4.5.14 – “SKID PLATE RACING IN MY NEW ACCORD RACING MACHINE”

Skip all this reading and jump to the VIDEO if all these words are overwhelming!

This article describes what Skid Plate racing is http://goo.gl/TfQnSz.

Briefly, Skid Plate racing involves removing the rear wheels of a front wheel drive car and replacing them with flat metal plates that offer very little (no) traction.  The cars slide and spin like driving on ice.

After our last event, the car was pretty beat up.  Huge thanks to Robert Rice and his guys as well as Alex Miller for helping get the car put back together.  Luckily most of the damage from the last event was cosmetic, but there was still a lot of work to be done and they did a great job!

PRACTICE/ QUALIFYING

The afternoon of the race we had a practice/ qualifying session.  The car felt good but I was still struggling to keep it pointed in the right direction.  Towards the end of the session I refined my technique some and managed to feel a bit more comfortable on the skid plates.  A big problem for me was overheating the brakes – I knew I would have to adjust my technique for the race because within 6 laps I had almost no ability to stop.

I managed to keep the car out of too much trouble (apologies to those I involved in light contact) but did not set a great qualifying time.  This ended up working in my favor because the track decided to invert the field.  This meant that the rear of qualifying would start at the front.

THE RACE!

Qualifying had me starting in 8th place.  I had a plan for the start of the race but it all went out the window once the cars started spinning out.  Going into the first turn, I got spun by a car that hit my rear end as it was spinning.  I tried to keep my momentum but ended up spinning a second time.  As I re-entered the track, I got too close to a passing car and we made contact – took out my entire front bumper but luckily avoided the radiator and other non-cosmetic parts.

Somehow the headlight camera survived this hit!

After these first lap problems and a few spins later into the race, I got into my rhythm.  I stayed in the top 10 throughout most of the race but unfortunately fell to 15th on the last lap while avoiding a spinning car in front of me.

All and all, a very fun night – I feel fortunate that the car only had some cosmetic damage but too bad I lost both bumpers again!

Thanks again to Robert Rice Racing   I would never have had the opportunity to do this without their help.

All said, the damage to the car was not too bad so very lucky – mostly cosmetic.

 

 

Thank you to TrakkTape – Great product for protecting my car on track!