SCCA Solo Nationals News
- Thread starter JDuncan
- Start date
Go Mazdas!
I searched through the results for local Des Moines or Iowa Region people... some are doing quite well! One was leading FM with a couple other Iowa people right behind him. Oh, and check out Brian Goodner's sponsor name
. He's 4th in F Stock right now
I searched through the results for local Des Moines or Iowa Region people... some are doing quite well! One was leading FM with a couple other Iowa people right behind him. Oh, and check out Brian Goodner's sponsor name
. He's 4th in F Stock right nowmiata_racer
Member
Darrin in CS is holding strong in the Miata.
In FSP......ya Kevin Wenzel is out front by a large bit
In FSP......ya Kevin Wenzel is out front by a large bit
Vanimaniac
Member
I just got home from my 8 hour drive. My brother and I reached our goal of not being DFL in STX (33rd and 34th of 38). I've got to download my pics in a bit.
Watched Justin (xelderx) run today. That Protege5 is so sweet looking. Good driving. Looks like he's about 2.5 secs off of Kevin Wenzel. Not bad considering Kevin sets our pax pretty much every event here in Denver.
Pics to follow soon.
Van
Watched Justin (xelderx) run today. That Protege5 is so sweet looking. Good driving. Looks like he's about 2.5 secs off of Kevin Wenzel. Not bad considering Kevin sets our pax pretty much every event here in Denver.
Pics to follow soon.
Van
I got back yesterday but was too tired to post.
Anyways, I had a blast at nationals. Justin and his family were great people to spend the two days with. He did an awesome job driving too! Next time you'll have to get the co-driver to drive first, haha. It was cool to meet a couple of you other forumers too, even if it wasn't for long. Too bad Cindy got robbed by those damn ITRs
I figured his P5 would be a lot like mine as we have similar mods. His is way better though. The AWR coilovers rock. They are stiff but have a good feel--very solid. And new Hoosiers. Holy crap. So nice. The car was quite tail happy but we both were able to keep it under control. I love that rotation, fun! The only thing I didn't like were his seats. I can't fit my fat @ss in them.
He finished 16th out of 25, and I finished 23rd I believe. So not DFL. Technically. I bombed the East course and was much slower than I wanted. Interestingly though, I had more fun on that side and felt like the car wasn't as loose.
Will's Escort was sick. He doesn't even have an LSD. It looks like there is a lot of potential in that car.
Anyways, I had a blast at nationals. Justin and his family were great people to spend the two days with. He did an awesome job driving too! Next time you'll have to get the co-driver to drive first, haha. It was cool to meet a couple of you other forumers too, even if it wasn't for long. Too bad Cindy got robbed by those damn ITRs
I figured his P5 would be a lot like mine as we have similar mods. His is way better though. The AWR coilovers rock. They are stiff but have a good feel--very solid. And new Hoosiers. Holy crap. So nice. The car was quite tail happy but we both were able to keep it under control. I love that rotation, fun! The only thing I didn't like were his seats. I can't fit my fat @ss in them.
He finished 16th out of 25, and I finished 23rd I believe. So not DFL. Technically. I bombed the East course and was much slower than I wanted. Interestingly though, I had more fun on that side and felt like the car wasn't as loose.
Will's Escort was sick. He doesn't even have an LSD. It looks like there is a lot of potential in that car.
miata_racer
Member
Ya I told Will and Kevin EP is totally where it's at.
I had a blast and hope to drive the Scirocco next year and do better. Richard (car owner of the car I drove) is going to be getting seat time and tweaking the setup as well. We had wild oversteer issues with cold tires. However on Friday the car felt great
I had a blast and hope to drive the Scirocco next year and do better. Richard (car owner of the car I drove) is going to be getting seat time and tweaking the setup as well. We had wild oversteer issues with cold tires. However on Friday the car felt great
Vanimaniac
Member
Here's a video of my last run on the west course. I look slow cause I was!
Fun anyways.
Van
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmMfBMkSefw
Fun anyways.
Van
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmMfBMkSefw
Well here is my rundown. I stayed in Topeka all wee even though I didn't run until Thur/Fri. It really helped me to get motivated watching everyone else. I got to walk the courses a lot and watched a lot of other drivers. I felt really good going into Thursday's runs and had no nervous issues sitting in grid or on the line. I was concerned about the grip level after watching the first two days, but there was a good groove by the time I was up. I was on the tighter west course first. My first run out I fuel starved the car in 3 places for a 53.376. Stupid new r'comps and suprisingly grippy pavement. I put 3 gallons of 100 octane in the car and sent Patrick out. On my second run everything felt better and I didn't fuel starve at all so I figured I was good...52.835. I was ready to get aggressive on my third run so I really pushed. Got to the first off camber sweeper and right when I got back hard on the gas for the only real straightaway the car fuel starved again. I coasted for at least a full second up (yes uphill) the straight. The rest of the run was pretty fast and it was still an improvement at 52.565. I could have probably been in the high 51's without the fuel starvation which would have put me in the top 10 on day 1. Woulda shoulda coulda. 17th on the day left me a little disappointed, but I knew my driving was good...just need to work on my preperation a little better.
I was really looking forward to the course on Friday. Much faster in sections with some great wide open offset sections. It was a little cloudier from Thursday so the tires felt ice cold going out for the first run. I took it pretty easy for a 56.339. I found out that was fourth fastest, but that just meant that everyone else spun out. Patrick took the car out for his run and the tires started to come up to temp a little. I decided to push hard on my second run since the conditions were good and I had nailed a lot of the tricky entry points on my first run. I got a little loose in the first offset (where everyone else spun on the first run) but it wasn't bad enough to get me flustered or screw up the flow for the first section of the course...54.864. That was a good improvement over the first run so I was ready to push even harder on the 3rd run. I dropped the rear pressures 1 pound in hopes of not sliding any around the first corner. It didn't work at all. There was just something about that corner that got almost everyone. The entry felt fine and I kept a steady speed and angle, but somewhere in the last half of the corner the backend of the car would just come unglued for apparently no reason. This time I was going a little faster and it made me very late for the whole first offset section. I gathered it up as best I could and put my foot in it for the rest of the run. i figured the best I could do was knock a few more tenths off. I got down to the last few cones in the very tight "slalom" at the end of the course and I just couldn't get it slowed down smoothly enough. The car slid sideways going in but it caught and went the other way before I hit anything. It never got really out of shape, but it cost me a lot of time trying to gather it up and it killed my speed for the finish...55.313. I was the first FSP car to finish all my runs so I had to wait to see where I ended up. Everyone else fixed their problems with their 2nd or 3rd run and I started moving back in the standings. I finished up in 16th moving up 1 spot over Thursday. I was 9/1000ths out of 15th and 1.1 seconds out of midpack which was my goal for this year.
Overall I was happy with it though. I learned a lot and got the first big one out of my system. I need a few adjustments in the car to make it even better. I need more rear camber, wider wheels, and I still have a lot of tuning to do on the motor. I'll be back next year with an even better setup.
I was really looking forward to the course on Friday. Much faster in sections with some great wide open offset sections. It was a little cloudier from Thursday so the tires felt ice cold going out for the first run. I took it pretty easy for a 56.339. I found out that was fourth fastest, but that just meant that everyone else spun out. Patrick took the car out for his run and the tires started to come up to temp a little. I decided to push hard on my second run since the conditions were good and I had nailed a lot of the tricky entry points on my first run. I got a little loose in the first offset (where everyone else spun on the first run) but it wasn't bad enough to get me flustered or screw up the flow for the first section of the course...54.864. That was a good improvement over the first run so I was ready to push even harder on the 3rd run. I dropped the rear pressures 1 pound in hopes of not sliding any around the first corner. It didn't work at all. There was just something about that corner that got almost everyone. The entry felt fine and I kept a steady speed and angle, but somewhere in the last half of the corner the backend of the car would just come unglued for apparently no reason. This time I was going a little faster and it made me very late for the whole first offset section. I gathered it up as best I could and put my foot in it for the rest of the run. i figured the best I could do was knock a few more tenths off. I got down to the last few cones in the very tight "slalom" at the end of the course and I just couldn't get it slowed down smoothly enough. The car slid sideways going in but it caught and went the other way before I hit anything. It never got really out of shape, but it cost me a lot of time trying to gather it up and it killed my speed for the finish...55.313. I was the first FSP car to finish all my runs so I had to wait to see where I ended up. Everyone else fixed their problems with their 2nd or 3rd run and I started moving back in the standings. I finished up in 16th moving up 1 spot over Thursday. I was 9/1000ths out of 15th and 1.1 seconds out of midpack which was my goal for this year.
Overall I was happy with it though. I learned a lot and got the first big one out of my system. I need a few adjustments in the car to make it even better. I need more rear camber, wider wheels, and I still have a lot of tuning to do on the motor. I'll be back next year with an even better setup.
Vanimaniac
Member
Ha! Yeah, well he's the one that installed it!
We waisted a lot of videotape in between our runs on Tues/Wed and ended up squeezing in Dan's last run with 0 minutes left on the tape.
I wish there would have been room on the tape to record one of your runs for ya.
Again good driving to all the Mazda drivers.
BTW, one of the few cars I did beat was a Mazdaspeed Protege.
Van
Justin, remember how I mentioned my car was much less loose lately? I remembered what did it! It was the extra negative camber in the rear in addition to the wheel spacers back there. That and I fiddled with the shock settings and tire pressures.
Get some more negative camber back there! That thing will feel perfect with the back end being a little more solid. You can always trail brake to get it to rotate.
Get some more negative camber back there! That thing will feel perfect with the back end being a little more solid. You can always trail brake to get it to rotate.
I still couldn't get the camber I wanted with bolts, so I ovaled out the top hole on the strut housing and can go -3 now with ease. Once I put the 245s on though, there may be some clearance issues
Britt
Britt
Dave Mac said:
It's just an issue of actually getting it. The RX-7 rims are +50 offset. I'm running a 3mm spacer in the back and they barely clear the threaded body on the strut. If I change the spindle to strut angle they will rub. I'm probably going to have to get the AWR lateral links so I can just move the whole lower mounting point out.
