high and firm, and much more confidence-inspiring.
On Sunday, I had an excellent instructor, who kept telling me to focus on the line. I learned that I have a tendency to push too hard to quickly, so that I am overdriving the car rather than getting the best out of it.
I also learned that I tend to start easing the car into the corner early, "pinching" the entry, which tightens the radius available and tends to give a later apex. As a result, I am fighting the car through the turn instead of easing through the entry phase and then smoothly powering on past the apex.
When I was able to get myself to follow my instructor's advice, I found it felt a lot easier to get through the corners. I'm sure if I can continue to do this, eventually I'll be faster.
Nate was very quick in the morning practice session on Monday. I was watching at turn 3, the hairpin, and he was winding that sucker out and then braking hard down into the corner. He and the car both looked great! Even though the track was still damp, with some wet places here and there, he set a time only a second slower than his best time in the dry at NERC. We had high hopes for the time trial.
Nate was unlucky during the timed runs, however. A few minutes before he went out, the skies opened up and dumped a huge quantity of water on the track. By the time he went out, the water was so deep that he couldn't even see the puddles; the track just looked like one huge lake.
At two points, rivers running across the track caused the car to aquaplane and visibility to go to zero as huge spouts of water exploded right into his face. Nate said later, "I just pointed the car straight, and then there was a huge SPLOOSH and I couldn't see anything. After a second or so, the steering came back and I could see again, and I turned into the next corner, where it happened again."
Under the circumstances, he did well to get under two minutes.
I was much more fortunate; the rain had let up about 20 minutes before my run, and even though it started sprinkling while I was out there, the track had drained well enough that I was able to set third fastest time in A/Street Prepared.
You should have heard the shock in the voice of the club official as he read my name at the trophy presentation! "And third place in A/Street Prepared goes to ... Alison Hine???"