Aloha, all!
Just a small Congrats to NAM's very own minihune (you might have heard of him) for being 2005 SCCA Hawaii SOLO II Driving Champion in SM.

Our 2005 season ended last weekend with the run-offs and the MINIs took first in GS ,HS, and SM.

Congrats, minihune!!!!!

 

minihune in action.....


photo from http://sccahawaii.org/RunOff.html

 

WTG and congrats to all the MINI winners.

 

GJ! I'm only eaten up with envy because my last autocross was in September and the next is in May.

 

Congrats! HEY I just found me some new tires! LOL

 

We're lucky we don't have a break between "seasons".....an autocross every month .
There are other autocrosses on the other islands (Maui and Hawaii), so, sometimes, ya can race more than once.
Our GS points champion has another MCS he keeps on the Big Island for their autocrosses ...lucky guy!!!!!

 

Thanks Kohu for the mention.

During the regular season of 11 events from 2005-2006 I finished one point out of first place. Last season (my rookie year) I finished 6th place. We often have 6 to 18 in SM class each month.

Then at the end of the season we have a run off with the 5 drivers with the most points on the season in one final event with only 3 runs not the usual four.

The picture was of my doing a tight turn around a single cone, hence more weight on my front while turning. Also I have on practice wheels for fun runs later in the day- stock holey rims with Michelin Pilot sport cups in 205/50-15 which I use for track and to drive to events. For the run off I have 15x7 Kosei K1TS rims and Kumho V710 tires that work for me.

Congrats also to Kohu for winning H-stock class both all season on points and in the run off. With PAX I can't keep up with the stock class MINIs, they usually finish in the top 6 and I barely get in the top 10 for the day out of about 60 to 100 drivers.

 

This is great but can a MINI win SM at the National Level?

 

The short answer is NO. BMW M3 is the car to beat and MINIs just lack the HP to keep up.

In my region we have enough good cars and drivers in SM class to make it competitive. On any day about four drivers could do well but over the course of the season consistency and attendance paid off for me. The other drivers found other classes to compete in and they are still doing well. We trade best raw times but we now compete in different classes whether SM2 (miatas) or BSP (BMW M3) or CSP (older BMW M3).

Last season I was able to do well and won total points for the season and place first in the Run Off at the end of the year- 2007.

I still think that I have alot to learn and more improvements to make. It's common on the local level to do well but it's a different story on the national level. For a MINI it's really best to be G-stock (MCS) or H-stock (MC).