This two-day event went wonderfully for us and was a great way to cap off the season.
We didn't make any changes to the car in the two weeks between the EMRA event and this one. The car was still running great and handling beautifully. Despite the late November date, the weather on the first day was gorgeous, reaching into the high 60's in the middle of the day.
The track was sticky and fast. Around noon we both got into the 1:05's, with Nate a little quicker at 1:05.4 versus my 1:05.6. Both of us were delighted, and we both felt there was still more to come.
However, right after he did his quick lap, Nate felt the car suddenly go loose. The in-car video shows the car stepping sideways dramatically exiting West Bend - a scary place to have this happen!
We weren't sure why this was happening. Someone had spun in Big Bend and scattered dirt onto the track, and there was also talk of fluid on the track.
I had also felt that the car was a little looser than I felt comfortable with, particularly under braking. I like to trail brake, but I had pretty much eliminated this technique from my lapping with the Cobra because the car was so easily destabilized if I had more than a tiny bit of brake on as I turned in.
Some of this is almost certainly a brake balance problem. We don't have any way of adjusting the balance of the brakes right now. But changing the balance of the chassis toward more understeer would tend to make the car more stable under braking.
We decided to disconnect the rear anti-roll bar. The car immediately felt more comfortable to both of us. We didn't go any faster, but that was probably at least partly due to the temperature, which dropped sharply as the afternoon went on.
As I've mentioned, I have a lot more racing experience than Nate. Before this month, I had felt fairly confident that if I drove well and didn't make any major mistakes, I would probably beat him. But now that has changed. I know I have to drive very well just to have a shot at beating him.
The next day it was much colder, and the track was slower. Still, in the time trial I managed a 1:06.1, while Nate did a 1:06.7. There were two "ringers" in our class, modified 3rd generation RX-7's, which both lapped in the 1:01 range. We knew they were out of reach. But we beat everybody else, including all the COMSCC regulars who ran. Unfortunately, the top two in our class both had car problems that prevented them from running, but Brad Pelletier borrowed Gary Cheney's Mustang and did an amazing 1:07.1 with it.
Our times gave us another pair of trophies, 3rd and 4th again. This put me 3rd in the championship, and Nate 6th.
We had a fantastic time, and the results gave a very satisfying conclusion to our summer of hard work!