Terrapin Beer Co., Athens, GA. Bought at the Cork and Keg liquor store in Brasselton, GA, and drunk in my hotel room at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Suwanee, GA with a Wendy's Baconator burger and fries for dinner. Thanks go to the very nice young man at the hotel reception desk who loaned me his personal 'knife tool kit' that contained a bottle opener.
This was the second day of the three day school and we spent a lot of time on the track today. After a short discussion in the class room we went out on the track with instructions to change gear at 5,500 rpm and keep top speeds below 75 mph. Don, Kyle and Grayson positioned themselves around the track and on each lap we stopped in the middle of the main straight and received an analysis, by radio, of our track abilities from Don, Kyle and Grayson. There were three sessions of this with each session increasing the change gear rpm and the allowable top speed. I am getting more comfortable in the car and slowly finding the correct line around the corners that results in the shortest time and highest speeds.
After lunch we had a lecture on braking and then were back on the track to practice high speed braking at the hairpin at the end of the back straight and braking in the turn. At this stage in our learning the stop box was positioned so the maximum speed we could reach approaching the corner was around 80 mph in 4th gear. We were instructed to brake late and hard and change to 3rd gear, trail the brake into the start of the first right angle turn, then accelerate hard out of the turn and through the apex of the next right angle turn and change into fourth as you crest the hill heading towards the start-finish line. Swallow hard to put heart back into place, and drive around the track to the stop box to get comments on your performance before repeating the exercise.
A classroom session followed to analyze what we learned in braking and to spend time discussing driving in the rain and driving at new tracks before we went back onto the track for a final session to perfect techniques. Kyle gave us a demonstration of the flags used to control the race, discussing what each flag means and the action a driver must take when he sees the flag. Once again the stop box was in operation along the back straight with the instructors placed around the track.
Another excellent day. Very enjoyable, very instructional. The instructors are very competent, the Skip Barber organization is very professional.
The beer was very pleasant even though it was quite hoppy. The bottle says "hear ye, hear ye.. All hopheads shall herewith rejoice. Terrapin hath recruited ye olde HOPSECUTIONER to execute the exact hop profile for the killer IPA. You may lose your hophead over this one.
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