10/29/05 - The competition is insane. I had seen videos of club races from the other regions, and I thought that would be indicative of the guys we'd be driving against. I didn't really expect this level of skill and car preparation. Their mod cars are sooo hooked up. The track is brand new and started out a little bit dusty. As the day progresses, the traction is coming up BIG time (this proved to be one of our downfalls in mod. More on that later.) The layout is very similar to what we run in Houston so Cristian and I are instantly comfortable on the wide, sweeping turns. I'm fast in F1, but there are a few guys out here that are quick. I tried out the hand-cut 23-degree F1 grooved front tires I had made, but I didn't want to wear them out so I saved them as my ace-in-the-hole in case I need a touch more steering. My mod car is just stupid. No traction whatsoever. I don't know how these guy are hooking up this power out of the corners. I call it a lost cause and focus on F1.

The first qualifier, I dominate the board. I'm feeling very confident and composed. David Bello is in my qualifying heat, and he's quick but I can pull a gap on him. Chad Nelson and Brian Daugherty are in the other heat, and they look quick but my qual time is still a lot faster. I let David drive my car after a heat and he's surprised at the amount of rear traction I have. I tell him to change to 20 degree rear tires, the same advice I got from Aaron Nelson a few months ago. The rubber is stiffer and prevents the carcass from folding over and losing traction. I offered him a pair of mine, but he found some at the makeshift shop that PN/Kenon set up. With a wink, I told him "just don't beat me!" Honestly, I was happy to help him get faster. We had travelled a long way to race against the best, and I didn't want it to boil down to a tire war. This friendly camaraderie began to define the F1 class. Every qualifying heat was followed by handshakes, pats on the back, and compliments all around. Sure we had our game faces on, but we were having so much fun battling it out cleanly, we couldn't help but smile. By the second qualifier everyone is getting faster and closing the gap to my laptimes. My corner speed is better, but they are getting me in the tight corner before the loop. I'm tempted to change my setup to get a little more steering out of the hairpin, but I decide to just drive around it. I didn't want to sacrifice the advantage I had on the rest of the track. I ended the day with the TQ, but 2-4 are a lot closer than they were after round 1.

Cristian has had an equally up-and-down day. I was pretty wrapped up in my own F1 race, but I had gotten some time here and there to check in on him. In Stock, his Enzo was getting eaten alive by a field of Mclarens. I gave him a set of Intellect batteries to run, and he reported that they had a lot more punch. I picked up a couple more sets from the shop for him to run in stock, hoping that they'd respond well to multiple cycles. The AAA batteries don't seem to need initial cycling to "wake up" like their larger counterparts do. Even with the extra power, he struggled to hold the Stock TQ. The Mclarens seem to change directions and carry corner speed more easily. He really has to push the car the whole run, and like my experience in F1, the competition is only getting faster. In Mod, his car was equally awful as mine. The rear end would just let loose mid corner when he tried to get on the power. Most of the guys that look strapped are running the new PN roll shock setup. We have NO development time with this rear suspension layout. His chassis was also chipped at the h-plate mount, so I decided to rebuild Cristian's mod car with this setup for tomorrow's final qual and the mains. When we get back to the hotel, it takes me about 3 hours to build a completely new car including a new FET stack on a new board since his steering was centering erraticly. We didn't have the oil shock that everyone else was running so we opted for the stock "shock". Completely drained, I passed out while Cristian did the final setup on the top shock.