December 12th 2009 Practice (with photos)

[Mako Koiwai]

Intermittant drizzle, sky is getting bright - even with overnight rain, Lake drained itself

[Mako Koiwai]

Worst is suppose to be this early morning. We're missing a number of folks that signed up! Clouds are lifting!

[Steve Abbott]

Thanks for the live update. I'm sitting at home.

Steve A.

[Steve Abbott]

Do you need a co-driver in the Corvette tomorrow?

[Q V]

That's interesting, my uncle called me earlier and told me the gates were closed (both front & alternative entrances) - no one there to let him in either...

[Mako Koiwai]

What!? We'll look into that. The go- kart raced were cancelled. I think 18 folks that signed 4 our event are missing out on some excellent wet practice. It's a joy 2 be here just 2 watch Ryan B testing both of Tim Albins cars

[Mako Koiwai]

Main gate is being closed, not locked when there is no "traffic."

heavy rain off and on. Course workers are being heros! Car's wake is knocking over cones. Getting dramatic photos!

[Tom Denham]

Main gate is being closed, not locked when there is no "traffic."

heavy rain off and on. Course workers are being heros! Car's wake is knocking over cones. Getting dramatic photos!

Is A Guard there?? We don't want people just turning around and leaving. I don't recall this being done in the past.

[Mark DeShon]

Tons of fun today, but not an easy day for sure. I saw the concrete base for one of the big signs almost completely submerged in water out in the 'lake'. That's probably 3 feet of standing water! I hope that drains out just a bit tonight, but it's suppose to rain all night long and start clearing midday tomorrow.
Mark D.
P.S. Autocross in the rain is AWESOME!

[Christine Grice]

Awesome practice! Driving fast is difficult... Driving fast in the rain is insanely difficult.

[Mark DeShon]

You seemed so excited about today, Christine. Did it live up to your expectations? For my own reference, what was your fastest time on the morning course?
Mark D.

[Jack Tsou]

Did the Prius beat the Evo?

[Mako Koiwai]

Greg P and Pete L jumped through hoops moving the course away from Lake Fontana. Instead of a Slalom we had Lake Shore Drive!

[Q V]

Main gate is being closed, not locked when there is no "traffic."

heavy rain off and on. Course workers are being heros! Car's wake is knocking over cones. Getting dramatic photos!

Is A Guard there?? We don't want people just turning around and leaving. I don't recall this being done in the past.

Just an update, talked w/ my uncle. He arrived @ the main entrance around 8:30AM (a lil late, i know), but he said the gate was locked & there was no one around. He waited a few minutes, then tried another entrance - I'm not sure which one, but he said "South Gate" where he saw a couple guards and tried to get their attention, but they just ignored him. He was going back and forth around various gates for about half an hour before giving up, then calling me & going home.

I should be w/ him the next time he comes out, so we will see.

[Mako Koiwai]

Weird, when we checked about this they said the gate is never locked. We had late
comers, we were doing gate, but we also had a period with no "traffic?" Since we had about 18 no shows this concerns us, but we've had no other lock out reports, and I'm sure a regular would have reported any issues.

[Mako Koiwai]

Shot a LOT of photos yesterday ... did only four runs in the Vette, which had very worn Goodyear F1's in back ... never known as a good rain tire.

Will hopefully get them processed and posted on Monday.

SAMPLES: http://public.fotki.com/makofoto/cscc-w ... -remember/

Karen got a lot of seat time ... taking my runs plus most of hers ... Cruzin Lake Shore Drive ... there's a slalom cone in there somewhere!

[Karen Zaterman]

I think I just passed the slalom cone... the next one must be outside of the shot.
What an amazingly fun day and what a great learning experience, building on skills, developing feel.

Thank you, Christine B and Steve L for encouraging comments

[Marshall Grice]

Did the Prius beat the Evo?

:unimpressed:

[Tom Berry]

Did the Prius beat the Evo?

[Steve Ekstrand]

Did the Prius beat the Evo?

A descriptive narrative might be required for the pathetic wheezing light-headed bedridden members of the region.

[Tom Berry]

It was the big "Prius Vs Evo" battle!!
Look for it again the next time we have a rain event!

Hint:
Me in a Prius
Marshall in his street Evo.

[Will Kalman]

And it didn't electrocute the course workers when you hit a puddle? ;)

[Steve Ekstrand]

It was the big "Prius Vs Evo" battle!!
Look for it again the next time we have a rain event!

Hint:
Me in a Prius
Marshall in his street Evo.

That's just too cool.

Reminds me of the single best lap I've ever seen driven. The Jardine's "acquired" a Ford Fungus (automatic base model) for use as a trophy dash car for one of our old Buttonwillow Conefest weekends. It rained one day and Tom Berry took the Fungus out for a lap during pretty much the wettest part of the day. The time he laid down was nothing short of an epic embarrassment to every driver who has ever driven in the gates of that track.

So basically, Tom is the undisputed champion of total crap cars in really crappy conditions.

[Kurt Rahn]

Sweet! I'll definitely be ordering a copy of that one. Can hardly wait to see what you shot today!

[Mako Koiwai]

I'm going to start uploading more (unprocessed) shots from Saturday's Practice. They look a bit dark ... it WAS dark ... but I can print them lighter. Any ordered prints will be enlarged, cropped, and corrected for color and brightness. 8X12 print order receive the hi-rez file if I get your email address.

I've applied an overall lightening ... so a few shots now look too light! The photos are all correctable!