stripethree

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 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 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.

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…

I did not want to sit out the third event of the Summer Series after doing so in June, so it was a game of ‘find a ride’ for this Tucson event. My first option ran into a power steering problem, and my second ran into a not-having-enough-tire issue, so knowing I’d be there anyway, I simply registered and figured I would find a ride on site. I got to drive an STU-prepped ‘04 Subaru STI owned by one of our other board members and had a blast. The car has a good deal more power than the R32 but can certainly be a bit more of a handful. The biggest difference I noticed was that even with the feedback from the tires on the STI, which are the same Dunlops on the R32, I found it more difficult to figure out exactly how much grip the car had. The all wheel drive system is different and for autox, arguably better than the Haldex system on the R32 but it will bite you. Coming out of the U-turn on my second run I hit the thottle a big too hard a bit too early and after some theatrics from the rear end of the car, I ended up running right over the next two cones in the process. Needless to say that wasn’t my fastest run.

I ran quite well though; 47.925, 47.644 (+2), 47.028, 46.677; which was good enough for 10th raw, 7th in category, and 9th overall PAX with a 959. Seventh through ninth overall PAX were separated by less than four hundredths of a second! The owner of the STI finished a few spots ahead of me with a time of 45.917 and a PAX score of 974. In TOs I took a couple shots with the Subaru WRX that ended up with the top PAX time of the day. It was very different than the STI and required much more adjustment. The car is setup to be loose and I was not quite ready for it – I narrowly avoided taking out the timing lights while going through the finish nearly sideways on one run.

Hopefully I will be able to finish out the Summer Series next month in my own car.

So passes yet another month; ever feel like you’re just along for the ride?

My foot/ankle/useless stupid appendage is still not completely better after another doctor visit and it better hurry up, because softball starts again at the end of August. My visit to DC went about as well as it could, except for the lack of sleep. It flew by in the sense that I didn’t really get to see anyone outside of family, but sometimes that’s just the way it is. Work has been somewhat better, the big rush to complete one project is obviously now over, but now there’s the new rush to get things rolling on the next project. Oh, and that next project, I have been graced with the status of technical lead or lead engineer, whatever you want to call it. Our program management lead/my old supervisor (re-org time!) informed me of this decision right before the DC trip and I was a both surprised and anxious. Surprised because I had yet to be the lead of a major task, much less a large project, and anxious because, well, you want to talk about learning shit on the fly and on the job training, this will be it. I’m optimistic though and have lots of help, but it’s going to be a big challenge and unfortunately, some long days are ahead.

This past week Tracy was in town, making a stop on her cross country, school visiting, site seeing tour, which was awesome because I hadn’t seen her in, well, years, sadly enough. It was a good combination of catching up and exploring Tucson, which kind of reminded of two contrasting things. First, how much this place has grown on me whereas I used to just think it’d be super short term and second, how much I miss some of my old, long time friends that, even though we may not be in touch that much, can never, ever be replaced. We went to some of my favorite places to eat in Tucson, toured Mount Lemmon, and Tracy even came out to an autocross. I did not run, even with a couple co-drive offers I just honestly wasn’t feeling like it given the car situation, and I got to relax after running registration and took some photos. Hopefully Tracy can stop in again on her way back around this area – drive safe!

As for the car, the trans is in Maryland and the parts bill is already rising. Ugh. I don’t even want to discuss it honestly. There’s no complete cost estimate yet and no estimate for when it’ll be back on the road. Neither of much are encouraging to me.

Iiiiiiiiit’s baaaaaack.

Finally, the R32 was back in one piece, including the third motor mount, and ready to be thrown around the SIR gravel pit again. I drove the car to work all week and took time on Saturday to make sure everything that was unbolted and replaced or reattached was still securely fastened to the car. It all was. The third motor mount finally arrived on Thursday (after two months! never ordering from that company again…), and I installed it on Saturday as well.

The car felt fantastic. Maybe it was because I’d be driving the much older, slower, and more worn GTI exclusively for two months, or maybe it was just that the whole front end of the car was very fresh and well buttoned together, but it was pretty sweet. There’s no slop in the motor and transmission anymore thanks to the new motor mounts, the steering feel is improved thanks to the new control arm bushings, and transitions were much, much better handled thanks to the new, larger front sway bar. The best part was almost the drive to the event, which was the first highway experience since the repairs. Given that highway speeds and loads were where all the ill effects were previously experience, I was slightly nervous, but no bad vibes were to be found. So it appears that the drive shaft coupling that was replaced was the big problem, and that has now been solved, thankfully. All the other things that got done as a result were just added bonuses. Hey, if I’m was going to go through the hassle and expense ($40 for one time use bolts. Bolts!) to drop the subframe, might as well fix or replace other things. Break one thing, upgrade 3, right?

The autocross results were good; 67.830 (+1), 67.858, 70.896 (+4); minus the cones I wiped out from a nasty miscue at the end of my last run. The clean run was good for 5th of of 44th overall in both raw and PAX times, and 5th out of 11 in the PAX class with a score of 982/1000. Not bad for the first event back in the car after two months. Time only runs were excellent; they can’t be compared directly to the competition runs since the course was altered, making it faster, but my times got better with each run – 66.759, 65.276, 64.676 – were all clean, and my best of those 3 was the 3rd fastest PAX times of 39 time only entrants.

The car felt great from the first launch of the first run. No excess engine movement on takeoff, the 1-2 shift, or when getting off the gas. The car felt especially planted which made me more confident in the results of my driving inputs. Turn in is sharper and the car has a good deal less body roll in transitional elements. I didn’t notice much, if any, additional understeer, which can sometimes occur with a larger from sway bar, but the course layout might not have exposed those effects, and the bar was set at the softer of two settings. The only down side of the day was finding out what the next weak link is, as the front sway bar end links are making plenty of noise to indicate they have had enough. At least the nasty clunking they are making was easy to identify and was not any part of the car trying to dislodge itself from the mother ship to completely ruin my day.

Now that the R32 is running again and all appears well (knock every piece of wood in sight), I have found out that I am not allowed to have 2 simultaneously running Volkswagens. The GTI would not crank when I went to drive it to work Monday morning and since it will start with a jump from it’s younger sibling, it is hopefully the battery and not the alternator. I’ve yet to investigate it further. I got it back on concrete and will just keep driving the R32; perhaps having the GTI sitting will add even more fuel to the motivational fire of getting parts that are awaiting install actually bolted to the car. The brakes are ready to go, I have new stainless lines, new wheel bearings are pressed into the front spindles, the rear calipers have been rebuilt with new boots, and all I need to do is put the brakes together and bolt them on the car. Soon, very soon…

The motor is still at my friends house, and I have not yet gotten injectors and a fueling setup yet. Part of that is researching what will pass emissions and get me the performance I’d like and the other part is tuners not being all that great at responding to messages. Hey, guys, ah, I’m trying to buy stuff from you, answer your messages!

I do not know where April went but it’s gone, passed me right by.

The R32 still isn’t running mainly because upon going to replace the two motor mounts I have, something more fun was discovered, a drive shaft joint that was coming apart. Oh joy. Hopefully this will all be fixed tomorrow and even without the motor mount that I have been waiting on for 4 weeks now, the car can drive again. That’s a good thing, because the GTI is going to be getting some big things in the coming month(s).

I ran my friend Jana’s Mini in Tucson at the end of April again and couldn’t keep off the cones.

Comps: 53.778 (+1), 54.699 (+2), 55.032 (+1, CD), 53.802 (+1)
TOs: 54.270, 54.957, 54.405, 54.392 (+1)

At the Sierra Vista airport the weekend after (last weekend) I drove a CSP Miata on huge race tires. I finished at the bottom of the PAX class, but I beat the car owner, so we’ll see if I’m ever invited drive the car again. It was fun, completely different than the R32 or the Mini; I’d never driven a Miata and never driven on race rubber which made for a fun experience. I can see why people like Miatas (no power, but they certainly can handle!) and why race tires can be an expensive addiction.

I also went house hunting on Monday with a real estate agent, though this trip was more to figure out what I really want in a house than to find the house to buy. The whole process still seems complicated and daunting and I don’t know yet if I’m fully ready for it. It was good to look around at various houses and I figured out that there are many, many more things to think about than I had on my list. We saw about a dozen houses, most of which were vacant, some foreclosures or bank repos. Granted, there could have been things we couldn’t see, but I was surprised at the condition of these houses, I figured they’d be wreck. Probably the worst house needed carpet everywhere and drywall patched in one area of one bedroom. One other house had all the appliances missing, and by all I mean someone made off with the garage door opener and the water heater.

Softball is still going on and we are still looking for win number 1. Most of us are still having a good time even though we’ve only managed to not lose via the mercy rule twice. The season goes through the end of the month, so we don’t have many more chances to get into the win column.

Comps: 56.654 (+4), 54.887, 53.687, 54.200 (+1)
Time Only: 52.817 (+1), 53.339 (+1), 53.516 (+1), 54.934 (+1)

I don’t have much to say about this event that hasn’t been said before. This was good practice for San Diego since it necessitated more than just the initial 1-2 shift, as I was hitting third outbound into the top loop. Unfortunately I thought about it too much and missed shifts and did not look ahead at the course appropriately, both of which cost me time. While my best competition run was good for 9th out of 16th in the PAX category and 10th of 57 overall, I was still 2 full seconds behind the fastest STX car, and there were two other STX drivers ahead of me in the top 10.

One more event before San Diego and it is next weekend at the airport in Bisbee-Douglas.

The first event of 2009 in Tucson, the first event I ran registration in Tucson, and the first event I ran in the PAX category in Tucson. By the way, I also run the website now, which has a fresh look for 2009.

The night before was hectic as I was plagued by technical difficulties trying to print the 107 forms needed for the event. My new-ish laser printer’s toner failed on me and I then went through 2 and a half inkjet cartridges on my other printer, which happily dog-eared every page. Luckily a nearby Walgreen’s is open 24 hours with cheap ink refilling. On site went well, there’s a few things to tweak for next time, but it was smooth. I was anxious since that was quite a large group to handle first time out.

My participation in the event was not quite as successful. Cones on every comp run left me 11th of 15 in the PAX class. Even with more cones, I couldn’t match my best raw time in TOs either. The course was fun and fast though.

I’ve been up to many cars things of late, but what else is new. I took a Solo Safety Steward class here in Tucson last Saturday which was very informative, and I also finished a website for the newly established Arizona Chapter of the Audi Club, North America. It’s not much yet, since we don’t have a lot going on, but hopefully it will grow along with the new chapter.

Next up is probably Evo School in Tucson, maybe the Phoenix event in February if I get tires in time.