The Civic ran the last Martin Sports Car Club points event for 2003, returning to Gainesville Raceway’s road course on Nov. 1. This weekend’s layout was a little longer than the one used the previous week, as the big 180-degree turn was run clockwise, giving it an increasing radius rather than a decreasing one. As such, less drivers were caught off-guard and sent towards the wet grass.
Since we knew than an off could be bad—the track is pretty much lined with swamplands—we again ran somewhat safe tire pressures of 40 psi front and 36 psi rear. Hindsight being 20/20, that may have been a little too conservative, as the car pushed a bit in the tight 90-degree turns. A little more pressure out back should have helped the car rotate through the turns.
Still, the event was a blast, as this configuration was a nice mix of high-speed turns and technical bits. The event was also a warm-up of sorts for the Florida State Championships to be held the following day, so some fast drivers from outside of the area were present.
Solo II National Champion David Schnoerr joined us in the G Prepared class, and he proved tough to beat, taking the win by nearly 3 seconds in his VW GTI 337. (Never mind the talent, it’s hard to beat 245mm Hoosiers on 225mm street tires.) Still, the GRM Civic finished second in the eight-car class.
Despite the second-place finish, by our count we have taken the class title for the year. The club’s year-end banquet will be held on Dec. 13 in Orlando.
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