The Count Down

I'll pick up from where Woody left off, which was ignoring our growing hunger.  After Woody posts the morning's happenings, we head down the road for a 2:15 lunch.  A Subway is located in short order and sandwiches are procured.  Yummy!

The remainder of the afternoon is spent like the morning, talking with friends and making new ones.  More and more cars are arriving which at this point in the proceedings is much later than previous years.  At some point, Woody and I decide to set up the in car video camera mount thus eliminating a chore for tomorrow.  It's now plug and play.

At last 4:00 pm arrives and it is time for the all hands team meeting.  Brock Yates Jr, the event organizer, passes on his words of wisdom for completing the event in safety and fun.  The usual rules of the road and the competition are also presented along with a few updates on the One Lap schedule and official "Route Book".  A few questions are asked with the "best" being, why is there not a track map of Highland Rim Speedway near Nashville Tennessee not included in the Route Book update?  In classic dead pan style, Brock says....it's an oval, just keep turning left!

The meeting wraps up in about an hour and then the buffet opens.  The edible fair consists of burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, pasta salad, baked beans (these have trouble written all over them), several selections of American beer, and a few dessert options.  We are not very hungry as we had a late lunch, but the beers are good.  (Woody:  speak for yourself Robin.) There is a discussion with Mike Renner, the chief instructor at BMW's performance center in South Carolina, regarding tire pressures for the tracks versus the wet skid pad test versus the high-banked turns at Daytona International.  Mike makes us swear on our graves not to pass along any of the tire pressure secrets so I'll stop there.

We head back to the motel around 6:00 and there are many more cars in the lot than the night before.  One of those cars is the TC Kline Carbon Coupe that was discussed in yesterday's blog.  I bump in to Eric and Dave and they look just a bit exhausted.  But tomorrow is another day and the competition will commence.  Woody and I have not quite decided who will drive when and where for tomorrow's start....it may come down to the flip of a coin.

The last of my two beer limited for the day is consumed and it's off to the room for a shower and the writing of this blog.  Woody heads for the bar about the time I got back, but just returned in sober condition even though this might be our last chance for a beer for one whole week.  It's 9:30 and the One Lap of America starts in earnest bright and early tomorrow morning.  For the next week, it is long days and even longer nights.  Why are we doing this again?

Good night until tomorrow.