Changing our Game Plan and Attitudes

This is hard. Whoever said racing in the Grand Touring Class at Targa Newfoundland was going to be easy was a liar. Maybe that was me who told myself that. Maybe because it isn't the "big" or "fast" class I was under the impression it would be a walk in the park, especially from the perspective of competing successfully in other longer and faster races. Maybe I thought it would be a piece of cake because we would be driving in a modern car in the "slow" class. Most everything I mentally prepared myself for was wrong. 

We'll, today was the prologue, aka practice day. All cars and competitors went through 4 stages, not at race speed, to get the feel of the cars, to practice the timing and control points, and to get the first day jitters out. Times didn't count and neither did penalties. I still didn't feel 100% in my calculation ability to determine the distance points in the speed sections to maintain our average expected speed. I didn't think I was going to be working this hard!! How hard could it be to average an assigned speed for a marked distance? And navigate at the same time? And remember to start/stop the stop watch? And start the Gopro? I was on overload today and was frustrated that I wasn't "getting it." I was angry that I couldn't get the Terratrip to do what I wanted it to do (the Terratrip is a rally computer that can be an odometer, stopwatch, speed calculator...and do most of the work for the navigator...if it is calibrated properly and if you are smart enough to operate the beast. They have the nickname Terribletrip. Our friend Brad Kaplan calls it the devil' stool.) I wasn't really having fun. I wanted to be a perfect navigator. This was supposed to be easy!

Dad and I were both a little grumpy when we came back to our hotel room to rush to get ready for dinner. Then something magical happened over dinner. We decided to stop caring so much! We need to give less "F"s. Now, that sounds lame of us. But we realized that our goal of being here is to have a trip of a lifetime, have fun, and enjoy it all together. So tomorrow and the rest of the week, we are going to have FUN! We didn't come all the way to bloody Newfoundland to be frustrated and angry Andy alucating times until midnight. We came to race in one of the most badass races in the whole damn world and to have a fantastic time. THAT is what we're going to do. 

Enough ranting. Here are some photos from today:

Dad passed his breathalyzer test! I did too. 

Each team gets a sticker when they pass the breathalyzer. This card has to be shown at the beginning of every race section. 

Transiting by the bay of Flatrock. 

The Terribletrip. Many, many thanks to Renee in our class who is a computer genius (she really is) for helping me get more use out of this thing today. 

This was dinner. And we had the same thing for lunch. Popular Newfie fare? I'm looking forward to the variety of foods we'll have in the more rural areas. Dad said, "no one ever says, 'let's have Canadian food tonight!" I apologize to all Canadians. However, both lunch and dinner were graciously served. We stopped at a local school cafeteria for lunch and they even had us sign a poster for the kids. 

My late night homework. Instead of calculating a time for each of those "tulip" drawings (turns), I am giving less effs and only did a few per stage, though you have to be prepared for road conditions 1 & 2 - dry or wet. We are going to do our best and enjoy it! 

Breathalyzer is at 6am in a few hours and we have to be packed and ready to race all day and switch hotels to a new city. 

Giddy up!