I left Motorsport Ranch with a 1:31.87 best lap and one of those pieces of information that’s both encouraging and irritating. I’ve already driven a 1:28.54.

Just never all at once.

Across 31 laps in three sessions on the 1.7-mile CCW course, RaceChrono found all the pieces of a lap 3.33 seconds quicker than the one I actually managed to put together.

Naturally, I went looking for something else to blame.

Traffic? Four laps got screwed up, but nope.

Tires? Nope.

The Skipper? Definitely nope.

That leaves the loose nut behind the wheel.

A Track Day Without Run Groups

This was my first event with Motorsports Wishes⁠, and I really liked the format.

It’s nothing like a normal PCA HPDE. No run groups. No waiting around for your color to be called. The track is basically open all day except for lunch, with a maximum of six cars out at once. When somebody comes in, the next car in line goes out. 

They suggest running 20 to 30 minutes and then coming in. You can technically get right back in line, although most people return to the paddock and let the car cool down.

The beauty of this system is seat time. Want more? Go get more.

It works brilliantly when the cars on track are running roughly the same pace. It gets more interesting when they aren’t.

That happened to me once. Three of us wound up stacked behind a first-timer in a Corvette, waiting for a point-by that finally came on the front straight.

Nothing builds friendships quite like three drivers simultaneously yelling, “COME ON!” inside three different helmets.

Coaching is equally relaxed. Plenty of coaches were available, but nobody was forcing one into the passenger seat. Irene rode with me for the first session, helped me get reacquainted with the track, and then I went solo.

Which meant any subsequent stupidity was entirely mine.

Session 2: Apparently I Had Somewhere to Be

My quickest lap in Session 1 was 1:34.04.

Session 2: 1:31.87.

Session 3: 1:32.22.

Session 1 was basically me waking up. I started at 1:44.44 and eventually found a 1:34.04 on the final flying lap.

Then something clicked.

Session 2 gave me the four quickest laps of the day, including the 1:31.87. Laps 7 through 10 got tangled in traffic, but when I had clear track, the Skipper and I were moving.

Session 3 was actually prettier driving. I worked from 1:36.32 down to 1:32.22 without losing a single lap to traffic. My corner speeds also became much more consistent.

There was just one problem.

Consistently pretty isn’t necessarily consistently fast.

I had stopped making some of the bigger mistakes. I’d also stopped doing some of the faster stuff.

My Braking Problem Is Mostly That I Keep Using Them

Then RaceChrono found the part I really didn’t want to see.

On Session 3, lap 8, I came into the first complex at 114.3 mph, waited until 148 meters, hit the brakes and covered the next 138 meters in 4.30 seconds.

Fastest I did it all day.

And it wasn’t even one of my fast laps.

On the laps when I actually had something good going, I kept braking earlier. My six quickest laps gave away roughly four- to seven-tenths of a second right there.

Apparently when there’s nothing at stake, I’m Mario Andretti.

Give me a good lap and suddenly I’m driving Liz to brunch.

My braking point into that corner wandered around by 71 meters during the day. That isn’t a braking point. That’s a braking neighborhood.

The funny part is that by Session 3 I was braking harder and much more consistently. So this isn’t about whether the Skipper can stop.

It’s about whether I can convince my right foot to wait another half-second before my brain starts screaming, “BRAKES!”

One Corner Owes Me Almost a Second

The really painful discovery was the slow left complex late in the lap.

My 1:31.87 gives away 0.92 second there.

Almost a full second. One section.

That’s less a cornering problem and more a hostage situation.

Two other spots are taking another chunk. The first braking zone costs about half a second, and another section early in the lap costs roughly four-tenths when I choose the wrong line.

Put those three places together and roughly 1.6 seconds of my missing time isn’t hiding particularly well.

I don’t need more horsepower.

I need fewer opinions about where the brake pedal should be and some commitment once I turn in.

Texas Eventually Turned Up the Oven

By the third session, the track and the Skipper were getting hot.

Coolant peaked at 109°C in both Sessions 2 and 3, but Session 3 got there in roughly half as many laps. Nothing suggested a problem with the car. The afternoon was simply hotter, and the tires weren’t getting any happier about it.

That gives me a pretty simple plan for the next event.

Session 1: wake up.

Session 2: go hunting.

Session 3: work on the slow left complex and figure out why I occasionally drive it like I’m looking for a parking space.

And that 148-meter braking point from 114.3 mph?

We’ve already gone there together once.

Next time I’d like to finish what we started.

P.S. I saw this beauty and was for a minute, tempted but luckily I was able to walk away.