The thread of discussing my stupid cars and how I waste my

...time. A few people were interested in my little hobby. They were persnickity enough to demand pictures, videos, and even wanted me to explain this ridiculousness.

So be it!

I am a member of the SCCA. While officially that stands for Sports Car Club of America, in reality it stands for Social Club for the Consumption of Alcohol. When we aren't standing around in the evenings, slightly intoxicated, making excuses for why we're so slow we're actually out driving (very, very sober at this point) our cars and enjoying being big kids.

The SCCA has many different stages of membership and participation. Do you own a car? Did you know that you, yes you, could be a member and participate in sanctioned SCCA events?!?!? All you need is a car, a driver's license, and nothing better to do! In fact, you don't even need a car to be a member. It's a club based on volunteers and we could always use more volunteer help.

The entry level events are called autocross, also known as the gateway drug, and that's where most people start. It's a chance to get your street car out (or other car) and push it's limits and yours in a safe environment.

From there the levels of car preparation, speed, and driver qualification begin to move up.

The next stage is called Solo 1 and Solo 2. These are events on closed courses where the driver is still racing against the clock, and not actually against other drivers. As you move up in this class however, the cars become more prepared. This is the stage in car development where you begin to see roll cages, racing seats, 5 point racing harnesses, suits and helmets.

From there, the final stage level full wheel to wheel competition. You must go to a school to earn your racing license. There are many different car classes at this point. You have very large, very quick GT cars, open wheel formula cars, closed body prototypes, and a very large section of cars, in many different clases, based off of production vehicles. This is the area I race in. The class is called "Improve Touring" or "IT". You have ITC, ITB, ITA, ITS, and ITR. The last two are relatively new classes. I race ITA.

Each class has a set of rules of what car are eligible in each class, and what can and can not be done to modify them.

Some of these production cars can be modified much further, and move in a class called "Production" or "Prod". You have HProd, FProd, and EProd depending on motor size. My father races in FProd.

So any way, here's a few pictures.


First up is the ITA Mazda Miata #2. My car.

(SPOILER) http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone060.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone061.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone062.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone063.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone064.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone057.jpg


An observant person will note the car says Henry Payne, and not Joe Bryan Payne.

It's only recently become mine. I was co-driving it with my father, but frankly he became tired of me being faster than him in the same car. So....

We are developing his FProd. They look similar now, but as the car is developed it will look and be much different.
(SPOILER)
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone066.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone067.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone068.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone069.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone051.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone052.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone053.jpg

Wow, that actually sounds really cool! :o I love your car. How fast can it go?

Your car is quite arousing. Suffice to say, reading that post made me incredibly jealous. That's awesome. :colbert:

I'm not the biggest car buff around and those pictures still got me moist. I want that car!

I have a couple of concerns about you riding around in this car. Chief among them; how do you steer with the steering wheel sitting beside you?

That's some sexy car. Tell me more about it! Or them, I guess.

Wow, that actually sounds really cool!
http://www.ywseo.net/seo4.jpghttp://www.ywseo.net/signature.jpg
http://www.crfootball.com/xiaoliu3.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon

I have a couple of concerns about you riding around in this car. Chief among them; how do you steer with the steering wheel sitting beside you?

---

Mind control.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rebellious Eagle

Wow, that actually sounds really cool! :o I love your car. How fast can it go?

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Not as fast as you think. Most tracks it's 115 -120. This last track we saw 130 , maybe 135.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

That's some sexy car. Tell me more about it! Or them, I guess.

---

Sure, but what would you like to know?

Here's a picture of another car we've retired, and have for sale. It's still competitive, we just don't race in that class anymore.

(SPOILER)
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone056.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone054.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone059.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...dsPhone058.jpg

Well what are their stats? HP, torque, displacement, etc.

I don't know much about that type of racing.
I just hauled down a drag strip.
Do you have a car with a good quartermile?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

Well what are their stats? HP, torque, displacement, etc.

---

Every class has rules, and you can't just build the car to your desires and put it in any class you want. So you'll probably be disappointed.

Spec Miata basically stands for "Factory Specifications". That means the motor is a sealed unit. The ECU is stock, and you're not to mess with it. You are not allowed to change any of the internals. You can run certain intakes, adjust the timing, and run premium fuel. The car has a spec suspension package (A Bilstein/Eibach setup), and spec tires (Toyo RA1s) that all competitors must use. The biggest adjustments from a factory car (besides stripping it out and installing a roll cage.) are made to the cars suspension, tires, weight, and brakes. Steel braided brake lines are popular. These are not horsepower monsters. You'll probably see 118hp from the 1.6l and perhaps 125hp from the 1.8l. That isn't to say people don't cheat, they just are not supposed to. With all cars being equal, it's driver vs driver and makes for very close, very fun racing.

IT or Improved Touring allows for more in depth modification of the vehicle. Since it's a class that allows more than one type of car, there are certain specific rules for each vehicle. The vehicle's motor is no longer sealed, but it's not completely open. You can run an oil cooler, reroute coolant for better cooling, run cams with slightly more duration, slightly over bore (very lightly), the engine is blue printed and balanced, and you can modify the intake. All air must still travel through the stock AFM, but it doesn't have to function. It's just there to restrict how big you make your intake. One very important mod is that you can replace the factory ECU with an aftermarket programmable one. This gives you the ability to fine tune the car for max performance. On a good day you're looking at 145hp from my little 1.8l. It makes it tough to keep up in straight line with some of the 2.4l cars, but that's where being able to make the car even lighter and run better tires comes into play. At this point the car is also much lower, running stiffer springs, and much larger sway bars.

I can, and will eventually, run a front air splitter for aerodynamic purposes.

You still can't change the size of the brake calipers or rotors.

Production is the most modified a factory car can become in the SCCA.

Now many parts of the car are open. The vehicle can be much lighter still. Tires and wheels are allowed to be wider, you can run a full widebody kit (which it needs to cover the wider wheels and tires.), the windsheild and top are removed for better aerodynamics, and two piece brake rotors can be installed for better unsprung weight. Lighter aluminum suspension arms can be used to replace factory steel parts and reduce weight more. Brake ducting, air splitters, and under chassis down force modifications are allowed. A dual reservoir brake master cylinder with adjustment controls for the driver are allowed. Much more aggressive cams, higher compression pistons, and other engine internals are allowed. A more powerful programmable ECU can be used, and that allows for different things to be done. (There's still limits, but the rules are far more open.) The intake is no longer restricted, routing and filter placement are open. The suspension is more open. A full sequential racing transmission with straight cut gears is allowed. (They're also stupid expensive and incur a weight penalty :|)

Our 1.6l FProd makes right under 190hp on a good day. Dyno runs change depending on atmospheric conditions and a multitude of other things. So take that with a grain of salt.

Basically, no matter what class you're in, the Miata is what's called the giant killer. Or a momentum car. They don't have the power of some of it's competitors, but it embarrasses them by carrying more speed through the corners and braking later.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Martyr

I don't know much about that type of racing.
I just hauled down a drag strip.
Do you have a car with a good quartermile?

---

As you probably gathered from above, these aren't straight line cars. We've modified street cars for customers that are faster in a straight line than our race cars. It's just a different type of autosport.

EDIT UPDATE!

I'll mention this even though I plastered it all over facebook and G+ becaue I'm quite glad I found it. This could have been very bad!

Had a bolt fail on the driver's rear upright of my ITA Miata. It didn't work itself out completely, but the bolt had sheared and worked about halfway out. That explains why it was getting so hard to keep from getting loose in the corner during the last race. Instant camber change! I thought my tires were going out, and that must have been the bolt getting more and more loose. Now I don't feel so bad about second place and that Honda getting away from me through the corners.

Thank goodness it didn't completely fail going through the banking, since we're doing around 130 or so. Glad I found this before the next race!

Well now that's a smurfing post. Kind of make me want to race.

jesus christ sharky I'm glad you're not dead for smurf's sake :(

That's such a stupid hobby. Why can't you be into something useful, like Japanese DVDs and figures?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jiro

jesus christ sharky I'm glad you're not dead for smurf's sake :(

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:jess: It's not so bad. I think it would have hurt my wallet worse.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShlupQuack

That's such a stupid hobby. Why can't you be into something useful, like Japanese DVDs and figures?

---

I'm sorry, I've gone to classes to try and fix myself. I'm forever a social outcast.

Race update.

Barber can be summed up as "plagued by difficulties." Upon arrival we were dejected to see that there were NO practice sessions scheduled. We hadn't seen the track in 8 years or more, and our first time out would be qualifying. :mad2: We run in two separate groups since the cars are so different.

So, on troutty old tires I still managed to qualify mid pack. The guys with more money had better and newer Hoosiers. We had to spend our tire money on rebuilding the engine from last season. :( Hopefully, I'll have new tires for next season.

We had done much more work on dad's car, so he sucked it up and simply tested the car during qualifying. Meaning he didn't qualify well at all for his group.

So next was my first race........and with 5 minutes to go before start, my car wouldn't crank. The rest of the field was already out on it's pace lap, when the car finally fired off. So I had to start from pit lane (essentially the back of the field.)

To play catch up, I was hopping curbs and other not so smart maneuvers that eventually ripped part of my exhaust off. This resulted in exhaust in the cockpit burning my eyes a little. So I had made it back through about half the field (where I qualified :mad2:), but was having a little trouble keeping a good line because my vision was a little blurry. So from that point I didn't make much more progress. Then I noticed my oil pressure was fluttering. (It was hot, and I think the oil was getting too thin.) Since the race was pretty much a wash, I pulled in early to keep from damaging the poor girl. I raced enough laps to get credit, but wound up dead last. :eep:

Dad's first race: He started off strong, and even though he'd qualified poorly, he was moving up the field. Then he disappeared and I didn't see him anymore. The heat from his engine caused the welds in his header to fail. That caused the rear portion of his exhaust to vibrate off, and wedge itself in the chassis bracing. His race was done.

So not a good Saturday. We spent the rest of the night repairing the cars, and getting mild amounts of sleep.

Sunday morning qualifying. I was still on my old tires, but the guys I was running with had switched to even newer Hoosiers. They ran about 3-5 seconds a lap faster in qualifying. This was not looking good. I just couldn't get the car to stick. I qualified close to last.

Dad's qualifying session had rain, so we pulled out our 8 year old rain tires (are you seeing a pattern?) and sent him out. The tires had grip through puddles on the straights, but didn't stick well in corners.

For my race it was still raining. This actually made me sort of happy. I'm not the best in the rain, but I seem to be faster than most. So we put the 8 year old rain tires on my car and hoped for the best. The race went pretty well. My windows began fogging up, and for some reason the Fog-Ex I used wasn't helping. I made it up to 5th or 6th. Nothing amazing, but I did a lot better than I would have in the dry.

By the time dad's race came around, the track had dried. So he could run his slicks. Even though he qualified poorly, the car was finally getting dialed in. He worked his way through the field pretty well. He actually took the over all lead for the majority of the race, but was passed on the last lap. Still second place in a car that's only on it's 4th race is good. I think we'll have a pretty strong FProd car here in a year or two.

So, it was fun. I think the two improvements I need the most are new tires (obviously), and simply more seat time. It's been a long time since I've had a chance to race regularly and I need more practice.

A family member took some pictures of the other race (the one from two weeks ago), and I'll try to post those once I get them. If anyone is interested.

Man, I'm sorry you had such troutty luck at the beginning there. At least you both managed to pull of some better races at the end.

You mean to say your vision got a little blurry because of the carbon monoxide pouring into the car?! :mad2: i am glad things finished out better than they started. Maybe we'll set up a fundraiser to get you some new tires (especially rain tires!) And also hell yes we want pictures.

:p That's a sweet thought, but there's a lot of better things to make a donation fund for. I'm just having fun.

Maybe a donation fund to pay a faster driver.....

Hopefully I'm not coming across as an arrogant ass talking about this stuff. I don't know what people's interest levels are. :|

Who cares what they think? I enjoy reading about it.

Did you drive unsafely and endanger your eyes when I recently said you should not do exactly that?! I think you did. Why would you disobey me!?

Good job, both you and your father; despite all the mishaps, I think you both did very well. Yeah, if you keep up your performances without mechanical failures, you both should do very well!

Usually I have very minor interest in motorsports but knowing someone who is actually in there makes it far more interesting for me! I'm surprised they wouldn't provide practice laps, but you did well enough regardless!

Thanks for the warm wishes. I won't have another race for about a month I think. That'll give me time to scan the photos (my aunt uses a film camera! :mad2:) and load them up in the thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon

You mean to say your vision got a little blurry because of the carbon monoxide pouring into the car?! :mad2:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Genius Lynx

Did you drive unsafely and endanger your eyes when I recently said you should not do exactly that?! I think you did. Why would you disobey me!?

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Oxygen is for pussies. :zombert:

Real men breathe exhaust fumes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

(my aunt uses a film camera! :mad2:)

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WHO DOES THAT?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jiro

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

(my aunt uses a film camera! :mad2:)

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WHO DOES THAT?

---

:shifty:

You do it for a reason though. You're all about that sort of cool awesome old stuff. I think Auntie Shark is just living in the dark ages.

Dark room ages, that is.

OH HO HO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jiro

You do it for a reason though. You're all about that sort of cool awesome old stuff. I think Auntie Shark is just living in the dark ages.

Dark room ages, that is.

OH HO HO

---

you forgot to put on your sunglasses and cue YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

I always wear my sunglasses*!

*I actually lost them last week and I have been walking around blind ever since

ahahahaha shlup

gosh use quote post so we know what you're referring to, I had to scroll up so far!

[regrets not using crtl f]

I have a race this weekend in Savannah, and that reminded me I never got around to posting those photos from previous races.

The only ones I can find are from the first race at Charlotte MotorSpeedway I talked about. They're scanned and cropped from actual film pictures (I know, I know) so the quality isn't the best. Photobucket was pissing me off earlier, but I think the links are working now.

(SPOILER)

Here's me tweaking the suspension before the race, and blinking for the camera. :roll2

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0002.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0005.jpg

Here I'm drafting off of a faster car around the oval to catch another group in front of us.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0006.jpg

Here, a few laps later we've caught the group.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0007.jpg

Working through the group.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0008.jpg

A few laps later, out by myself in second. First was long gone. :p

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...Scan0009-1.jpg

A picture of me coming off the track through pit lane, and two photos of waiting to get released from impound after the race.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0003.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/Scan0004.jpg


I can't find any of the race after that, and I'm sorry these are sort of crappy. The person taking them was on the front straight which is a little boring. All the action was in the infield. Anyway, there you go!

Cool! I wish I could be a race car driver.

That's actually a pretty neat hobby, Sharky. So long as you don't die!

Hurray the red shoes!

Today was a practice day, and I'm slowly getting my times down. I'm still on those titty old tires, BUT I'm looking at my brand new/better/stickier tires right now! :excited: I'm saving them for qualifying and the race.

On the titty old (ooooold) tires I squeezed out some consistent, low/mid 1:26's for lap times. I ran several 1:26.2's up to a 1:26.7. The fastest I've ever managed here before is a 1:25 something, something. My new tires should be good for another 2 seconds, putting me at a 1:24.2 for qualifying. If I can pull that off I'll be in the battle for 3rd with two other cars, so I'm excited for a good race! This is an invitational event, so there's lots of fast guys out there. Getting a podium finish in this field would do a lot for getting my confidence back up. This year is the first time I've had a chance to race consistently in about 5 years, and I can tell I'm rusty. This is my chance to see if my car (and myself) are progressing the way I hope we are.

My dad's car had a mechanical failure, and while it's nothing catastrophic, the part is hard to come by and the car can't run with out it. So it looks like he's done for the weekend. :(

I'll try my best to do EOFF proud. :jess:

Good luck, sharky! :monster:

not-quite-off-topic: say I don't know enough about cars to matter. Should I just sit down and read a car manual?

I just realized. Sharky is the new RSL.

Nah RSL didn't actually race if I recall - but his dad did.

Man. Now I miss RSL. thanks Allison

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peegee

not-quite-off-topic: say I don't know enough about cars to matter. Should I just sit down and read a car manual?

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Yes. And then car forums.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peegee

not-quite-off-topic: say I don't know enough about cars to matter. Should I just sit down and read a car manual?

---

Peeg, if you're as ignorant (don't take that the wrong way, you know the meaning of the word) of automotive theory as you claim, then reading a manual specific for your car might be over your head.

Try picking up some literature on how engines work, suspension set-ups, chassis geometry etc. If you find it interesting, THEN get into your car manual, and the internet forums.

Okay, I ran a 1:24.230. Right where I hoped in third place for qualifying. Let's see how the race is tomorrow.

EDIT: There's an afternoon qualifying session too, but it's looking like rain, so this time is probably as good as I'll get.

Well, in the beginning I was hanging with the Integra and the 240 just like I planned. I'd actually gotten around the 240 at one point, and was feeling okay at staying with them for the race. There was another Integra that qualified behind me. A few laps into the fray he managed to motor around me on the straight.

It happens, and I knew I could get back around him. The problems started when we went into the infield. He got slow, way slow. I was trying to work my way around him, and in the mean time the two lead cars opened up a 3 car length gap.

Things got worse when we were coming onto the main straight. It's key that I carry far more momentum than they do coming onto the straight. That way I can hang in the draft. Well, as we were coming onto the front straight, the Integra in front of me suddenly lost power. (I think that's why he was so slow through the infield. His computer must have been giving him fits) I almost completely missed him, but I caught the left front on him as I tried to dodge. It wasn't a bad hit, but it ruined my momentum and gave the lead cars an even bigger gap.

So I spent the rest of the race not getting closer to them, and not able to catch up to them. I could pull them through the infield, but every time we hit the straight they'd pull back away.

Finally I had third place wrapped up with less than two laps to go, then I hit some fluid on the track. I went off, and the car bogged down in a sand trap. lame, lame, lame.

So, I worked hard but came home empty handed. Maybe next year. :(

That's so sad. :(

You'll get 'em next time, bro. I'm glad nothing major happened though.

You were robbed, but that's just bad luck I'm afraid. Don't feel like you let us down though, you're still our hero :D And yes, next time you will destroy them. Literally if you must!

As I recall you came back with a second place finish earlier this season, a spot in an invitational final race, and a lot of knowledge. Also came back knowing that even after a few years of not racing you haven't lost the ambition or the aptitude.

My tireless cheer and encouragement is gonna wear you down, dammit.

I don;t like racing much but Sharky make me want to reconsider my opinion!

NNOOO!!! The encouragement! It buuurrnnss!!! :p

The person in charge of the camera forgot it, but I'll see if I can't find some pictures. Time to work on the cars over the winter.

EDIT: Here's one picture. I scanned and cropped it from a calendar but it's still fairly clear. You can see me leading the Integra that eventually won. We were close all weekend, I just wish I didn't get messed up in the beginning so I could have raced him more. :P

(SPOILER)http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...2SIC2012-1.jpg

Thread necro, ACTIVATE!!


I have another race coming up the last weekend in March. Let's see how it goes. :kakapo:

Oooh, nice. Take pictures and junk! Win for EoFF!

D'you reckon we could buy some ad space on your car?

For the right amount of cash I'd put a picture of a giant chocobo on the hood of my car.

We have the camera this time, so if it works, you might even get to see a video of me getting passed! :jess:

I'm heading out. Have a good weekend, EOFF.

Good luck, bro!

So how many times do you need to win the Sunday Cup in order to sell off your 100 prize Mazda Demios and enter the Clubman Cup with a clapped out Honda Prelude?

I'll have to get my subie into this! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

For the right amount of cash I'd put a picture of a giant chocobo on the hood of my car.

We have the camera this time, so if it works, you might even get to see a video of me getting passed! :jess:

I'm heading out. Have a good weekend, EOFF.

---

Guys we should all pool our resources and put our forum avatars all over Sharky's car.

Also, good luck! :jess:

I would love to get Fluttershy on sharky's car.

I am home and exhausted. I have some pictures, maybe a video.


For the first race, I had to use old tires for qualifying and it was drizzling. Sliding around meant I qualified 5th in my class. Not the greatest, but challenges are fun. At the beginning of the race, I had a great start and worked my way up to first place. Then at around lap 3, second place gave me a bit of a "tap" and put me off course. Since the race had just started it meant all the cars were still grouped up together. Pretty much the whole group went by, including every car in my class, before I could get back on course. I spent the rest of my leg of the race driving as fast and mistake free as I could manage. I knew I was slowly reeling the lead cars. By the time I came in for the mandatory pit stop I'd managed to work my way back to 3rd in class, and it was dad's turn to drive. While he strapped in, I quickly explained how he'd be coming out of the pits right behind 1st and 2nd. I'd put him in a great spot, and he came out motivated. Within a few laps he managed to get into the lead. The racing was close. Unfortunately dad made a mistake on the last lap, and both 2nd and 3rd place got by. It would have been great to say we fought back from last to first, but it wasn't meant to be. By the end of the day, our race tires were starting to get pretty tired and loose.

The second race qualifying went more as expected. I decided to use our race tires and crack off a quick time before I used the tires up too much more. I had a pretty big off in qualifying before the tires warmed up, but I did get in the quick time and qualified first in class. During the race, I had another good start. I put a few more cars between myself and the second place car in my class. I stuck with some cars from a faster class, and used the draft to expand my lead. Soon enough, I could feel my tires start to fade away. I had to adapt my strategy at that point. I spent the rest of my leg of the race trying to turn steady times of 1:58's. I knew from qualifying that 2nd and 3rd were both having issues turning times faster than that. I hoped that even if I couldn't expand the gap anymore, running steady times would maintain the lead I had.

I came into the pits and warned dad that the tires were getting very loose, and he went out. Dad likes his car set up differently from me, and so if it was loose to me, the car was very loose for him. I sat and watched as second and third place slowly closed the gap over the final laps, but it was too little too late. Dad crossed the finish line a healthy fifty feet in front of second place to give us the win.

The camera only worked for the second race, and that's the race where I really didn't run that great of a race, but I'll try to get it and the pictures loaded up here soon.

Yay! First place. :D

Woooooooooooo

You've seen my car, but here's one more quick shot.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/P4010056.jpg

Here's some pictures of other cars floating around the paddock area.

(SPOILER)

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010057.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010058.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010059.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010052.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010053.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010054.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010051.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010050.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010049.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010048.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010047.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010046.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010045.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010044.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010038.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...g/P4010037.jpg

so i was browsing /pol/ and of all places a discussion of japan's cars came up, and somebody said 'lol japan - can it even create something like a bmw or mercedes' and then somebody posted a picture of the mazda..i forget. i'm sick. rx-8 probably.

since we both like mazdas i demand you defend our addiction and prove mazda > bmw

good luck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Peegee

so i was browsing /pol/ and of all places a discussion of japan's cars came up, and somebody said 'lol japan - can it even create something like a bmw or mercedes' and then somebody posted a picture of the mazda..i forget. i'm sick. rx-8 probably.

since we both like mazdas i demand you defend our addiction and prove mazda > bmw

good luck.

---

It's not as simple as that. Mazda is not BMW. Whether or not you think one is better than the other seems to depend on what you're looking for.

BMW has many (very good) performance models, but seems to focus most of it's efforts on performance sedans and larger coupes. At least stateside, it doesn't have a very big offering for sports cars or compact sedans that are performance oriented. It had the Z3 which could never match the popularity of the Miata, and now the Z4 which is targeted more at the Porsche Boxter.

BMW is a more luxury oriented performance brand.

Mazda is a smaller car company that focuses on cars that are also fun to drive. Mazda has larger vehicles but is best known for it's Miata, RX-8, and the sporty Mazda3 hatchback/sedan. As a full sized sedan, the Mazda6 regularly gets good marks for quality and driving experience. While they're well known for creating cars have quality suspension, brakes, handling, etc., they aren't known for being a luxury brand.

None of the major Japanese manufacturers were. That's what brought about Acura, Infinity, and Lexus. If you want a Japanese car that is refined as a BMW or Mercedes you pick one of those brands.

Mazda did have the Eunos line of cars for it's luxury brand in the 80's and 90's, but decided that market wasn't worth pursuing. It's most remarkable offering was the '90-'95 Mazda Cosmo.

I suppose the biggest feather in the cap of Mazda over Mercedes and BMW is the rotary motor. It's a German design created by Felix Wankel. Many manufacturers (including BMW, Mercedes, Chevrolet, Ford, etc.) tried to take the concept and make it work, but only Mazda found the right way.

I imagine a little Japanese car company taking a uniquely German motor and making it work where the Germans could not might be considered a victory.

Numbers 70 and 97 appear to have given me an erection. I want them. Please steal them for me.

Also, let's get talking about that massive Chocobonnet. Give me figures, man!

So you have a thing for E30s and Sonetts?

Just got back from a pretty decent weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park.

Before the race we improved our intake routing (it was still the stock set-up left over from the SM days), and added an oil cooler. I was seeing the oil temps spike to 270-280 at Barber last year. This was a pretty warm weekend, and with the new cooler the highest the temp I saw was around 240.

In the first race I used qualifying to put a heat cycle on some new Hoosiers we purchased, and qualified first in ITA with a 1:54...something. 1:54'3 or somewhere in there.

For the race, we didn't have a good set of tires, so we scrounged around and "rented" a set of tires with four heat cycles from another team. Not too bad. I tried the best I could to keep up with the two faster cars from a different class, but I was only good for about 2-3 laps before they're starting to loose me as a drafting partner. (Those two are quite fast. ) The car felt pretty decent the whole race, and I built up a pretty good lead over the next ITA car. I didn't have a cool suit, so around lap 18-19 I was starting to loose some focus. I came in, switched drivers, and after a bumpy first lap dad came home with the win.

The second race I also used the qualifying session to put a the first heat cycle in a new set of tires. (We're trying to have a few sets that have had a chance to cure. That way they'll last a while. Hopefully.) I qualified first in ITA again with a 1:53'6-something. I had a great start to the race, and worked two or three cars between myself and the next ITA car. I was turning consistent 1:54's in the beginning, but every time I looked up the second place ITA guy had reeled me in a little more and a little more. Eventually I got stuck behind a slower ITS car that had the speed in a straight line just enough to slow me down in the corners. That let the other ITA car close right up on me.

Suddenly he went to try and out brake me into turn 7, pushed too hard and spun to the outside. After that I had a nice lead, ran some consistent times, and he wasn't able to close the gap. It turns out he was on brand new Hoosier R6's, and might have cooked them a little when he ran me down. (Those tires are better than man, but naturally more expensive.) I didn't have a working cool suit again, and the radios never work. So I was hot, and decided it was time to come in for my pit stop. I wish I could have had a radio to check, because my pit spot was completely blocked. I randomly pulled in at another spot, and waited for my people to start timing me. We must have pitted too long, because I came out behind the second place car. We had a good race for a few laps, and I was hanging with him just fine at that point. He was driving his mirrors a little too much and crossed his car up in a few places. I almost hit him, but managed to keep the race clean.

Eventually it was my turn to screw up. I wanted to get a run on the inside at turn 11. This is a tight turn at the end of a long straight, and a good place to pass. I think I set up too wide at the dog leg on the back straight, and put my self off line in the marbles. I said I "think" because we just found my that the bolt that goes to the top of my left rear up right is sheered in half. (Yes, again) Did it break and cause the spin, or break from the spin? I dunno. The car did feel more loose after that, but not that bad.

Either way I had a nice spin to the inside that destroyed a braking marker, and that gave him first.


I didn't flat spot the tires at least, and still got second place.

The car is coming along, and I'm pleased overall with the weekend. The next race is at Charlotte.

I know I've said this before, but I might actually have video this time. Every other time, the camera has messed up or been forgotten.

God damn, I want to hang out with you. xD

Someone stole the hood ornament off my Jag when I went inside a walmart yesterday.

that's funny, someone stole my hood ornament from my '87 buick when i hit up tiffany's the other day

No one steals from foa.

Good job this weekend! Also with the shearing of bolts - who do you think you are, my dad?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flambard D'Quinceteth

God damn, I want to hang out with you. xD

---

I always need crew! :jess:

Thanks for the warm wishes FOAs. It turns out there's a hill climb at the end of June that I might be able to make it to after all. If that's the case, it might be something close enough for you to come watch.

I can't wait for video. :jess:

Okay, here is Saturday's race.

Here is Sunday's.


It's pretty boring from watching the video, but you folks wanted to see. If you want, I can try to give you a break down of corner speeds, etc.

A picture of the upright as the car rolled off the trailer. Half the bolt must have stayed in the upright during the race.

A picture of the upright as the car rolled off the trailer. Half the bolt must have stayed in the upright during the race.http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/IMG_6807.jpg

My cousin stony used to be a racecar driver, but he quit about 2 years ago.

That is too bad.

It looks like the hillclimb will happen this year. I'll be in the ITA car instead of the FProd, but it should still be fun. It's my first hillclimb, so I'm pretty interested.

Some shots of the first qualifying and race.

(SPOILER)

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/IMG_3413.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/IMG_3415.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/IMG_2881.jpg

Okay, I have safely returned from my very first hillclimb.

It was a a pretty solid performance. More importantly I had a blast while I was there. I'll have to brag on myself a little bit. I ran consistently in the top 10 in a field of about 56 cars. My car had the least amount of horsepower to weight of any of the other top performers, so there were a few cars surprised to see me and the little Miata hanging with them. That's my giant killer.

I won my class with a time of 2:12.564, and broke the old record for my class by around 9 seconds. (For perspective, beating an existing record by a second is considered quite good.) While I was hoping to finish in the top 10 over all, the Factory Five Daytona Coupehttp://image.kitcarmag.com/f/kit-car...ce-day-was.jpg I was trying to stay ahead of managed a 2:12.3..something and beat me by a few 10ths of a second. Still a first in class, and 11th over all against some very nice purpose built race cars is pretty pleasing. My car is starting to get dialed in.

The most fun part was when spectators would walk by and say something like, "Oh, it's that car! Hey we watched you on the mountain, and you were our favorite person to see run. That car of yours sounded great, and you came by the spectator area so fast each time." There were some really neat hillclimb specials, GT cars, and other formula cars, so it felt good to get noticed in my little Miata. Some kids even wanted autographs, which was both embarrassing and cute. :jess:

I'll try to get the videos of my runs up the mountain if anyone is interested.

....here are my two best runs up the mountain from last weekend.

Second Best Time.

Best Time

Sorry for the double posting.

Yay, videos!

Do you have to approach hill climbs differently to other races? What kind of tactics would go into it?

I am deeply naawwwwwing at kids getting your autograph. You're a hero!

Those kids will grow up and realize no hero drives a Miata. I'm glad you guys liked the videos, though. :kakapo:

Yes, a hillclimb is pretty different from road racing.

Road racing means a longer time out on track, so prepping for a hillclimb changes several things.

For a hillclimb, the course is much shorter. It's a sprint. This course was around 2 and a half minutes for the average car. Around 2.2 miles. By comparison, my average race is around 45 minutes.

To prepare for that, I changed my brake pads and rotors. I needed a softer compound pad that would heat up faster, and new rotors for them to bed on. Road racing pads need to last against heavier, repeated loads for many many laps, so they don't heat up as fast, and lose heat more quickly.

The differential I used had a taller gear ratio for better acceleration and pull up the steep elevation.

This course was incredibly bumpy, and I had debated running softer springs. That would allow my tires to maintain better contact with the surface, and that would mean faster cornering speeds. I might do that next year.

Ideally we would run tires that reach their operating temperature much more quickly (similar to the brakes). I still ran my road racing slicks because that's what I had, but it meant I was sliding around a good bit more. I basically used the first long left hand corner of the course to try to force heat into the tires.

I pulled the ballast from my car that is required in road racing to help make the car as light as possible.

Also for weight, I only kept about 1-2 gallons of gas in the car at a time.

Road racing usually runs a "cool suit" which is a cooler full of ice water and a pump that circulates that water through a shirt around my body to help drop the temperature in the car. The whole system is probably 25 lbs or so. I took that out, and just dealt with the heat since is it's such a short run.

Since I'm the only car on the course, I don't need to check behind me. I removed my side mirrors for a little less aerodynamic drag.

I had a good time!

I didn't know it was that serious. Here I was thinking it's all just Gran Turismo up in that B. :p

Dude that's smurfing sweet. And I love that you just took your mirrors off and didn't wear the cooling suit. You're just like "DUMP ALL THE EXCESS, WE NEED TO GO FAST."

He's Ricky Bobby!

Here are the official results, and some pictures.

Results.

Forward Motion Gallery

Killboy Gallery

One of my favorite shots.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...501374_o-2.jpg

That event was called Chasing the Dragon. Dude that's wicked. Looks like you did pretty damn well in the results too. None too shabby.

Was gonna look at your pictures first, but then I saw the words "Red Camaro" and I'm sorry but I had to.

EDIT: In #21 on I can see your big head. :D? Also who stole your number two and made you tape 11 on the side?

That is one sweet smurfing shot.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

Here are the official results, and some pictures.

Results.

Forward Motion Gallery

Killboy Gallery

One of my favorite shots.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...37501374_o.jpg

---

Ooooh that is a sexy car.

Thanks guys!!

Some of the paint doesn't match up and there's lots of marks from other cars, but I think she looks better with some battle scars. :kakapo:

Another red Miata had number 2 already, and several other permutations were already booked. That left me with finding the simplest way to turn #2 into another number. So I cut up some pieces of blank magnetic sheets into some "ones" and went with it.

FOA, actually that Camaro is a long time family friend of ours. He's been racing it for years, and it's a fine example of the breed. This time he was having some running issues though. You can see by the exhaust fumes in his pictures that something wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

A picture of me looking rough after the end of the weekend, at the awards ceremony.http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...a/IMG_2748.jpg

Well, there's another race coming up this weekend. Charlotte Motor Speedway. We'll be taking dad's car along as well. It's still a long ways from perfect, but we hope to make some progress getting it tested and happy this weekend.

It'll be my first night race. I'm interested.

i'm so excited that I finally get to watch you race. :jess:

Uh, excuse me? You're banned from my state. Especially from the Queen City. Ashton can race for you.

:stare:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon

Uh, excuse me? You're banned from my state. Especially from the Queen City. Ashton can race for you.

---

Oh, I will race. and I will lose! And probably wreck the car.

and my reason will be, because megan told me to.

So long as you do it with style, all is forgiven.

Yayyyy. I can't wait. Will you be able to get more video?

I'm back! We had some snags, but the weekend went pretty well. I qualified second in my class for the first race, behind the same guy that beat me last time I went to this track.

I managed to get around the first place car in my class, a Honda CRX, and from there I put away some quick laps to open up the gap. I had to dodge several incidents, but managed to come home with a win. There were a few close calls, so hopefully they show up on the video.

That gave me a lock on the points championship for my race series in my class, and so we were happy.

My dad's car was having some running issues during qualifying, so we put in a different ECU and loaded a different tune for the race. It seemed to really help his overall lap times. He was racing well, when he spun and another car collided with him. Neither car was badly damaged, but his race was done.

Since I had already won the little championship thing, I let dad race my car on Sunday so he could get more seat time in a car. He had a good race, and came in 4th place. A pretty solid finish in a car set up for another driver in damp conditions.

It was really great to have Ashton and several friends there to enjoy the weekend with. I hope to have pictures and videos up soon!

Oh, man! That's such troutty luck about your dad. D: I'm glad you did well though! Can't wait to see the pictures and video.

Remember how I was going to post up videos?

I sort of forgot about that. :monster:

Here's the first race on Saturday. It's my dad in his F Prod Miata. This was more of a test for the car. We're both rusty at this track. The car is still rough around the edges, but it's getting better. We're still getting the set up sorted out because we're running radial tires instead of bias ply. It means a lot of our recorded info for set up at this track doesn't apply anymore. We also tested a new throttle body because the old one kept breaking under heavy deceleration. It also had some ECU issues, so you can hear the lack of top end power at Nascar 3 and 4 (The two big corners going around the oval.) The car is getting better over all. The camera battery dies mid race. :|

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5Oz9iMDig

Sorry for the triple post. It seems I can't do more than one video in one post.

Here's the second race. My first night race. I qualified second, behind the Honda you will see in front of me during the pace lap. (Make sure to watch for the car that loses it's hood in front of me during the pace lap. That's a first.) I managed to get around him, and stay pretty close to a couple ITS Miatas/RX7s to help put some distance between us. There were a few wrecks and spins in front of me, to keep things interesting. I had one off on the very last lap, but still had first wrapped up. I do need to work on my infield line in some places. I'm losing time. Still, it was first in my class, faster than last year, and the championship win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlTVqFR5SIE

On Sunday, dad had an altercation that bent up his car a little. Nothing terrible, but I also missed qualifying for my second race because we misread the schedule. Since I already had the little championship wrapped up, and his car was bent, we decided to let him hop in my car for my event for some more seat time. He's starting from the back of the grid in a car set up for me, and it's a little damp. He still did well despite all that. I think he got third in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1Yk8IP5zY

I like how I can be seen for a brief second at 18:05ish and 55:20? In the second video. (SPOILER) I'm the barely visible girl in blue. I had a lot of fun, I'm glad I went :jess:.

My loyal pit crew. :)

Finally had the official 2012 season wrapped up at the official awards banquet. It's not as exclusive as it sounds. Anyway, I was awarded the trophy for the championship in my class for the series this year. Good to know the car is getting sorted.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps650d4820.jpg

Also, (SPOILER) The drivers (and some of their family) getting trophies for the different classes also have a cart race at the restaurant just to play around. You know if we're there getting trophies, we have to race some more. It's in our blood. :roll2 Anyway, I won the little cart race thing, so the place gave me the checkered flag for the race.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psdd47bd8b.jpg

:p It was a good time.

So now I'm preparing for the 2013 season. First race of the championship is at the end of March. We'll have Carolina Motorsports Park, another night race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and a new track has been added. Summit Point.

We're also looking at Rockingham, and perhaps Virginia International Raceway or Roebling Road.

Apparently my little Miata isn't underpowered enough, so they're adding 85 pounds of ballast to my car this season. :( It's going to be a tough road.

Congratulations on the trophy!

That's pretty sweet, bro! Can't wait to see how you do in the upcoming season. :monster:

I thought I banned you from my state?

Kosei K1's? One of my all-time favorite wheels. I've been looking to score a set myself.

Thanks everyone! Even Megan. You know you appreciated me driving up to keep that guy from Maryland from winning again. :kakapo:

Those Koseis are such a great wheel. Light, strong, and affordable. Plus they'e so popular, they actually rebuilt the molds so they can keep making more. Usually after a mold wears out, they just move on to another style wheel.

Nice trophy, bro, congrats! :jess:

So I had my first two races of the season on the 30th and 31st of March.

My car passed it's annual tech inspection, and found to be ready to race. As a bonus I was told I could take weight out of my car this year. This meant instead of weighing a minimum of 2380lbs like last year, it was 2350lbs. Yay!

So I went out for my first qualifying session, and qualified first in class out of twelve with a time of 1:53.4 something. I went across the scales after qualifying, and the car still weighed about 2,400lbs. So I was pleased. The car was running times right where it was last year at the same track, and I could still pull some more weight out. This was good, because my tires weren't new, and less weight meant they'd last longer.

I was looking over my car, when another driver walked up. He claimed a new rule for this year said my car (and his car as he drives the same year) must weight 2460lbs, a full 80lbs more than what I'd been running last year.

After checking, it turns out he was indeed correct. I was excused for running below weight for qualifying because it wasn't my mistake, but it still wasn't good news. So I was a sad panda. :( We added ballast to the car, but didn't have time to weigh it before the race. I struggled to run competitively, but unfortunately the weight changed the set up of the car, and I couldn't keep the rear end stable through high speed corners. I couldn't seem to get my times down past 1:56, and so I came in fourth. After the race the car weight was 2,500lbs. I'm sure the set up change flustered me, which didn't help my times. :P It was especially frustrating because the winning car ran times almost exactly the same as I ran at this course last year. The weight addition had made it very difficult to keep up with the front runners suddenly.

The next day I tried making a few adjustments to suspension set up and tire pressures, but it was hard to gauge their effectiveness because it was raining. I qualified fourth, so I guessed they hadn't done very much.

In the race I had a pretty great start, and worked my way up to 2nd. I got passed and was running in third, but second place was right in front of me and I was hanging with him. I noticed on several key corners, I my exit speed was 5mph to 10mph slower than what I was running the previous year. The car also felt tail happy. I had a faster pit stop, and got back up to second place. I was making progress on first place, when I was black flagged and called back into the pits. I was told I had violated something called the blend line. Obviously I don't believe I did, and I've never been accused of doing so before, but regardless of right or wrong I was basically out of the race. I came in fourth place of twelve again. :|

The car finished the race at 2469lbs, so it was running very close to it's new proper race weight. I'll see if I can get anymore out of it with adjustments, but right now the weight has made the car around 2-3 seconds a lap slower at that track at least.

Well, I'm hoping it's not all to blame. I also realize my tires were old, and that my head wasn't in the game. I'm obviously frustrated because the winning car turned times pretty much right in the range where I was running last year. When you work hard to develop your car, and you see an outside force take it back down to times where you were two years ago, it's not fun. I'll just have to try to find time at the track in some way.

I still had a great time, and I'm lucky that I get to do this! :jess: Wish me luck!

smurf those guys!

Any footage or pictures of the race?

You should totally get someone to film you racing so we can all see your awesomeness :D

Thanks guys! We forgot any other sort of camera this weekend, sorry. :(

The only video I've seen of this weekend is a very small clip someone captured on a cell phone. Its a clip of part of my great start where I picked up several positions. I shared it on Facebook.

There's plenty of other videos of the car throughout this thread though. Most of the races from last year have video.

Fair warning, it's probably quite boring.

EDIT: Here's a picture of the track at least. There's a few videos in this thread of me running there, just not from this recent event.

I had fun at this, and he was excellent.

I is excite because I get to work the tower at the next race :jess:

I get to do this thanks in large part to volunteers who help run the whole show. (Like shion :kakapo:)

Thread necroooooo!!!!!

So, believe it or not, I have still been racing. Not a whole ton, but a fair amount.

I'll give you guys a team Dread Nought Racing update.

My friend Nate bought our 93 Spec Miata a few years back, and he's been running some hillclimbs for the team (and for fun!). Typically for the event someone pays a rental fee and shares the car for the weekend with Nate. The co-driver basically.

Nate got first place in SM (spec Miata) at the first hillclimb, and his co-driver got third or fourth.

He got second place the next hillclimb event.

Then this happened with Nate's co-driver at the next event. :eek:

So we rebuilt #93 and sent Nate out to the next hillclimb. Unfortunately, it seems like the previous impact caused some internal damage to the car's differential. We inspected the pieces during the repair process, but the cracks were so small we must have missed them. So the vehicle's differential disintegrated. Nate drove back, dropped off the 93 car, and loaded up my ITA #3. He managed to get 3rd place in an unfamiliar car in the rain with no rain tires. He did well.

As for me, the only event I've really had a chance to run was a race weekend at the end of August at Barber Motorsports Park.

I went faster there this time then I did when I was there a few years back by about 3-3.5 seconds. I only managed to get 3rd place out of 4 or 5 cars in my class for both races, so not a stellar result, but I'm pleased with the fact that I went faster than last time. Hopefully if we get more experience with the track I'll get up to speed. I need to gain another 3 seconds to get competitive with the track record for my class, and the only way is practice. After that, we packed up my car and went home. (SPOILER)http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psd0332aa9.jpg

The happiest point of the season (it's been pretty limited racing for us), is my father's recent results and the ARRC. He's been struggling with getting his car up to speed and working properly for a few years now. It was always one issue after another. This year we planned to go to Road Atlanta for some test days, and if things went smoothly he would go ahead an run in the race to get some competition hours. There were a few snags during testing (a starter switch burned up, the transponder wasn't communicating during a qualifying session, and the car struggled to crank during temperatures close to freezing), but over all the car responded well to the testing. Over the course of practice and qualifying both driver and car began to find a decent amount of speed. So he qualified third for the race.

During the race, with the car working more reliably, dad was able to find even more speed and eventually ran down first place in his class. He passed him, and proceeded to pull out enough of a lead to take first place. Considering the we started off the even focused on testing and tuning, we were very pleased with the results. Hopefully with more time and development the car and driver will really begin to find speed. The third place finisher had something pressing to take car of, and couldn't make it to the podium, but here's some pictures.

(SPOILER)

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps48af5658.jpg

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...ps65c8f8fd.jpg

Dude, that's a brutal crash.

That's awesome about your dad though. :monster:

Well the car is all back together, and ready to rock.

Dad is all pumped up, so I'm happy for him. He needed something good to go his way.

dude, thats amazing! how did you get into cars? wish I had the money to do stuff like that.

I've been looking through this thread from the first page now and many of the pictures are broken :(

Hey drift, my family has always been into cars, so I just grew up with it. It's certainly not cheap, but the best suggestion I can make is to start by doing all the work you can yourself. Invest in tools and knowledge. You can also start with things like small autocross and gymkhana events where you can run your street car with very very minimal investment, or just volunteering. There's plenty of amateur race teams out there looking for a helping hand, and probably wouldn't mind showing you the ropes. Also the clubs themselves need volunteers constantly to run the flag stations, grid, tech shed, and other areas. We live and die by our workers! It can introduce you to the atmosphere and the events and let you see if it's really something you enjoy being around.

Sorry Mirage. I didn't think anyone really cared about going back through the thread, so I'm flattered. :p I think I fixed most of the links for you.

smurf yeah, racing!

Hey remember when I raced? Still do! :p

So here's a team update.

Back in the beginning of March we took dad's car to an event at Virginia International Raceway (VIR).

We'd spent the off months doing some more development on his car, and it was running quite strong. So we drug it up to the track, and on the first session out it started running poorly during the first lap. :Oo:

So we packed it in and drove home. Turns out it was some sort of internal failure in the car's computer. So dad built the car a new computer, and we uploaded the turn for.....

...the next race at the end of March.

I'll just copy what I put on the ol' website.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by website

The Friday test day proved to be a wise precaution, as the FProd provided a few more teething issues in the form have rain tire fitment problems and the development of a wiring short in the cranking circuit that resulted in it needing a new starter and new power supply wire.

Saturday qualifying went well for the ITA car, as Joe Bryan placed third in class. However, different tires were used during the race. Due to their age, the tires performed very poorly leaving Joe Bryan well off his pace set during qualifying. Eventually the front left tire developed a flat, and he retired early.

Saturday qualifying went well for Henry, but the new computer would only allow the engine to rev to around 6,500 rpm. This hurt Henry's qualifying performance, as the car is meant to be shifted at 8,000 rpm, so he was leaving plenty of power on the shelf. Before the race, the new ECU was removed and the hardware adjusted to allow the internal sensors to maintain/register the RPM signal up to the car's 8,000 rpm limit. With his car finally running well, Henry set a good pace and was working his way through the field when there was contact with a slower car he was passing. Both vehicle's received moderate suspension damage and finished the race off the pace.

The crew worked hard in the evening to replace the front brakes on the ITA car, and repair the suspension damage to the FProd.

For Sunday qualifying, the ITA car needed to bed in it's brand new brakes, but still managed to qualify a respectable 2nd. Joe Bryan had a great start to the race, and managed to catch the 1st place car in his field within the opening laps. From there, he drove it home for the class win.

Henry's FProd still had some minor alignment issues after the previous day's contact, and his qualifying time's were slower than desired. Adjustments were made to the car before the race, and the results showed. Henry set a good strong pace, and brought home the class win.

Unfortunately, the only video of the weekend is of the Saturday ITA qualifying session. Most of the time was spent heat cycling the tires, but you can still see the track. A big thank you goes out to Ashton Bourbonnais, George Cummings, and Schuyler Hidde, our invaluable crew for the event. They kept us on track, focused, and helped record valuable information in cold weather the whole weekend.

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Like I said, the only video is a little bit of me qualifying. It just so happens to be at the same track we always seem to get video at. Sorry. :shrug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnWdmjDzWWA

EDIT: I just noticed I had a picture of my tires. The one that finally went flat naturally decided to give out on me right as I was set up to enter a 95mph turn. I was fighting them the whole race, and it was hilariously bad. I would turn, but the car would just keep going straight.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...psdrvejjap.jpg

We're off to the Jim Stark Double SAARC at Roebling Road raceway.

This time it's just dad's car. We fixed the rest of the bent suspension issues from the last race, so let's hope for no more contact incidents and no more teething problems with car reliability.

Later folks!

were you actually bumping that guy in the rear in that video? it looked that way

I think they do that to give each other a push or something but I could be wrong

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mirage

were you actually bumping that guy in the rear in that video? it looked that way

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I think I bumped him once or twice.

If you have speed, but not enough speed to get around the person, you give it to that person. They go faster, they pull you along in the draft. It actually helps with lap times a good bit.

Especially since it's qualifying, I'm not going to try to pass him unless I know it won't slow me down. I can probably help both our lap times by just pushing him along.

How gentlemanny of you. But doesn't it scratch your paint off?!

Paint isn't really a huge concern. If the car is too shiny you're too worried about messing up how it looks to get in there and race hard.

Last week I spent part of the afternoon using old gas to get melted tire rubber off the sides of the car that was left there after other cars "leaned" on me in corners. :shrug:

EDIT: Totally forgot. Took dad's car down for testing on Friday, and it broke during the fourth practice session. This was a driver error, so at least the car seems to finally getting be getting reliable on it's own. It also showed good speed potential.

We'll get the motor torn down and see what all is bent up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

Paint isn't really a huge concern. If the car is too shiny you're too worried about messing up how it looks to get in there and race hard.

Last week I spent part of the afternoon using old gas to get melted tire rubber off the sides of the car that was left there after other cars "leaned" on me in corners. :shrug:

EDIT: Totally forgot. Took dad's car down for testing on Friday, and it broke during the fourth practice session. This was a driver error, so at least the car seems to finally getting be getting reliable on it's own. It also showed good speed potential.

We'll get the motor torn down and see what all is bent up.

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We've been busy with shop related things, but an update!

We figured out what went wrong with dad's car, and it appears it wasn't driver error after all. There's a weak point in the car's throttle that doesn't show up under normal driving conditions. The part had failed a few times in the past, and we created a modified part. It lasted much longer than the factory design, but also eventually failed. So now we've come up with redesign 2.0.

When you start to push the car past the original limits of its design things like this come up.

We didn't quite get dad's car running again before the most recent event, so we only took my car. It handled terribly. :colbert:

I couldn't get the car to stop sliding around all weekend. If you're sliding, you're not able to get back on the gas transiting through and exiting out of corners. Less time spent accelerating per lap means going that much slower. I qualified third for my first race on Saturday, but I was annoyed because I was around 2-3 seconds a lap slower than I felt I should have been. During the race the car continued to handle worse and worse. I finished fifth in my class and a disappointing 6 seconds a lap off of my typical pace.

No amount of adjustments seemed to get the issue under control, so for the Sunday race I convinced dad to use the car. His was broken, I was tired of fighting with mine, and that way he could have some fun. He had fun, but I could see that the car wasn't doing much better for him. He likes a more nuetral slip angle in a car than I do, so if I didn't like it I knew he wouldn't.

He agrees my car is handling terribly, so it's time to tear into it and see what the hell is wrong. It's very frustrating to work up to a certain pace at tracks only to have unknown variables work against that. We'll get my car sorted out again, it'll just take some work. I don't have to win every time, but I do like to see my personal best get faster. I don't like seeing get much, much slower.

At least his car is running again, and it should be pretty quick. We're dialing his car in.

Hey this thread still exists.

Here's some shots of the new car we're building. It's about 90% there.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a7d6c448_b.jpgIMG_8963 by Joe Payne, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...453e7c44_h.jpgIMG_5524 by Joe Payne, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cafd9cc1_k.jpgIMG_3738 by Joe Payne, on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b93a5582_k.jpgIMG_3737 by Joe Payne, on Flickr

If only there was any way I could fit in one.

RX-7s and 3rd gen Miatas have more space, but you'd probably be surprised how much room opens up once you pull everything out of the way and only have a thin racing seat mounted to the floor. Especially once you combine that with the removable steering wheel, and no roof.


EDIT: I forgot we're getting this old warhorse ready to go back out and fight for a customer.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...59f61feb_k.jpgIMG_3023 by Joe Payne, on Flickr

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg

RX-7s and 3rd gen Miatas have more space, but you'd probably be surprised how much room opens up once you pull everything out of the way and only have a thin racing seat mounted to the floor. Especially once you combine that with the removable steering wheel, and no roof.

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That is a good point. I mean not the extra room in the 7's and the 3rd gen because seriously I'm 6'2" and I'm built thick. If I fit I would be nothing short of absolutely shocked. But taking everything out? More space and less weight. There's no downside.