Just started my season yesterday, at a race in Chattanooga. I'm racing in D-Street in my bone stock 2012 MCS. I have a set of racing wheels/tires that are 16'' OEM bridge spokes and 205/50/16 Dunlop Direzza ZII.

Still working on dialing in tire pressure, but I didn't do too shabby. I've got about 4 days on this set of tires (I've done maybe 7 in the car in total), hopefully they will survive this season, I want to get out to at least 15/20 events in Nashville, Chattanooga, and Huntsville!

 

^ looking good! i like this thread!

 

Great thread, I've enjoyed reading up on everyone's progress in the early season. Especially Craig's, I'm very eager to see the development of the STX monster.

Our first local even is Sunday, I'm looking to defend my local region PAX championship for the 3rd consecutive year, with my 09 JCW in DS. Also, planning to run my first National Tour event @ Crow's landing later in June, so hoping to see or meet some of you there?

 

^ good luck! i've got a double header this weekend, champaign and chicago. a lot of driving to work on, hoping to improve this weekend!

 

Why are you not in Wilmington?!? I'm The only mini in STX, The site is amazing and the concrete lot is unbelievably sticky.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using NAMotoring

 

Have fun and drive fast!

:-)

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Just got back from a race here in Nashville with the TRSCCA. Placed 11th overall (pax) out of 74 cars. I was the only car running in D-Street, although there was a MCS cabrio in novice that I consistently beat by 3-4 seconds.

 

Three autocrosses this season... Two points events, one test & tune. No more events until the NJ Championship Tour on May 2-4.

Event 1: Rain. Lots and lots of rain. But I emerged above all others... As they say, rain IS the great equalizer.

Class Results: http://autox4u.com/results/2014/nnjr_20140329_fin.htm
PAX Results: http://autox4u.com/results/2014/nnjr_20140329_pax.htm

Event 2: Sunny but chilly. Ran against most of the people I'll be competing against at the Tour. Perhaps running an (almost) bone stock OEM Sport Suspension car won't be enough after all...

Class results: http://autox4u.com/results/2014/nnjr_20140405_fin.htm

PAX Results: http://autox4u.com/results/2014/nnjr_20140405_pax.htm

One thing is for certain, the Tour is going to be MASSIVELY exciting to compete in and, for those of you unable to be there, "watch" from home.

Hopefully I won't suck too bad.

 

145 entries?!! Wow! How long did that take?

nice work too!

 

145 is nothing. We had 280 today, a record. It took much too long and it should have been cut down to 3 runs each (from 4) before the first run group was finished. I think it finished around 7pm.

I however, got my best ever result, 21st out of 187 by Pax, in the 12th percentile. (The missing 93 were fun runs.) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?pli=1#gid=0

 

We had 14...
I feel left out

 

Craig's STX monster ate us all for lunch yesterday. Fast time for the day, and even his 'slowest' time in the rain was faster than anyones dry time. I'm sure there were laws of physics broken at several points on course.

 

I had my first actual event last weekend. I did a school type even last weekend and decided I really enjoyed it.

Running a stock 2007 MCS. I just bought some 16x7's and got some ZII's on them. The engine is a reman with about 10k miles on it. The suspension has a hefty 115k on it. I'm sure I could benefit from some replacing there. I'm running D Street.

We had a threat of ran all day. My first 3 runs were dry. It started raining in my second heat so I only got 1 dry run and that was my fastest of the day. I was just getting used to how sticky my new tires were compared to the run flats I ran last weekend. I could have been more aggressive as my tires stuck much better then the run flats and was hoping to get another dry run in.

Class Results - http://scca-chicago.com/wp-content/u...vent-1-fin.htm
PAX Results - http://scca-chicago.com/wp-content/u...vent-1-pax.htm

Run 1 AM- 67.511
Was feeling out the new tires and the course.

Run 2 AM- 67.540+DNF
Although my time was slower I DNFed a slalom. This slalom gave me problems all day. I would always come out of the turn and have to turn back. I couldn't get it through my head that I had to go to the right side of the slalom. The exit of the turn pointed you towards the left. I need to look farther ahead.

Run 3 AM- 65.149
Feeling more comfortable. Need to be smoother and faster while being more aggressive.

Run 4 PM- 64.744
Fastest of the day. It had started to sprinkle about 10 minutes before my run. Moisture was starting to get on the track so I could have gone faster.

Run 5 PM- 68.472
WET! Still fun to attempt my first run in the wet. Very slippery. Overdrove a corner and had no traction on exits.

Slightly disappointed in my times as I know I could have been faster. The Class leader is extremely fast. I know I won't catch him but I just need to work on getting closer to his times. I was .1 out of a trophy position. I PAXed 70 out of 124. Not great but I will except it for my first event knowing that I could go faster.

I have videos I may upload but I was working with a new mount and it was too lose so it was moving each turn I took.

 

reposting this here:

had a doubleheader this weekend - posting results here:

http://r56hs.com/2014/04/14/ccscc-ch...double-header/



as always, happy for critique.

 

Mike,

I did see you out there but sadly I was in a different run group - I ran the black Mini Cooper in 2 and 4, and you can see my video of the course in the previous post. If you remember them mentioning two guys who were late for the event, that was my friend and I lol - we couldn't find the site, google maps had it down wrong.

i only got to walk the course once, which i ran and didn't really analyze it, so i was a little blind for my runs. i did okay, but i could do much much better if i had a better chance with it - excuses i know

i did see you on course though while i was working - just from that, my critique to you is the same as i have for myself - closer to the cones and smoother steering. hopefully next time we'll get to meet and possibly ride along.

 

I actually had to use Google Street View when I came out last weekend to find Gate 12 so I could get to the entrance.

I'm going to watch you video and compare it to mine to see what all I can do. I know some of the things I need to work on:

• Looking farther head
• Smooth but more aggressive at the same time. I need to find the magical grip level of my new tires.
• Hugging the cones

Here's my video. I wouldn't bother watching it until Youtube is done with the edits. I forgot to flip it on my cam and I forgot to flip it before I uploaded it to Youtube so its upside down.



I'll have to catch up with you next event if you go. I might run that TriState one they talk about to get some extra practice. AutoX is hard to practice for prior to an event.

 

What pressure did you run on the ZIIs? You can join our big discussion here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...cussion-2.html

 

This was my first event on them. I started them at 38/38 but the fronts seemed to roll over too much. I bumped them up to 40/40 by the 3rd run. Due to the weather I didn't get to do as much testing as I wanted and being my first event I was trying to improve moreso then mess with the tires.

I'm hoping you guys come up with a magic number and tell me.

I'll watch that other thread. What size zII's are you running?

 

Ugh, I tried to scrub that event from my mind. Idk how Ryan managed that run. At least if I could've cleaned up I'd have been second... and still a second behind.

 

I wish there was a magic number, but there doesn't seem to be one. I am running 205/50/16, with upper 40s up front and mid/low 40s in the back.

 

mike - watching your video made me a little dizzy - what camera mount are you using? most people have fancy go pros, but if you've got a dinky little point and shoot like me, these guys are the OEM for gopro, and you can just hook up your point and shoot to it -
works very well for me, very stable. trust it enough to mount my camera outside. i'd consider the spot i'm using, save for wind noise, or you might want to consider on ot of the windshield outside the glass, or on the windshield inside, etc

 

kyoo,

I've got a bargain Wal-Mart Vivatar thing that came with a bunch of mounts. The suction mount ball joint is very loose which is why the dang thing moves so much. It moved even more before I added Youtubes stabilization to it. That mount should fit my cam so I'll save that link and buy it before the next event. I was thinking of mounting my other regular point and shoot inside then my wal mart fake GoPro near the tire/side/front area.

JPR,

I'll have to try higher pressures next event since I am more comfortable with the tires. Highest I took them was 40/40 so I'll try higher and see what it feels like.

 

ah - yea it is kind of nauseating lol. i'm very happy with that mount + my point and shoot. better than dropping $400 for a gopro anyway, for little in total added value.

just fyi, i won't be at the 5/11 event, my girlfriend and i have something going on, but i'll be at the next one after that. we'll definitely have to meet in person for the next one, ride along, etc.

 

ZII's - I'm running 43 up front and 36 in the rear in dry conditions on asphalt.

 

Well finally have a bit of spare time to sit down and write up something about the Wilmington Match Tour. The Match Tour format was a new format for the wife and I (had only done one when they were still called the Evolution Super Shootout). It's a pretty interesting format that if you're a mid-pack driver (like us) gets you a lot of runs.

Briefly explained it's a single competition day on Saturday where they split the classes into 4 heats and everyone does 4 runs. They award class champions and the whole works. The trick is that the top 8 in pax for each heat get to compete in the "Pro Shootout" on Sunday. Sunday is where things get interesting. On Sunday they grid up all 4 heats again and everyone gets at least two more runs. You start with a practice run that isn't timed. Then you get one timed run. After everyone in the heat has one their one timed run they sort you by pax and take the top 66%. Then those top guys get to do one more run and they take the top 66% again. Basically they keep whittling down the heats for 4 "rounds". Eventually they're left with something like 12 people and they take the top 4 of each heat to go into another "super shootout". Then they also take the top 8 ladies that didn't make it into the other two shootouts and they have a "ladies shootout". Basically it's all confusing and hardly anybody knows what's actually going on. This is the first event in this format though so they're working through some of the bugs. Brian was very receptive to feedback at the event and I'm sure there will be some changes made before Atlanta or whenever the next one is.

I'll start with the excuses early. This is the first time we've ever had the mini on concrete and our 2nd time ever running on concrete. It's pretty different. The wife and I showed up early to get some practice runs in on Friday to try and get used to it. We knew we were in for an exciting weekend when the practice course involved a 7 cone slalom on the limiter in 2nd the whole way through. For our car that's 60mph. Fortunately the car drove really well. Not much different from how it handles on asphalt. We made some tire pressure changes and some minor shock changes and called it good. Breezed through tech, did 2 course walks and then headed to the bar with some friends to grab food and some drinks.

The course looked like it was going to be a lot of fun and very fast. We run out of 2nd gear at 60mph. At the end of Sunday when I finally started to get the course figured out we were hitting 3rd at one point and hard on the limiter in 3 other places. The course was just flat out fast. And the high-grip of the concrete made it even faster. I had to be super careful with my inputs because an abrupt input at 55mph means a blown corner or possibly even a spin. It was certainly a different driving style that I had to figure out.

Saturday morning started early. The wife was running in 1st and I was in 2nd so we got to the site, swapped tires, and did a course walk to try and refresh our memory. There were only 2 people in STX-L so Caitlin took the lead from the first run and just kept getting faster dropping 2.2 seconds between first and last runs. Wasn't fast enough to make it into the top 8 in pax from the heat but then again wasn't really expecting to. Then it was my turn to run the car in STX which was the biggest and possibly most diverse class at the event. FRS/BRZ, RX-8, 128i, ITR, and a Speed3 all showed up to do battle. When the smoke cleared Danny Kao had crushed STX in his new-to-him FRS. His codriver had a smoking fast raw time but coned away the win. I didn't do too terribly and ended up 9th out of 18. Kind of the same story as the wife. Started out with a spin in the last slalom on course then ran a 69.3 and knocked off a bunch of time laying down a 67.4 as my last run. Couldn't even come close to touching Kao's 65.0 though. Danny is local to me and I'm usually closer to his times than that. We'll see at the DC Pro if I can stack up a little better. I figured that if I had more runs to get used to the surface I could have continued to improve. I'd be right as Sunday would prove.

Since neither myself or the wife made it into the Pro Shootout we showed up Sunday morning to take a shot at making it into the super shootout. We both barely made it past the first "round" but then the wife and I knocked off 3-4 tenths each run staying in it until the very last "round". We still didn't make it into the top 4 which went into the super shootout. Still pretty happy with being able to stick it out and last until the last round of eliminations. We're not terrible drivers but certainly nothing amazing. The wife did get seeded into the ladies shootout and made it into the 4 and then got knocked out.

Now the bench racing starts... I ended up running a 66.4xx in the last round of eliminations on Sunday. The course didn't seem to get appreciably faster (well it did but not for STX) on Sunday since Randall and Danny were both running similar fast times on Saturday and Sunday. So provided I could have run the 66.4 on Saturday that would have put me in 4th out of 18. Still 1.5 seconds behind Randall/Danny but a lot closer and definitely more towards the top of the STX heap.

I'll try to post a video when I get a chance. Unfortunately I didn't get my two fastest runs on video so you guys will get to watch all of my mistakes

Next event is the DC Pro Solo in two weeks. There will be 3 of us in the car at the Pro and hopefully someone will do well. I think the mini will fare a little better at the DC Pro because of the smaller course. It's also our home venue so we're really familiar with the bumps/camber changes/surface changes.

The only picture I've seen of the mini so far at Wilmington. Wife was driving in this one...