Off of One, On to the Next! Getting a break in between races doesn’t mean I’m not still getting plenty of time on track.
Finding myself with a few weeks of time before my next race, I decided that was a perfect opportunity to get some more seat time in the form of a Lucky Dog race. Teaming up with Russ Bond again, this weekend’s race was looking to be a fun one; we were racing at Calabogie, one of my favourite tracks in Ontario. The car was running great, I was feeling great, and we were hopeful for a strong result. Little did I know how difficult the weekend would become.
Saturday morning came and the race got off to a very clean start, with us starting right up at the front of the field. My teammate, Callum, was in the car for the first stint, and was doing a good job of holding on to as many places as he could; even with us starting near the front, there were a good number of cars that were faster than us at this circuit, so the main goal was just to hold on as best we could. I was set to drive the second stint, so with everything looking like it was running smoothly, I decided to get a bit of rest before I was on. Not long after that, though, the team came running back to our paddock spot to get me. It was only about an hour into his two hour stint, but Callum was feeling sick and had to come in. I thought he must’ve just caught a flu or something like that, but after I rushed to get dressed and started my stint, it quickly became clear: it was hot. Suffocatingly hot.
The rest of my stint was a blur. I did my best to push hard and make up some of the time we lost from the early stop, but it was exhausting. We had water with us in the car which helped somewhat, but even still, it was brutal. Still, I held out as long as I could. Eventually, after about an hour and a half, it was getting too much for me. I radioed to the team that I needed to come in, and after a few more of the hardest laps I’ve ever driven while they got the next driver ready, I pulled into the pits and dragged myself out of the car. The rest of the race for us was just a struggle to survive, nearly everyone having to tap out early from their stint, leading to us taking two more driver changes than we planned for. Every other team was dealing with the same problems, though, so we ended up still finishing a strong third place, which was a good reward for such a challenging race.
The next day was much, much easier. The heat, although still there, was much less oppressive than Saturday. In absence of the heat, though, we did run into a mechanical problem with our car. We fried the ECU, and somehow that translated into us losing power steering early in the race. One of our mechanics went out to pick up a spare one, but it was hours away, so we drove a good chunk of the race without it. When it came to my stint, again, I ended up having to come in early. Thankfully, although the lack of power steering made the driving very physically tiring, it was still much less brutal than driving with the heat. Instead of my whole body, I just had to deal with some really sore arms afterwards. By the end of Sunday’s race, we came home to finish fourth. It was a little unfortunate to miss out on the podium, but all in all it was a good points haul for the weekend.
