Day 1, part 2

6:45pmTammer arrives at ELM to pick me up in his track car. We wedge my bags into the small gaps not occupied by his bags, his tools, and his full set of 4 track tires. All good.

7:30pm
We arrive at the track tech check-in about 30 minutes before close. Surprisingly, we were the only ones in line and it looked like we would fly right through the car check, but no... the tech stewards find a problem with Tammer's brake lights - they're always on. Tammer was tired, stressed, and a bit demoralized at this, but I figured the problem was minor. Sure enough, 5 minutes of diagnosis determined that the electrical switch at the brake pedal was not correctly aligned with a contact point, which left the lights always on. This was good news, until we realized that getting two hands up under the dashboard to re-align the switch would require extreme feats of contortion.7:45pm
Switch aligned! Brake lights again light up only when pedal is pressed. How novel. Tech inspection passed, Tammer and I head to Ithaca and the home of Mrs. Van Houtte, our very gracious host for the weekend.8:15pm
On the way, we stop at a BBQ joint whose name I forget in a little town whose name I also forget. I should really write this stuff down. Anyway, the BBQ was pretty dang good by my estimation, but perhaps my palette is not educated in the ways of BBQ - Tammer rated it "merely passable".

9:00pm
Tammer lets me drive his new track car the rest of the way to Ithaca. It's a fun ride - a '94 325i 4 door, gutted interior, racing seats, 6 point harnesses, full roll cage, chip, cam, and many suspension upgrades. It handles very well - my car handles like a wet mop in comparison.

9:30pm
We arrive at Mrs. Van Houtte's home in Ithaca, chat with the assembled Van Houtte crew for a little while, and then hit the rack early.