What we do when we aren't kayaking....

A Day at PIR-Portland International Raceway

By: Christina Russell
Date: May 16, 2007

This Wednesday the fam and I (along with Mr. Todd Baker) headed on over to the Portland International Raceway for some coaching and racing :) The race day started off at 7:45 AM with some course discussion and rules for the day. Basically the number one rule was DONT pass anyone on the turns-only the straights (the person you are passing MUST give you the all good to pass signal-your blinker) and for god sakes stay on the track! "If you skid out, make sure to put in the clutch" was another reminder. (Thankfullly no one took an off roading trip in their track cars)

On the track that day, we had a couple M3's, some modified Hondas, a Lexus, a NICELY modified Mercedes,Nissan 350 Z, some Subaru STI's, Porches, Salines, Ford Shelby GT500s and our mini cooper :)

Kim and I shared the cooper for the day. In total, our track time came out to about 6 hours...lots of squeeling tires and shifting. The fastest speed for the day in the Mini was recorded at 120mph (much slower than the rest of the field but then again, the turns are where it does its job)

The Readers Digest summary of the course:
Total Number of Turns: 12
Most difficult turn: turns 1-3 and turn 12
2 straightaways
1.9 miles including the festival turns



A Day at the Portland International Raceway

At the start.....it's inspection time

(Above) Christina apexing at turn 12

(Above) Christina chasing the "bunny"-M3

(Above) exiting turn three

(Above) comin' out of turn three...again

(Above) Christina catching the Porsche 911 on the turns

(Above) takin' a break after a session

(Above) Mwhahahaha helmet hair... she's proud of it

All in all, the day was sweet! No one went off the track, we beat our fastest track time in the mini, AND we got the course all dialed in for the next race! Yeah it's not whitewater kayaking but the rush is just as great..."hmmm can I make this turn at 100? " Track racing is friggin awesome! We even had our Liquidlogic sweatshirts on....still representin! :)

If anyone comes to visit, maybe we'll take ya out for a spin at PIR.... just make sure you put on your seatbelt!

-Chrisy