Other than the traditional “doing way fewer races than planned” thing, this year went about 90% as expected and 80% as hoped.
Looking back at 2024
The most important thing is that nearly all of my expectations about running this car and this class proved to be reality. I settled into the car itself even more quickly than anticipated, although not as fully (in racing terms) as my initial experiences had caused me to hope. Still, very happy with the car and I feel more at home than maybe any of the other five racecars I’ve owned.
The class is just as tight and challenging as I’d assumed from being around it all these years, which is great, but there are definitely some drivers (who, thankfully, don’t show up as often as I’d feared) around whom I fear for the physical integrity of my car, which isn’t. Still, very happy I finally pulled the trigger on joining the class.
My in-race positions haven’t been as close to the front as I’d hoped, but I finished the season tied for 7th within a group of 21 cars (with, admittedly, some scattershot attendance), even though I ran only 8 of 17 races. At one point, and for a longer stretch than I would’ve expected, I was as high as 4th in the championship. Not bad. 🙂
Why so few races? Well, thankfully, not because of mechanical issues, although I did have a few minor things that cropped up here and there. (And some major ones that are getting fixed post-season as I write this.) Mostly it came down to schedule conflicts and even a couple races where I somehow became immune to the siren call of racing and just stayed home. I mean, I’m nearing the end of a long amateur “career” and that kind of thing doesn’t surprise me too much… as long as it stays rare!
Looking forward to 2025
The compression test on the engine came up fine, so the lack of speed at the end of some straights is purely down to the driver (dammit), so that’s something I’ll be working on next season. Some major gonna-be-a-mechanical-DNF issues have been fixed before they became problems, and I have a much better sense of the overall state of the car, so I’m a bit more sanguine about the mechanical picture.
A spec class is always going to highlight driver deficiencies, and there are a couple of mine I’m aware of, but working on those is part of the fun.
Speaking of fun, I’m trying to remember this isn’t a job and, if there are times I just don’t feel the urge to go racing, be a little less hard on myself for skipping it and simply enjoy whatever I’m doing instead.