double header weekend

i'm super tired from this weekend, not much sleep with 2 autox's in 2 different states and spending some time hanging out with dad in between. i had 3 different people ask for codrives in my car this weekend (maybe because it's fun to drive?) but mr. autox4u (aka perry) ended up taking the seat for both the nnjr event and also at warminster with philly scca today. he'll be codriving nedivs at warminster so he needed some solid seat-time in the car.

*update*

here's a little compilation of saturday. perry top pax.. me, 1st loser.

perry is going to kill me but whats in there is way too entertaining to leave out. lol.



if you codrive my car, you are subject to any and all video posted on the internet.

now on to warminster.

jan's fast run.. 4th in pax!





here's my fast clean run from today at warminster.



one of perrys runs. for some reason the cam shutoff on his clean fast run.



so perry and i were within a tenth of each other and corey ran away with top spot. i'm not really disappointed with this result since i know my driving isn't half bad with perry as a benchmark.. but it does make me think of how to improve. of course good driving is key. i've looked at our data (beauty of having it) and it looks like if we combined both our strengths in different sections of the course, we could have a kickass theoretical time. enough to be right in line with corey's kickass fast time or better.

now that's easy to say of course, but challenging to implement. i am purposely not burying my head in the maxQ data in between runs, but focusing on getting my head in the game during the event. as jay posted earlier.. info overload can be overwhelming so sometimes it's better to keep it simple and focus at the task at hand.

with dangerboy jeff hurst hitching a ride with me down from long island.. we had some solid discussion on where we can improve the hardware end of the equation. i was lucky since jeff was working on course and watching what the car (and drivers) were doing, and determining what the car needs:

full tread depth tires on stock wheels isn't quite cutting it. there is just way too much tread squirm. the available treadwidth of the steamroller sized neovas isn't getting optimized on a 17x8 rim. so i may be jumping to some shaved re-01r's (since they're nearly half price of neovas!) on 17x9's if funds allow. now they won't be here in time for dc, but i'm looking at big picture improvement for myself.

i think i will also give an adjustable rear swaybar a shot to reduce my midcorner push. i'm using overdamped rear shock valving to get the car to rotate on corner entry. i'm using this to balance out the car and compensate for not enough rear spring. this is semi-detrimental in two ways. 1. it makes the car very snappy on turn-in. 2. steady state balance doesn't not care about valving. since my car is a daily driver.. it's rough enough on the street as it is. instead of increasing springrate in the rear to where i'd want (if it were a dedicated autox car), i'm keeping my compliance while helping steady state rotation with a slightly stiffer rear bar rate. we'll see.

jay watched the incar and has suggested some front spring swappage (to a lower rate) the morning of dc. i think it may be a good idea! lots to think about in terms of setup.

i have room for improvement driving-wise, but there's a quicker path to reduced times with an improved setup. of course i'm still focused on improving the driving.

i guess my advice is don't throw parts at the car, until you really think it through.. you save a lot of money that way.


-dan

DC ProSolo Homework

For all you Prosolo noob's going this coming weekend I thought I might put together a small writeup of a few things to read up on. The prosolo format is almost totally unique and will probably feel a little overwhelming for you guys who have never attended any national level events.

That said I think it was the most fun we had autoxing ALL year in 2006. Great site, awesome host region, sick hotel.

I noticed the Quickstart program was missing from the schedule, here's an answer:
http://sccaforums.com/forums/1/249304/ShowThread.aspx#249304
You DEF do NOT want to miss it. Extra practice starts with coaching, great explanation of how the events work, etc.. Andy Hollis replied, the program will start at 1:30pm. If you want to do your practice starts with race tires on make sure your arrive early. You don't have to get the car tech'd before practice starts, so it's just emptying the car and changing tires.

Here's the link to all general info about the event:
http://www.scca.com/Event/Event.asp?IdS=36DF00-CA87C30&Id=6462

Weather for Hyattsville, MD:
http://www.weather.com/outlook/driving/interstate/tenday/USMD0214?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_driving

Hotel where most of holunfie is at:
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/wasgb-greenbelt-marriott/?ppc=eastern_google_wasgb&vpckey=greenbelt-marriott&vpccat=brand

Directions to Fedex Field:
http://www.redskins.com/fedexfield/directions.jsp;jsessionid=KKLKJNABPAAD
http://www.redskins.com/fedexfield/ParkingGuide.pdf

Here's the link for ProSolo Rules:
http://www.scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/2007NationalProSoloRules.pdf

These are the sections you'll want to read up on:

Section 20.9, yes you'll have to put on all these stickers, they peel off easy though, I think there are 3 you have to pay for, total cost is $5.

Section 20.10 C, D, E, G, I, J, K, while most of it will sound a little confusing I think it will help you pick up on the info at the Quickstart program Friday. It's just helpful to read since you'll work twice Sat and also run twice, there are restrictions on when/what you can adjust the car, running with the same partner throughout heats, changing grid positions based on class order, etc...

Dan if you have anything to add to this please do!

uh- bring your bulletproof vest if you take a wrong turn? and don't pay attention to the pimp dropping off the ho at 7am behind the 7/11. oh yeah and don't be alarmed at the bulletproof ice cream truck. looks scary but the guy is nice and has cold ice cream. it tastes better when you bet jay who's quicker on the practice launches and the ice cream is on him.

great info jay..

-dan

'07 devens tour STU recap

first off, jay rocks! kickass driving and some well thought out tweaks makes the driver/car combination lethal! top overall pax, faster than daddio on saturday.. jay is on fire! kev was right on jay’s heels with a less prepped car and no longer has a penchant for cones, jan’s driving is really coming together, and aaron is having fun in dsp with his underprepped car (but still nearly trophied). it’s great to see everyone having fun and kicking ass this past weekend.

for those of you that haven’t been to one, a national tour/divisional/prosolo event is a totally different level of autox. 3 runs per day forces you to be on your game and usually you’re going against the very best. not only does your driving have to be spot-on, but your car setup knowledge has to be on-point if you want to do well. the vibe at these events is awesome. great drivers, fast/challenging courses, cool atmosphere.

here’s how STU panned out for me. saturday was wet. the rain had just about stopped but the course was still wet with low grip. i’ve never driven my current setup in the wet so i was stabbing in the dark with settings. turns out it was way loose on the first run so that run was out the window. dialed it back, the course was slowly drying, and the car felt much better but not great. 3rd run, i wasn’t paying enough attention to the nearly dry course and took a run with my wet settings. not good. we had one shot with the dry run and corey took advantage. he was maybe 1.5 seconds ahead, adil was 1 second behind at the end of the day.

sunday was bone dry and the course was very fast and required at least 3 shifts into 3rd gear. carris was shifting into 3rd 4 times in his AS sti. i’m pretty good when it comes to heel-toe.. but the combination of high avg mph and switching back and forth between heel-toe and left foot braking… i was flat-out overwhelmed. i definitely need to work on these high speed courses and shifting seamlessly. chris said if it weren’t for his practice at the plainfield events, he wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. i need to do the same.

adopted holunfie’er, adil, was on a mission on sunday and edged me out by 4 hundredths overall. he was absolutely flying on sunday and put a big lead on the class. adil deserved the spot and i’m glad his evo is getting dialed because i may have to jump ship from sti to evo at the next fast event!

when it comes to stu, corey is the man! he is very experienced and a top-notch competitor. corey really put the hurt on us saturday, making it nearly impossible to catch up. he took advantage of the one opportunity to lay down a fast time, and remained quick enough sunday for the win. all this with a stock tune! damn!

stu is panning out to be a great class to be in.. with adil up to speed, corey getting comfortable with his evo, and me hopefully getting my head out of my ass… we’re all looking forward to seeing how the year progresses. it’s great driving with you guys.. let’s kick some ass in dc.

-dan

what do you do when you have a bad weekend autoxing?

you take monday off... mountain bike with a fellow autoxer (tucker) til you hurt, then you take another holunfie'r (billy) and his wife out fishing til your arms fall off.




i'll post my recount of STU sometime later. off fishing again tonight!

some pics:


nyr/holunfie compound


all riced out


kev doing his ben spies impression


as far as the eye can see! fast course..






lined up in size order. haha.
l-r: AS-man, paxman, slowman, chinaman


pax man


pax car


haulin ass home. valera is a nut. he's off in the distance doing 100mph and aaron and i are trying to catch up.


-dan