Had a great weekend at Grattan Raceway with 3balls as usual... The unusual was that it was a charity event to raise money for melanoma research at the Karmanos institute! The group raised over $8000 with the silent auction and other activities and it was the first complete sellout in 3balls history.
Saturday started out bad for me though... I woke up at 6:30 after drinking with the guys until ~1:00 and found that one of my front right lugs was cross threaded. Eventually broke the stud removing the lug nut and moved on to the right rear where when torquing down the last nut to 85ft-lb I twisted off a stud.
Luckily I was able to hitch a ride into town (I managed to get my truck and trailer parked in) to get the last of the studs that the local NAPA had and a few extra lug nuts and was on track for the afternoon sessions.
I was pretty rusty the first session or two but finally got into the groove of things and started dropping my lap times. After the first session those hair-like mould things were still on the outside of the tire but they didn't last long after that.
I have never heard race tires scream the way they were both days. There was some sort-of new sealer used on the asfalt that R-comps did not like.
Started off with a brand new set of R6s and came away very happy. They appear to have worn evenly but the rears look like they've barely touched the track. I suppose that's what happens when you have too large of a tire, eh? They all came up to the same pressures (~40psi) but the rears sure didn't appear to get as hot judging by the pickup.
Best times I had were mid 1:33s when I was following Kenny in his Panoz.... That helped my line a ton. I'll post video soon! Have some great shots of Ken's LeMons neon smoking the tires in the hairpin.
If I can swing it my next track day will be Waterford Hills on the 20th but if I can't get away it will be Grattan in September. I would really like to get back to Mid-Ohio sooner than October but I don't think it's going to happen.