Today was HPR’s much postponed free day.

I have never seen so many cars on this track before. When I registered they said there were 122 online registrations. The final count was 179. To say there were a hundred Porsches there would be an exaggeration. But there might have been 79.

I was one of three Lotus. Zach and Margarite ran their Exige in the slow group. Sarah was there with her black Elise; it ran in the fast group with me, but I don’t think she was the driver.

I was one of the first ones there and I got a pretty good spot in the paddock. I was surrounded by BMWs. One was a 335, four wheel drive, wrapped in a satin blue, running on Blizzak tires. These weren’t stealth Blizzaks – he was sporting the half inch tall lettering on the sidewalls. I wasn’t the first to ask them if they brought other tires. It was two kids, not long out of high school. They ran two laps, twice.

I gave them both rides. The first kid was the friend of the one who owned the car. He was pretty excited. He told me it was his first day at the track. I was kind of slow getting to the grid and when I entered the track the engine still wasn’t warmed up. I took it real easy, on the lookout for snow or water alongside or on the track. Even so, I go four wheels off in the hairpin. With four off I need to stop at the black flag station. I didn’t even complete a lap.

Exiting the track, my rider is saying, “That was great, thanks!”. He thought that was the end of his ride. “We haven’t even had a fast lap yet.”

In the drivers meeting, Pettiford said there was water in turn 4. There appeared to be a fairly dry line through the turn, but it was very narrow. There was a coating of slick mud on the outside. By the fourth session, there was too much water to be any fun so I quit after a few laps.

There were way too many cars. Too many questionable passes. I was passed three times under yellow. One of those cars was involved in contact with another car during that session. I wasn’t the only one who went off – most cars were muddier than mine. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the track limit registrations to something like 120.