{"id":370506,"date":"2014-02-28T09:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T14:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/?p=59366"},"modified":"2024-01-15T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T10:10:43","slug":"the-focus-of-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/the-focus-of-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"The Focus of Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Bill Bounds<\/p>\n

What I like most about driving cars is the purity of focus it gives me. Whether that\u2019s nailing a heel-toe downshift, coaxing a car into that finicky second gear, or being within inches of every cone on an autocross run; I haven\u2019t been able to find that kind of focus anywhere else in my life. A couple of years ago I got a concentrated dose of that focus, courtesy of a 24 Hours of LeMons race.<\/p>\n

I was going to wait a little while to talk about my crap-can racing experience, but there were several comments on my last two posts about LeMons and ChumpCar so I figured \u201cwhy not?\u201d We can save all the dialogue about whether it\u2019s really racing or if it\u2019s really as cheap as the $500 labels would have you think for another day. The point here is that I was about to have my first experience on a racetrack under real racing conditions.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear here. I had been on track several times before during track day events. I feel as though I\u2019m competent behind the wheel, I\u2019ve even won races and a championship before. Definitely not a novice then, but I hadn\u2019t been door-to-door, on-track, with sixty other people at the same time. Dammit if I couldn\u2019t shake being nervous the morning of the event.<\/p>\n

I had some friends who dabbled in the LeMons world and finally decided to go all in, taking the form of a pair of Mazda MX3s. The first car ran for a season before the inaugural event for the second car and I was on the second car\u2019s team. LeMons puts just as much emphasis on having fun as it does racing, so every team is encouraged to have a theme. Our theme was \u201cSmokey and the Bandit\u201d. I was in the Smokey car, sporting a gaudy krylon paintjob with stars on the hood and doors.<\/p>\n

I was due to run in the 3rd stint of the day. First stint of the morning went fine. Second stint went fine right up until it didn\u2019t. Since we didn\u2019t have radios the rest of the team didn\u2019t know anything until the car came back on the wrecker. There wasn\u2019t an accident, but something had gone horribly wrong in the engine. Without hesitation wrenches started flying. I remember feeling intimidated for about a minute. \u201cA Mazda MX3? I don\u2019t know anything about their motors!\u201d That quickly became irrelevant as we needed the head off NOW to see what damage was done.<\/p>\n

Long story short, we worked on that car for a solid five hours. Some of us were driving to the next state to get a replacement junkyard motor and the rest of us were pulling the busted engine prepping for the new one. In the final hours of the race we finally got everything back together and running. Since my stint was next I was told to suit up. Fire suit. Nomex socks. Shoes. Hans. Helmet. Gloves. Harness. Killswitch to \u201con\u201d. Hit the ignition. It works! Get to pit out!<\/p>\n

And there he was, by the grace of some racing god somewhere, the Bandit. I merged onto the racing line just a car length behind my friend in the other team car. Before we hit the next corner he signaled to me in his mirror. His meaning was plain, even though the signals were not. \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

For ten laps we burned those poor MX3s to the ground. I never got more than six or seven feet away from his rear bumper and we were turning times within a few tenths of the best overall times, dicing through the traffic. Gentle understeer with provoked oversteer under braking, I knew exactly where to place the car to stay on pace. The long throws of the still stock transmission somehow matched the pace of the car, giving me time to think on corner entry and get the back end moving just the right amount. Through all of the flaws it was perfect. I was hardwired into the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

After those ten laps I got waved by. The pits had radioed in to the other team car. They were leading (!!!) and didn\u2019t need the stress of a stupid mistake while hotlapping. I went on my way, still happy but slightly less excited.<\/p>\n

The focus of driving, the necessity of clarity in those moments, is what keeps pulling me back to racing. It\u2019s a hard habit for me to sustain, but I can\u2019t find the same sensation anywhere else. That we had such a difficult build up to my laps made them all the more sweet. For just a little while, I felt like a hero behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like this column to be a space for you as well as me. So, please, if you have a story of your heroics behind the wheel, I would love to hear them. Big or small, it doesn\u2019t matter. Email me at bill@sportscardigest.com<\/a> or I will be in attendance at Amelia Island next weekend. Track me down and I\u2019d love to talk to you.<\/p>\n

[Source: Bill Bounds]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bounds What I like most about driving cars is the purity of focus it gives me. Whether that\u2019s nailing a heel-toe downshift, coaxing a car into that finicky second gear, or being within inches of every cone on an autocross run; I haven\u2019t been able to find that kind of focus anywhere else in my life. A couple of years ago I got a concentrated dose of that focus, courtesy of a 24 Hours of LeMons race. 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