We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours going south on I-95 after 6:00pm on a Friday and my left leg started to get sore from all the clutch pedal action. Traffic started to thin out and we were properly on our way to Richmond to meet up with our friend Luis (old-school East Coast Euro days when I still had my E36 M3). We eventually met up with him and went out for dinner at a local steakhouse and did some catching up. We couldn't stay out for long because we had to wake up really early (4:00am) for the 3 hour trip to VIR from Richmond. He was kind enough to let us crash at his house for the night, but it was hard to get any sleep because the "couch" was the most uncomfortable piece of furniture I've ever slept on and it was absolutely freezing in the house (Luis said that he and the roommate only set the thermostat to 60 degrees). So here I was, sleeping on a hard couch, using one of the couch padding as a pillow, and a thin bed sheet as a blanket.
I was miserable...but I shouldn't complain because Ryan volunteered to sleep on the floor with the same sleeping equipment.
The next morning wasn't much better because I only caught an hour worth of sleep due to my discomfort, however Ryan slept well considering the discomfort he must have gone through sleeping on the cold floor. We packed up and Ryan volunteered to drive the rest of the way to Danville, VA while I stole some sleep in the passenger seat.
Refueling at a gas station in Danville, 20 mins from VIR
We arrived in Danville...and man...this was the definition of "country." Small towns and farm lands...that's it. Not much to discuss about.
We arrived at VIR around 7:00am in the morning, 30 mins before the "All Hands" meeting for drivers and workers. Pretty straight forward like every other track event I've been to, but this meeting was held outside. This wouldn't be a problem if the weather was nice and warm...but the temperature that morning was under 20 degrees! My dumbass forgot to bring a thicker jacket so all I had was a sweater and jeans! It really sucked, but the weather eventually warmed up to the 50s by the afternoon.
Soft top vehicles had to have their tops folded down
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43219107@N05/sets/72157623339614499/
The day consisted of classroom sessions and going out on the track. The classroom sessions were pretty boring since this was HPDE-1 (I decided to run with the novice group since this was my first time at this particular track) and I was worried that the novice class would slow me down, but to my relief...we had a very fast group. There were little "traffic" on the track and most of the drivers weren't afraid to push their car on the corners.
Turn 3
VIR's Full Course was a fast course with two long straights, perfect for the high horsepower cars (I got rocked here by the Ferrari F430 Spyder, Noble M400, and a Roush Mustang) but I definitely gave them hell on the corners, where the S2000 shined with late braking and flat cornering. The Bilstein coil-overs did a very good job on working out the bumps on the zebra strips, but maintained its composure and stabilized the car once the track smoothed out again. Best investment ever.
The day ended around 5:00pm and Ryan and I checked into our hotel in town. For a hotel in small town, it was VERY nice. The first thing I noticed was how immaculate the bathroom was. You could eat off the toilet and the floor without anything to worry about...it was THAT clean. We dropped off our bags and dined out at a local Outback Steakhouse...but we cut the dinner short since we were too tired to eat and decide to take our food "to go."
After getting back to our hotel room, I collapsed onto my bed and moaned loudly with happiness because I was happy that I was going to sleep on a real bed that night. It was probably the most comfortable bed I've ever slept in.
The next morning we stopped by a local gas station to top off the S2000 and drove back to the track in time for the 7:30am meeting again. This time, I parked my car in front of the paddock where the meeting was held so that I didn't have to stand outside and freeze my ass off.
After the meeting, I met up with Casey, my race instructor, at his paddock where he share his space with his brother Adam (EG Civic Hatchback Race Car) and their friend Sander (DC2 Integra Type-R Race Car). My track session didn't begin for another hour so I emptied out my trunk again (tires, tools, etc) and made sure there were no excess weight or loose objects that could affect the safety of the car.
I'm getting tired from typing up all this now (should have broken this up into two parts), but let the pictures do all the talking:
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43219107@N05/sets/72157623339614499/
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