Sponsored by Agile Automotive Performance in Fallston, MD (http://www.agileauto.com)

For those that don't know me, my name is Josh and I'm planning on using this thread to document my STU autocross build as well as my progress throughout the season including setups and changes. To start things off, I would like to give a BIG THANKS to Hill McCarty at Agile Auto for his support and help in this build, along with all the help in the past!

Now for a little background. I've been autocrossing now going on 5 years, with all of my previous experience coming from building my 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V that I built for STX. Although the car wasn't the prime choice for the class, I was able to win STX for Philly Region in 2006, WDCR Region in 2007/2008, and Autocrosser's Inc. in 2007/2008.

After driving the car for 5 years, I knew it was time to get into a car better suited for it's class. I sold the car in August 2008 and spent the next few months doing some co-drives to figure out what best fit my wants/needs. A special thanks to John W. (ButtDyno) for letting me co-drive the WRX to finish out the WDCR STX season! But after driving Iman's (bdi) STU prepped STi, I knew exactly what car I wanted to buy and what class I wanted to run in. I've enjoyed the ST* class and knew that it was the right fit for me.

Through research gained here and conversations with several great STU drivers (Thanks Colin, James, Iman, JR, John W, and anyone else I left out!) I decided that a 2006 STi was going to be tool of choice. I searched through the classifieds on here, IWSTI, autotrader.com, eBay, etc. for about a month before I found what seemed to be the right car. It was a 2006 Aspen White STi with only 17,300 miles, a 3.5" APS exhaust, COBB short ram intake, and Accessport with Stage 2 tune. And to make it even better, the guy only lived 25 minutes away. A couple of weeks of pricing negotiations and the car was mine on November 21st!


The car shortly after purchase

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/13/l_0756efac4c934f95a3926ebef749847c.jpg

The old autocross ride

http://photos.teamwtf.org/photos/209737247_oUa95-L.jpg



Needless to say, the next 4 months were hell. Having this beauty sitting in the garage, doing research, dealing with snow and cold...just painful. Fortunately all that ended last Sunday when I began the autocross modification process.

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/9/l_979f570071fb413a9fc083a923892bd8.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/52/l_a0c0afa67f3e4d95860eb54f243aab35.jpg

Through yesterday I had installed the following modifications (it's been a busy week!):

- APS 3.5" turbo back exhaust with MIL.SPEC 100 cell race cat welded into downpipe by Agile Auto

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/64/l_22ca7ef7ec854282b87f2f4dfff2b5cc.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/33/l_0e1ee53f1ca34cd8a58dfee22607ae7a.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/18/l_f0e08913652d4610809a54ffc04fd350.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/25/l_203e43da51a04253a31906a0b4af78da.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/32/l_75b5c6593b1a4aed962d69003ad5ba28.jpg

- Hawk HP+ brake pads

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/45/l_57037d1b31cb48c2be15635e574fc37d.jpg
http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/l_608e056a6e3f408cb05fb4230d1b5f90.jpg

- Braille 6lbs race battery

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/7/l_f19703248d7c4ecbb5e26d070c45b1d3.jpg

- Re-installed stock intake to replace COBB short ram to reduce intake air temp during summer events

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/3/l_24d20507136240119c75153573ed2a70.jpg

- Corbeau 3 pt. Harness (autocross use only)

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/11/l_9dee2ccebbef4042a833d3fe4ae0108c.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/58/l_36ddd9d568ad4b91b5713d67895101fb.jpg

- Rolled front part of rear fenders

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/3/l_3b89f82df24744e5a47289eea2725152.jpg

- Whiteline 24mm adjustable front sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/63/l_07af2d58a63a4ffb9708758d8178d631.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/48/l_6c262a4a67d64d5ca1bfedd203619735.jpg

Midway through the work

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/2/l_7499846cf9cd4ef8877777b036ecf6c7.jpg

- Whiteline 22mm adjustable rear sway bar with Whiteline spherical endlinks

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/38/l_0842e0578ef24c85b83056f6ce36b17e.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/60/l_ba2e4db6a9794d86bc72cb6944b0ffb2.jpg

- Racecomp Engineering Tarmac 2 coilovers with 600lbs front springs and 500lbs rear springs topped with Vorshlag camber plates set at Racecomp suggested Track settings (Thanks Myles for the discussion and help!)

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/19/l_467f7d9728174ce8afc05d90e4c54ba5.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/34/l_ef45fe042a9a4942a248dbeec4a25a1d.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/28/l_654d25caa51543db876c267d578f22c1.jpg

After the installs (before alignment and fixing front ride height...at 2am)

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/35/l_23e320f09eeb48beb055f58295e8a0b2.jpg

Test fitting some borrowed 17x9 et35 RE30's (before alignment and fixing front ride height at 1:30am)

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/10/l_8b8d2a52ae814cc9901368e3ee89550e.jpg

- Ported stock headers by Agile Auto (no pics...forgot the camera)

- STU Protune by Hill at Agile Auto...318whp/318wtq (I know, kind of high...dyno chart to follow) along with a street tune 325whp/350wtq

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/10/l_ff97c2026ac9498aa07f47c6587fb4bd.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/6/l_81bfe61866984d91befb0f6560ea3571.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/44/l_926d04daf09d4c1c90b0feaf38ab4409.jpg

STU tune on top, Street tune below.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/77/l_c7d4866b6a874cb9ad45170ed96e4f1e.gif

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/70/l_efff261067a049cdb3c49a21d5071717.gif

And a few other things

- Alignment set at -3.2 front camber and -1.9 rear camber with zero toe for both
- Ordered 5Zigen FN01RC's 17x9 et43 in flat black

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/80/l_a2442656596c4b828ccd7445a3751bd2.jpg

- Deciding between 245/40/17 Bridestone RE-11's or Kumho XS's

Where the car currently sits as of 3/14/09

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/38/l_b94cf092937946efb83c15bdb6438cb5.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/22/l_6f01078603b542179d1d8a8e2b159a79.jpg

First test day is this coming weekend on March 22nd with the Philly Region, followed by the WDCR practice event on March 29th. I'll either be running the borrowed RE30's with Dunlops, or if I make a tire decision tomorrow I should have that setup by the weekend. We'll see what happens. I don't know how everything will work first time out, but it should be interesting. Iman (bdi) will be co-driving with me this coming weekend to help work on the setup a little bit.

My plans for the season are to run a full WDCR schedule, Fed Ex Field events with Autocrosser's Inc, Citzen's Bank Park events with the Philly Region, the DC Pro (and hopefully Toledo, but doubtful), either the Seneca Tour or NE Divisional, and Nationals in Lincoln, NE.

you're slow! i figure you'll be doing scca and ainc, but what about cdc?

Rock and roll Josh! See you next Sunday. Whats the time frame for coilovers?

Time frame for coilovers...they're installed! I probably hadn't updated the reserved sections when you posted. :p

Probably no CDC, too much of a drive. I may hit up some Susquehannah events though, we'll see how things work out.

how much is that wdcr practice event? is it open to guests? i'd like to expand on my autox events. if it is, you could borrow my wheel/tire setup :p

Don't forget the anti jersey barrier forcefield.

Hopefully I'll be able to go to CBP on the 22nd :)

The debate should really be between RE-11s and R1Rs....I'm surprised the XSs are considered a player anymore.

XSs were running competitive times in Dixie this weekend. John ran times both days on them that were right with the top of the class.

I drove a car with the exact same coilover/plate setup this weekend...once we tuned out pressures etc a little bit, they were pretty fantastic. They rode REALLY well on the 9+ hour drive, too!

Beware the whiteline endlinks...that's what Karen broke on my car at the DC pro two years ago :( Luckily they were warrantied.

looks good josh, see you out there

how much is that wdcr practice event? is it open to guests? i'd like to expand on my autox events. if it is, you could borrow my wheel/tire setup :p

The practice is members only. It's not too late to get a membership though.

The debate should really be between RE-11s and R1Rs....I'm surprised the XSs are considered a player anymore.

Are you for real?

Looks good Josh but it needs more stickers...

I should have some pics in full livery this weekend with stickers and all, thanks guys!


And also a :confused: on the R1R. While they may work well for light ST Civics in cool weather, not sure I want to go that route mid-summer on a heavy AWD car...although Jake is trying to prove us all wrong!

As alltracin said, they were running competitive times on the XS this past weekend.

And I'll keep an eye on those endlinks, thanks for the head's up.

Don't forget the anti jersey barrier forcefield.

I installed that permanently after the last "incident". ;)

Looks good Josh but it needs more stickers...

+1

I'll see you out at CBP in a week.

Sweet setup, man. I'll keep an eye out for you this weekend at CBP.

'bout time you started this thread. Nice build thus far!!!

Thanks Chike...just call me lazy. Not to mention I wanted to get all the pictures taken before I posted anything up. Didn't want to post it up and have it sit for a couple of months where it's just a stock car. :p

I think I'm going to be on Dunlops this Sunday (thanks Iman!) and see what the car does on a known tire...as well as buy a little bit more time to figure out what I want to do. I think the RE-11 is the safe choice, but an expensive one. I'm hoping the Kumho is up to par though to save a bit of money. Then again against all the competition in DC/Philly, I'm going to need every tenth I can get. ;)

I think I have to move my thread from Project Cars to here...

^I'll be interested to see you guys' time on the Dunlops. I'm surprised they weren't mentioned earlier in the thread. Looks like a nice build - see you Sunday.

Weather is looking pretty good!

Looks like 60 degrees and partly cloudy...another 10 degrees or so and it would be perfect! I haven't completely ruled out the Dunlop, but some preliminary testing over on sccaforums.com along with feedback from Wiggy seems to indicate that the Kumho should be a little better than the Dunlop and they're the same price.

Don't expect much on Sunday though. When you toss a whole bunch of suspension parts on the car at one time, you never know what they're going to do. But it "should" be in the ballpark at least...I hope.

coilovers corner-weighted?

They will be in a couple of weeks. Going to take it by Agile Auto after the next couple of events to give the setup time to settle a little bit.

They will be in a couple of weeks. Going to take it by Agile Auto after the next couple of events to give the setup time to settle a little bit.

If the springs are going to sag, then you may as well throw them away. Get yourself a set of proper HyperCo Springs.

The Corner-weighting will throw the alignment off, and the alignment will throw the corner-weighting off a bit as well. The best route is to find a place to corner-weight and align all at the same time.

If the springs are going to sag, then you may as well throw them away. Get yourself a set of proper HyperCo Springs.

The Corner-weighting will throw the alignment off, and the alignment will throw the corner-weighting off a bit as well. The best route is to find a place to corner-weight and align all at the same time.

They do have HyperCo Springs

They do have HyperCo Springs

oh yeah, ha. good job, then dont worry about them sagging as hyperco's never sag. they've been tested many times and have never saged more than 3%.

Yes, Hyperco springs. I guess it really comes down to not really having the time to get it done this week(end) and figured I would let everything sort itself out before corner balancing.

FWIW cross % for Martin's car were VERY close this weekend. He's done essentially nothing for weight reduction (aside from turboback and wheels...which are for other reasons ;) ) 3202 I think was the number...and it was like 51/49% just setting the front at 14" and the rear at 13.5" on a level surface...not getting the car actually corner weighed.

I'm currently at 14" front and 13.5" rear...or at least close to it. I guess we'll find out soon though. Good info to know though. ;)

oh yeah, ha. good job, then dont worry about them sagging as hyperco's never sag. they've been tested many times and have never saged more than 3%.

Ever since when has never equal'd 3% :rolleyes:

Ever since when has never equal'd 3% :rolleyes:

Compared to most other springs, 3% is essentially nothing. Most will sag well over 10-20% even after only a few years.

where did you source that cat from?

I'm curious why you went with Vorschlag instead of RCE plates. I chose the RCE plates primarily for the extra lowering without giving up travel. The RCE T2s have a lot of travel, but it's centered fairly high. How much do vorshlag's raise the car versus stock? Did you do full droop and bumpstop touch measurements w/o the springs in?

-Mike

But it "should" be in the ballpark at least...I hope.

We'll be outside the ballpark, in the upper lots again.

We'll be outside the ballpark, in the upper lots again.

LOL...Jerk. :p

I'm curious why you went with Vorschlag instead of RCE plates. I chose the RCE plates primarily for the extra lowering without giving up travel. The RCE T2s have a lot of travel, but it's centered fairly high. How much do vorshlag's raise the car versus stock? Did you do full droop and bumpstop touch measurements w/o the springs in?

-Mike

Price primarily. I was originally planning to use Cusco camber plates, but seeing as there aren't any in the country at the moment and race season is starting soon, I purchased the Vorshlags. From what I can tell with the car jacked up, there seems to be plenty of droop travel. Not sure what the Vorshlag's do to height versus stock though.

The Vorshlags add less to the stack height than most of the plates out there, but they don't lower the car either, IIRC.

I think Ground Control, RCE and SPC/Eibach are the only plates out there that lower the car/add travel.

Nice setup!







PS I wish you I could run a BSP classed S2000 with street tires in STU. That would be fun. :(

PS I wish you I could run a BSP classed S2000 with street tires in STU. That would be fun. :(
You can run STU2 (in Philly at least)
http://www.phillyscca.com/solo2/flyers/2008/supp_rules.htm#stu2

You can run STU2 (in Philly at least)
http://www.phillyscca.com/solo2/flyers/2008/supp_rules.htm#stu2


Thanks but a morning drive from DC to somewhere in PA probably ain't going to work for me. I went to some of their events when they used Ripkin stadium, too bad that is over.

We race at Citizen Bank Park now! Well worth the trip!!
Ive driven from Philly to FedEx field a bunch of times and there is never any traffic in the morning.

where did you source that cat from?

Sorry, missed this question. Ordered from Eric DeLeo of MIL.SPEC, some information available at the link below. Only $180 shipped. The ends are cut for 3.0", but it tapers wider so we cut it at 3.5" to weld into the APS.

http://forums.evolutionm.net/vendor-announcements/330262-new-vendor-announcement-100-cell-race-cats-65mm-throttle-bodies-porting.html

Nice setup you have their.

Looks like 60 degrees and partly cloudy...another 10 degrees or so and it would be perfect! I haven't completely ruled out the Dunlop, but some preliminary testing over on sccaforums.com along with feedback from Wiggy seems to indicate that the Kumho should be a little better than the Dunlop and they're the same price.

Don't expect much on Sunday though. When you toss a whole bunch of suspension parts on the car at one time, you never know what they're going to do. But it "should" be in the ballpark at least...I hope.

Well, I gave you some input about the Kumhos and I already went through a set of the Dunlops. Either are great, but the Dunlops can get too hot quickly. I will probably stay with the Kumhos. The Kumhos stayed very grippy throughout the course and did not get too hot at all. Yes I was the only driver, but even right after my runs, the fronts were just a little warm and the rears felt only slightly warm. I think that they are an even better choice if you plan to have a co-driver to split the costs of competing.

The rest of your setup is great. I can only hope to have mine near that by Lincoln.

Beware the whiteline endlinks...that's what Karen broke on my car at the DC pro two years ago :( Luckily they were warrantied.

+1 to this, I broke one just driving around the crappy streets of Baltimore. :(

they were warrantied as well but still they make noise like whoa. :(

swapped them out with a set of kartboys and have been loving live ever since.

Live and learn, right? ;)

Thanks guys, and really appreciate the info on the Kumho's. I think I can make it a few more weeks before making a decision, I just have to keep from being impatient. :D

- Ported stock headers by Agile Auto (no pics...forgot the camera)


Pardon my ignorance, but is that legal for STU?

Pardon my ignorance, but is that legal for STU?

Yep. Exhaust mods are allowable, in ST*. Heads would not be.

Nice ride, by the way.

Looks good Josh! Oh....the memories!

James

looks good. was hoping to see your ride out at the AI INC. event in Waldorf this sunday, but I guess not.

Thanks again. James, this would have been a lot easier if you had just sold your car to me to begin with. :p

Won't be at A.I., but I'll be at WDCR on the 29th. But it doesn't really look like anything special. ;)

Price primarily. I was originally planning to use Cusco camber plates, but seeing as there aren't any in the country at the moment and race season is starting soon, I purchased the Vorshlags. From what I can tell with the car jacked up, there seems to be plenty of droop travel. Not sure what the Vorshlag's do to height versus stock though.

Cool. I will find my notebook, but if I remember correctly, with the RCE lowering plates and T2's, full droop is around 16.0" and bumpstop touch around 11.75-12.0".

-Mike

AAAAAAAAAA+++++ thread. Would read again.

STU Protune by Hill at Agile Auto...318whp/318wtq (I know, kind of high...dyno chart to follow)
Just noticed this... whoa... I had no idea STU STi's made this kinda power...

I haven't seen numbers that high either, my 05 made 267whp and 302wtq in 86 degree 57% humidity weather.

Agile uses a Dynapack that reads straight off the hubs... I am guessing that's why the numbers are higher.

well that and dynapacks are known to read on the high side anyhow.

Agile uses a Dynapack that reads straight off the hubs... I am guessing that's why the numbers are higher.

I guess loss due to wheel/rim then aren't factored in. Anyone have a pic of this setup? I'm curious to see what it looks like.

I guess loss due to wheel/rim then aren't factored in. Anyone have a pic of this setup? I'm curious to see what it looks like.
http://www.dynapackusa.com/

http://www.dynapackusa.com/F1RACR_5032_6042_front_3Q.jpg

It's like 4 of those little things from Star Wars attacking the car.

http://www.dynapackusa.com/

http://www.dynapackusa.com/F1RACR_5032_6042_front_3Q.jpg

It's like 4 of those little things from Star Wars attacking the car.

Vaccuum cleaners?

There are also pictures on the first page of the car on the dyno.

The other factor here (from what I'm told) is the 3.5" APS exhaust which has higher flow characteristics and creates a little bit of overboost, which we're using to our advantage for more power. Boost maxes out around 16psi, but I have no idea how that compares to other STU tunes. I think I may be the only one running a 3.5" catted exhaust in STU trim? And I'm sure the dyno is running a little high. Dyno charts to come later though, I promise! :D

Interesting thoughts about the 3.5" exhaust. Makes sense.

Hope you figure out the tire question. If you were nearby I would definitely let you try my car out with the XS's. Looks like you will have a great ride ready for Lincoln. I hope I have mine ready.

agile's dyno DEFINITELY reads high :lol:

http://www.dynapackusa.com/

http://www.dynapackusa.com/F1RACR_5032_6042_front_3Q.jpg

It's like 4 of those little things from Star Wars attacking the car.

Vaccuum cleaners?


I'm a power droid. gump,gump.......

Are you gonna have this heap at CBP this weekend?

Yes I will, it will be raw timing that extension of yours. :p

You sure? I'm working on some super secret mojo with it as we speak.

Actually, I'm not sure. For all I know I'm going to go into the first corner and the car's going to either plow straight forward or the rear end is going to swap sides. Should be an interesting first run.

Me neither actually. The super special sauce going in my car right now may end up killing us.

Actually, I'm not sure. For all I know I'm going to go into the first corner and the car's going to either plow straight forward or the rear end is going to swap sides. Should be an interesting first run.

try to do both in the same turn! :lol:

Very nice. I think I remember running in STX against your SER in the philly region a couple of years ago. It was probably 4 years ago at the abandoned runway in Warminster. That was my last autox in PA and the only one I ran with the Philly region before the Navy moved me south. I was driving a red WRX.

those vorshlag plates are nice, I've run both the RCE and Vorshlags on my Tarmac 2's now and i give the nod to the Vorshlags (on my GC8). While yes, you lose some travel, the Vorshlag's allowed for more -camber. The RCE's would bottom out on the upper spring perch when cranked all the way over to full negative. I was able to eek another half degree out with the vorshlags... and my, they are pretty, the pivot/bearing/upper spring perch design is sexy sexy.

Actually, I'm not sure. For all I know I'm going to go into the first corner and the car's going to either plow straight forward or the rear end is going to swap sides. Should be an interesting first run.

Not it! For taking the first run.

Are you gonna have this heap at CBP this weekend?

Yes it is and i will be behind the wheel...pax battle?

I'm up for a PAX battle...as long as it's only the 4 of us (including Craven). I'm not going to be making any real bets with Simmons and Corey and those guys until I get the car sorted out a bit.

And Iman, I'll take first run no worries. Probably best for me to drive the car first time out with all the setup changes...not to mention I want to drive first for it's maiden voyage.

Just arrived yesterday! These are 5Zigen FN01R-C's in 17x9 et43. In need of some rubber soon, still debating between the RE-11 and XS.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/80/l_a2442656596c4b828ccd7445a3751bd2.jpg



And also, I have dyno graphs. Directly below is the STU graph with the Street tune just below that. I'm looking to get the STU graph plotted against boost, at which point I will post as well.


http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/77/l_c7d4866b6a874cb9ad45170ed96e4f1e.gif

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/70/l_efff261067a049cdb3c49a21d5071717.gif

Nice setup and surprised of how much power you got without increasing the boost. I guess Hill does wonder. He tuned my car too but not for STU though.
One thing is I though that spherical endkinks are prohibited for STU (metal bushing). That's why why I never bought them for my STU STI. Be careful of complaints then.
Good luck . I'll be competing at FedEx with mine on BSP but just for fun. My car is not as well set up as yours but still does the trick against other STI. ;-)
Let's meet one day on the field. I'll bring my street tires too. :-)
Francois

Endlinks are unrestricted IIRC, even in stock class you could use these with an FSB.

Not much to add other than I'm glad you are also representing the Suby's in STu )etc)....and that Team Agile is the best :devil:

Side note, Re: dynos. I've watched cars dyno on the Dynapac go right to a dynojet facility and lay down 2-20% less whp...its strange for sure....and maybe car dependent - etc....but my '06 has dynoed from day one on Agiles dyno so i know where and what my car is doing on every mod i do. Its a tuning tool thats all, and i LOVE the consistency of that dyno, not having to strap my car down (much more safe) and VERY little adjustments (if at all) needed during the road tune! It helps when you have a tuner like Hill behing the controls. Seriously helps! He trouble shot my issues on Wed with pinpoint accuracy (cracked plug) and proceeded to tune my'06 at 420/400 at 22psi (lowered from 450 so the stock pistons last a little while) and i have NO doubt she WILL last with this tune at this power (i drive like a girl most of the time). Its all in the tune.

ps---> those wheels are HOT.

Thanks for the info about the wheel offset. I'll roll the rears and go with it.
Good luck this year and maybe I'll see you in Devens. I'm a FCSCC guy but who knows. I also drive the same car.:cool:
-Rich
#142
STU

I'm going to try and make the NE Divisional and/or the Seneca Tour. But with Seneca the weekend after the DC Pro, more than likely it will be Devens. Hope to see you there!

^I think Finger Lakes is the weekend before the DC Pro.

Either way, two weekends in a row. ;)


So I can say that I must be the luckiest guy in the world. First run out in the car today, and it was actually quite neutral. Only two adjustments made all day. The car runs like a champ, I absolutely LOVE THIS THING!!! More details and video to follow later.

I drove a well set-up STU STi today as well Josh. It was a blast. Car had a little push in sweepers, but turned in well and rotated beautifully! Might accept his co-drive offer for next season and join you guys...

Never thought I could get my autocross fix on street tires -- but I did! ~300awhp also feels awesome!!!! :devil:

Either way, two weekends in a row. ;)


So I can say that I must be the luckiest guy in the world. First run out in the car today, and it was actually quite neutral. Only two adjustments made all day. The car runs like a champ, I absolutely LOVE THIS THING!!! More details and video to follow later.

Well, you looked like you were high on some reaaally good stuff when I peeked my head in after your first run :lol:

StarSpecs seemed quite effective today. I'm pretty sure you out-rawed the rest of the field by ~1 second or so.

You should see the video, at the end of my first run Iman and I both were all kinds of :banana:.


The Dunlops worked very well, except in the last sweeper of my last run when they overheated and the car just plowed, losing at least a half second in the process. None of STU could stay clean today for whatever reason, but I was surprised at how well the car was out of the box. Talking to the Evo guys (Adam and Cy), they kept talking about how they couldn't get any grip. We had grip right out of the box though, weird. It was a good learning day for sure, just need to buy tires and I'm set. I think Cy talked me into the Bridgestones though...time to start drinking the Koolaid I guess.

The Star Specs hit the first run well, but as you noticed, they can overheat quickly. How long was the course? Did you have a codriver? Why not stay with the Dunlops if you won on them?

I think Cy talked me into the Bridgestones though...Care to share?

The Star Specs hit the first run well, but as you noticed, they can overheat quickly. How long was the course? Did you have a codriver? Why not stay with the Dunlops if you won on them?61 deg, sunny, good pavement, low-mid 50-sec for STU cars.

The Star Specs hit the first run well, but as you noticed, they can overheat quickly. How long was the course? Did you have a codriver? Why not stay with the Dunlops if you won on them?

They overheated cause the fronts were dead...as in heat cycled out and bout down to the cords. I ran the D-lops all year lastyear and never had any overheating issues.
The car was being co-driven aswell and we didnt have water and we had about 8 min between runs!

[QUOTE=Mind;26048774]Care to share?
QUOTE]

Contingency...

You should see the video, at the end of my first run Iman and I both were all kinds of :banana:.


The Dunlops worked very well, except in the last sweeper of my last run when they overheated and the car just plowed, losing at least a half second in the process. None of STU could stay clean today for whatever reason, but I was surprised at how well the car was out of the box. Talking to the Evo guys (Adam and Cy), they kept talking about how they couldn't get any grip. We had grip right out of the box though, weird. It was a good learning day for sure, just need to buy tires and I'm set. I think Cy talked me into the Bridgestones though...time to start drinking the Koolaid I guess.

I cant wait to see the vid and that was something I was going to mention earlier about the ish we talked about after each run.
Im going to send you a PM at some point with what I thought after i had a day or so to let it sink in.

Go with whatever tires are going to make you happy. Like we talked about (Cy, you and i) I dont think the fastest tire will be decided until later in the season. Dont thing you will be upset with either the D-lops, Stones or Kumhos at this time.

I think all three have the potential to win absolutely. I like the way the Dunlop felt and I think the Bridgestone will feel similar. I think the Kumho is good also, but don't know that I would like the feel of the softer sidewall. Then there's the contingency thing, if I get lucky for a couple of events then it may make up some of the difference. My gut tells me the Stones are a little better than the Dunlops, even though they did feel really good.

Thanks again for co-driving Iman, your feedback was very helpful. I'll try to send you your video tonight, I've got it saved on the computer already.

Mike King said that the RE-11s sidewalls were noticebly softer than the RE-01s. He said that he liked them, but that he also used to like the Kumho MXs. By squeezing them, the RE-11s felt about the same as the Kumhos XSs to me, but driving is of course the true indicator. My 245/40/17 XSs are (were) at full tread depth, but felt alot better than the 245/4517 Dunlops I used before. Shaved and on the 17 X 9, the Dunlops are probably the sharpest, with the Kumhos and RE-11s feeling about the same. The contingency argument makes alot of sense, and if you are capable of beating Cy, then I am sure you could pick up some contingency money at a couple of events. Glad you guys had fun and drove well.

Huh, weird. Cy said he felt like the RE-11 was stiffer than the RE01-R's in the sidewalls.

Huh, weird. Cy said he felt like the RE-11 was stiffer than the RE01-R's in the sidewalls.

I believe King said that his RE-11s air pressures were almost 6 psi higher than the RE-01s. Not that the psi are a good indicator, but this was what he told me. He attributed some of the needed increase due to better grip, but mostly because of the sidewalls. Seriously though, don't over think it. I am pretty open to trying all of the known fast tires, and determining which is the best for me. I am sure that you will have it figured out before Lincoln.

Called Steve Snow at Bimmerworks today. Ordered a set of Bridgestone RE-11's in 245/40/17 shaved to 6/32 that I will be getting mounted up on Thursday. I'll try and drive on them Friday to get a heat cycle in them, and then ready for Sunday's event.

I only shaved to 6/32 due to my own inherent laziness. The drive to events is roughly 50 minutes each way, so not bad, and I hate swapping wheels/tires at events. Also since these will have to be rain tires also, I wanted some tread to be there so I'm not sliding around everywhere. I'm not yet baller enough to have a dry and rain setup. Perhaps next year.

What event is Sunday? AI?

WDCR Practice Event. The next A.I. event at Fed Ex is on April 11th.

Philly Winter Event #4 on March 22, 2009 at Citizen's Bank Park

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=54628473

Results: http://www.phillyscca.com/solo2/results/2009/winter/SO03222009.shtml

So this would be the maiden event for the new setup. The big question loomed: would the car do a 180 or plow through the first turn? To help with setup, Iman (bdi) co-drove with me to get some more runs in the car and help try to set it up. He also donated two wheels/tires for the event as the borrowed wheels/tires I had wouldn't quite fit in the rear. We were running the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec in 245/40/17 both front and rear, but the fronts were nearly done and the rears had been sitting all winter in Iman's garage. This could be interesting.

We had some good competition to compare ourselves to in Cy Lee running his Mitsu Evo 9 RS which just won the Dixie National Tour with Corey Ridgick driving the weekend before, with Cy finishing 2nd and running on the Bridgestone RE-11.

On the very first run, we made it about 3/4 of the way through the course until a red flag for a golf cart near the course. That's okay though, rerun! But an amazing thing happened on that first test run...the car actually felt REALLY good right out of the box. How did that happen? Perhaps it was the lack of "understeering fairies" on the car, who knows. But the car felt great. We only made two minor adjustments to the car all day, with one more click of rebound in the rear and a little lower psi in the rear tires. Car was fantastic and a blast to drive!

First run came through with a 53.147 +1, which would end up being the run I had to stand on for the day thanks to no other clean runs. It was good enough for a 2nd in STU (Cy pulled out a clean run 54.0xx) and 18th in PAX. Had the run been clean, it would have been good enough to take the STU win and finish 4th in PAX among some good company.

What I learned this weekend is that the car setup is right in the ballpark, thanks again to everyone who helped offer advise on parts and setup, everything worked well. I've ordered some RE-11's that should be here this week and will be testing out this weekend. I don't think I'll have a chance to give them a good heat cycle before the event, so the first real test probably won't come until the A.I. event on April 11th. I can't wait to continue tweaking the setup, but hopefully there's not too much more to do and I can focus more on driving.

More to come in the next few weeks. :D

It' great that the set up felt good right out of the box. See you in Philly soon.
-Jake

I was working station 2 (next to the first slalom section) during your heat. Every time you flew by I couldn't help but give a big, "YEAHHHHHH!!!!" lol. Your car looked great, sounded great, and most importantly ran great. Man, I need skills :).

Good luck chasing down Cy!

-Tom

Good luck chasing down Cy!

-Tom

Seriously, if Cy keeps driving well, and getting used to his RS, then most if not the rest of us in STU could need some of that same luck. And of course, there are other great drivers to keep up with too. Gotta love it!

Josh, thanks for the video and write up. Looking at where Salerno finished (time), then your raw times were definitely right there where STU should be (with great driving). The video showed that your raw times were achievable for you. And it looked like, you weren't able to get into a good rythm until three turns in. That 52.898 would have been sweet. I hope that my driving and setup continue to progress.

Great first event for your setup!!

Thanks guys! I know Cy and Adam kept saying they were having grip issues. Cy was on the Stones, but Adam was on the Dunlops as well in at least as good of condition as ours. Weird. At the end of the day it's one data point on one day, so I'm not putting too much stock into it. Cy will be faster no doubt, and lets not forget that Chuck Norris wasn't there (Corey Ridgick). But still overall, I am very happy with the way the first outing went.

Some feedback I got on the video after posting on phillyscca.com is I need to look ahead more, something I've always had a problem with on the 90 degree type stuff. I generally just have the course memorized in my head and get halfway through the 90 degree stuff before looking for the next cone. I'm generally still close to the right line, but I either overcook the entry or brake too hard. Need to look ahead more.

STU in the Philly/DC area is stacked, I love it. Corey Ridgick, Mike Neary, Cy Lee, Jake Namer, Adam Fuhs, Iman Capers, etc. the list continues. An absolute blast and one of the reasons I wanted to get into the class. And a great group of guys too, nothing but fun out there! :D

Should you be on the RE-11s by the next event?

Thanks guys! I know Cy and Adam kept saying they were having grip issues. Cy was on the Stones, but Adam was on the Dunlops as well in at least as good of condition as ours. Weird. At the end of the day it's one data point on one day, so I'm not putting too much stock into it. Cy will be faster no doubt, and lets not forget that Chuck Norris wasn't there (Corey Ridgick). But still overall, I am very happy with the way the first outing went.

Some feedback I got on the video after posting on phillyscca.com is I need to look ahead more, something I've always had a problem with on the 90 degree type stuff. I generally just have the course memorized in my head and get halfway through the 90 degree stuff before looking for the next cone. I'm generally still close to the right line, but I either overcook the entry or brake too hard. Need to look ahead more.

STU in the Philly/DC area is stacked, I love it. Corey Ridgick, Mike Neary, Cy Lee, Jake Namer, Adam Fuhs, Iman Capers, etc. the list continues. An absolute blast and one of the reasons I wanted to get into the class. And a great group of guys too, nothing but fun out there! :D

Did either of those grip challenged guys have co-drivers? I was struggling a bit early on also, but it got better as the day went on, as demonstrated by Jeff's nasty last run. It doesn't help that my tires had frost on them Sunday morning :o

Did either of those grip challenged guys have co-drivers? I was struggling a bit early on also, but it got better as the day went on, as demonstrated by Jeff's nasty last run. It doesn't help that my tires had frost on them Sunday morning :o

No they were all single driver cars. But Josh's car was hooking up on its very first run of the day. I was in the car and he was not shy with throttle application. No idea what the time was on that first run cause he was red flagged but i would guess it was a low 54 sec run at worst.

What Iman said, car felt great from the first turn of the wheel. I could download that video, but I didn't feel like the car was washing out at all.

And yes, I'll be on the RE-11 this weekend. Picking them up tomorrow night actually. :banana:

Awesome first result Josh! Looking forward to seeing the car in action at the DC event this weekend.

Quick question - was your car dyno tuned for pump gas?

Rain on the schedule for this weekend :(

Only 40%-50% chance, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they're wrong right now and it's dry.

Yes Chike, the car was tuned for 93 octane as I'm way too lazy to deal with the hassle of race gas. It's not a DD, but it's also not a trailer queen. ;)

Nice numbers Josh.

I'm actually starting to really want one of these cars. I want torque! I want power! :lol: I know when I drive my RX-8 again I'll fall in love with her once more...it just handles like a dream.

One of the things I've realized is that this car setup for STU is the absolute best use of my hard earned money ever. Just way too much fun. If I could, I would get another one to DD just because it's so much fun to drive. :D

And let me know if you want to ride along this weekend for a run, I don't mind.

I'm a power droid. gump,gump.......
That would be a GONK droid. :)

-star wars nerd

Great job! I look forward to hearing how you progress.

Rob

Great job! I look forward to hearing how you progress.

Rob

And let me know if you want to ride along this weekend for a run, I don't mind.
I may just take you up on this! Thanks. :)

No problem, may not be as much fun if it's wet though. Looks like 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms...remind you of last year's practice event?

No problem, may not be as much fun if it's wet though. Looks like 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms...remind you of last year's practice event?
LOL. Don't remind me... I think even the cones were being washed away that day! :lol::lol::lol:

No, that was event #1 :lol:

The test n' tune was just slightly wet.

No, that was event #1 :lol:

The test n' tune was just slightly wet.
It's all one big wet, soggy mess in my mind... :lol:

Either way, we need to avoid the wetness this year. Last year was too much.

A couple of pictures from the last event. Don't mind the mismatched wheels, just got the RE-11's mounted last night on the FN01RC's...pics to come tonight. :D

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3388196700_f213b9fa89_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3079/3387389369_a4a5477dfb_o.jpg

Those wheels in the back are fire!

So says the man who owns them.


They are pretty hot, too bad we didn't use four of them. ;)

Those wheels in the back are fire!

I approve of this message.

Those look like the 17x9 Wedsports. They're hot!!! :devil:

What are those rear wheels? I'd love a set of those for my car!

Rob

See Chike's post above. ;)

Snarfblat, the full name of those wheels are WedsSport TC005. Super light-weight at 15.8lbs in the 17x9" size. Hope to secure a set of those to use as STX wheels on my RX-8.

Snarfblat, the full name of those wheels are WedsSport TC005. Super light-weight at 15.8lbs in the 17x9" size. Hope to secure a set of those to use as STX wheels on my RX-8.

Correct! Goodluck! These wheels are getting tough to find cause they dont make them anymore.

Chiketkd, there is a guy in the Philly region parting out his old RX-8 STU build. He might have some parts for you depending on when you plan on doing it.

Great wheels, but I can't find them in 5 X 100 bolt pattern. No surprise, as the 2004 Sti is difficult to find good wheels for.

Chiketkd, there is a guy in the Philly region parting out his old RX-8 STU build. He might have some parts for you depending on when you plan on doing it.
Thanks Iman - I need to look for his thread on the Philly forum.

I'm still running B-stock this season with Shawn, but come September/October is when I'll start to do a light conversion. Not going wild on the build, as I'll probably co-drive an STi in STU for National events in 2010. I'm just looking to have some street tire fun with the RX-8 locally.

Bridgestone RE-11's shaved to 6/32 by Steve Snow at Bimmerworks in West Chester, PA. Amazing work. Getting tested tomorrow, but it's probably going to be wet and not a true test. First true test for them will probably be on April 11th, if it doesn't rain then too.

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/95/l_acf6c0cd3a934f1d972951a0332da9c2.jpg
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/75/l_c28923d142704a57b287fdbf49348b7b.jpg
http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/79/l_4a9b9c1c4f30498f81015e1e6b8cd272.jpg

And a couple of mounted pictures...matching wheels now! :D

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/67/l_b87b989d289e4dad956e4cf60373bb3b.jpg
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/70/l_a672355e73f34c9fa1a82e8207b8cd4d.jpg

Car looks awesome Josh. I see STU runs first heat, and BS doesn't run till 5th, so I probably won't be around when you're competing. I may try taking you up on that ride along at a later event. Best of luck tomorrow! :cool:

No problem, I'll be at A.I. on April 11th if you want to ride along then.

WDCR Practice Event at Fed Ex Field on March 29, 2009

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=54909768

Results (must sign up for a login for WDCR): http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/CurrentResultsAX/tabid/309/ctl/ViewResults/mid/1008/Eventid/3725/Default.aspx

This event was supposed to be the day to test out the new RE-11's and see if they're worth the hype. But unfortunately Mother Nature did not agree with me, with rain falling all day on Saturday and into Sunday morning. When I arrived at the stadium, there was enough fog around so that the other end of the lot wasn't quite visible. The only benefit was that it stopped raining when I got there and everything was just wet. So no real testing of the RE-11's, but it was going to be a good day to test out some wet/rain settings, especially since it was a practice event...time to mess with stuff! To add insult to injury, STU would run in the first heat of the day...yay.

To setup the car, I turned the rebound down one click on all four corners from where it was last weekend and adjusted tire pressures to 34psi all around and left the DCCD in Auto. On the first run of the day the rear end wanted to kick out every time I got on the throttle, to the point that I was constantly having to countersteer to keep it going remotely where I wanted to. I also continued my dirty streak and knocked over two cones. First run time was a 61.558 +2 cones.

After the on-throttle oversteer nightmare of the first run, I decided to play with the DCCD a little bit, putting it two clicks back from full lock. It's a practice event, what better time to mess with stuff? I also decided to drop pressures down to 32psi all around. On this run, the car felt much more controlled and easier to point where I wanted to while still getting a little bit of rear kick out on throttle. Felt like a good balance overall. Some of the standing water was starting to go away and my overall comfort level with the car in the wet was getting better. Second run time was a 60.945 +1 cone...still need to keep it clean.

The third run was the time to go for it. The pavement was continuing to get better and I was continuing to feel better in the car. Left the DCCD on two clicks from full lock for the rest of the day. The car felt great, I had some good lines for the most part, and I was pushing the car hard. So hard in fact, and I was so excited that I nailed the next to last cone before the finish! So frickin' mad, why can't I keep it clean? I have issues. To make it worse, the time had dropped down to a 59.643 +1 cone and I wasted it in the final section.

On to the fourth and final run. I've had 6 consecutive dirty runs including the prior event. It was time to get serious and make it happen, especially with the course slightly improving with each run. I got fairly aggressive and really pushed the car, and in doing so got myself off line in the showcase turn, not getting behind the final cone and screwing up the next offset section (hence my disapproval at this point in the video). But at this point I just needed something clean and kept pushing it. Up to the final few cones I knew I was clean, and after coning that section on the previous run I took it a little slower through there to ensure the clean run and hope it was decent. Final result was a 59.557 CLEAN...FINALLY! The extra benefit, the time was FTD for the morning heats running in the wet!

The result: 1st in STU out of 11 and 23rd in PAX out of 172. Needless to say, once the sun came out and the temperatures rose in the afternoon and the course dried up, people started flying. Ian Baker in his STS CRX raw timed me by 1.5 seconds for example...oh yeah, and he happens to be pretty good. :D

Overall, still really happy with the car and with the way it feels. The next event for me is on April 11th with Autocrosser's Inc. at Fed Ex Field, hopefully it will be dry and I can have a chance to see what the RE-11's are all about.

A quick pic of our first heat conditions. :mad: And hey, I'm actually looking ahead! :banana:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3643/3397665300_4dfc378fbc_b.jpg

^ Perfect display of "look ahead". :)

^ Perfect display of "look ahead". :)


Yeah, but the course goes to the right there. :lol:

I keed I keed.

Looking good, Josh.

Thanks for the write-up Josh. I got to play in the rain all day yesterday in three different cars at our club's members and family only autocross. My car and my brothers 350Z were on the Kumho XSs and my sister in-law's Scion TC (auto) was on usually terrible BF KDWs. In the dry, I do not like her tires, but they were the best yesterday. Of course, her soft suspension (stock) also worked better with the rain. I must say that the XSs were not very confidence inspiring in the wet. My brother's 350Z is on Koni struts and aftermarket springs (stock rate), and it was a handful too. I would like to blame it on our power compared to the TC, but even at steady speed or deceleration, the Kumhos were not nice. Since it was a fun day, the 30 total runs were nice to learn from in the rain. I wish that you had some dry time with the RE-11s, but I am glad that you still drove well. I wish the west coasters would have tried out the RE-11s at the ET Pro, but I am sure we will see some info soon.

Oh yeah, I did forget to mention that I was looking the wrong way. :D

Thanks Greg!

Congrats on the morning FTD Josh. 59.5xx in the wet is astonishing!

-Chike (Paxed 10th, but ran in the last heat of the afternoon)

Autocrosser's Inc. Event #2 at Fed Ex Field on April 11, 2009

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=55695310

Results: http://autocrossersinc.org/uploads/2009AI2.pdf

After getting the chance to drive the STi and the RE-11's in the rain, I was ready to give them a chance in the dry. Watching weather.com all week, Saturday kept bouncing between rain/no rain/rain/no rain for the longest time. Then on they day before the event, the call was definitely for rain, but ending by 10am. Since STU was running in the 3rd heat, I had a solid shot at some dry pavement, right? Oh how Mother Nature hated us on Saturday, with high 40's, rain, and high winds. What a crappy day to be outside, especially considering how nice Friday AND Sunday were. :mad: Oh well, time to get some more wet weather driving practice in. Hopefully that should come in handy in the future.

First run of the day was a chance to test out the course and figure out where the fast stuff was and where the tricky stuff was. Walking the course it was clear that Sam Strano is an evil course designer, would have been a blast in the dry. I completely overshot a couple of offset sections near the end of the course on that first run, but came through with a nice 74.862 +2. No biggie, still three runs to go and plenty of time to make up with some corrections. Second run, I screw up the same two offset sections again...and again another +2 on a 75.057 run. At least I'm consistent?

After screwing up the same section twice, I finally had it in my head to setup better for these sections. And this third run would be my fastest RAW time, setting up the offsets well, slowing down where I needed to, but definitely slowed down in a couple of other spots. Time coming across the line was a 74.789, not much faster but I'll take a clean run...or not. Ended with a +1 on the LAST cone before the finish. Really? WTF?!

Final run was time to get a clean one in as my RAW times were good enough, slow it down a bit and be more careful. Got it. Come through the finish with a 75.542 announced clean! Well, initially at least. Apparently hit another frickin' cone somewhere on the back side.

So now my number of coned runs for 2009 has drastically increased...not a single clean one out of four, taking me to 2 of 15 runs clean, or 13% for the year and 2 of 4 events with no clean runs. Apparently I have some things to work on, but I'm going to say it's getting used the extra width of the STi...right? :huh:

Final results put me in 2nd in STU out of 7, losing to my co-driver Shane who drove the car very well for his first time in the STi, congrats on the win! Thanks to the wet conditions, it was a Street Touring kind of day in PAX, still finishing in 7th of 104 in PAX even with the cone. Without that one stupid frickin' cone I would have finished 1st in STU and 3rd in PAX. Next time. My goal for the next event is to run at least 2 clean runs, doubling my clean run output for the year.

Next event is on April 26th at Fed Ex with WDCR, first points event of the year. Now's the time to make it count and start really focusing on driving the car fast, but clean. ;)


Yeah, I know I'm on the wrong line in this pic, but it was first run.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/3433171709_a3125c9a18_b.jpg

Needs more springrate.

Results: http://autocrossersinc.org/uploads/2009AI2.pdf

Dang, Street Tire Civic was almost 2 sec faster.

My STU goal this year is to be faster than ST at least once in Raw time! Forget about PAX.

You mean STS CRX? Ian's pretty quick in that thing. In addition, they were on Toyos in the cold/wet and it was a very slalom/offset type course that favored their car. Umm...yeah, that's what I'm going with. I think that sounds good, right? :rolleyes:

Yeah the good ST drivers can hurt the feelings in the right car. I am sure that Mike King will remind me of this if he runs this weekend in Jacksonville. Of course he is in STS, but he still beat me by almost 1.2 sec in March.

Josh, I hope you get to try out the RE-11s in the dry soon. I like that you put up the photo of the blown turn. Good luck staying away from the cones.

You mean STS CRX? Ian's pretty quick in that thing. In addition, they were on Toyos in the cold/wet and it was a very slalom/offset type course that favored their car. Umm...yeah, that's what I'm going with. I think that sounds good, right? :rolleyes:

Yes, sorry Civic CRX. ;)

Thanks, I'm REALLY hoping that 4/26 is actually dry and nice. Actually at this point I'll just take dry. My focus at the next event is definitely going to be staying off the cones, but it's still early in the season. I figure I'm perhaps just a few inches closer than I need to be since I didn't actually feel any of the cones and they're not cones that I'm punting dead on. Time to get a couple of Go Pro cameras on each side and find out! :D

Thanks, I'm REALLY hoping that 4/26 is actually dry and nice. Actually at this point I'll just take dry.
Looks like you'll get your 1st wish - forecast for Sunday calls for a 0% chance of rain and temps in the low 80's. :)

Tell me about it! I think it's all thanks to you guys for buying wet tires this week. :D

Not really sure where to start with the dry pressures on the RE-11's, but I've read that they like higher pressures than the RE01R's, so I'm thinking I'll start at 40psi all around and tweak from there.

Tell me about it! I think it's all thanks to you guys for buying wet tires this week. :D
Ha ha! Thanks to Bartek B. for hooking me up with them. He and Hubert used them just once last season on their CS Solstice and I got them for a great price.

I definitely can't wait. While I'd like to see what pulling 1G in the wet feels like (on wets), that "feeling" can wait. I want sunshine and dry pavement!!! :banana::banana::banana:

+1 on the higher pressures. Does Iman have the RE-11's on his STi?

Iman's running the Dunlops he had from last year. I need to talk to Corey and Cy and see what kind of pressures they're running to get in the ballpark.

Gotcha. +1 on getting a ballpark from Cy and/or Corey.

Have fun this weekend!! Def going to get your nice weather! Get yourself a tire pyrometer (or borrow one)...that will be the most help.

Iman's running the Dunlops he had from last year. I need to talk to Corey and Cy and see what kind of pressures they're running to get in the ballpark.

I found my pressures needed in my RE-11s to be essentially the same from my Dunlops.

Interesting. I know Hollis and some of the other Bridgestone guys, driving ST Civics of course, stated that they found they needed about 5psi more pressure than RE01R's. And wasn't Colin running like 45-50psi in his RE01R's to make them work to his liking? :eek:

I'm on RE01Rs, but the word from other Evo guys regarding the RE11s has also been +5psi or so.

I think I've decided to go with 42f/38r and adjust from there. Should be ballpark enough. On the one event I ran the Dunlops I was at 36f/32r so should be a good start. Either that or just go 40psi all around and see how it feels. That might be the better way. Whatever, we'll see.

WDCR Event #1 at Fed Ex Field on April 26th, 2009

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/EventsAX/SoloChampionship1/426Results/tabid/1595/Default.aspx

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=56519300


Finally, a dry event for a change. Not only dry, but hot too...who ordered 90+ degree weather in April? Either way I'll take it over 49 degrees and rain any day!

First time running the RE-11's in the dry and had no idea what to do with pressures/temps. Time to start testing pressures and figure it out. Knowing the RE-11's like higher pressures, I started out running 40/40 to see what would happen and tweak from there. Unfortunately I suck at car setup and wouldn't adjust pressures much from there, but ended up running 42/40 for the final two runs and the car felt pretty good, other than the understeer in the showcase turn and the left hander coming down to the mini slalom before the finish, both which were off-camber downhill spots, so I think it's more to do with the topography of the land than the car, but who knows.

On another note, Neary's (Danny's) Evo blew the clutch last weekend and there wasn't time to put enough miles on the new clutch, so Mike was co-driving with Vell in his STi for this event. Being that Mike wasn't used to the STi I was hoping this would be a chance to rack up some early points for the season.

My dad was in town visiting for the weekend so he got a chance to ride in the new car. He previously rode along in the Spec V, but needless to say this is a little bit different. I just told him not to piss in my seats. :lol: So he rode along on the first run, which ended up being fairly solid with a 50.483 including temporarily forgeting where the course went along the back side. The car felt pretty good overall and did what I wanted it to do for the most part, so just needed to concentrate on driving. And believe it or not, the run was clean!!! If you've been following along, you know my coneage issues as of late, so this was a big deal at this point. First in STU after run 1.

Second run I decided to drop front pressures to 38 and I didn't spray the tires. Let's see what happens. Car felt pretty similar and I felt as if I drove better lines, but I wasn't aggressive enough with the gas. This particular course really rewarded being aggressive with the gas with some sections that could definitely be held WOT even through some slalom sections. I don't know exactly what happened, but my second run netted a 50.509, but a +1 in true Luster fashion. Not a big deal, but frustrating that I didn't drop any time. And to make things more interesting, Brian Hair co-driving an E46 M3 on 275 Kumho XS's came through with a clean 50.660 on his second run.

Third run, time to create some space between myself and Brian. Upped the front pressures to 42 and left the rear at 40, lets see how that does. Overall the run felt good, but I knew it could still be better. I was more aggressive with the throttle, but not as good on my line across the back section. Came through the line with a 50.223...CLEAN!!! I just doubled my number of clean runs from the previous 4 events. Sweet, but still not dropping much time. The run puts me in a better position in first place, then Brian comes in from his third run: a 50.239, but carrying 2 cones. I know it's hot outside, but it's definitely getting hotter with this pressure.

As I'm sitting in line to take my fourth run, Brian comes through in the M3 and I hear the time over the radio, a 50.224 putting him in a solid 2nd place as Mike had already completed his final run. With that, I knew I had the STU win before taking my final run! But wait, what was his time? OH SNAP! Just took the win by 0.001 seconds, the equivalent of 0.88" at 50mph. Wow, that's close. A great man once said it doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, winning is winning. In this case, by less than an inch. What a tight race.

But, I still had one final run to take and create a gap in the standings and put myself a little higher up in PAX. I'm going through the first half of the course and everything feels right on point. Get 3/4 of the way and I can feel that this is THE run, everything just feels right. Driving down the hill into the mini-slalom before the finish...and I hear something on the right side, a very familiar sound...the sound of a cone hitting the front bumper. I turned in just a little too early. Then I decided I would check my rearview mirror just to confirm. Yep it's down. And in the process of looking in my rearview I get distracted, turn in late making the left before the final cone, and get all offline and I'm really late making the right hander into the finish. That time was a 50.206 even with the screw up in the end. I know I had to have lost roughly a half second there, should have been in the 49's. Son of a @$$%%!!!

Results: I can't really complain though, I'll take the 1st place in STU and the early points lead. Also managed to finish 14 in PAX out of 232 and only 0.773 PAX seconds out of 1st place, my highest/closest PAX finish for a dry WDCR event. Very happy with how the day went!

Unfortunately the next WDCR event on May 17th is being moved, so my next event won't be until May 31st with WDCR. An entire month without an event? This is going to suck. Anyways, looking forward to another chance to run in the dry and see how I can do against Neary running the right car. Should be some more good battles in the works.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3481714697_7316662392_b.jpg

Get 3/4 of the way and I can feel that this is THE run, everything just feels right. Any time I get that feeling, it's always right before I screw it up... :D

Josh, great driving. I actually hung around after my morning runs as Katie ran my car in BSL during the fourth heat. What a battle between you and Hair! It was definitely amazing to watch an E46 M3 being hussled through the course that quickly. Way to drive that STi though. You looked impressive out there!

The next event is at Etown on May 9th on the road course, newb.

I think I'll skip the 2.5 hour drive there jerk. ;)


Thanks Chike! Nice driving on your part as well. :D

Craven says you can sleep in his garage the night before the event, that way you're only 1 hour away on game day.

Craven says you can sleep in his garage the night before the event, that way you're only 1 hour away on game day.


Cut him a break...he's a DC guy! Driving more than 30min 1way to a event is asking alot! Unlike us Philly folk!! :cool:

I remember 1 particular DC event lastyear that had more Philly folk than DC :lol::lol:!!

Hey now, I'm Philly at heart! I might try to work out something for that event though, we'll see if I can build up enough brownie points.


I also figured out why I keep hitting so many cones...can only get away with that so many times on couse.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/3482762838_3478309d9b_b.jpg

Oh I know...just joshin (excuse the pun)!

Nice drivin btw.

Interesting. I know Hollis and some of the other Bridgestone guys, driving ST Civics of course, stated that they found they needed about 5psi more pressure than RE01R's. And wasn't Colin running like 45-50psi in his RE01R's to make them work to his liking? :eek:

I was running around 40-45psi in the 01Rs to get them the way I liked them. I only have a few runs in on the RE-11s in the dry since our events have been wet too. I have been running them 45ish for now. I have a test and tune that had better be dry on May 16th that I am hoping to dial in the setup on the car at.

-Colin

Sounds like I may be in the right ballpark then, perhaps I'll try out 44 in the front and see how that feels. Good luck with the test and tune Colin, I'll be interested to see what pressures you settle on. Thanks for the info. ;)

Sounds like I may be in the right ballpark then, perhaps I'll try out 44 in the front and see how that feels. Good luck with the test and tune Colin, I'll be interested to see what pressures you settle on. Thanks for the info. ;)

I don't have a problem sharing, just don't beat me come nationals! ;)

-Colin

I don't have a problem sharing, just don't beat me come nationals! ;)

-Colin

Seriously, your help in preparation for buying the STi and picking parts is MUCH appreciated. And I know I still have plenty of work left to start challenging that top spot...but we're all gunning for you anyways! :devil:

How do you deal with your autox map vs street map on the accessport? Do you run the autox map as a base map and put the street map in as the realtime? Do you do a full reflash?

I currently have the technically illegal setup of a stage 2 basemap with the Cobb off the shelf STU legal map run as realtime. This is illegal on 2 counts: the basemap is not STU legal, and the basemap's CEL defeats stay in effect even with the STU realtime loaded. If I start competing at national tour events, I will have to fix this. At my local events no one cares at this level of detail.

Best idea I've had so far is to run a pro-tuned STU map as a basemap and a stage 2 as a realtime. The downside would be the risk of defaulting to the STU map on the street by accident without having 100 octane gas in the tank.

How do you deal with your autox map vs street map on the accessport? Do you run the autox map as a base map and put the street map in as the realtime? Do you do a full reflash?

I currently have the technically illegal setup of a stage 2 basemap with the Cobb off the shelf STU legal map run as realtime. This is illegal on 2 counts: the basemap is not STU legal, and the basemap's CEL defeats stay in effect even with the STU realtime loaded. If I start competing at national tour events, I will have to fix this. At my local events no one cares at this level of detail.

Best idea I've had so far is to run a pro-tuned STU map as a basemap and a stage 2 as a realtime. The downside would be the risk of defaulting to the STU map on the street by accident without having 100 octane gas in the tank.

I do a full reflash before and after ever event.

Colin, you had 40-45 with the RE-01s? Were the higher pressures in the rear tires for better balance? The recent tire test reminds me of just how good the RE-01s are. I am now on the Kumhos, but the 195 RE-01s were right there with the 205s in the test. Nice sharp sidewalls too. Really a great tire. I just couldn't pass up trying the XSs.

Colin, you had 40-45 with the RE-01s? Were the higher pressures in the rear tires for better balance? The recent tire test reminds me of just how good the RE-01s are. I am now on the Kumhos, but the 195 RE-01s were right there with the 205s in the test. Nice sharp sidewalls too. Really a great tire. I just couldn't pass up trying the XSs.

I did run slightly higher in the rear just to help get the ass end around. Still wasn't perfect, but it worked ok. I am still trying to free up the back end this year with some changes.

Colin, you had 40-45 with the RE-01s? Were the higher pressures in the rear tires for better balance? The recent tire test reminds me of just how good the RE-01s are. I am now on the Kumhos, but the 195 RE-01s were right there with the 205s in the test. Nice sharp sidewalls too. Really a great tire. I just couldn't pass up trying the XSs.
John,

One thing to take into consideration with regards to Colin's tire pressures is that he drives a '07 STi, which doesn't rotate as well as an '04-'06. Obviously Colin made it work last year, but your '04 may not need as high rear pressures to get a similar result.

I have a pump 93 STU map and I run that as my reflash map and the street tune as the realtime. I then reflash the realtime before/after each event on site. I don't run the STU map on the street, but I could.

John,

One thing to take into consideration with regards to Colin's tire pressures is that he drives a '07 STi, which doesn't rotate as well as an '04-'06. Obviously Colin made it work last year, but your '04 may not need as high rear pressures to get a similar result.

That is very true! I wouldn't have to worry about half the stuff I do to my car if I have an 04-06.

That's why I picked up an '06, thanks to all of your feedback on the '07. Of course, it's still good enough to win so is it really that bad? :p

COBB has a base map "stock". Just run that and flash realtime stu and stg2.

That is very true! I wouldn't have to worry about half the stuff I do to my car if I have an 04-06.

I am happy I have an'04 except for:

1. 7.5" Wheels with 5 X 100 bolt pattern to weak hubs
2. Slower steering
3. Shorter gearing

WDCR Event #1 at Fed Ex Field on April 26th, 2009

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/EventsAX/SoloChampionship1/426Results/tabid/1595/Default.aspx

Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=56519300

That time was a 50.206 even with the screw up in the end. I know I had to have lost roughly a half second there, should have been in the 49's. Son of a @$$%%!!!

Results: I can't really complain though, I'll take the 1st place in STU and the early points lead. Also managed to finish 14 in PAX out of 232 and only 0.773 PAX seconds out of 1st place, my highest/closest PAX finish for a dry WDCR event. Very happy with how the day went!


Congrats, hope to see you soon to talk about it in person.

Artie

Thanks Artie! I should be by to pick up the new numbers in a week or two.

So any word on what RE-11 pressures worked for Ridgick and/or Cy at the Lincoln Pro?

Haven't heard yet, but I think the prevailing theme was that there was more understeer at Lincoln than at the usual Philly/DC sites. But don't quote me on that.

More than CBP!?!

No way! CBP is slippery. Lincoln is concrete.

As stated, don't quote me on that! I know Jeff Jacobs was definitely complaining about it.

Philly SCCA Event #2 at Citizen's Bank Park on May 24th, 2009

Results: http://www.phillyscca.com/solo2/results/2009/SO052409.shtml

Video: Philly Event #2 at CBP 5-24-09 Video by Luster - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=58336209@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@mys pace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@58336209

Well, it's been a LONG time since the last event, nearly an entire month. But man was it great to finally get back out again, and CBP and Philly Region are a great combination to get back in the swing of things. Not only is the lot fantastic, but the course was set up really well, the people are top notch, and the competition is amazing. Only wish I could run in Philly more often. But I digress.

I was really looking forward to this event, primarily since it was a chance to see how poorly I would do against Chuck Norris (aka, Corey Ridgick). Seeing as how he's kind of good and stuff, this would provide another good measuring stick. Among other STU notables at the event were Jake (s1mpsons), Iman (bdi), Adam Fuhs, and Cy Lee. Definitely some great STU competition.

And before we get too far into this, I'll list my excuses now: 1) first event in a month, 2) second event in the dry on the Stones, 3) first course I've run in the STi requiring 3rd gear (and subsequent downshifts). I think that should cover it.

The course we ran on Sunday was just absolutely amazing. It was a long higher speed course requiring shifts to 3rd in three spots, some critical braking zones, high/low speed sweepers, pretty much a little of everything and right around 70 second times (Thanks Andre!). I knew of at least one spot I would be in 3rd gear, but the other two spots I thought I could get away with 2nd. More on that later.

For my first run of the day I just wanted to get in a nice clean run on the books with a halfway decent time, as by know you've realized I have terrible cone issues. I even put a cone decal on the car thinking "if I'm always carrying a cone anyways, that should keep them away!" About 10 seconds into the run - crunch - yep, that was a cone. And on the slowest part of the entire course, just knocked it over with the rear tire. Of course this was unknown to me until after I finished the course. Finished the run with a 70.598 plus the one cone, and about 0.3s off of Corey in Raw time which was where I wanted to be. I could clean up that one cone.

Second run was just a disaster. Hit the same cone in the slow section again, then on the back side didn't look ahead, broke late, got REALLY far behind, hit another cone...and then just gave up. A 72.573 +2 was the rough result. Corey on the other hand improved down to a 69.741 including a nice slide, which would end up being his fastest time of the day.

Needed to get that clean one in now so I could really go for it on the 4th run. I was extra patient in the slow section and made sure I didn't hit that same cone. But what I failed to do was get through the next section of slaloms cleanly. Sure enough in the next to last slalom cone - splat - turned in just a little too soon. Now on my third run I was really picking up some good speed in the fast sections and banging all over the rev limiter in those spots. I figured I should have shifted, but wanted to see what I could do without it. End result was a 70.331 +1 so my Raw time came down, but I was still leaving a lot on course. Corey managed to run a slightly slower time with a +2 added on, his only dirty run of the day - one of the major differences between a top level driver and myself. Gotta work on that. In addition to Corey sitting at the top of the timesheets, Jake Namer came in on his third run improving by nearly a second down to a 70.129 clean to put him in second.

Time to put up or shut up and I needed a clean run. I spoke with Jake after our third runs and we discussed shifting. He mentioned that he was up/down shifting three times on course. I figured I was losing time in those spots, so lets see what happens. After being dirty all day I was a little extra careful in the turnaround and following slalom. If I was going to hit another cone, it wasn't going to be one of those! I then get to the first high speed section and shift to 3rd...definitely a huge improvement in speed! Hey, that actually worked! But now I needed to downshift, and that didn't really go so well. Downshifted while trying to brake/turn at the same time and got a little offline and late on the entry. Get to the next high speed spot and shift to 3rd...another vast improvement in speed! Dang it, that pesky downshifting again...and again I screwed it up and got a little offline and lost the speed I gained. Welcome to the life of the STi, gotta get used to that. Finished my final run CLEAN with a 70.661 putting me about 0.5s off of Jake and 0.9s off of Corey. I lost so much time with the poor downshifts and should have been right there. But at least I learned a lot that day, the question is whether or not I will retain it.

Final result: 3rd place in STU and 11th overall in PAX out of 174. Pretty good overall finish, but definitely left a lot out there. But I know that there's some good potential there to improve, just have to do it. And congrat to Iman (bdi) on his second rerun managing to Raw time Corey. Had it not been for that stupid cone (and sixth run to everyone else's four :p ) he would have taken the win. Great driving there, along with great driving from Jake! We're all going to have a great battle at the Finger Lakes Tour and the DC Pro next month.

Note to self: Learn to downshift correctly! Today was my lesson, so I learned something there. Also Sunday I learned that it pays to play with the car a little. I'm always afraid of changing the setup as I'm afraid of messing it up. But I played with the rear rebound and the car had a much more balanced feel. I need to remember to play with the car more. You'll never improve it if you never mess with it.

Next event is this coming weekend May 31st at Fed Ex Field with WDCR. Hopefully I can take what I've learned and add some more solid points for the season STU championship. Should be a good battle as Mike Neary has the new clutch in the Evo with about a month of driving on it, so should be a blast. Unfortunately there will be no video next month as my camera bit the dust this past weekend, hence the reason I don't have video at the moment (had to borrow a friend's camera). Hopefully by the FL Tour I should have something.


http://www.phillyscca.com/photogallery/albums/uploads/Bill_CBP_5_24/normal_IMG4893.jpg

You know what. I think the root of your cone problem is your black wheels! They are like black holes for cones. As you drive by them...the wheels attempt to suck in the cones, resulting in the cones getting knocked over.

Time for some gold wheels!!

Edit: Black Wheels

Replace: Gold Wheels

Done. :D

Nice driving Iman! ;)

How long does it take to edit some damn video?

Nice write up. Thanks for the nice words. Can't wait for Finger Lakes tour.

Iman on your last run did you shift 3 times? Shifting takes too long. I don't think evos were running out of gear out there. They definitely held 2nd. We def lost at least 1/2 a second to shifting alone.

Edit: Black Wheels

Replace: Gold Wheels

Done. :D

Nice driving Iman! ;)

:lol: That should just about do it!

Thanks Josh! I just hope we can all make noise at these Tours and Pro's coming up :devil:

Nice write up. Thanks for the nice words. Can't wait for Finger Lakes tour.

Iman on your last run did you shift 3 times? Shifting takes too long. I don't think evos were running out of gear out there. They definitely held 2nd. We def lost at least 1/2 a second to shifting alone.

I shifted to 3rd just twice. In the first straight and the last straight before the right hander going into the finish. I rode the rev limiter leaving the 'bowl' and through the 2 offset gates (I went to third there on my 3rd run and didnt feel like I picked up much speed there...I think maxq confirmed it). Plus there really wasnt a good place to shift back to second. Leaving it in 2nd there allowed me to better position the car I think.

When I drove Adams EVO, I hit the rev limiter in the last straight. I actually rode it for awhile and if I did another run I would have shifted to 3rd. I remember hearing Corey hit it there aswell.

All in all I think everyone was about equal in the tight stuff on this course (except for Chuck). It was the high speed stuff that made the difference. I noticed that setting the car up for the entry into those 3 high speed spots made a huge difference. Granted I got a few more runs at the course than everyone else except Yury (he had a few re-runs too) but I was late apex'n the right handers going into the 1st and 3rd straight big time and gained alot of speed at the end. I hit 65mph on the last straight. When I rode with Adam, he was really tight in all those spots and doing about the same in the tight stuff and look at the time difference. Food for thought I guess.

How long does it take to edit some damn video?

The editing part isn't hard, problem is that I don't actually have the video yet. Gotta pick it up from Aaron tomorrow. ;)

Jake, no thanks needed for the kind words...they were well deserved. You definitely drove quite well. Of course all those Englishtown road coarse autocrosses and plenty of downshift practice didn't hurt. :p

Now that I think about it a little more, Iman I think you're right that there were only two spots that needed the 3rd gear shift. Oh well, live and learn. Looking forward to this weekend though, should be a good battle with Mike.

Does my 04 have the same gearing as Imans 05 and your 06?

Does my 04 have the same gearing as Imans 05 and your 06?

Yup 04-06 have the same gearing. It was changed for 07.

Updated with video from 5/24 at CBP.

Philly Event #2 at CBP 5-24-09 Video by Luster - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=58336209@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@mys pace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@58336209

WDCR Event #2 at Fed Ex Field on May 31st, 2009

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/EventsAX/SoloChampionship2/531Results/tabid/1599/Default.aspx

Video: No working camera, no video :mad:


After taking the first place in STU at the first WDCR Event by a VERY slim 0.001s, it was time to try and see what I could do to try and extend that lead a little bit. Brian Hair, who finished 2nd at the last event, would not be driving the M3 in STU this week and is only planning a couple more events in the class due to wanting to drive a multitude of different cars. Mike Neary on the other hand was back in full force with a working clutch in the Evo. It was going to be a good battle.

After last week's downshifting disaster, I was hoping to get another chance to practice as I expect that I'll need to do some shifting at the FL Tour, and Nats for that matter. I got my wish on the Ian Baker designed course, with two stretches that were long/fast enough to get solidly into 3rd gear. Now to properly pick my downshift points.

First run went fairly well and the car felt great! Using the same rebound settings in the rear as last week, on the Fed Ex lot the car had a slight bit more oversteer primarily on the off-camber stuff...in a good way. It was a little looser on the first run than the subsequent three, but still felt great throughout. I think I've found my happy place with the car setup. But despite how good the car felt, the black hole generated by my rear black wheels came back and sucked in a cone coming down into the showcase turn (please see photo below). But it was the first run, so not too worried...yet. The good news was that my first run time was a 62.084 +1 which put me about 1.0s ahead of Mike in Raw time. I knew that wasn't going to last long.

On the second run I had Greg Olsen (who managed to top the PAX sheets on Sunday, with slightly wet conditions in the first heat) ride along with me and tell me what I sucked at and how the car felt. Interestingly, he thought the car felt good but needed a bit more oversteer...but I think that's more of a preference kind of thing. I definitely like a hint of understeer in the car. Before the run we discussed the whole shifting issue, where he convinced me (and I'm paraphrasing) that while 2nd might be "better" in a slower section right after the fast section that you need it, there may not be a good spot to downshift and therefore hold 3rd a little longer (especially if it's a speed maintence section) and downshift when you're under braking or in a very slow section. At least that's what I got out of it and it seemed to work...except that my second run time was actually slower than my first run. Finished with a 62.200 but clean and good enough to put me in 1st place! That is until Mike came through with a clean 62.174 shortly afterwards. I knew that gap wasn't going to hold.

After the feedback from Greg and feeling more comfortable with the shifting points, along with a better feel for the course, I knew it was time to put down my best run on my third shot at the course. Gotta get used to only having three runs in a couple of weeks, might as well start now. Everything on course felt great and it seemed like I hit most of my marks, at least as best as I could tell since I didn't have any video to review (stupid camera). I know I left time out there, but couldn't really tell you where. After giving it what I felt was all I had, I came across the line with a much improved 61.556 clean (two in a row) which was good enough for first in STU! That is until Mike came across the line shortly afterwards...again...with a slightly better time of 61.447 on his third run. Only a tenth back from first with one more run, but I had no idea where the time was at.

For the final run I decided to just try going balls to the wall and push as hard as I could everywhere I could to see if that would work. Yeah, it didn't. Managed to nail (not tip over) two cones on the way to an overdriven 61.985 +2. Mike, having heard over the radio that he had the win with my botched run, went all out on his last run to the tune of a 62.029 +2. But regardless, the win was his by a tenth, with Mike finishing 4th overall in PAX. Nice driving Mike!

Final result: 2nd place in STU and 6th overall in PAX out of 227. Finally, my first top 10 finish at a (dry) WDCR Event! Even though I finished 2nd on Sunday, I still hold the STU season series with 21 points to Mike's 19 points thanks to his 3rd place finish at the first event having to drive a borrowed car. Should be a great battle this year and looking forward to it.

Definitely happy overall with my performance and still have some things to work on, but going in the right direction. The wifey was kind enough to let me run with Autocrosser's Inc. at Fed Ex Field this weekend so I'll have one more event before the FL Tour and more practice on the Fed Ex lot before the DC Pro. I REALLY owe my wife for this one...5 weekends in a row, including a Tour and Pro. I wonder if she found a boyfriend and that's why she doesn't mind me being out...need to figure that one out. In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy all the coneage. :D

On a side note, I must say that I am absolutely loving this car and the STU class...what a frickin' blast! :banana:



So that's where that cone on the first run came from!

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3589098421_e06c20abb8_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3343/3589906492_7617dd85fe_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3589/3589099397_eeca3a2322_b.jpg

congrats man! :taco:

Gregs idea of leaving it in 3rd in the places he mentioned is a great idea in your car. You have the power to make it happen (i think i mentioned this when i drove your car back in march).

My car is much different in that regard right now...but that will change :devil:!!

Nice write-up Josh. You and Neary had an epic battle going on out there which was great to witness.

Looking forward to round 3 in July! :taco: :taco: :taco:

Or at least a round 2.5 this weekend at A.I. ;)

Greg had some good feedback and gave me some things to think about when planning downshifts. It seemed to work well, only wish I had video to show for it.

And nice battle yourself in BS! Remember, if you start beating him consistently he may stop paying for tires. :p

^ Ha ha. Nah, the fresh Hoosier crack will keep coming! We're actually working towards winning a few at the upcoming FL NT and DC Pro. Shawn and I both want the same thing - to trophy at Nats this year. The car is definitely capable and the set-up is damn near perfect right now - it's just up to the drivers.

I'll say this now - I fully expect you to be in the trophies at Nats Josh. Keep running times right there with Neary, Olsen, etc. and you'll have no problem bringing home wood! :devil:

Also, I need to give another HUGE thanks to everyone that helped in getting the car where it is now. It's been together for roughly months with roughly 6 events (2 wet, 3 dry on Stones) and the car just feels fantastic. I really can't believe how little I've had to tweak the car to make it feel right and do what I wanted to do. Others who have ridden/driven in it have said similar things. I really feel like from this point on I can really start focusing on my driving and not really have to worry about the car too much, which IMO is huge at this point of the season.


So with that, another big thanks to everyone:

-First off my wife Karen, for letting me spend the money and the time to do this silly thing we call autocross

-Hill, Annie, and the rest of the Agile Auto crew for their support with parts, tuning, and a lot of other work
-Myles at Racecomp Engineering for talking me into the T2's and for doing the work to provide a solid race setup right out of the box
-Iman (bdi) for letting me drive his car and getting bitten by the STi bug, along with all of his parts/setup advice
-Colin (pinkertonpunk) for answering a TON of questions involving which year STi to buy, suspension advice, and setup advice to random guy asking a ton of questions
-John (ButtDyno) for suspension/setup advice and for getting me started with codrives in his WRX last year
-JR (wrx wagone) for suspension/setup advice and many other questions
-Corey (Corey) - Cy Lee for their help on choosing the Stones and pressure advice
-Steve Snow at Bimmerworks.com for the tire shaving and other tire advice
-Everyone else I forgot to thank, sorry if I didn't call you out by name!

Seriously, this has been the most fun I have ever had autocrossing...EVER! I can't tell you how exciting this season has been so far and thanks to all of you guys for making it happen. It's nice not banging your head against the wall in a poorly designed FWD car in STX anymore. :D

I'll say this now - I fully expect you to be in the trophies at Nats Josh. Keep running times right there with Neary, Olsen, etc. and you'll have no problem bringing home wood! :devil:

Appreciate the kind words Chike, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves here. I think there's potential to do well, but that's as far as I'll go for now. Those top guys are consistent, clean (on course at least), and know how to drive well under pressure. I can put down some decent runs, but I know I'm lacking in those big three areas that are important at the top level and there are many guys in STU knocking at the door. That's also one of the things that really makes STU a blast, the competition. I'm loving it!

Appreciate the kind words Chike, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves here. I think there's potential to do well, but that's as far as I'll go for now. Those top guys are consistent, clean (on course at least), and know how to drive well under pressure. I can put down some decent runs, but I know I'm lacking in those big three areas that are important at the top level and there are many guys in STU knocking at the door. That's also one of the things that really makes STU a blast, the competition. I'm loving it!

Really enjoy the write ups as well. Always a fun read.

He is right though, if you keep putting down those times you will do well at Nationals. STU is a great class to run in. When I ran in STS it always seemed like there was some protest for something stupid. In a class like STU where people really could be throwing paper around since boost is one of those hard to police things, it is nice that no one really ever brings it up. Hope this contunues, it is just great fun at large events. Can't wait for Nationals myself and am still thinking about heading to Peru.

Really enjoy the write ups as well. Always a fun read.

Thanks Colin! I had my wife and her friend read my writeup last night, but unfortunately they didn't find it very entertaining...or very grammatically correct for that matter. :sadbanana:

STU is a great class to run in. When I ran in STS it always seemed like there was some protest for something stupid. In a class like STU where people really could be throwing paper around since boost is one of those hard to police things, it is nice that no one really ever brings it up. Hope this contunues, it is just great fun at large events.

Agreed. Between that and the "clarification", it's nice to see that everyone has decided to let their driving do the talking. I don't think any of the top guys would intentionally try to cheat either, so I would never think about protesting anyone. I think we're all adults here, tell me you have the stock boost tables, tell me you have your CEL's working, show me you have a cat, and lets go put down some times!



*goes to hide higher boost maps in STU tune*

:lol:

Thanks Colin! I had my wife and her friend read my writeup last night, but unfortunately they didn't find it very entertaining...or very grammatically correct for that matter. :sadbanana:



Agreed. Between that and the "clarification", it's nice to see that everyone has decided to let their driving do the talking. I don't think any of the top guys would intentionally try to cheat either, so I would never think about protesting anyone. I think we're all adults here, tell me you have the stock boost tables, tell me you have your CEL's working, show me you have a cat, and lets go put down some times!



*goes to hide higher boost maps in STU tune*

:lol:

It would be really nice to be able to run a high boost map....maybe we could beat ST raw times then.... :) My car put down 335ft/lbs at the wheels in high boost form, that would be nice. Only 288 ft/lbs in STU trim though. I just assume everyone else is being honest, I wouldn't ever protest someone for boost maps unless I knew for sure they were cheating.

Going to the AI event this weekend?

Yep, registered last night. Good thing too, I need as much practice as I can get before the Tour/Pro. You figure out how to drive those new tires yet? Didn't fully look at the Holbert results.

We were 7th and 13th overall I believe.

On day 2 I coned away an additional 1.3 seconds so I would have been more like 6th :unamused:

Nice! Hopefully Vitamvas and Olsen will be out as well for a good SS comparison. Any more Philly folks coming down? I haven't checked the entry list in a while.

Me and Jeff will be there. John V said he'd be there and I'm assuming Greg will go also.

Greg won pax at DC last week in John's vette and our setup is nearly identical so it should be a good test.

Autocrosser's Inc Event #4 at Fed Ex Field on June 7th, 2009

Results: http://www.autocrossersinc.org/uploads/2009_AI__4_Results.pdf

Video: No working camera, no video...again. :mad:


With last week's event ending up pretty succesfully, I was hoping to add to that momentum with some additional practice ahead of this weekend's Finger Lakes Tour. My highest PAX finish at WDCR and only a tenth behind Neary, last weekend was solid and finally I felt as if I was ready for the top competition at the tour. Boy did this weekend bring me back down to earth.

The course (Lee Piccione designed) was very interesting, with only one section requiring third gear...but man did you get deep into third gear. Through that particular section, I'm positive I reached at least 70mph before having to get hard on the brakes for the remainder of the course. More downshifting practice, although that wasn't the issue this weekend.

Mike Neary was on hand for the event, but running in the Pro class instead of STU, but since he was running in the same heat, the times would be comparable. I also had a co-driver, Shane (wrxwagon2be), who co-drove with me at the last A.I. event in the rain where I coned all 4 runs, allowing him to become the first person to beat me in my own car. Without the cone, I would have easily taken the win, so all I needed to do was stay clean and I would be good, right?

On the first run my goal was to figure out where the best spot was going to be for the downshift after the fast section. Easy enough, go out and get a solid first run and then start building on that. But unfortunately, the slalom was to be my enemy today. I believe I hit the third cone in the slalom on this run, but the raw time was solid. Finished with a 61.575 +2 compared to a 62.9 from Shane and a 63.2 from Mike. Just clean it up.

Now that I felt more comfortable with the course, it was time to attack. I ended up banging the rev limiter in a few sections I wasn't expecting, so I was going faster than before. Get to the slalom and *thud* there goes the first cone in the slalom. Another dirty run, this time down to a 61.454, faster by a little, but not much. Where was I giving back the time I gained? Shane finished with a 62.0 run, but dirty, and Mike finished with a 62.0 clean. I can do this.

On the third run I asked Mike to ride along with me and let me know if he saw any opportunites for improvement. Also really needed a clean one, but unfortunately that first slalom cone bit me again. Knowing it was dirty anyways, I got a little too aggressive at the finish and hit another cone, but surely my raw time had to improve right? Well, not really. Finished with a 61.474 +2, but at least I'm consistent. Shane finishes with a 61.555 clean and is putting solid pressure on for the fourth run, with Mike finishing with a 61.8 +2 (thanks to me riding along and screwing me up, not to mention still running old Dunlops).

And can I just say, I realize even more this weekend that I suck under pressure. I start to think and worry, and this is dangerous. It makes you timid, safe, careful...at least it does to me. After promising Karen Krauss that I was NOT going to cone all 4 runs again, I made sure that I didn't. But it came at the cost of a ton of time. I wasn't dirty, but the time pretty much sucked - a 62.540 which put me in 3rd in STU (4th if you count Mike in Pro). To add insult to injury, Shane decides to show me exactly how to drive my own car, this being only his second event driving the car. Shane finished with a 60.987 for the day that was clean on paper, but dirty in that the cone he hit, witnessed by all, was never called in. But despite the cone, it was one helluva drive. I couldn't improve my times all day, yet he just kept dropping time constantly. Mike finished with 61.714 clean on the old Dunlops, but managed to get down to a 60.9 in afternoon fun runs on brand new shaved Dunlops. I can only imagine that when those Dunlops are heat cycled, he'll be dropping a lot more time. Great driving by Shane!

Result: 3rd place in STU of 10 and 15th in PAX out of 147. With Shane's "clean" run, he finished 2nd in PAX against some very solid competition, so the at least that tells me the car is good, just need to fix the driver. In Finger Lakes this weekend, I really need to get a solid clean run in early. I can be fast in early runs, but need to keep it clean. And then learn how to improve in areas where I'm losing time. I've borrowed a video camera for this weekend, so that should help.

Oh yeah, I forgot to list my excuses. I think I suck even more when having people ride along and/or co-driving. This weekend I had both. Ride alongs on all but my second run, and then the co-driving. I think it takes me out of my routine a bit and keeps me from concentrating. At least that's what I'm going with for now, I'm sure I'll come up with something more creative after this coming weekend.


This is me being angry at the coneage I think...evidenced by the cone mark just below the space between the "3" and the "S". And also shows Shane's inability to properly place the "1" on the side of the car. :lol:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3326/3606714474_fca9115e46.jpg?v=0

What's the deal with your camera?

Find me at DC and I'll let you borrow my new one for some HD action :p

Thanks, I would be up for that!

The camera is completely caput for the moment. At the CBP event I had it turned on and as I twisted it into place, everything just went black. Kind of like it has a dead battery and nothing works, period. I think some circuit board or wire from the power source just needs to be fixed inside the camera, but I'm not smart enough to do that. Should get it fixed soon hopefully, but I at least have one to use for the FL Tour and DC Pro.

Finger Lakes National Tour at Seneca Army Depot on June 13th/14th, 2009

Results: http://scca.com/popup/raceresult.aspx?event=13672&file=636

Day 1 Video: Finger Lakes National Tour 2009 Day 1 Video by Luster - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=59070094@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@mys pace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@59070094

Day 2 Video: Finger Lakes Tour 2009 Day 2 Video by Luster - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=59070222@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@mys pace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@59070222


This past weekend I drove up to Romulus, NY for the Finger Lakes National Tour, my first national event of the year. While the STU competition at the FL Tour included many of the same guys I compete with regionally, it's amazing how mental an NT event can be, especially when you're at your second ever NT. I was hoping that after last year's debacle in STX at my first NT event at Devens, I could now focus on driving and getting things done. I was hoping to keep the nerves at bay, especially considering how mentally rattled I felt last year. Don't think too much, just drive.

We arrived at the site around 11:30am or so, leaving us plenty of time to get a spot, set up, get teched, and get some T&T runs. I ran the T&T on my damper settings from the last A.I. event, and quickly found that the surface was extremely slick...I spun the car after two turns of the wheel, and I have yet to spin the car this year (or even come close). So I turned the rebound down two clicks in the rear and the car felt decent. Bumped it back up one, and nearly spun the car again, so I dropped it back down. While many had said that the T&T surface was slicker than what we would be racing on, I decided to leave them where the were in fear of spinning it out in my first competition run. Of course, this would cause me some problems later.


Day 1 Competition

After walking the course about 10 times, I still felt like I just didn't "get it". I wasn't really seeing the line and how to maximize time throughout the course. I had the course easily memorized, but didn't really think how to really drive it. My lack of running airport style courses I feel was my downfall here. Either way, it was time to try and figure it out the hard way.

With all the cone troubles I've been having lately, I really concentrated on trying to get a clean one in right off the bat, hoping it would improve my confidence a little and take out some of those mental distractions that come with needing a good, clean run. The course drove okay, but I still didn't really like it, and didn't like how I was driving it. Finished the first run with a 59.567 clean, but definitely not fast. Corey ran a 57.682 on his first (and best) run. Clearly I was missing something here. After first runs I sat somewhere in the middle to the back of the pack. I could easily improve at that one.

Now that I had a clean run in the bag, it was time to be aggressive and push for a good run. But in my aggressiveness, I pushed a little too hard and was late getting into a lot of sections, and also managed to hit a cone in the process. Many of the other STU competitors though were dropping time, putting me somewhere near the back of the pack since I was now sitting on that first run. Not that my second run was any better, a 59.433 +1. Whatever it was, I just didn't get this course and I couldn't see it. It never felt right. I had Simmons watch my video to see if he could find anything, and he did point out that I was late a lot, so I tried to concentrate on that piece.

After not really improving any time on that second run, I was feeling a little dejected and frustrated. Screw it, just drive. Look ahead, push it, and see what happens. At some point on course I must have kind of figured it out, finishing with a clean 58.392, dropping roughly 1.2s and pushing me into the 4th and final trophy spot for the day. Cy Lee had the chance to knock me out of the trophies and put himself in 2nd place, but unfortunately a cone took it away...a real bummer for Cy after some great driving.

So after Day 1, Corey led the way with his 57.6, with Anthony Defiore about 0.4s back, and then Adam Fuhs, myself, Matt Colburn, and Jake Namer each about a tenth off of each other. I was roughly 0.25s behind Anthony, so I had at least put myself into contention for Day 2.


Day 2 Competition

After reviewing the Day 1 video, it was apparent that I was late on a lot of cones. But I didn't really feel like I was that late in my head when I was trying to turn in, but the car was just pushy everywhere. Setting up for the practice course was definitely the wrong thing to do. But again, I wasn't going to throw away my first run of the day with a spin, so I left it alone for now.

The Day 2 course, while mostly being just a backwards version of the Day 1 course with some tweaks, was MUCH better than the previous day. And during course walks for Day 2, the course just clicked - I could see the line. It was then that I really realized how much not running any airport courses was hurting me, but thankfully I had found it now and it was time to make a charge on Day 2.

On the first run, I had every intention of trying to get a clean run in. It wouldn't be my fastest, but it needed to be clean...and I got what I went for, a clean and slow run of 56.325. Corey killed the course on his first run with a 54.809 and giving himself a very solid two day lead that would be hard to reach. But nonetheless, 2nd was still very attainable.

The car had still felt pushy, so I decided to increase the rebound a click in the rear...and let me tell you, it made all the difference in the world. This is what it should have been like the day before, rotation on turn in with just a very slight hint of understeer...just the way I like it. And it paid off too, until I botched the final offset slalom section. Going into the last section I remember thinking to myself, "the car feels great, the run feels great, don't screw this up". And that didn't happen. Got too tight in the initial slalomish piece, got late on the offset, and lost a ton of speed. Finished the second run clean with a 56.415, so no help. But with a better finish I could have dropped a lot of time.

At this point, there were a lot of others who were having issues as well. Anthony was sitting on a 57.xx after overshooting a section on his first run causing a DNF, Adam was sitting on two coned runs, and Matt was having some issues as well. But on the flip side, Jake and Cy were putting up some fantastic runs to bump them up from 6th/7th place into 2nd/3rd after two runs, leaving me somehow still in the 4th trophy spot. But we all had one more run to go.

As I'm coming up towards the line for my final run, I hear over the radio that Adam put down a solid, clean run to vault him up into 2nd place, bumping Jake, Cy, and myself down a spot and putting me out of the trophies. It was now or never. Knowing the car felt good, I went out and just tried to drive and try staying as early as I could. And it paid off in a big way, dropping roughly a second and finishing with a 55.439 and up into 2nd place! As excited as I was, there were still plenty of others that could still knock me down. And sure enough, Jake came through shortly afterwards with a smoking 54.625, the fastest time on Day 2, despite actually running over a cone that somehow managed to pop back up in place and stay within the box. Nice job Jake! But luckily for me, neither Matt nor Anthony could find any time on their last runs, both knocking over cones to solidify my 3rd place finish!

Results: 3rd Place in STU out of 11 and 46th PAX of 234. Needless to say, I'm very ecstatic with the 3rd place finish and my first NT trophy. But I'm continually amazed at how mental autocross can be at the national level, and you see it in the quality of the runs put down so early by Corey. The final runs I put down on each day should have come by at least my second run, but I was too worried about coning and getting in that clean run that I just didn't really drive. Gotta step that up earlier next time. But at the same time, from a mental perspective, I still ended up in the position of needing a fast run on my last attempt on both days, and came out both times with solid run when I needed it. Not only that, but I was clean on 5 of 6 runs, nearly doubling my number of clean runs for the year. There's still plenty of work to do, but I'm encouraged by the slight progress...even though Corey did beat me by 1.3s for the weekend. :sadbanana:

The D.C. Pro is coming up this weekend, so time for a rematch with all of the same STU competition (plus a few more), and looking forward to having some great fun, no matter how the results end up!

http://www.solopix.flr-scca.com/panda_image_gallery/galleries/minibeetle_0.37339900_1245106273/IMG_2035.jpg
http://www.solopix.flr-scca.com/panda_image_gallery/galleries/minibeetle_0.83571500_1245107871/IMG_2555.jpg

As always, nice post. My friend took second in BS due to a cone.

Rob Carpenter was telling me how mental a sport it can really be. He said that he doesn't try for a safe clean run off the bat because it can be like throwing a run away. And you don't get many chances. He really tries to go out on his first run and put up a time that will make you think you can't catch him and it really gets mental and screws with your head. Seems like Corey has mastered this technique.

Within the next two years I hope to be getting to events like this. I ran with Jake at CART this year and he and his codriver were very good competition in the STU STI. He took first when a courseworker didn't call in a cone on his fastest run, giving me second. :unamused:

Rob Carpenter was telling me how mental a sport it can really be. He said that he doesn't try for a safe clean run off the bat because it can be like throwing a run away. And you don't get many chances. He really tries to go out on his first run and put up a time that will make you think you can't catch him and it really gets mental and screws with your head. Seems like Corey has mastered this technique.


100% completely agree. You will also see some people hit a cone early and then run over a bunch of cones at the end to get a really fast raw time and turn some heads. If your not paying attention and you here a time thats a full second faster w/ cones, it can really screw with your mental focus.

You will also see some people really try to put a fast time down during the practice runs on friday for a mental edge.

My friend took second in BS due to a cone.
Yeah, and I took 3rd in BS just 0.005 behind your friend! :furious:

Autocross is a very mental game. I choked on my first run on day 1, but on my five other runs on the weekend, I held nothing back. You definitely have to go for broke out there. That's the beauty of national competition and why I'll drive almost 18 hours to go to Lincoln, NE this Fall. :devil:

After reviewing the Day 1 video, it was apparent that I was late on a lot of cones. But I didn't really feel like I was that late in my head when I was trying to turn in, but the car was just pushy everywhere. I watched the videos before reading your write-up and the first thing I thought while watching was, "wow, it really seems like it's so pushy through every turn in. I thought he had his car set up fairly well, maybe it just looks/sounds like it on the video." Even day two seemed like it could have turned in better, but then I prefer a pretty loose car. ;)

- Rufus

Josh,

Nice meeting you this weekend. Good job keeping yourself in contention Saturday and putting together a fastastic Sunday!

...I was hoping to keep the nerves at bay, especially considering how mentally rattled I felt last year. Don't think too much, just drive...Quoting this because I still haven't come to grips with the mental aspect of autocross. Despite being extremely competitive locally in STU (against Anthony, Hank, and Matt all who had great times at FL, and the 1st and 2nd place BS drivers), when it comes to National events I seem to completely forget how to drive.

Of course, I went into it with a totally different mind set - playing it WAY safe rather than going all out and backing off as necessary. In hindsight, should have swung for the fences from the start. I talked with my friend (2nd place BS driver) and came to the conclusion that when I go to National events I put a lot of pressure on myself and get taken off of "my" game and end up not being "me".

Sorry for the digression. Only bringing this up because I think it's an important aspect of autocross. Might be helpful for people reading along.

Again, good job Josh,
Justin
(Parked next to you in grid)

Junior woodchuck opinion: Watching the video of your day 2 run it looked like you were a little late at the entry of the first 2 slaloms, and didn't straightline the beginning of the final quasi-slalom as much as you could have. Nice catch at the end though :)

It is amazing how all the little things are so damned important. I am having all these epiphanies now that I wish I had had years ago.

Regardless, nice work! You stepped up your cone avoidance when you needed it most, very clutch.

<- shudders to think how bad his video is going to look :( "late, late, behind, bah"

crap wrong thread...

:unamused:

Sorry, I had this and the autox videos thread opened and posted in the wrong one.

It's cool, Josh doesn't mind.

I want that minute of my life back...

You will also see some people hit a cone early and then run over a bunch of cones at the end to get a really fast raw time and turn some heads. If your not paying attention and you here a time thats a full second faster w/ cones, it can really screw with your mental focus.


Huh, never thought about that. That is kind of evil. :devil:

I watched the videos before reading your write-up and the first thing I thought while watching was, "wow, it really seems like it's so pushy through every turn in. I thought he had his car set up fairly well, maybe it just looks/sounds like it on the video." Even day two seemed like it could have turned in better, but then I prefer a pretty loose car.

I probably could have loosened it up more, but then I felt I would run the risk of spinning it, as I nearly did near the finish. I tend to be a little jerky/aggressive with my turning in slaloms, so where it was felt like a good balance for me, but not necessarily the "best" setup that could have been on the car. I really did lose out though on Day 1 though by not adjusting anything. Goes back to the mental aspect of things, I never really thought about touching the car and couldn't evaluate things as well as I should have in "real time". It wasn't until after Day 1, watching the videos, that I thought that perhaps I should adjust something. Another lesson learned.

Nice meeting you this weekend. Good job keeping yourself in contention Saturday and putting together a fastastic Sunday!


Nice to meet you guys as well! Had a good time being in grid next to you guys, too bad about Matt's Day 2...we had a nice Day 1 battle! Seems like you have the car to get it done, just needs some newer tires...and oh yeah, that mental thing we keep talking about. I do think next time I'm going to try and be more aggressive off the bat as well. At local events, I usually knock out a really fast time on my first run (usually a coned run), and then perhaps improve on it slightly. This weekend was WAY different than how most events go...for good and bad I guess.

Junior woodchuck opinion: Watching the video of your day 2 run it looked like you were a little late at the entry of the first 2 slaloms, and didn't straightline the beginning of the final quasi-slalom as much as you could have. Nice catch at the end though

It is amazing how all the little things are so damned important. I am having all these epiphanies now that I wish I had had years ago.

Regardless, nice work! You stepped up your cone avoidance when you needed it most, very clutch.

<- shudders to think how bad his video is going to look "late, late, behind, bah"

Thanks for the feedback John. Slaloms are not my favorite. Lots of work to do there, among other things.

I'm not sure yet if I would call that "clutch", or if it was just "safe". Somewhere in between perhaps.



Thanks for the commentary guys, it's much appreciated...except for Matt's digression posting in the wrong thread. :p

D.C. Pro Solo at Fed Ex Field on June 21-22, 2009

Results: http://scca.com/popup/raceresult.aspx?event=13628&file=743

Video: DC Pro Solo 2009 Video by Luster - MySpace Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=59478290@@AMEPARAM@@mediaservices@@AMEPARAM@@mys pace@@AMEPARAM@@services/media/embed@@AMEPARAM@@aspx/m@@AMEPARAM@@59478290


The DC Pro Solo - I must say, this is one of my favorite events every year. The Pro Solo format is just a blast, tons of great drivers always come out, and it's close to home. No matter what the results of the event, it's always a great time hanging out and meeting everyone that you don't see often. This year was looking to be even more enjoyable as I am no longer driving a FWD car at a Pro. This time I wouldn't have roughly 0.8s-1.0s to try and make up on course after losing that time at the start. And with my newly added launch control, this was going to be fun.

On Friday I took the day off of work and went down to Fed Ex early. I wanted to get a decent paddock spot as well as get in some practice starts, get teched, and registered early so that I could be relaxed for the day. Oh yeah, and I was working Tech...one of the best jobs, especially when they're calling for rain during the weekend. That would pay off dramatically as the most rain was seen during Heat 1 on both days...the heat that I would have been working course. Not to mention it allows you to just hang out and enjoy the event, only worrying about your runs. Very nice.

Practice starts went well, pulled in some safe low .6xx's with a .5xx thrown in. This was my first time doing drag race style launches and the first time using LC on the car. All in, things went well and I found that LC is like crack at a Pro...it just makes life so much easier at the line, especially when the start is on a hill and you have to worry about holding the ebrake. Fun stuff.

For the weekend, the STU class was stacked...but that's pretty much the case for any event near the Philly/DC area and most of the same crew from last weekend's FL Tour: Corey, Cy, Anthony, Jake, and Yury, along with some guys who missed the Tour, Mike Neary and Martin Kriz. Unfortunately Matt and Justin didn't make it down, could have made for a much more interesting event. Adam Fuhs had planned to make it down, but apparently the Veto Committee nixed that idea. It's okay Adam, I understand. But either way, 11 competitors in class and enough fast drivers to make the weekend a blast!

The course for the weekend favored sweepers and high speed stuff with minimal cones, but some interesting visuals through the crossover/double gate. And despite being "mirror" courses, they both drove very differently...especially coming down and into the crossover. I was lucky enough to get some course walk time with Tony Savini and Corey, a huge help in reminders to look ahead and also course analysis. There's a reason these guys are Evo instructors.


Saturday Morning Runs

With the threat of showers/storms all weekend, it was destined to rain on us at some point. Saturday morning brought some torrential downpours during the first heat, including lightning that delayed the event by roughly an hour. And to add to the fun of the weekend, the shot clock was broken and manual starts would be the standard for the weekend. All combined, this would mean that my "morning" runs would begin roughly around 2pm or so. But luckily by 2pm, STU was able to run in dry(ing) conditions which weren't too bad.

I started out on the right side (as I would all weekend somehow), and found that there was plenty of reasonable grip out there, despite the slight wet. During course walks it seemed as if 3rd gear may be needed, but due to the wet conditions and first runs on the course, I decided that leaving it in 2nd would be the best choice. First run on the right finished with a 31.288, a halfway decent first run that I knew could get better. On my first run on the left side, I tried driving it similarly to the left as far as speed and aggressiveness went, but the grip was just not anywere near the levels of the right side. Finished with a 34.447 on the left, and with the first two runs down, I was only about a tenth off of Corey.

Time for second runs. Knowing there was plenty of grip on the right side and getting the initial jitters out of the way, I pushed the car much harder. Banged the limiter going up the hill and coming through the crossover - mental notes that 3rd gear may be used later. Finished the right side clean with a 30.647, the fastest clean right side time for the morning session (Neary ran a dirty 30.5xx). Unfortunately, I tried to drive the left side as hard as I drove the right side, not thinking about the fact that grip was severely lacking over there. This caused me to go into a couple of the turnarounds way too hot, causing the car to push and having to really wait for it to finally bite so I could get back on the gas, resulting in a time of 34.110, about 0.7s off of Corey's left side time, and one of the slowest left side times of the session. Luckily I had the right side time helping me out quite a bit.

After Saturday morning runs, I was lucky enough to be sitting in 2nd place about 0.6s off of Corey and 0.3s ahead of Jake (who had fuel starve after being too low on gas - a lesson that would be learned later). But the courses were really starting to dry out, and lets be honest: you don't win anything on Saturday morning. But it was at least encouraging, especially considering how much time I knew I could get on the left side.


Saturday Afternoon Runs

Thanks to the morning delay and the manual starts, our afternoon runs began sometime in the 6:30-7pm timeframe with a setting sun placing the shadows of the stadium halfway across the right side course. But hey, at least we didn't drive with our headlights on as some others did with the last car finishing around 8:45pm or so. What a long day, along with a disastrous afternoon.

Sitting in 2nd after the morning session, I felt comfortable and confident that I could compete with Corey, Mike, and Jake for that top spot. Time to go out and get it done. But my laziness was going to come out to bite me. After Jake had fuel starve issues, I looked at my gas gauge and thought, "Should I get gas? Nah, I'll be alright. The light's not on and I have about an 1/8th tank of gas. I've run before with no issues, I'll be fine." Why can I not heed a warning? I go out for my first run on the right side, pushing the car hard, and then making the left to come down the hill I push the gas, but with no oomph behind it. Luckily, it was only for a second and the power came right back, finishing the right side with a 30.248 - which unfortunately would be my fastest right side time.

Now that I was a little worried about fuel starve, I stopped thinking about the course and what I needed to do. I try shifting into 3rd gear going up the hill after the start, which gains some additional speed. The problem is that I didn't shift back into 2nd when I needed to, the car bogged getting back on the gas, downshift to 2nd, build up too much speed through the "slalom", and then proceed to push WAY out towards the wall and run right into a cone. So being that this is a Pro, I wanted to save the tires for my next two runs and gave up on this one.

Second run on the right side was a disaster thanks to fuel starve - only on hard left hand turns as I came to find out. Fuel starve making the left after the uphill run, after making the left to come down the hill, and making the high speed left into the crossover. Still finished with a 30.692 despite the fuel starve, but still not faster and now it was REALLY in my head. And it showed on my second left hand run. I left it in 2nd going up the hill so I wouldn't screw up the downshift, managed to make the turn going down the hill, but alas didn't look ahead enough. I was driving the left side line similar to how you needed to drive the right side, but that doesn't work. Turned in to the crossover and there was no chute to drive through...only a wall of cones - clunk, clunk - there's two more cones. And after that, I gave up the run...although if I had been thinking, I could have just drove through the rest of the course, perhaps knock over a couple more cones, and lay down a really fast RAW time. But I'm sure the course workers wouldn't have been too happy about that. My left side was done and I was sitting on an already slow left side run from the morning...not good. And of course now I was excessively pissed, my video recorded a few choice words and perhaps a thrown helmet somewhere in there.

I seem to remember writing something about this sport being extremely mental - I lost sight of that Saturday afternoon. Now that I was sitting in 7th place, I needed to focus more and get it done on Sunday. Assuming it would be dry, it would be a make or break day for everyone.


Sunday Morning Runs

After driving home on Saturday night after a long day, I watched over the video of my morning runs trying to see where I could gain time. Unfortunately for the left side I only had my morning runs to watch and get it in my head to drive the left side crossover much differently than I had the right. I even walked that section of the course around 5-6 times to get it into my head. On the right side, I knew I needed to shift into 3rd coming through the crossover...it was just too fast to leave it in 2nd. I knew I should shift to 3rd on the left side going up the hill, but I needed a halfway decent time - didn't want to worry about screwing up the shift. I had a game plan, time to execute.

Knowing I had a fairly decent right side time, I wasn't as worried about it, but I knew I could pick up a few tenths. I go up the hill, bang the limiter in 2nd, come through the slalom, down the hill, shift to 3rd, and I've got some good speed. Got a pretty clean down shift making the right towards to finish, but in my excitement at how well the run was going, I turned in too early for the finish and almost immediately after getting turned in realized I was going to destroy the finish cone. I get completely off the gas and barely miss them and finish with a 30.387, about a tenth off of the previous day. With a decent finish on that side, a 30.0/29.9 was possible and right there with the top guys.

On the left side, I NEEDED a halfway decent run, something to sit on that wasn't a 34.1 and that would put me in the ballpark so that I could go all out on my last run. As planned, I left it in 2nd going up the hill, but it was safe. Coming down towards the chute, I was looking ahead and waiting patiently to see it open up. I get back on the gas, make the left coming down the hill (not as tight as I should have been), and come flying down to the finish banging the limiter. As this was my first time driving this section in the dry, I wasn't completely aware of how fast it was. Next time, 3rd gear at the finish. But despite the lack of shifting, I got a clean, decent run on the left (finally) with a 32.770.

After that decent left side run, I was now sitting in the 4th and final trophy spot, but still a decent amount of the leaders. It was go fast time. Except that this is where it gets really mental, those final runs, and where I made some critical decision making mistakes. For my final right side run, I decided to hit 3rd going up the hill, and consequently broke way too hard and got back into 2nd late. The rest of the run was decent, but the time wasn't there after that mistake - a 30.332. Should have left it in 2nd and I knew it, but was hoping that it would allow me to pick up time, but to no avail.

Final run on the left side, and after the right side 3rd gear shifting debacle, I decide not to shift into 3rd going up the hill. But the reality was that you needed to do it on the left side, while the right side didn't really give you anything. Another mental breakdown. But despite that, the run was going decently, hit the chute quickly, but unfortunately broke too late and pushed out too wide for the left hander going towards the finish and lost time. I did manage to shift into 3rd coming down the hill and gaining some speed, netting me a time of 32.731 - my fastest left hand side, but no where near the 32.0xx times the top guys were running on the left. For whatever reason, I just couldn't get it down. But fortunately for me, Cy couldn't get the left side right either. With a 30.046 on the right side, a run of 32.8xx would put him in the final trophy spot. Luckily he couldn't pull it out, keeping me in the final 4th trophy spot for the weekend!


Final Thoughts/Results

Results: 4th and final trophy spot in STU, 39th of 227 in Pro Index, and 30th of 227 in PAX index. As last weekend, I'm happy with where I finished for the weekend, happy that was able to pull out what I needed for that placing when I needed to, but still disappointed that I wasn't as fast as I should have been. The STU battle was something fierce, with Corey beating Jake by 0.001s!!! And to add to that, Mike Neary was 0.026s behind Jake. Wow, what a battle between those guys. I just wish I could have driven a little better so that I could have been in the mix. But those guys drove fast when they needed to with minimal mistakes, while I just couldn't put it all together in a single run as needed. I finished 0.877 seconds out of Corey's first place time, knowing I easily left a few tenths on both sides that I should have been able to pick up. Would have been nice to have been a few tenths out of the lead rather than nearly a second, but that's what happens when you don't get it done.

I have again learned a lot, especially spending the weekend hanging out with and talking to some of the best drivers in the country. There's still a ways to go and plenty to learn, but I feel as if I'm getting in the ballpark. I'm very happy with my first trophy positions at a Tour and Pro, but I also don't want to rest on those accomplishments. Here's to more practice, awareness, and improvement in the future...definitely could use a couple of Evo schools. ;)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3652358059_215bc9887c.jpg?v=0

Didn't read the whole thing but I wanted to warn you that every single STI I know that has used launch control has blown up their engine......just warning you!

-Colin

So I've heard. Only Pro I'm doing this year, so no plans to use it again anytime soon.

The thing wrong with that last pic is the excursion's not hogging in on your paddock space.

I'm sorry about that by the way......it is all about me though!!!:p

Launch control is a very violent thing. Subaru motors are sort of soft. Be careful. They will detect knock and pull timing if you bounce the launch control limiter more than just a touch.

The benefits of launch control are two-fold:
1) consistent RPM for launching
2) positive manifold pressure

Personally, I could do without the second part (the part that kills motors).

Yeah, that was well before you got there and just took over the whole place. :p


LC will more than likely not be used in the future.

I'm sorry about that by the way......it is all about me though!!!:p

Greg, don't be sorry... just like you told me at the site, he's got to EARN his paddock space. A person of your skill can just park wherever you want. :devil:

Good read Josh.

Corey #89 STU

So happy you didnt mention me anywhere in that write up! Will make it much easier to totally erase it from my memory :(

bdi,

You cant expect to be competitive with those old tires. I snapped a pic of them in impound at the end of the event...

http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/~panos/corded_yoko.jpg

Greg, don't be sorry... just like you told me at the site, he's got to EARN his paddock space. A person of your skill can just park wherever you want. :devil:

Good read Josh.

Corey #89 STU

QFT :lol:


Thanks Corey!

My submission for SoloLOL. :D

http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/86/l_cf7d6e8ca0984bd6b2ad01e3e516f343.jpg

WDCR Event #3 at Fed Ex Field on July 12, 2009

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/CurrentResultsAX/tabid/309/ctl/ViewResults/mid/1008/Eventid/3729/Default.aspx - Must login to view.


Not really sure I should even post this, but here it goes. I have to say that I just wasn't that into it on this particular Sunday. After the 3 week break, a long weekend including a driving trip to Kentucky, being out all day and running in the last heat, I was in one of those "whatever" kind of moods. I also need to get my video camera fixed or get a new one. Watching my runs helps keep me focused and figure out where I suck. But anyways.

First run went fairly well, except I left it in 2nd gear for the entire run just to see how bad it would be...3rd would definitely be needed. I hit the only cone you could hit before going into the 180 at the top right of the hill. I could have missed it, but figured I would push it and see if I could squeak by it since it was only the first run, but hit it and managed a 53.119 +1.

Second run I tried 3rd gear after the showcase, which worked well, but I just pushed too hard and pushed pretty wide right before the last cone in that the sort of a slalom section. Then I left it in 2nd for the rest of the run, finding out that I needed 3rd coming down the hill through the gates...that was actually much faster than I expected. I have no idea where I hit a cone, but oh well...a 53.045 +1. I still have two more.

On my 3rd run I took Myles from Racecomp for a ride. He's not exactly a small man, and while I'm sure it made a difference to how the car handled to a certain extent, I still should have driven better. Coming down into the showcase turn the car got a little unexpectedly squirrely. Then I just overdrove the 180's. Again, I don't know where the cone on this run came from, and finished with a 53.356 +1.

Now on my last run, I was finally focused, knew what I wanted to do, and was ready to knock out a solid run and take this thing. Then coming up the hill after the showcase I shifted to third and the car bogged...I had found 5th instead. So I quickly shifted back to 3rd, got out of whack, somehow managed to stay on course, then downshift back down to 2nd for the right hander to finish going up the hill. At this point I figured my run was done and I thought I had hit a cone somewhere. But after that whole section, I drove the downhill and the 180's exactly the way I wanted. Knowing I had to make up time for my screwup, and assuming I had already hit a cone through that bad shift, I pushed really hard into the finish and nailed two cones. It was only afterwards that I found out the run was clean up to that point, finishing that one with a 53.131 +2. That run was really frustrating though because I know without the bad shift throwing me off that I could have been in the mid-52's and taken the win. But alas, no clean runs put me in 7th place in STU and 69th in PAX of 233 (right behind John in 68th :p). But at least we get to drop two events, so it will just put more pressure on me to not suck in the future, if I can step it up.

Looks like three more events to go and then Nationals. I really need to get a video camera soon and I'm also looking to get the car corner balanced and aligned again. I think I'm going to increase the front camber from -3.2 to -3.5 to try and get a little bit more bite out of the front. We'll see how it goes.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3479/3716187020_fa0ee29507.jpg?v=0

I have a camera that you can use for the Aug 2 event if you want it.

Let me know how that front camber works out for you.

Let me know how that front camber works out for you.

So important that you asked twice? :lol:

I forget, where are you at? I seem to remember you being at -3.0f/-2.0r? I'll let you know, but I think it will help.

I have a camera that you can use for the Aug 2 event if you want it.

Thanks! I'll let you know if I need it, but I really just need to buy a new one. Had a friend look at the old one and it appears to be toasted. Held up well for nearly 5 years though, all autocross use.

WDCR Event #4 at Fed Ex Field on August 2nd, 2009

Results: http://www.wdcr-scca.org/SoloAutocross/CurrentResultsAX/tabid/309/ctl/ViewResults/mid/1008/Eventid/3731/Default.aspx - Must log in to view

At this event, I was on the verge of utter frustration and disappointment. After coning all 4 runs last event (with three of those runs capable of winning the class), and then a bad start at this event, I was about ready to give up.

The course was fantastic and fast, but for the morning heats we were left driving in the wet. The morning also included an hour+ stoppage due to lightning, including a strike that hit in the adjacent parking lot. Not a good start to the day. And because of the stoppage, we were down to only 3 runs...good practice for Nationals at least.

To add more to the event, apparently Neary has been running on a bad alignment all year, with not nearly enough negative camber in the front and bad toe. All that was fixed for this event and it seemed to show after only the first run.

On my first run I was just trying to figure out how much grip was out there and get comfortable with the course...and not hit cones. I thought I was way off of everything, but apparently hit something at station 1 somehow. Time was a 57.221, but it wouldn't matter since Neary pulled out a 55.519 +1. After I spoke with him we (well, him mostly) determined that there was quite a bit of grip out there and we just needed to push it harder. With a nearly two second lead after first runs, I would say he was right.

Second run I just went for it. I needed to really drop some time. The whole run felt great, and then I got to the "Luster Slalom" (thus named due to it's proximity to the wall and my near encounter with ButtDyno's car last year) and managed to nick the second slalom cone. Couldn't have been by much, I didn't really hear anything. Finished with a 55.287 and only 0.3s behind Neary's second run of 54.921. Right in the ballpark, but there was only one problem...I had one run to go and it needed to be clean.

I knew there was still time to be had out there, but I couldn't really go for it since I didn't have a clean run to rest on. After coning out at the last event, I needed to focus on season points, so I played it safe. I knew that with the wet, the M3 guys were still a ways back, so all I needed was a decent clean run that didn't need to be super fast. The last run though went really well, the car felt great, and I felt like I was hitting all my marks. And then with a clean run going up until the "Luster Slalom" right before the finish, I backed off the speed and got really far off the cones to make sure I got that clean one in. Finished with a 55.777, about 0.5s slower than my second run, but clean and good enough for 2nd. And with Mike knowing that he had it in the bag, he was able to go all out and push for it, finishing with a 54.684, putting me about 1.1s back. Ouch...well, I was close at one point at least.

I feel like that final run was faster than my second run up until the slalom, but I wasn't going to take any chances on coning away a decent finish again. I wish I had some MaxQ to confirm it though. While it was disappointing to lose to Mike by so much, I was at least right there in the hunt until I had to back off.

Note to self: get a good clean one in early.

For the D.C. WDCR season, I'm currently sitting in 2nd place, roughly 3 points behind Mike (including 2 drops). Looking at the rest of the season, I need to win out the rest of the season (3 events) to win. Mike won't be attending the event this weekend, so I've got a good shot for that one, then we'll see what happens for the remainder of the season.

I didn't hit this cone at least...it was the next one in the slalom. :(

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3437/3785198774_e00708f808.jpg

Best of luck in the Nationals!