Z is for Zero

I’ve been trying to remove every bit of weight off my racecar to make it faster and use less consumables. It’s a pain scraping all the insulation off, cutting every bracket, and removing all unnecessary wiring. But ounces turn into pounds. It’s funny how little things add up to big things. Last week I removed 15 pounds. If that’s only 0.15 seconds per lap, I’ll take it. Over the course of 300 laps, it adds up to 45 seconds. It’s a lot more than zero.

Recently, Stephen Cox, a driver in the World Racing Series was in a fire at Circuit of the Americas. WRL is a budget endurance series and Stephen is an amateur. He’s not getting paid to put his life on the line. For him, like me, racing is a hobby and the joy of being on world famous tracks is a dream come true. Unfortunately, his race turned into the worst kind of nightmare. I cannot imagine the horror of being sprayed with fuel or the pain of having my flesh on fire. His account of the incident scared the crap out of me. You can read about it on his blog.

http://sopwithmotorsports.com/blog/short-track-racing/item/342-trapped-in-a-burning-race-car-part-i.html

Stephen is in the hospital recovering, and it will be some time before he’s whole. He’s a husband and father. One of the WRL racers set up a fund to help ease the financial burden on his family. I don’t know Stephen and I’ve never raced with WRL. I gave $50. It’s not a lot, but lots of little things can add up to big things. Like weight savings on a race car. Give a little. Anything. Just not zero.

https://www.gofundme.com/WRLRacerReliefFund

Videos and a new theme of posts return next week.