Final Day - May 9th - The 'hangover' skid pad

So, as a tradition the last day is un-officially called the hangover skid pad. That's because after 7 straight days of thousands of transit driving and racing on the countries finest racetracks it's time to kick back and have a few cold ones! On our way to Southbend on Friday afternoon we stopped in at the Great Lakes brewery in Cleveland, OH. We met up with a bunch of other fellow One Lappers, had some good food, brew, and great company. My dad drove with us over to South Bend for the finale of the event. After this long and enduring week I am beat, time to kick back and get to the finish line. We went out to a local Notre Dame bar, had a few drinks, and stayed true to my drink of choice, Vodka w/club soda & lime and I felt great in the am other than only getting 3 hours sleep again.

Skid Pad time... We were first in class and tied for 6th overall at this point.
It was literally FREEZING this morning at Southbend. The wind was blowing hard, like 35+mph, it was cloudy and gloomy, and on top of that it looked like it was about to rain, err snow that is with this ice cold mist that kept blowing through the parking lot as we prepped for the event. The M5 hasn't performed well on the dry skid pad in past years, and I didn't expect anything marvelous this time around. We tried a different set-up that was recomended by pro-driver and ex-Michelin tire engineer Brian Smith. We pumped the front tires up to 42 + and the rears 6 lbs lower to make the car rotate around the skid pad better. The idea behind this was to make the front tires stiff so they would grip and the rear tires to have some rollover with the lower pressures.

It was soo weird lining up behind an Ultima GTR, that we are tied for 6th position with overall standing. A weird lineup it was, and everything in front of us was pretty much a full blown race car of sorts. So there is no way that the M5 can beat the Ultima GTR in the dry skid pad. We were praying for rain, due to the weight the M5 does very well in the rain. On the flip side the GTR does poorly in the wet due to it's light weight and it absolutely dominates in the dry. All the skid pad is a 200 foot circle and drive on the edge of understeer for the fastest time around. It didn't actually start raining so the pavement was still dry, cold but dry. The Ultima definately got us and we were bumped to at least 7th. At this point we couldn't get lower than 4th in class, since we were up by 15 points to the Audi. We would be tied for 1st place again if that happened, and it did. The S4 got 1st in skid pad, and the two M3's just eeeked in front of us by .02 of a G. I asked how this is going to be determined since we were tied for 1st in class, whomever has the lowest cumulative time of all the events put together takes the win.

Drifting time!!! At this point it started raining and the skid pad was pretty wet. I always wanted to give it a shot drifting around a skid pad and keeping the car at a constant slip angle. I went 1 and a half times around and then went a bit wide and spun out. I tried for another few runs and had limited success. It was fun and time to call it a day.

Lunch and the awards ceremony was starting... we had nothing packed, the car was filthy and desperately needed a wash, still had to get it ready to go on the transporter, and leave immediately after the awards ceremony to ride down to Indianapolis to catch our flight to Orlando and Andrew to catch a flight to Miami. Keep in mind with the wind chill it was in the 40's outside. We hustle to pack the car, and start washing this beast so we can get going asap. We are frozen and wet, my socks are soaked and I only had one pair left. Oah, boyy... Got another pair of socks, changed and went to the awards ceremony. Andrew was a champ through out the whole trip and a great help whenever something needed to be done.

"I'd like to first off thank my wife for letting me take her car on the One Lap again" That was my opening line when we went up for our 7th overall award. Definately got a good chuckle from the crowd, lol!! The class award was coming up and the Babcock's get called up for 1st in class, what??!?! Even they were confused, we were tied in points and we must have gapped them much more at the different events for a lower overall cumulative time. It's all good... We took second in class, however that was figured out and we then had to jet out of there to catch our flight out of Indy. Drove down with Peter and Ian in their truck, meanwhile Catesby Jones and Jose in the SC'd M3 were going to drive the car back to S. Fla. Exotic Car Transport offered to bring multiple cars back to Florida if needed and I extended the offer to Catesby. He was ecstatic! We are now on a plane together headed to Orlando where we will celebrate Rachel's graduation with Catesby and Jose before they drive a rental car back home tomorrow.

The One Lap is all about the great cars, experiences, and friends that you make along the way. From one adventure to the next, now we are getting ready for next year to do it ALL over again!!!

~ Czarny out!