135 mph is just as fast as I can go on the rough pavement of the Monza Wall. The speed on the steep banking of the Wall has the car down hard on the suspension. Every pockmark and crack in the pavement makes the car twitch and lurch. It is just barely under control. To see ahead I have to strain forward in the harness and peer out the very top of the windshield. The mirrors are useless. If they weren't vibrating so badly, all they'd show is gray asphalt as the track curves up behind me.
My rattled brain tells me the horizon is tilting as I reach the end of the Wall and speed on to the flat front straight. I shake my head to clear it and push the pedal to the floor. Shift into fifth gear at 145. The car continues to accelerate and hits the speed limiter at 162 mph. Shift to sixth gear and hold that speed down the long 4,000 foot straight. Just past the short course cut-off there is a deep dip. Fast cars in the '60s used to fly here, getting very light and scarey feeling. I can feel a little front end lightness, but the Supra's aerodynamics keep it stable and flat out. Going up the other side of the dip, the car gets very heavy as it pushes into the hill.
As we crest the hill, the whole car gets light again. Time to look for the brake markers for the Little Monza. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 Now! Lean on the brake pedal just short of engaging the ABS. This is a trail-braking turn. At the turn-in point on the left edge of the track, I back off the brake pedal just enough to allow the front wheels to add some turning moment. The car sweeps in toward a late apex, still braking.
While almost everyone trail brakes now, Mark Donahue was one of the few to do it in the '60s, and he wasn't telling anyone about it. Most drivers were still following the European driving style of doing all their braking in a straight line, then turning the car. The trail braking technique was one of Donahue's secret "unfair advantages" and allowed him to carry his top speed up to two hundred feet further on the long Meadowdale main straight than his competitors.
The downhill slope of the turn wants to make the car light, but the banking of the Little Monza counteracts that, so the turn-in to the apex is almost normal. Just before the apex I lift off the brakes, grab third gear and squeeze on the power. You need to keep the revs above 4500 to keep the turbos pulling.
I'm all the way out on the left edge of the track on the short stretch to the right hand kink after Little Monza. I hit fourth gear, and tap the brake pedal with my left foot to set the front tires for the bend. Still on the gas, I hit the apex and hold to the right to be set up for the Pure silo turn. I aim for a spot on the edge of the track right next to the base of the silo. The big almost-slicks grab the road, allowing me to drive to that point without lifting.
Right after the silo I hit the binders, trail braking along the left edge of the track until I am lined up with a straight shot to my next turn-in point. Then I brake really hard in a straight line to get slowed for the 90 degree right hand turn leading to the Uphill. I grab third gear, turn in and lay on the whip. At the late apex all 320 horses are pulling hard as I climb the steep hill. Halfway up the hill I hit fourth gear. This is a big change from my 1965 race here in a stock Triumph TR3!
As I near the top of the hill, I'm still accelerating when I get to the brake markers for the sharp left hand turn at the short course cut-off. This is a classic turn, but I have to wait to brake until I've crested the top of the Uphill and settled solidly back to earth. Then I brake extra hard to the turn-in point, shift to third and accelerate across the apex and down the short straight that follows.
Under the pedestrian overpass I'm into fourth gear. Once over to the left edge of the track, I'm braking hard and heading straight for a heavy timber retaining wall. It's hard to ignore, but you have to get used to it. At my turn-in point, I grab third, turn toward the apex and squeeze on the power. Under the entry road bridge, I ease the car to the right, tap the brakes to set the front end and steer around the left hand kink following the bridge.
Way up in third gear, I ease to the left, tap the brakes to settle the car and turn in to start the long carousel behind the Monza Wall. Quickly accelerating through fourth and into fifth, I negotiate the dip near the pond (glad it's not wet like it sometimes is). At the end of the sweeper, the turn tightens so I need to hug the left edge of the track, then cut in to an apex, without lifting.
Coming up fast is, to me, the scariest part of Meadowdale Raceway. The sweeper ends with a sharp uphill ramp that leads across a pedestrian overpass. Most people approach it as part of the curve and slow on the ramp so they don't kick sideways when they crest the bridge. But you can run it at full speed, way over a hundred, by approaching the ramp in a straight line on the right side of the track and going across the bridge on a diagonal.
The puckery part is how very close you are to the heavy timber walls on the right as you enter and on the left as you leave the bridge. You will fly, and as long as you fly straight, you're OK. It takes a while to work up to this, because if you are not dead-nuts straight as you take off on the narrow bridge, you'll not fly straight, and you don't want to think about the consequences of that.
Lift while you're in the air, land, unpucker and get on down the short chute to the left hand kink before Doane's Corner. If this kink didn't go over another pedestrian bridge, you might be able to take it flat out. But the pavement ripples just enough to upset the car in the middle of the turn. So I touch the brakes to set the front wheels, turn in and get back on the power, hit the apex, and track out. Then I ease the car over to the left to be set up for Doane's Corner, which is coming up fast.
Doane's Corner is a tight constant radius carousel of over 230 degrees. It's an important turn because it leads onto a 1000' straight and the Monza Wall. You need to be hard on it as early as possible. I've settled on a line where I trail brake along the outside of the track until I'm about a third of the way through the turn, then turn in, accelerating hard to a late apex. Normally, I just shift to third, even though that puts me a little low on the boost. For a hot lap, I'll grab second for a moment, even though I have to hit third just before the apex. This is a hot lap, so I'm stirring the gearbox.
This launches me down the straight leading to the Monza Wall like a rocket. Wound out in third gear, I hit fourth and hold it onto the Wall. I don't brake, but have learned that 135 in fourth gear is as fast as the car will take the rough paving of the steeply banked turn. I have found a line around the wall that misses most of the major potholes, but the car is compressed onto its springs by centrifugal force and takes a huge beating from the ridges and breaks in the paving. It skitters from ridge to ridge, just barely under control. The rear end wants to slide out, so it's a delicate balancing act to keep it out of the guardrail. Then the horizon tilts and I'm off the Wall, heading down the main straight again.
The brain shaking ride on the Wall makes it hard to focus my eyes on the pit board. But I see 2.08. Hot dog! I think that's right on the Trans-Am lap record here at Meadowdale. It's not as fast as the absolute MIR record of 1:59, but what the heck, this is a stone stock car.
(Hey, this is my fantasy. I can go as fast as I want!)
- checker -copyright Ross Fosbender 2001
