STRaight trippin' in Derty Jerz

Last weekend brought the inaugural SCCA NJ ProSolo at the New Meadowlands stadium. After finally getting somewhat comfortable with the car as well as getting the suspension fairly dialed in, it was time to see what the car could do against some "real" competition.

Up until this point, I hadn't experienced any real STR competition and I hadn't had the luxury of time to learn the car and develop the setup. It didn't help that the forecast leading up to the weekend called for rain. And as well all know, the Hankook RS-3's + rain = FAIL. Weather was such an issue that I had sourced a set of Toyo R1R's from a local distributor that I planned on having installed the morning of practice starts. At least the weather looked like it would be pretty nice, so I skipped the Toyos. Still, the fact that my car (and me) were untested against National level competition, I was still nervous.

Unfortunately Friday practice starts were in the wet/damp so I didn't get much useful practice. At least I got to get the feel for launching the car. There's one less thing to worry about during actual competition.

Coming into Saturday I was still nervous, but at the same time I knew I just needed to keep a cool head and I stood a chance at a decent showing. I made the point of introducing myself to the other STR drivers just to show I'm a "good guy"...at least on the outside. Don't tell them I sabotaged their tire pressures (just kidding!). They were all really cool dudes and it actually calmed me down a bit since we were all "cordial" at that point. That calmness would soon disappear as we strapped on our helmets just before our turn to run. Sitting in the car I was shaking from anxiety. I didn't come close to hurling like jdrop did, but I was starting to freak out.

We pull up to the start boxes and my hands are shaking like crazy. Thankfully, jdrop was working the helmet scanner and gave me the "Good luck!" wish as I pulled up to the burnout box. That, combined with some deep DEEP breathes, brought the shaking back to "normal". The second I launch on my first right side run things fall back into place and I put down a decent raw time. Over on the left on my first run I throw down a decent 32.7xx which would end up being 2nd fastest in class, but I get called for a cone penalty. I had no idea which cone I hit so I was a bit dumbfounded, but oh well I'll have another shot. My 2nd right side run would go much better as I lay down a class leading 32.088. Moving back over to the left for my last run of the morning, I knew I just needed to do the same thing as my first run...just cleaner! Unfortunately I would redlight the start thus negating the run. It wouldn't have helped anyway as I ended up 1/10th slower.

So going into Saturday afternoon, I was sitting in 5th place and 2 out of trophies even though I had two of the fastest raw times in class. All thanks to a cone and a redlight on the left. Thinking ahead to Sunday, I knew weather might not be as good as Saturday, which meant if I wanted a decent chance at a trophy I needed to get a clean time in the books on the left side. Unfortunately the afternoon brought about some cooler and slightly wet weather compared to the morning. So if I was going to find time, I would REALLY have to work at it. I end up not finding any time on the right so I would have to settle on my 2nd run from the morning. On the left, I drove like a little girl just to make sure I stayed off the cones and didn't redlight. My times really showed it too, as I was ~0.3xx slower than my fastest morning run. But, by virtue of not coning or redlighting, I actually move into the 2nd position in class. I would ultimately drop to 3rd after a 2nd driver in an S2000 takes advantage of the heat in his 'Kooks and throws down fastest times on both sides in class.

While I'm on the bubble in terms of trophy positions, I feel relatively relaxed. Certainly compared to how anxious I felt before morning runs. I'm actually pretty upbeat. I stay relaxed all night by having 1 or 10 beers and serving 1 term as President in our NER game of "A**hole". I think this is key, as I don't spend all night obsessing over how tomorrow's going to go.

The same upbeat feeling would stick Sunday morning as I feel confident that I know exactly what I need to do to drop time and potentially put myself into 2nd or 1st. Sadly, mother nature would not cooperate as we were greeted with cold/cool temperatures and overcast conditions. F*'n great! Those Hankooks are going to be tough to get working so it's going to take everything I've got just to keep the car in check. As expected, the tires had nothing for me to work with as I struggled just to keep the car on line. I refuse to accept this and push as hard as I could which would end up resulting in not one, but two spins. Coincidentally, I spun in the same location on both the right and left courses. Well, if I'm going to lose a trophy position it's not going to be because I wasn't driving hard.

So my 2011 NJ ProSolo would end with me sitting on my Saturday times. It turns out that none of the other top 5 drivers in STR found anytime on course either as well all struggled to get the Hankooks to work in the cool temperatures. Grrrr...I may be seeing Toyos in my future. Well I wasn't able to move up, I at least held onto my 3rd place finish. This would signify the first time I've ever trophied at a National event. Considering this is only my 1st year ever autoxing a RWD car and I've barely developed the car, it's still a significant milestone! It must have been the G-Fab Racing t-shirt I was wearing since that obviously played a major role in my performance. Still, there's a lot of work left to do - both to the driver and to the car. Next up - Northern States Championship in Toledo, OH. Hopefully I don't blow it against some stacked STR talent.

And now, for your viewing pleasure/displeasure, my fastest runs from the weekend:

LEFT

RIGHT

There's No Crying In Racing: 2011 NJ Pro Solo

I used to go to big national events and just watch. I also used to cry when I didn't do well. Yes, I know. Both kind of stupid.

That being said, from watching and not driving, I got really familiar with the pro solo format. So when it came to the Dirty Jerz, I figured it was about time I stop spectating and start driving. I finally have my own car, so if I don't drive it, what the F was the point of a small diamond ring?

Given that the car has made it through exactly ONE event without some sort of issue, I was a bit concerned. Or maybe that's an understatement. I was terrified. Baby Panda has never seen national competition, so I was worried she'd get scared and decide to crap out. On top of that, the 48+ launches it was going to endure had me worried about the clutch as well. On top of that....I suck at launching on command, I don't do well without getting out and taking a break, and I haven't gotten the shakes yet. But....screw it. I'm going to drive!

When we got to the site, as if all the car/driver worries weren't enough, somehow the Nationals Staff had somehow overlooked my three emails about having two drivers in both ST and STX, so we were all in the same heat, and in the same group. FML. It probably contributed to the amount of stress we were all under when the event began, but by the end of first runs, it wasn't terrible, aside from the grid guy who couldn't seem to get it through his head.

Despite my nerves almost getting the better of me (I almost threw up before I ran, and almost cried for the first time), after my first launch, I was hooked.  What a great adrenaline rush. I've never gotten the shakes while driving before. And my worries about launching were unfounded. I did that better at launching than the actual driving part. Go fig.

By the time the AM heat was over (with only one RL, due to staging WAY too deep), I was beating Wiley (by only a little)....which never happens....and was also in far better spirits. 

Of course, my spirits would sink, as the sky got pretty dark and it started sprinkling right before my afternoon runs. I had to turn the wipers on, and was on the left to start, which had been my weak side anyway. Of course. The ground was wet, I hate you rain. Somehow, I still managed to hang on to 4th place out of 6. We went to dinner, reviewed some data, drank some beer. Or a lot of it.  

Going into Sunday's runs, I knew I needed a better left side time. I got to start on the right, which for me, was a lot more comforting. My right side was ok--I ended up picking up a second on the right on my first run, but I pushed far too hard on the left. Both times. Sigh. Not the best finish at my first national outing of the season. I did learn a lot, though. In no particular order:

• "Mommy needs a new pair of shoes" doesn't coerce your car to turn in. It's probably better that I don't have video yet. There will be much profanity when it's finally posted. 
• Eric Chiang's Relaxation Techniques should be taught to all noobs at every race. They really work.
• Well-made, suede steering wheels are totally worth it. I hit the steering wheel several times after my bad runs, and it didn't bend or break.
• Thanks Peej, for buying the MaxQ. It really, really, really helps.

I almost cried again, because I didn't improve as much as I needed to move up in the standings. But--THERE IS NO CRYING IN RACING. A few minutes later, I was smiling again, because I'm very lucky. I have good support networks and I have good friends. And thank God there was some estrogen at this race. It's nice to have your girls around when you need them.

Photo courtesy of Wiley Cox

 All in all, I'm pretty please with how Baby Panda did. She didn't get scared, lasted the whole race, finally got comfortable with her new shoes (shaved RS3's, and I am never having TireRack shave again as they did a terrible job), and finally decided to come out and play for real. By the end of the event, I was exhausted, but ready for Oscoda. 

Photo courtesy of Wiley Cox

Dover up next, then Oscoda! I probably won't cry there.

2011 NJ Pro Solo: Street Modified Parking Lot Pimpin'

Last year ended on a good and bad note for my little race team. On the upside, we had a car capable of winning a National Championship. On the downside, we let that National Championship slip through our greedy little fingers.

This year we've got one goal: win big

So far things have been hectic. Work on the ST car has gone slow, and development of the Panda has suffered. Besides basic maintenance and a new transmission, all of the new aero and weight reduction has hit the back burner. With everything getting hectic, we only had 1 event to get ready for our first ProSolo of 2011.



Thankfully, we rocked that 1 event. Placing 5th in the overall PAX at an event where Pro class went 52 cars deep, all while on shot tires from last season. Going into the NJ Pro as a huge overdog, things were looking up....

Things looked so good that we never bothered to check the grid sheets. Had I looked, I might've not run on the old tires. Pulling into grid, I found that a new challenger had arrived. Corey Ridgick of BSP fame (placed 2nd in BSP last year at Nats) had decided to move up to SM in Cy Lee's BSP Evo. Despite the class limitations, the Evo guys have combined E85 and the unlimited boost rule to make near SM power. The suspension development is also pretty deep due to the number of cars built for the class. To top it all off, the advantage of AWD adds another 0.3 to 0.4 sec per side before reaching 60ft. Initially, I felt we were a bit under prepared to go up against that kind of heavyweight.



Into the first round, things actually looked decent. Corey nailed some good runs as expected, besting Dave's best raw times by roughly a tenth on either side with a 30.3 on the left, and a 29.3 on the right. Dave started off with his usual hi-jinx, having cones on both of his left side runs, despite posting raw times right up there with Corey. Having been beaten by Dave all of last year, that wasn't very comforting.

Going into my runs, I took it easy at first. With the car at only 14psi, it was easy to drive, and I felt like the car had never handled better. It was confidence inspiring, and because of that I was able to kick things up a notch. The next left side run would be one of only two sub-30 second runs for the class on that side. Carrying that speed over to the next side might've had me a bit over zealous at the light, tripping it just 0.008 seconds early to negate a 29.6 that would've put me into the lead. That one was a heart breaker, and many profanities were yelled into the camera beside my head.



Sitting in second for the following heats was painful. The clouds in the sky were about as dark as they get, and every now and then some raindrops would tickle my face. It was enough that Jenna had the wipers going for one of her runs, but thankfully that's all it amounted to, and things were dry by the time SM came back up.



The afternoon heat went well. I started off with a 29.8 to knock my right side below 30, and eat into Ridgick's lead. He was able to dig deeper into the 29's, posting a 29.2 while I botched the left with a 30 flat. The next set of runs would eventually determine the overall winner, as I hit the right side running. Posting a 29.2 would give me the slightest lead, which was followed up by a 29.7 on the left that one of my favorite XP guys (Dave Newman) wouldn't even match (which was actually one of my highlights for the weekend, even though he obliterated me on the right with a 28.4).

Right side run:

YouTube Video

Left side run:

YouTube Video

Sundays at Pro Solos are usually the make-it or break-it day, and unfortunately the latter occured to Cy's Evo. On its first run on some fresh Hoosier A6's, it cracked the transmission case and wasn't able to run the rest of the day. Despite swapping the fresh tires to Micheal Fineberg's BSP Evo (which also runs on corn), Corey wasn't able to better any of his times. In the end, it feels more like a lucky win, as my final run resulted me in pushing the Panda so hard I had my second ever ProSolo DNF as I locked up the fronts cresting a hill, pulling the car to the left while I needed to go right (my first ProSolo DNF was due to a broken transmission, oddly enough).



Sunday afternoon came with the Gumout Super Challenge, which I qualified 14th of 32 for. This is probably the part of ProSolos I enjoy the most (even just watching from the sidelines). Unfortunately, I paired up with a good friend, Scott Thursby of ES in the first round. Fortunately, that gave me the chance to screw around, so I mounted a couple GoProHD's to watch him get his 2 second per side head start Coming off the first run, I had a 0.8sec advantage (running the faster right side). Knowing it was going to be close, I pushed a bit harder going into the slalom, and paid for it basing a cone with the back tire. Despite having the faster overall scratch time by a few thousandths, I had to concede the win to Scott (only to watch him red-light against a fellow New Englander later on).




That's about it for NJ. Next up is the Dover Tour in 2 weeks!

The most retarded picture ever

The things I stumble upon on my rotating picture gallery.....

I Love You Mom (But racing comes first)

I'm a horrible horrible son. Mother's day was on Sunday and I woke up at 6am to check wheel bearings on the US-Spec Skyline GT350 (shhhhhhh..... ). With everything checking out, we took a small team down to wreak havoc on FCSCC.

All I can say is: Hankook RS-3's LOVE heat. The hotter they got, the better, and 3300 lbs of Nissan couldn't work the new 265/35R18 tires enough to keep them happy in 60deg weather. Looks like we'll need Dunlops next year until T-shirt weather.... and here I thought street tires were supposed to be simple?

Things started off well enough, with the ST car giving us issues with braking. Braking issues generated flat spots which made issues worse, but we finally raised the front enough during the event to keep the wheels from locking up (and I'll probably raise the SM car 1/8th just to be sure we don't have issues there, too). After fixing the brake issues, the car called it quits and the fuel pump went lethargic. The car ran, but couldn't hold fuel pressure.... more on that later.

Photo by Said Hu

The Skyline on its 18x10's performed well enough, despite just being on Tein drop springs. With some real race springs and some shock adjustments, it could be a real contender. When I get some 18x9 wheels it'll get the easy-street STX index, where I think it might actually stand a chance. It'd be a fun local car at the very least, although I think when the ST car is at full power, it'll be close.

Photo by Said Hu

Yesterday, I got around to checking out the Panda engine mounts and the ST car's fuel system. While waiting for the ST car's fuel soaked o-rings to dry, I figured out that I could turn the motor mounts on the Panda to move the engine back a half inch. With additional slotting of the motor mount brackets and some shimming, I think I can push it back the rest of the way, taking a lot of fab work out of my week. All that's left to do is make a custom transmission mount and hope the new driveshaft comes in in time. The order is in through 240sxMotoring, and they haven't let us down yet.... no pressure, it's only the entire season at stake!

Getting back to the ST car's fuel system, I replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel injectors, fuel rail, and fuel pressure regulator all to no avail. The car still wouldn't hold fuel pressure. Finally getting to the wiring, I discovered that the fuel pump was only getting 12v (and not battery voltage). Seems like there's a crossed wire or corroded connection somewhere, and I think the tires eating through the fender liners may have something to do with it (the wiring harness is located directly above the liners). Getting around to that today, and patching up some loose ends on the car. Fun times!!

NNJR autocross at the Meadowlands this coming Saturday, with the NJ Pro Solo right after that! Are we worried with both cars still non-functional and a boat-load of work to do? Nope.... this is G-Fab.