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

[Shorty]

Congratulations on the trophy!

[NorthernChaosGod]

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

[fire_of_avalon]

I thought I banned you from my state?

[DownDiagonalLeftA]

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

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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

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.

[Pike]

Nice trophy, bro, congrats!

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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! Wish me luck!

[NorthernChaosGod]

smurf those guys!

Any footage or pictures of the race?

[Rebellious Eagle]

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

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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.

[Pumpkin]

I had fun at this, and he was excellent.

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

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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.

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)

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)

[NorthernChaosGod]

Dude, that's a brutal crash.

That's awesome about your dad though.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

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.