37 days to Simola Hillclimb2023. Snuck in a little shakedown of the #rescuemod.
My first real drive in anger, to say overthinking levels were high would be an understatement.
Reminded of my lap of the Nurburgring, driving a vehicle spiritedly on the road is nothing like exploring its limits on the relative safety of a racetrack, suddenly I see obstacles everywhere.
Preparation is everything and the irony that this shake down is part of that preparation, isn’t lost on me!
What could go wrong. Everything. Nothing. Brakes, a relatively low priority when it comes to hill climbing!
A strategy was in order.
Set a baseline and grow from there, slowly increasing speed, but no full acceleration or braking. If something was to go wrong, let it be slowly.
Listen, feel, learn and develop confidence in the cars abilities.
Like my infamous lap of the “Ring”, the day was a blur. Testing with 5 other race cars on track is not for the faint hearted. Or fragile ego.
Not quite the same when you drive your ride to the track and change into your racesuit in the pit lane, watching the professionals doing their thing in their garages!
All in all, a blurry good day of testing, car intact, albeit with expectedly fried brakes and a short todo list.
Actually, any day behind the wheel is a good day.
Bring on #SHC2023