I watched the morning weather intently. Would the weather hold out for a day of racing? The weatherman said some storms would move near but break up. It looked good.
I had packed most of what I wanted to take the night before. I got my drinks, snacks and cameras into the car and set off for Road Atlanta. There was a breeze out of the west, and the air was cool enough that it made for a nice drive with the window down. Traffic was very light which was to be expected on a Saturday, and it not too much time, I was at the gates of the track. After signing my life away, I made for the infield.
I scouted out the trees near Turn 10, looking for ones near a good parking spot that would also yield shade as the sun passed overhead. Some of the trees were providing some shade near the top of the seating area for Turn 10, so I grabbed my camera bag and chair, and settled down to enjoy the cars and cool breeze. This wasn’t a big racing event. I was the only one in the area aside from the corner worker manning the entrance to the turn. I took some photos from the protection of the shade and moved down to the fence to take some more from a different vantage point.
Eventually I saw a 280ZX turn drive through the tunnel into the infield. I walked over to the car as it parked a little ways away from me and met the driver and passenger who were also father and son. We enjoyed the racing and talked about the son’s future military plans. A couple of other Georgia Z Club members arrived, and I resumed taking photos when the next group of cars took the track. That session seemed to be jinxed. First, I saw a lot of smoke coming from Turn 9. I saw a car sitting on the inside part of the track. I walked across the bridge to the other side of the track for some more photos, and not too long after that, a 911 spun around the drift circle. I thought it rather odd for the driver to lose control there. About another lap later, I saw a Lotus 7 spin in Turn 10, smoking badly before pulling off to the infield side of the track, and a Lola spun shortly after with other cars locking up their brakes too easily in the same area. It was obvious that there was something on the track. Eventually the corner worker put out the flag to warn the drivers of the hazard, and not much later, the track was cleared to deal with the problem.
At that point we headed over to the paddock area to see a friend who was racing. Another couple of friends joined us, and we decided to grab a bite at the Paddock Grill. Having satisfied our appetites, we headed back over to Turn 10. The morning shade was gone from Turn 10, so I retrieved my canopy, and we set up at the top of the hill. We enjoyed a few more racing sessions and finally called it a day.
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