COME TAKE A RIDE AROUND THE GINGERMAN RACEWAY TRACK WITH ARYTON WITH THE NASA EVENT!

HPDE 1 & 2 IN MY 1999 SPEC MIATA 1.6 NA CAR

This past weekend I ventured out to South Haven, MI to attend my first HPDE event with Nasa Great Lakes on my 13th birthday weekend. It is a very nice track, but not my 100% favorite. I like the different elevations that VIR had and this one wasn't as technical.

Saturday started my HPDE1, where I had a ride along with Chris Losiniecki (instructor with Nasa Great lakes), who taught me a lot on track. I knew everything in the classroom sessions since my experience in karting transfers to road racing, such as flags, control of car, and what you should maintain on your car each time before sessions. I got checked off and moved up to HPDE2 by Tim Fokine, who gave me some good advice on close passing out there and gave me very high reviews, that gave me more confidence in my driving abilities. His words were "If he isn't a race car driver he should be a pilot, with the way his reaction time is."

Sunday in HPDE2 I got to run drills passing, flags on track and making sure we pay attention to them, red flag situation, and I got to work on more point by passes. I felt more confident in my driving by the end of the day and finished out the day run 1:58's.

Monday I got to stay with CGI Motorsports for a full day of practice where I would practice in the Intermediate group, solo. In the first session I instantly dropped 6 seconds to the 1:52's, then as the day went by I kept getting faster and down to 1:51's the rest of the day. My car couldn't get past the 1:51's, due to the old tires and we weren't really tweaking the car any, but I was very close with a 1:51.0.

My goal was to get to 1:51 and I managed to do it before we leave for the day in the last 3 sessions, which I am pretty proud of myself.

I know I have a lot more to learn in the Miata world, and I am dedicated to learn as much as I can so I can get my license to race.

Next up in the Miata world will be with NASA at Pitt.

Pitt is an awesome track and I have always wanted to race there someday!

NEW CASTLE CLUB RACE- DOUBLE HEADER JUNE 11TH-12TH

This weekend we ventured out for New Castle's double header race. Friday was practice day, Saturday and Sunday were race days.

Friday my dad took out my X30 Sr and tried to help me on track, but my motor decided it wasn't going to cooperate so I had to end my day early. Comet was nice enough to get me a different motor Saturday morning so that I could race.

Saturday was a nice day, not too hot not too cold. We got 1 practice, qualifying, prefinal and final. In qualifying we were struggling to find the correct tire pressure and setup with the new chassis, so we qualified 4th, finished the prefinal 3rd and the final I finished 5th. So not the best day but also not the worst.

Sunday we woke up with track wet, after a long night of rain. We got to do a different configuration and we only got 2 practice sessions on it before qualifying. I was still struggling to find speed practice and qualifying, but was able to find some speed in the final. I started the final in 4th, the weather conditions were on and off rain. The juniors were much faster than the Seniors that we would catch them throughout the race. I got to the lead but a senior kart decided they weren't going to try to hold the outside on me in

turn 3, thinking I was another SR driver, which slowed me down and allowed the other kart to catch me from behind. My tires went away for the rest of the race but I was able to hold on to 2nd place.

Next up is Gingerman the weekend of my 13th birthday in South Haven, MI, where I will be doing my first HPDE class with NASA in my Miata.

VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY GOING 113MPH IN MY 1993 SPEC MAZDA MIATA 1.6 NA CAR!

Full weekend of testing in my Miata at the Virginia International Raceway this weekend! It was a good weekend, none the less, we learned a lot and gained 11 seconds by the end of the weekend.

Our venture down started a little rocky. On our way here we crashed the RV & had to go home to pick up the truck. Then we started our king drive, got stuck in fog that was so bad we were going 15 mph and storms in a tornado path. Then we tried to find a hotel & could not all, but we finally found one and went to sleep around 11.

Day 1, I had to start in the Green class since I am young and they don't know my driving habits/skills yet. I impressed my instructor on the first run, even though I have never been to this track and not much time in the Miata. I got to drive with her all day, where she coached me the entire time, it was nice to have someone there with me the first day. Then I did a one hour session where I didn't have to point by people, I would just drive and l earn the line more and add more speed.

Day 2, It was a good day gained more time and got moved up to a better group where I did not have a drivers coach anymore it was just me by myself. I found some time that day just mainly learned a lot. By the end of the day me and my buddy, Ben, did the full hour at the end of the day and we bump drafted the whole time, which helped us both learn and helped me get faster.

Day 3, final day, I gained another second going 2:21.9 and had a couple of lucky saves. I went threw a corner, hit the brakes & the back popped out, I spun down a hill but got the car back in line to get back on the track.

I decided to set the one hour out cause I was tired and there was nobody there including Ben.

I did get to take my mom on a few parade laps and got to sh0w her what I could really do on the track.

So overall one of the best weekends ever, learned a lot, had a lot of fun and enjoyed every minute of that track time, which was 8 full hours.

Big thanks to John Grim for keeping the car setup and good, Alissa Grim for supporting me, and Jim Maier and Beth Maier for the support.

Big thanks to you all!! Next test is with Drive Nasa to help me towards my license at Gingerman raceway, on my birthday weekend!

Photo credit: Alissa Grim Photography