A cold day at the track

This last Saturday was the first of the BMW CCA Pugetsound Chapter's High Performance Driver Education sessions at Pacific Raceways. The sun was shining, the track was dry, and everybody went home safely, so it was a good day at the track.

It was very cold out there...

Since my M3 is still in need of quite a bit of work on the suspension, I wasn't able to participate in the driving fun, so I volunteered to be a track steward. Us volunteers stand at the various corners around the track, keeping an eye on things to keep the track safe. Should anything happen, we wave flags to warn the rest of the drivers that there's trouble ahead. If we see something wrong with a car, we'll notify Control, who brings in that car for a check. If a driver is misbehaving on course, we let Control know, so that when that driver comes in, the instructors can perform their duty (to instruct...).

So there we were, standing around all day as usual. Only it wasn't quite the same "as usual" this time... There's an arctic flow of air in the region right now, you see, and Saturday was the coldest day of them all so far. The temp never made it above freezing. There was a nice breeze that day as well. So even though we knew this ahead of time, and dressed as warmly as we could and still move, it was frightfully cold. The sun was out, which helped us to maintain a thawed state, but just barely. It's Monday now, and I'm still not sure if I've fully warmed up yet.

I'm not complaining, because we got a couple good donuts, movie passes, and $25 towards a driving event of our own. We also help to raise money for Seattle Children's Hospital when we help out: for each worker, there's a specific amount donated to Team Seattle's effort to raise money.

I also get to see the different ways that people (both those tha tknow, and those that are just learning) take the various corners out there. There's a lot to be learned by watch that type of thing carefully. Those that were smoothest, and seemed fastest, take a certain route, and apply a certain amount of throttle at a certain time, where those that aren't as fast seeming are usually a lot rougher, and don't seem to tie the corners together quite the same way. So I can take that observation along in my own driving, and strive for the most consistent, smoothest line when it's my turn out there.

And at the end of the day, I'll have a great deal of respect for those that have come out to do nothing more than just stand there and watch me go by, with the hope that there's nothing else to be done.

It's all who you know...

Today I had a really great day.
First, I had the pleasure of visiting a couple of private collections of autos. There were many great cars to see, some with significant history, and all lovingly cared for. Greater than some of the autos was much of the art that was on the walls surrounding them. There were several paintings by someone who used to illustrate for Road & Track in the days before the art of illustration vanished from most modern magazines. This was something I never expected to see, and was therefore of greater impact than just the cars themselves.

Second, the issues that were plaguing my M3 are well on the way to recovery. I was helped out by amember of the BMW club, who helped me tear down the shocks, and discover what had gone wrong. The damage was not as great as I had feared, and he was able to weld things back together and get it repaired. Now I just need to get the rest of the upgrades installed, and I'll have a car that drives like it's supposed to again. I'm thrilled... :)

Oh, and our new furniture arrived on Friday, so I have my very own easy chair, complete with a handy lap desk that folds out of the way. It's great fo rholding the laptop at the perfect angle for typing... and comfortable for extended napping as well. Wendy is napping with the dog on the new loveseat right now as well, so I'll take that as a good sign that it's comfortable also. (I sat on it for a few minutes... it's really comfortable. It all looks very nice, too.)

What's that bright thingy up there!?!

Walking to and from the cafeteria today was a little difficult. It was so bright out that I had to wait for my glasses to adjust, not to mention my eyes. However, this didn't prevent me from noticing how nice the fountain at the center of the old main campus looked. On the way back from lunch, I stopped to shoot the following picture, as the contrast was just so nice with the sun shining through I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Now if I had just remembered to set the phone for the higher resolution...

M3 in need of surgery...

Well, my M3 developed a sprain, that resulted in some damage to the knee...

Not really, but the anaology is close enough. What has happened is that all of the shock absorbers (actually called dampers...) have failed, so that the ride has become fairly bouncy. This has also resulted in a small stress fracture in one of the towers that the damper sits in and is mounted to. So a spot where a bolt goes through has broken loose, and now must be repaired before the car is driveable again. Ho hum.

It's rather depressing not having my fun little car to drive around in. i had just finished ordering all the bits and pieces that I was going to have installed. New shocks, a plan for springs, some reinforcement peices to make it stronger, etc. And then the shock tower has to go and do this the weekend before the parts arrive... Harrumph, even.

Now I'm waiting for the estimate, and the chance to get it into the schedule at the body shop that I am planning on having the work done at. Well, at least I didn't spend all the money on getting the stuff installed only to have to have it taken back out, right?