{"id":6125,"date":"2019-02-14T06:06:24","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T05:06:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.internationalclassic.com\/ritorno-in-pista\/"},"modified":"2019-05-08T09:40:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T07:40:26","slug":"return-to-the-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalclassic.com\/en\/return-to-the-track\/","title":{"rendered":"The return to the track"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From time to time in my career, I have had to give up on racing due to its incredible expense. Whenever I found more money I tried to restart racing. It was always very difficult because like any sport when you don\u2019t practice you lose your sharpness. Racing was like this. After an absence for 3 years, I was once again bitten by the racing bug and I looked around to find a car that I wanted to race. Robert Bosch was sponsoring a professional series for single seaters using VW engines that were highly developed and were giving out about 170 HP. One of my friends had a car that he wished to sell. He had been very successful and won several races. The purses were $10,000 for the winner so there were many aspiring drivers that were drawn to this series.<\/p>\n

The best way to enter a series like this is to buy a well-sorted car so that you are competitive at the start without a lot of wasted time sorting a new car. I decided to buy a TUI which was of monocoque construction. It was designed by a New Zealander Allan McCall. It was a jewel of a car and very fast. I got a lot of spares and all the setup information for the circuits where the series was run.<\/p>\n

It had been at least 3 years since I had done a race. I had to renew my license and I decided to pick a low key SCCA regional race to acclimatize myself with the car and to revisit my racing skills which were very rusty. I decided to go to Riverside for a spring race in April.
\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_btn title=”WE ALL HAVE A STORY, TELL US YOURS!” style=”outline-custom” outline_custom_color=”#990000″ outline_custom_hover_background=”#fce523″ outline_custom_hover_text=”#000000″ shape=”square” size=”lg” align=”center” button_block=”true” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost:10372%2Fracconta-la-tua-storia%2F||target:%20_blank|”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Riverside is almost in the desert so I was sure that it would be a dry weekend. The first few laps of practice were a real eye-opener to the progress that had Taken place in racing car construction. I was way too slow and little by little I increased my speed until I was up to a respectable pace. I must admit that in the first laps I really thought I had made a mistake to start racing again. After the practice session, I found out that had qualified midfield. At least I wasn\u2019t last and I knew that in the race I would be able to find a bit more pace as I was on a learning curve.<\/p>\n

The following day it was pouring down rain and I thought how unlucky I was to have to race in the wet for the first time in years and in a new car. This wasn\u2019t the best situation but I was here to learn so no excuses.<\/p>\n

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