Day 7:
The trip to the final day of competition took longer than expected. On the way from Willow Springs our growing convoy was held up about 10 miles outside of Baker by an accident that closed the freeway for an hour and a half. Although our should have been short journey was now a long haul some good did come of walking up and down the freeway. A stopped car on the freeway, stripped and covered with stickers and number plates draws attention. The result is that several new people now know of OTC, maybe one of them will join us next year?
Going into day 7 we knew that if the top 3 cars in our class finished 3 laps, the results were already determined. We were going home with a second place finish. With that in mind, day 7 would be a fun day. Joel decided early on that he didn't feel like driving so that left all the track time to me, I can live with that.
The, according to the OTC organizers, was to run the Derek Daly course in the backwards configuration. Unfortunately the track safety officer felt that diving into the final corner (which was turn one on Monday) and aiming right at the end of a very hard concrete wall might be a bad idea. The decision was made to run the course in the designed clock wise configuration again. Heck at least we had a chance to beat Foo again. J
That chance never materialized into fast lap times. Either due to seven day old Azenis or an inconsistent driver (me) the closest I ever got to my Monday lap times was 1:34's, a full second of my winning times from earlier in the week. Oh well, time to fun lap. Session 2, I took Colleen out for a ride and later on would treat Morgan to a fast lap around Derek Daly. :-P The final session of the day I allowed Roger Foo to take my car for a spin to see what it could do without me behind the wheel. Taking it easy he managed to hit 1:35s but definitely had it within him to go faster. Riding shotgun was an experience as his feet positively dance over the pedals, constantly left foot braking into turns. Young had a great idea and opportunity hiring Foo to drive with them.
We packed up at the track fairly quickly so we could head into town and grab a shower before the banquet. The rest of the night was filled with much drinking and partying as OTC took over Planet Hollywood for our celebration…
-Matt