Back to Lime Rock; Thinking of Paul Newman

Lime Rock is the track I first drove on in real life, and over the years I've run there many times. Even shared the track with Paul Newman a few years ago, me in my Cobra during its development phase when it was quite slow, and he in his mighty T1 Camaro, which blew by me like I was standing still.

I heard that Paul drove his Camaro one more time at Lime Rock the other day. He's got cancer and he was taking his last ride. This is very sad news.

I still regret not speaking with Paul when I had the chance. Twice - three decades apart - I was within speaking distance of him in the paddock at Lime Rock, and both times I was too shy, too star-struck to open my mouth.

The first time was over 30 years ago, when Paul was driving a Bob Sharp Datsun 510, not long after he'd gotten interested in racing while filming the movie Winning. It was a Tuesday practice day and I was in the pits watching as he drove the Datsun through the downhill and onto the main straight. The surface had a sharp crown down the middle and he had to transition that crown as the car tracked out from the apex to the curb at the outer edge of the straight.

At that point he had to be doing close to 100 MPH. The crown would naturally kick the tail of the car out as the car got light going over it. Most people would have to react to this with some opposite lock to catch the resulting slide.

But Newman was doing something differently: he was anticipating the slide, correcting for it as it happened, so that instead of kicking out its tail, the car seemed to just float sideways for a split second and then hook up as it settled down on the far side of the crown. It was amazing to watch, and it became clear to me that day that Paul Newman was the real deal when it came to driving a race car.

That crown is still there (or at least it was until the repaving) and iRacing's laser scanning has captured it perfectly.

I know, because I was wrestling with it last night. First with the Skippy car, and then with the Legends, which reacts so much more quickly because of its stiffly sprung live rear axle and its very short wheelbase. Fun!

I actually did a lot more laps with the Legends than with the Skippy. I love the Skippy, but the Legends just feels so alive. You feel every tiny (and giant!) bump through the steering, both as the front wheels kick back and also as the tail wiggles. It's fantastic. Back in the GPL days, I never imagined that a racing simulation could feel this close to the real thing.

I haven't been well enough to race yet this week, but I'm hoping I'll be able to at least get in a couple of runs in the Legends tonight or tomorrow during the Weekly Road Racing series, which is running at Lime Rock this week. And of course I'm hoping to be able to do some races there in the Skippy before the end of the iRacing week.

As to the Formula Mazda, I'm thinking about giving up on it for now. I just can't get it to do what I want. I've tried radically different setups from various sources, including Grant Reeve, Wolf Woeger and Daniel Almeida, as well as some I developed myself, and I just cannot get this car to handle in a way that I feel comfortable with. Unlike the Skippy and Legends, it's just not that much fun to drive.

Still, I'm hoping to be able to try it at Sears Point, which is my favorite track next to Summit Point, and that's where it's running this week, so I hope I feel better soon!