Ooooooo yes have had a bad moment or two with the 'sunglasses tan' effect!!! On one particularly bad occasion I had to do a very important pitch first thing in the morning on the day following the event and had to stand before a full board of the client's senior management looking like a friggin racoon...good icebreaker though as it turns out
Other than suitable clothing, my AutoX prep ritual is pretty simple - swap on the semislicks the night before (not picky about wearing them out so usually drive on them to the event itself - saves me carrying 4 spare wheels around). Then visit the local garage and check oil levels, coolant levels and get the tires topped up with nitrogen (I like to fiddle with the pressures a bit between events if I'm running on familiar ground too), empty out and wash the car (amazing how much stuff can accumulate plus I hate racing with dirty windows).
Quite often I'll stop by an out-of-the-way empty parking lot and give the car a little shakedown run the night before the event if I'm experimenting alot with my setup just to get a general feel for the handling (i.e. to make sure I haven't totally messed it up!). Call me crazy but I find it really helps when driving is the very last thing I do before a good pre-race sleep.
Other than that, a full tank of 93 octane (less annoying sloshing, keeps the back end weight consistent), lose the spare tire, jack and tools, pack up the helmet bag and fill the drinks cooler with lots of mineral water and cold diet cokes (and an extra pack o cigarettes) and I'm good to go.
Oh yeah, and sunscreen, lots of!
I enjoy the preparation rituals almost as much as the race itself sometimes...suppose I could argue that it helps me focus on driving since I'm always hitting the track confident in the condition and setup of the car - or heck, it could just as well be a gearhead thing
