With Project Shinigami still down I've been needing to find my fix when it come to trackday fun. A couple months back I went to Buttonwillow just to watch Global Time Attack hoping that would help quench the thirst I had to get back to the track, but it only made things worse. The logical way I found was to add car reviews on my YouTube channel for those cars that are specially built to see track time. Now they don't have to be full racecars, although I don't mind driving those too. These cars are street cars that have been modified/tuned for weekend track duty.
So far I've been able to drive a handful of cars and although they aren't my R32 GTR its still great to be back at the track. For me there is something calming about the whole track experience. There is something about hearing the cars run through the gears as the go down the front straight, the smell of gas and brakes and just the overall vibe in the paddock area that allows me to shift my focus and just be in the moment. For me when I'm over a 100+, prepping to get into the brakes, hit the apex so I get back on throttle and do it all over again at the next corner. This is where I find my inner peace.
Finding the perfect line.
So far I haven't had an owner challenge me to beat their PB (but I will). So my reviews have been at about 7/10th of what I feel like their car can do. For me while i'm in someone else's car there is no reason to push those last couple tenths since this just opens the door for things to go wrong. In my own car, this is a very different thought since I'm comfortable with the fact that when you go 10/10 of what the car (and driver) has that there is a good chance of breaking something or worse. This then brings us back full circle to why Project Shinigami is where it is now (broken & waiting on parts).
The process to get Project Shinigami back, not just to running and driving but to a competitive level is going to be a long road with a ton of R&D and testing on the track but again that's my happy place so I look forward to it all.
Stay tuned for the entire build process on Project Shinigami and more track reviews