Watkins Glen Report – Arrivals
Signing up for the PCA even at Watkins Glen before we left for the trip on One Lap was brilliant. It was amazingly deflating to return to work after experiencing One Lap of America, but the PCA even offered a glimmer of hope that only two weeks after One Lap wrapped up, we would be back on the track.
Mike picked up the Supra from Mike at Innovative Tuning, which was an absolutely monster now. I was riding in the new Evo X, which I have done absolutely nothing to, except for put some new brake pads on. Tim was coming down in the VR4, still sporting the stickers from One Lap, but with an alignment and the LR1 turbo. We actually had a larger crew, as Sean Caron brought his Evo 9, Scott Wambach was there in the Subura Legacy GT, Chris Wirth brought his Evo X and Harry Freitas was there for his first time around the Glen in his Mustang.
I knew Tim was going to be challenged to instruct everybody in the group, so I approached Jim Gaylord the week before to get him in my instructor seat.. That turned out to be one of my best moves, as individual development at the glen is an accumulation of advice and experience from as many people as possible. Jim, knows that track and he knows it well.
My arrival at the Seneca Lodge was later than I wanted to be, missing early registration. This was mostly because of my iPhone mishap, right before leaving for the track, throwing me off 2 hours. Tim had secured us into the two A frames at the top of the hill, which were nicely redone inside. The comfort didn’t help me sleep much as pre-track anxiety always takes over.
After driving 3400+ miles, with 460HP at my disposal, and a completely different chassis, I knew I would have to take it pretty easy and relearn this new car I was in. That being said, jumping out of a 17 year old Galant VR4 into a 2008 Evolution X is a pretty easy jump.
