stripethree

The end of the Spring 2011 series in Tucson and again figuring out that running early isn’t worth it. More grit equals less grip.

Comps: 47.068, 46.728, 46.787 (+1), 46.268 (+1)
TOs: 52.971 (+1), 46.836, 46.283, 46.237

Best part of the day was Andrea coming to ride along in TOs and having a blast doing so. There are some changes in store for the car soon!

As far as the series I finished 8th out of the 10 drivers in the PAX category that ran at least 3 of the 4 events and qualified for the series. Not all that great but getting better.

Eh, it’s only about a month late, and I wasn’t all that pleased with how I drove at this event anyway.

Comps: 68.369, 66.366, 66.371, 66.378 (+1)
15th fastest time out of 99, 19th PAX
12th of 22 in SPM category, 895 points

It was hot and I was too hard on the tires. And my need for stiffer springs was very apparent. That’s all I got on this one.

Back to the National Tour I wen, to a two day event at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA on the first weekend in April. The weather was quite nice (no rain!) and I was running in D Street Prepared in the first heat of each day.

Some photos from the experience:

CSP Miata being put together Friday night.

Ready for action.

Action shots.

Video of all six runs

More pictures

Results:
Saturday: 57.626, 57.275, 55.850
Sunday: 53.237, 51.903, 51.566 (+1)
107.753 combined, 3rd out of 10 (trophy position!)
0.383 out of second but almost 8 seconds out of first.

It was a great weekend. I elected not to drive back until Monday morning so I went to the beach for a few hours after everyone cleared out Sunday afternoon and that might have been the best idea I had all weekend. Very relaxing and an excellent end to a very fun weekend.

My best event in Tucson yet:

Comps: 55.174, 54.595 (+3), 55.097 (+5), 54.594 (+1)
TOs: 55.593 (+1), 54.348 (+2), 53.995 (+2), 54.431 (+1)
8th/54 raw, 10th PAX, 9th/14 in PAX Category, 953 points

Left time out there since I hit a lot of cones, but I am definitely working better with the car and it’s new-found capabilities. On to San Diego!

The R32 also got a full clay bar and detail today for the first time in its life. The paint is smooth as glass and hopefully I will get a chance to take some good pictures before it gets dirty again. Also, hopefully, now that it is very clean I will be more motivated to keep it clean.

First go ’round at Firebird with the new suspension and race tires resulted in my best finish yet at a AZ Solo event. Since the surface is different than Marana (read: much bumpier) I got to fiddle with settings on the coilovers to see how the car reacted.

Comps: 37.190 +3, 37.258 +1, 37.657, 37.052
TOs: 36.945, 36.436, 36.384 +1, 36.439

My last competition run was the 17th fastest time out of 103 entrants and the 12th fastest PAX time. I finished 7th out of 14 in the Sportsman category with 953 points.

There’s one more tune up, the Border Region event at Marana Airport this coming weekend, before the San Diego National Tour.

The first event of the year in Tucson and we are back at the Marana airport.

Last week while on a work trip in DC I was able to order a set of new race tires, Hankook Z214s in size 275/40-17 to be exact, after being unsuccessful with my procuring a new set of my previous tires (Kumho V710s). They were mounted Saturday to run Sunday and they were fantastic.

Comps: 50.732, 48.88, 47.238 +1, 47.606; 14th of 19 in PAX category, 14th fastest time of 70 and 16th best PAX time for 948 points.
TOs: 47.830, 48.192 +1, 47.777 47.427

Still need to work this car harder as the tires, especially the rears, did not get up to their optimal temperature. Now the real fun begins… tinkering and tuning to make all these new things – brakes, suspension, tires – work well together.

Oh, yeah, and I need to drive the damn car harder.

Ah yes, starting another year off in DSP with the car rebelling against it’s duties. After my first run I hop out, my co-driver Jana hops in, and someone walking by points out a significant coolant leak coming from the passenger side. Under the hood, the coolant overflow tank developed a crack from heat, stress, or whatever and was spraying coolant since the system was fully pressurizing. Once the level dropped below the crack the leak stopped and we kept running after applying some duct tape (see above left).

The upside is that the new coilovers are fantastic. I set them at two clicks below full stiff and the car was an entirely different beast than before. Less body roll, less dive and squat, and more of keeping the tires on the ground fighting for traction.

My comp times: 60.654, 59.361, 58.915, 59.162

Time only runs were a mess as the tires went away (see above right). I finished 8th of 9th in PAX, beating only my co-driver by two tenths. It wasn’t an easy category to run in, there were no weak links in terms of competition (including two past National Champions). Overall my best time was 12th out of 45 and my PAX time was good for 11th.

Here’s some shots of the car on the new coilovers and the new-ish wheel and tire setup for autocross courtesy of Rob Rockefeller.

So, what’s next? Well, the coolant tank has been replaced and a new, even wider set of tires should be here this week just in time to get mounted for the first Marana event of the year next Sunday. The alignment needs some help and a set of Longacre Toe Plates arrived yesterday to help with that. The next fix for the car is likely the smaller radiator fan, it appears to be stuck or seized for some reason. Luckily the larger fan, which was replaced last year, pulls plenty of air, the weather has been fairly cool here in Tucson of late, and I have an auxiliary fan hooked up to the secondary radiator to assist in keeping the car cool. It’s always something with these Volkswagens…

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.