Lime Rock June 18 2009: The rains came, and so did CART by Kevin FitzMaurice

People ask “What happens when it rains during one of your events?” The answer is: we drive! Thursday, June 18 was another wet day in a series of wet days in New England. It had rained so much the ground couldn’t hold it anymore. Streams were overflowing, parking lots were lakes, and we’re having a track day.

It was CART’s return to Lime Rock. Our 2008 date was canceled due to track paving, and we were anxious to try the “new” Lime Rock. The pavement is great, silky smooth, lots of grip, a real pleasure to drive. The weather added a new dimension to the whole event.

Due to Lime Rock’s new policy we had to change our format. We ran the afternoon session, and broke the competitors into two run groups. Each group received an alternating half an hour of track time. Jay Bode, Bob Doiron, and Chris DiFiore worked together as a team to make sure the participants were ready when called, and efficiently utilized the amount of time we had. Liam Dwyer supervised tech inspection with Jim Duphiney. Matt Skibisky worked as the official “runner”, while Joe Skibisky got a little closer to heaven, occupying his favorite spot, the flagging tower. You had some pretty fancy flag work going there, Joe.

The event was markedly free of incident. Courtesy was the key word for the day, and everyone worked together. Despite the sometime heavy rain, there were very few off courses, and only one on track mechanical breakdown. One of the off courses was a repeat from last year’s Circuits Maximus, as the Nogiec Agricultural Racing entry, with a guest driver behind the wheel, decided to plow the lower 40 off of Big Bend. No damage done, but if you’re looking for some Lime Rock real estate, see Bob or Adam. They have several price pieces in and on their car.

The weather posed enough challenges for everyone. The apex cone for the left hander had drowned; there was so much standing water that only the top 6 inches of cone was available. There was a large stream running between the left and right portions of the esses that cleaned your chassis every time you drove thru. A lake had formed on the right side no name straight, just waiting to suck in the unwary. I know, I drove thru it. “Your seat cushion also can be used as a flotation device” was the phrase that came to mind. Another stream of water was running from infield to outfield on no name near the braking zone for the uphill. Every time you drove thru it, your car would jerk to the left. It was disconcerting the first time you went thru it, but then it became part of the driving line. You would set up the car to be slightly off line to the right, and the water would put you back on line. It was a neat trick, until you followed a couple of cars thru the water. They would splash the stream dry, you would be going right, and, because the water flow had temporarily abated, you would now be off line. West Bend had a series of small streams running thru it, causing your car to drift / catch / drift / catch as you turned. And finally, the downhill had a small pond occupying the apex.

The weather handed us a lemon; we made it lemonade. Judging by the smiles at the end of the day, it was a satisfying concoction. See you July 20 for the high banked Pocono South event.