Shakedown + New Job

Had my first day of work today, its unbelievable how much safety orientation you have to go through when you work for a union. We spent the whole morning reading about how to use hand tools and the craziest safety rules. One example is: After you cut material the edges may be hot and sharp. If you honestly can't already figure that out on your own there are some neurons not firing upstairs. Then we spent the rest of the day on a computer filling out online safety questionaires... Craziness... We are being paid to do this. Then we got sent home a half hour early and paid for a full day. No wonder these big companies are needing bailouts.

We also finally got the race car to the track today after what seemed like unending set backs, just beat the rain to get in 35 shake down laps. We were a bit off the mark with setup to start but made a few adjustments that put us into the ballpark despite not having the shocks we plan to run for the rest of the season. When the rain came we were happy with our starting point for the season and we now have a better idea of what needs to be done before our big test day at Motoplex Speedway in Vernon, BC on April 30th.

We ran most of practice with the hood off, and when we went to load up we realized the hood pins were missing. We spent 10 minutes looking around; on the trailer, in the car, in the truck, they were no where to be found. The only other place they could possibly be was scattered around the race track. They had been left on the roof of the car, so we spent the next 10 minutes scouring the race track until we found the last hood pin. We can all thank my dear old dad for that one!

Back on Track

I am finished school now and officially a second year welder, so I will be entering back into the cruel workforce on Monday morning at 6:30am. At least the government no longer has to support me, they should be happy about that.

Our shocks for the race car aren't going to be here in time for our first test day, thanks UPS. So we will have to macgyver something so we are able to gain information and make changes to the car and still progress forward with our new setup.

I had an interesting conversation with the Foundation department of the BC Children's Hospital yesterday, we are planning a date for my visit with the kids. I have been brainstorming ideas of how to make it an exciting visit with not being able to have the race car there. I think we have come up with some great ideas to make this a memorable event for the kids.

Dad and I are headed to the race shop to dial the car in for testing tomorrow, I can hardly wait to get back on the track it seems like it has been forever. I will have updates and photos of the test on my Facebook page: Sarah Cornett-Ching Racing and a blog update for Tuesday.

A Full Plate is Better Than an Empty One.

Have you ever had so much to do that even though you cross things off your list it seems to keep growing? I do! With school ending the cram to study for the Inter-provincial Test is on and I have to finish 4 weld tests before the end of next week. I have hardly had any time to focus on my racing! The good news though is that I have a job set up for the day after my course ends and I will have a lot less information to clog my brain up with.

First race day, May 7th is just around the corner and the motor will be off the dyno Friday night for me to pick up. I will obviously be taking the GPS with me to navigate the big city of Vancouver, BC so I don't end up backwards on a one way street again. Once I have the motor back safe and sound at the race shop it will be a huge relief and Saturday morning we will be able to bolt it into the race car.

On an entirely random note:
I have recently decided that ice cream is a great band aid for any situation, if you don't do as well as you would like on a test, don't worry ice cream will always be there to lift you up. No questions asked. I can't think of a single situation where ice cream couldn't do the trick at least temporarily.