Day Last - End of the Road

It's Sunday morning and it's taken me a few days to really chew on the disappointment that was/is the 2011 One Lap. Our long trip back included a stop in the Big Easy and a few more horrific roadside meals. A 21 hour leg back home stared us in the face, but home we are.

While Ric, Sebastian, and I certainly made the best of the situation, there is no question that we would have liked to have flogged the little Audi around the rest of the country.
The Flex in lieu was a sorry replacement, but it did give me a peek into what rolling appliances feel like today......hell it even looks like a fridge:/ Regardless of my incessant complaints, we made it back safely to Evergreen on Thursday and have collectively decided to return to the 2012 One Lap.

Better prepared and prepared for triumph, we will be returning in possibly 3 Lotus Elises. Competition will be fierce and I'm already plotting my strategy. In the meantime, I'd like to wish all the One Lappers a prosperous year and I'd like to thank Brock Jr. for yet another great event.

Til next year.
Tony

Day 5: DAYTONA!

11:52AM EST - Daytona International Speedway...impressive hardly describes this venue and having been here for the 2009 One Lap, the awe has only grown. Unfortunately for us, we're not in a Porsche, Lotus, or Audi, but we're making the best of the sour hand that has been dealt us.

The track opened this afternoon for some parade laps on the track (limited to 100mph) so we decided to roll the Flex out onto the track for some fun. Certainly not made for this sort of thing, but it made it around the track.............frustrating as it was we giggled like schoolgirls as we went high on the high bank, 40ft off the apron.

Riding our bikes on the track this morning and to give an idea of how steep the banking here is made, one can not ride a bicycle on the bank without fallingh off. 40 feet from the top of the track to the apron, it's certainly not a place to spin a car, much less fall off a bicycle.
We're off to the Big Easy today to have some fun on Bourbon Street and to visit our last track of the 2011 One Lap in the middle of the bayou oddly enough. Ric, Sebastian, and I have decided to skip the rest of the event after tomorrow and head home a bit early.

While this year's event didn't turn out as planned, we've already decided we'll be back next year.......better prepared and back with two, if not three Lotus Elises.

Tomorrow, I'm sure will be a bit hazy from the whiskey.
One more update coming with a few added pics.

Day 3 & 4: It's An Imperfect World

It's an imperfect world as Ric would say. Apropos today with the catastrophic failure of our now beloved S4. Shortly after going through the niceties of welcoming Sebastian to the event, he was quickly summoned into action on the track. One recon lap of the lushly lined track and he was off; literally. The transmission is.........was.

6:50am EST - We're at Chantily Audi somewhere near D.C. and we've just received the bad news that they won't be able to fix the car 'til tomorrow night. Plan B is now in action.....update forthcoming.

8:45am EST - Still in Chantily and in the last two hours, we've managed to arrange shipping the Audi back to Denver and rent a minivan to finish off the event. Hopefully we'll be able to make the event at the BMW Driving Center in Spartanburg, SC this afternoon. The 1 Lappers are currently at Carolina Motorsports Park, and while I was hoping to face my demons there after spinning the car at 100mph two years ago, the face-off, it will have to remain a stand-off:/

In the spirit of One Lap........onward!

11:49pm EST - Onward we've gone and just outside of Daytona Beach, it's taken all of 2 hours for me to again understand how little I enjoy Florida. From the errant highway drivers to the fact that cheese envelopes every meal on any restaurant's menu, to the fact that it's so muggy and humid that even the few remaining strands of hair on Sebastian's head no longer stick up like a character from Fraggle Rock...........Florida just plain sucks.

One saving grace, however, is Daytona International Speedway. A beacon of NASCAR, yes..........but also a beacon of motorsport. Regardless of what it is, we will be there tomorrow morning to return to the event and while the event's rules state we can no longer gain points (due to the change in cars), the event does allow us to drive the tracks:)


The "ACME Rental Car Company" outside of DC gave us a Ford Flex to accompany us the remainder of the trip and while it lacks any similarity to the S4, it trumps the German tart in that the Flex is currently running. We'll be at the big oval in the morning to see what this soccer mom's grocery getter can do (let this be a lesson to anyone who has ever thought to save a few bucks buying a used rental car).

We'll update in the morning as to how things go, but hopefully we come out the other end of the tunnel.