stripethree

I can’t believe it’s the end of the month already. It went something like this…

Happy New Year // Watched the Red Wings beat the Coyotes // Ahhh crap, someone stole my credit card… // Tucson SCCA Meeting // Dodgeball // Got a present for the R // New Autocross Tires! // Autocross in Phoenix // Tucson SCCA Meeting // Dodgeball Tournament // TUS -> IAH -> DCA // Sherlock Holmes // Fantastic Lunch with the all the family in VA // Watched the Terps beat up Longwood // Downtown Silver Spring // RJ Bentley’s College Park, hooray Yuegling! // DCA -> IAH -> TUS // Tried to see how much tire I could stuff under the R32 // Autocross in Tucson // Old Chicago //More R32 parts… // New Season of Dodgeball! // Work Deadlines… // Work Annual Reviews // Hooray refunds from CC disputes! // House Hunting!

Whew.

That’s what I get for running on crap tires.

Comps: 79.085 (+1), 66.763 (+2), 67.682 (+1), 67.175
TOs: . 68.369 (+1), 67.941, 67.237 (+1), DNS
Street Tire: 2nd of 10, by less than a tenth!
Overall: 18th fastest time out of 50, 20th PAX, 922

First run was a bit sketchy with ABS working overtime and everything locking up. I think it was a combination of the gravel, the cool weather, and the lack of usable tires. I haven’t added it up, but these tires have quite a few runs on them and are long past their sweet spot. Oh well.

I did what I could and focused on applying what I learned last week. It definitely helped. I’m excited for next year – already mapping out car changes, new tires, and what National Tour(s?) I can make. =)

I ended up 2nd in Street Tire for the Fall series with 2789 points, 11 behind first and 27 ahead of third. I’m a little disappointed because it was within reach, even before this event, but instead of dwelling on that, time to build on what’s been learned and go faster.

I didn’t get a chance to comment on this event before taking off to DC for the week. I was up in Phoenix to take their annual driver school Saturday, and got some quality instruction. Usually the school is geared towards novices, but low enrollment allowed them to open it up to more experienced drivers so they could fill slots. Neither of my instructors – Elliot and Clint – were new faces to me and I have ridden along with both of them at prior events. They are two of the fastest driver’s in Arizona, which is interesting because their driving styles have some big differences. Each student got 7 runs in the morning and 7 in the afternoon, but instructors usually took 2 of those runs to drive and instruct from behind the wheel. Adding to the bang for the buck, I was able to ride along with Elliot and Doug (’08 DSP Nat’l Champ) in Elliot’s STX during lunch. Each of them drove my car, then Elliot’s BMW and I could really see differences in braking zones, line, and how they adjusted to the differences the two cars presented.

We also killed some tires.

Sunday it was time to put this new knowledge to work. I ran in Open, partly to try and rain on Dave Webb’s quest for 3000 (I failed, but Doug didn’t) and partly just to try something new since I already wrapped up 1st in ST2 (remember though: big fish, little pond…).

I ran… okay, but had a good breakthrough in TOs. I think, as with Evo School in March, it will take a little time for everything to sink in – we’ll find out tomorrow at the last Tucson event of the year.

Comps: 34.697, 35.292 (+2), 35.438 (+1), 34.510 (+1)
TOs: 35.033, 34.140, 34.566 (+3), 33.795 (+1 cone and a very stupid missed shift…)
DSP Open: 3rd out of 3, 974
Overall: 28th fast time out of 101, 28th PAX also, 931

Now I cross my fingers that these tires can survive one more event, and help me get the points I need to take over 1st within Street Tire in Tucson.

I only managed 3rd in Street Tire this event, after coning away my first three competition runs. Disappointing. I also dipped down into the 52 second range in TOs (again, with a cone), once again leaving time to be had during the runs that counted.

Comps: 54.722 (+1), 53.587 (+1), 54.025 (+1), 54.120
Street Tire: 3rd of 11
Overall: 22nd of 47 fastest time, 23rd PAX time
TOs: 53.195, 53.236 (+1), 53.478 (+1), 52.674 (+1)

That leaves me 18 points out of 1st for the series but I’m also only up 7 points on 3rd. Looks like I have some work to do December 13…

The third of four events in the Fall series. The course was short, and flew by even faster than the times would indicate. I coned away my best competition run, but still managed to hang on to the top spot in Street Tire 2.

Comps: 33.537, 33.509, 33.593 (+1), 33.172 (+3)
Street Tire 2: 1st of 12 by .511, 1000 points
Overall: 27th fastest time of 81, 30th PAX time
Time Only: 33.428, 33.001, 33.104, 33.155 (+2), 32.995

With the 1000 points in class, I have wrapped up the win in the series (2955 points total). The series is best three out of 4, but there’s no one in the category that can qualify (at least three events) and beat that total. That’s all well and good, but it’s sort of like being the big fish in a small pond; I’m still behind other drivers in my class by a good margin. I also recall getting whooped just last month by my own car with another driver so I will not be letting up for the December event, that’s for sure. I think I have started to figure more out about what is optimal for the car’s new setup. Playing with tire pressures – specifically, running a pretty big difference front to rear – finally got back some of the rotation I was looking for in the back end of the car. Now I just have to keep building on the relative success.

Autocross with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) returned to Arizona last weekend and did so with a bang on the FIR East track. This was easily the fastest (in terms of top speed) autocross I have ever participated in, with multiple sections well, well into 3rd gear.

NASA-X classing is quite different than SCCA classing, working on a points system. Every 20 points you accumulate bumps you up a class. The R32 started in NXD and I counted up 19 points for modifications, so in NXD it stayed. The first four runs counted for competition and I ran 81.647 (+1), 77.021, 77.026, 76.684, and 76.040 DNF. First run I took really easy, last run I had a lapse in concentration and blew right by a gate. I had trouble nailing my shift points since it was also the most shifting I’ve ever had to do at an event. Third gear in three places, and three downshifts. Good times and good practice.

I came in 4th out of 11 in NXD, less than a tenth out of 3rd but nearly 2.7 out of first. People that hate on Miata’s have never seen them at an autox or on the track, they’ll surprise you. They had the top two places in NXD despite having way less power than the cars that followed them. This event was a lot of fun and hopefully NASA will be running more events in the future.

NASA also had a set of scales out at the event, so I finally got to see how much the R32 actually weighs, and I was quite surprised.

Driver Front: 1025
Passenger Front: 992
Front Total: 2017
Driver Rear: 554
Passenger Rear: 613
Rear Total: 1167

Total: 3184 (63.3% / 37.7% split)

Even without me sitting in the driver’s seat, and carrying only about 3 gallons of gas, I was surprised at the number; I thought for sure it would be higher. The car is listed at 3409, and the two biggest cuts on that weight were the exhaust (57lbs down to 15) and the wheels (28lbs per corner to 18.5). Assuming the 3409 is with a full tank of gas, minus the weight loss from wheels and exhaust, then taking away weight for things like the spare tire tools and foam, floor mats, and other loose items… that still doesn’t get the car down to 3184. I’m going to try and find time to weigh everything else I’ve swapped and see how much other weight has been saved. Either way, my excuse of the car being an extremely fat pig seems to have been lost.

The name of the game was braking points. Brake late and your were toast. Come into corners hot on this course and you were done. The R was still pushing like a pig, but I threw it around well enough. I skipped Time Only runs to get back home and work on odds and ends for the GTI.

Comps: 62.507, 62.001, 61.705, 60.960, 62.243 (+1)

Run #4 was good for 10th best fast time and 10th best PAX time – both of out 34 entrants – and put me at the top of a field of seven in Street Tire by half a second with 937 points. I’m dueling it out with another board member driving an A Stock turbo Saturn Sky who is 3 points ahead of me halfway through the series. There’s also a C Stock Toyota MR2 who took the category last month lurking 16 points behind me.

I was actually a bit surprised at the results since I really wasn’t thrilled with what I was able to do with the car. The car was under steering a lot and even when the LSD was kicking power to the outside tire, I was still struggling for traction up front. There were a lot of tricky features on this course, some of which bit me.

I’m going to cut to the chase on this one, you’ll see why.

Comps: 41.734, 41.679, 41.260 (+1), 41.097
TOs: 40.981, 40.868, 40.854 (+1)
Street Tire 2: 2nd, 955
Overall: 38th fast time, 40th PAX time out of 105

So I finished second in Street Tire 2, which you would think I would be pretty happy about. I would, except that there are two important facts about that 2nd place that really frustrated me:
1. The gap between first and second was over 1.8 seconds
2. The first place car was the same car I was driving, my R32

Yup, beaten handily by my own car. I threw my keys to another driver – ok not just any other driver but the ‘08 DSP National Champion – after his BMW refused to start and stay running because of a bad battery. I was working out on course and could only watch as Doug kicked my ass with my own damn car running 39.822, 39.082, 39.507 (+1), and 39.236.

Ouch.

In some consolation, I did get some good feedback on the car and some adjustments to investigate in addition to fixing the loose nut behind the wheel. It really makes me think hard about doing Evolution School again, but I’m not sure that’s in the cards. I think part of my problem is that I am not pushing the car hard enough, and that I’m too worried about the next thing to break. Race drivers (and no, I’m not claiming to be one but you’ll get the point) are supposed to look ahead to the next corner, not dwell on the last one. I need a good dose of that, because I know I’ve slowed down, not just by Doug’s times, but by others drivers gaining ground on and/or catching me. I need to stop talking/writing/pondering these things and do something about them.

Photo courtesy of Rob Rockefeller

Almost forgot to post this since I had to run off to DC the day after for work.

The first event of the Fall series in Tucson where I am now competing in DSP, Street Tire. The event went well and I was especially busy: registration, safety steward, and driver. I wasn’t overly thrilled with my driving. Lots of cones and lots of time left out there during competition runs. Oh well. The car feels pretty good and (knock on wood) everything stayed together.

Comps: 51.734, 50.867 (+1), 50.781, 49.521 (+2)
TOs: 50.565 (+1), 49.665, 49.729 (+1), 49.351 (+1)

Third of 8 in Street Tire, 18th raw, 21st PAX, 902. My points and ranks will certainly take a hit being on street tires with a more difficult PAX, but I was only .5 behind the leader in the category. I need to make some adjustments to my driving and the car based on the updated setup. We’ll see how that goes…

Starting the trip to Chandler for the first autocross in the R32 since June, my iPod decides the first song on shuffle will be Aerosmith’s Back in the Saddle (Again). I grinned and shook my head, thinking that this was either a great indicator of an excellent event to come or that I wouldn’t make it to the end of the block without something on the car catastrophically failing.

Fortunately, the latter of those things did not happen. The car survived the 100 mile drive up, four ~70 second runs on the west track at FIR, and the trip home mostly unscathed. There’s one stubborn suspension bolt that refuses to stay where it’s supposed to, but that can and will be dealt with.

Rolling the car up to the start line for my first shot at this course was a bit rougher than usual on the nerves, again wondering and worrying about what may go wrong. Nothing did. First run was slow, and dirty, but it got better from there. Ok, it got faster from there.

74.537 (+1), 71.359, 71.611 (+4), 71.536 (+1)

So between the car changes and some category changes, who I’m competing against and how I can compare to other drivers is a little different. I’m now in a Street Prepared class (DSP), which has a PAX factor that assumes race tires, unlike my old class (STX) which was all street tires. Locally however, there are categories that lump together people with cars that fall into a ‘race tire’ class but who are running on street tires. So, I’m running against other Street Prepared and Modified cars, and also, Phoenix is calculating PAX points relative to category rather than he entire field. It breaks down like this:

Street Tire 2 category – 1st (of 15) raw times, 1st PAX, 1000 points
Overall – 23rd (of 97) raw times, 23rd PAX

The next closest ST2 car was 1.6 seconds behind, but there was at least one competitor absent that will certainly eliminate that gap next month. The new limited slip diff worked wonders, as did the all the other new bits that have been added to the car. Some suspensions adjustments need to be made, including making that bolt stay where it should, and things should hopefully get even better.

I also took photos of the two heats I was not running or working, and they are posted here and here. The new battery grip was perfect.