3rd place podium, but still 2.5 seconds off the fastest 86s in the country.
ClubTR is an interesting class on the West Coast. While it is typically the most registered class at other Gridlife events, over here it is often one of the most underrepresented.
This year, the frontrunners of ClubTR both made it out to Laguna Seca in an effort to prove who had earned the 2026 series championship. That gave me the privilege of truly benchmarking myself against some of the fastest naturally aspirated 86 chassis in North America.
2.5 seconds is the gap. On a ~1:30-minute track, that's about 2.8%. It doesn't sound like much, but holy hell, is that a lot of time and effort.
I'm not afraid of it, though.
Every day, I daydream about things that could get me another tenth here or another tenth there. But what has really been at the top of my mind lately is becoming a better driver.
I've lost the "driver mod" mentality this year, putting almost all of my effort into car development. But it's truly time to shift my priorities back toward the fundamentals. The car can always get better, but there is still a lot of time left in the driver.
The road to finding that last 2.7% begins now.
I originally intended these blog posts to be purely technical, but as I started writing, I realized it might be more interesting to share reflections and technical discussions alike.
So, I guess a reflection is how we're going to start.
