Some quick results and comments from the Tour as I think we're the first ones home.

The course Saturday sucked.
The course Sunday was at least a little bit more technical but still sucked.

Saturday Heat 3 got dumped on by rain, heat 4 experienced more rain and a twenty minute delay for lightening, heat 5 got drying conditions with the track being mostly dry by their third run. STX and ESP ran heat 4 and DSP heat 5. Sunday we only had a few sprinkles during the day, not enough to dampen the course at all.

I was fourth after Saturday in the rain, almost 1.4 back from Billy Brooks but ahead of Courtney with Andy about .5 seconds in front of me and Chris about .5 seconds in front of him. Sunday I drove with my head up my butt all day and dropped to 8th. Jen won STXL as the only competitor in the class, yay Yokohama money.

Billy won STX by almost 6/10ths, followed by Chris Fenter, Andy Basham, Courtney and Jeff Brown. I'm pretty sure Corey took STS and have no idea where the ESP, DSP and GS guys ended up in class.

Jen and I ran the Yokohamas for the first time. I really like them in the rain. I did not like them in the dry but my driving was so awful that it really isn't a good test. Jen loved them in the dry, I think she was faster today than I was. These are going to be our rain tires and the daily driver tires so they went on our 17x7s in 225/45 full tread. The tread pattern looks nearly identical to the Hankooks.

There was a LOT of grumbling in grid about the courses, and I don't blame people, especially those who traveled a long way. On that lot I was truly amazed that a Sunday Tour course was put together that STX was doing in 37ish seconds. The Pro there last year had 32 second courses. What a shame, that is one of the best sites out there and you could do some really great courses.

Not that anybody here cares ;) , but inofficial reports say that Junior won SS in a borrowed Elise, ahead of the Z06's driven by Braun and Salerno.

If that's true.....WOW. Junior is a great driver. I wonder how the course was designed that he could do that? Not many straights I bet.

Dave

Actually I heard the course at least on Saturday was very fast in one spot, S2000s spending quite a bit of time in 3rd gear. I looked at the scores and it kind of baffled me how they could have all that space and only setup a mid 30 second course.

final results are up.

wow did i suck it up in the rain on saturday! i drove a whole lot better in the dry on sunday but tthat didnt help much becasue i was already so far back becaseu of the saturday showers.

Saturday's course had almost no turns at all. Lots of speed maintenance. Good for the low torque Lotus. And yes, Junior won SS.

Phil, yeah, they basically just used the "edges" of the lot. They didn't use the middle at all. :( Lots of upset folks who drove 11 hours to be there. Heck, I thought the Saturday course sucked, and we're a whopping 80 minutes away! Sunday's course was definitely a more challenging course (IMHO), but still not National Tour-quality IMO.

Junior was smoking fast in the Elise. It was fun to watch. As he put it, "The Elise IS a SS car and I'm going to prove it". The courses were pretty much wide open both days, basically just one or two spots you had to brake more than a little bit to make it through and the Elise is awesome at speed maintenance. With the hardtop on that thing was tripping about 1890 on the scales. The silver one with the top off was somewhere around 1840 I think.

Saturday's course featured the 200'+ straight-away. At the far end for those who have been there before both courses essentially featured a complete and utter straight-away with only two wide gates at the drainage grates from one side of the tarmac to the other. Both days the course was setup nearly 100 feet off of the grass near the runway and the center section of the lot was completely unused. The painted stripe that always catches people out by being so slippery didn't come into play at all since the course never came within about 50 feet of it.

Just checked out the results from the Tour....HOLY SCHMOLY was Junior ever smokin'. I can't wait to see him in that car again! Daddio put a hurtin' on SM too. Over 2 seconds faster :eek: Corey put the smack down on STS too. Teh civics didn't put much of a dent in the results. I hope to make it out next year. I know I'd have done well in DS. :mad: Damn work I had to do this weekend :furious:

Anyone coming out to FedEx field for the NEDiv in July? The courses are hella HUGE and quite quick too.

Dave

It was a fun weekend all in all. Sure it rained Saturday and screwed some of us up (me included, I need to get some more events in rain) but it was great to put faces to all the names.

Great drives by Billy and Corey to win their classes. Chris Fenter was right in their to the end in STX.

Daddio was UNREAL even though his car was "way too loose" in his opinion. ESP was a fun fight to the finish @ 1 second separated the top 5.

It's not that they didn't use up a lot of area there were just very large parts where we were in mid-high 2nd.

Sunday course had fewer turns than Saturdays and they removed about 3 turns for it so in my opinion Sunday's course was worse than Saturday's, and Saturday's course was the worst course I had ever been on. Until Sunday.

No slaloms either day. Those sets of 2 or 3 cones weren't slaloms in my opinion. Over half the course was taken up by 3 turns both days. Hopefully he never gets to set another Nationals course. I didn't hear one person say anything good about the courses this weekend.

i'm gonna stick with no comment on my result. driving a GC for the first time on the two worst courses i've ever been on was not a good result.

i will comment on the incredibly bad course design of both days. no NATIONAL LEVEL Solo II event should have run on courses shorter than typical Pro's. my horrendous driving in the 2nd slowest stock class still produced a 39.7. that's simply pathetic for that site. day 2 might have been ok if day 1 was a true "National" course.

PS - there's still some leftover food if anyone's hungry....:)

Too bad about the courses. We ran on a lot today that's a fraction (like 1/4th) the size of the space in Toledo and we had a fun and challenging 50 second course that required no 1st gear downshifts in a WRX and had a 55mph spot. The only NT I've done was Peru last year and that was the worst course I've ever driven to date.

Daddio's times are good, but Pulliam only ran .1s slower today in Joel's ESP STI. That's not going to get it done against Sias and the other west coast M3 guys. I guess I'm more underwhelmed by the other SM guys than overwhelmed with Daddio's times.

I guess I'm more underwhelmed by the other SM guys than overwhelmed with Daddio's times.

Good point.

Pulliam was one of my Evolution School instructors and he is quite impressive. Nice guy too!

Dave

Daddio also ran first heat, while Tommy ran 4th heat, after yet another short rain burst. Daddio's last run (his fastest) also was pretty ugly. I went over to him after that run, and said, "Nice run! How much did you leave out there?" His response was "At least 0.5" and then he proceeded to list exactly where he'd screwed up.

Keep in mind that 0.1 on a 35second course is a lot bigger difference than 0.1 on a 60 second course though.

Like Orion, I will also go with "no comment" on my results. It was good putting faces with some of these names though!

Karen

Daddio also ran first heat, while Tommy ran 4th heat, after yet another short rain burst.

Karen


On the first day the 4th heat never saw a dry course some spots had small bits of standing water the whole time. The concrete was so flat the water didn't run off the course at all. It wasn't until the last run of the 5th heat that it really got dry on the course.

The rain came during the beginning of the 3rd heat and ended up causing some tough results for those in that heat. If you did get a dry run that was clean on your first run in that heat you had it made. However there were a few people who had cones or spins or never even got a run in the dry during the 3rd heat causing the differences in times on the first day.

It was a great weekend except my roommate was a bit of a punk ;) .

It was good putting faces with some of these names though!

Yeah just be glad I was mostly quiet and nervous like it was my first ever autocross instead of the annoying smartass I am on the innernet :P

Anyway, what was so different about this course compared to "normal" national-level courses? Obviously I've never driven at this level so I have no idea how it compares, but I guess if it was a simple one, it makes me wonder how much worse I would've done on a more complex course.

Tommy is teh man. I'd like to see him with some more seat time in the STi!

Karen- We're heading up to mid-state airport for their extended course on Sunday the 19th. I think Sammy and Kugler usually go on the big courses. You and Pat heading up?
P.S. If Gil can't make it to the Tour in Mass. I'll offer you a co-drive in my black super civic. Not 100% yet though.

Dave

I had a bad day and a good day. After saturday I was in 11th place. The Azenis w/ little tread left, were awful on saturdays course. The nice flat concrete was terrible at draining water. On sunday I had a great run, that moved me up to 7th place.

And I can't believe there isn't a subaru dealer w/in 60 miles of Toledo. :mad: I lost a fender liner on the ride out on thursday night. It launched out of my car on the highway, just missed Corey, then was run over by Eric. Luckily my girlfriend was heading over from chicago on friday, so she picked one up out there. :banana:

-jeff

And I can't believe there isn't a subaru dealer w/in 60 miles of Toledo. :mad: I lost a fender liner on the ride out on thursday night. It launched out of my car on the highway, just missed Corey, then was run over by Eric. Luckily my girlfriend was heading over from chicago on friday, so she picked one up out there. :banana:

-jeff

Yark is ~6 miles from the airport, 1 exit up on 475. turn right on Central Ave and you couldn't miss it.

Findlay is ~45 miles south. Ann Arbor should also have a dealer but I may be wrong.

Sorry to hear about the bad luck but good to hear you got it fixed!!! You could have borrowed mine from my '05 RS since i drove a GC.

The GPS didn't find any of those, and If I didn't get the part, I might of been wondering around the paddock begging. :o

Yark is ~6 miles from the airport, 1 exit up on 475. turn right on Central Ave and you couldn't miss it.

Findlay is ~45 miles south. Ann Arbor should also have a dealer but I may be wrong.

Sorry to hear about the bad luck but good to hear you got it fixed!!! You could have borrowed mine from my '05 RS since i drove a GC.

It was a great weekend except my roommate was a bit of a punk ;). Hey, I was quiet, especially Saturday night!! ;)

We're heading up to mid-state airport for their extended course on Sunday the 19th. I think Sammy and Kugler usually go on the big courses. You and Pat heading up?
P.S. If Gil can't make it to the Tour in Mass. I'll offer you a co-drive in my black super civic. Not 100% yet though.
This weekend, I'm in Atlanta for the SEDiv, where I plan to vent my frustration on the SEDiv FS class. :p I'm not sure what Pat is doing, but I'll mention it to him.

I'm also not sure about Devens.... I have a feeling if I show up there, and I'm not running FS, Bruce Bellom and Ron Bistrais will break my legs. ;)

Karen

Yeah, Devens is next month. Come on up. :D

--KC

I had a bad day and a good day. After saturday I was in 11th place. The Azenis w/ little tread left, were awful on saturdays course. The nice flat concrete was terrible at draining water. On sunday I had a great run, that moved me up to 7th place.

And I can't believe there isn't a subaru dealer w/in 60 miles of Toledo. :mad: I lost a fender liner on the ride out on thursday night. It launched out of my car on the highway, just missed Corey, then was run over by Eric. Luckily my girlfriend was heading over from chicago on friday, so she picked one up out there. :banana:

-jeff

Ah one of the many who leap-frogged me on Sunday. Congrats.

I hate the rev limiter.

I hate 2nd gear.

The 05 Mini Cooper S is a DS car.

Next time I want to drag race I'll just stay local.

That is the first time I have EVER been beaten by a Neon. I'm not saying that that car isn't capable and that I'm driving my car at the limit, I just think that the courses (if you can really call them "courses") were somewhat biased towards higher gearing.

The 05 Mini Cooper S is a DS car.


GH Sharp's driving has something to do with that though. I get to tangle with him in his 330i next month at the NeDiv. Hope I have some good stick in the tires for that event!

Dave

I hate the rev limiter.

I hate 2nd gear.

The 05 Mini Cooper S is a DS car.

Next time I want to drag race I'll just stay local.

That is the first time I have EVER been beaten by a Neon. I'm not saying that that car isn't capable and that I'm driving my car at the limit, I just think that the courses (if you can really call them "courses") were somewhat biased towards higher gearing.



Honestly, you need to get real good at shifting. AND you need to get good at picking your shift points while course walking. I'm in the same boat as you... I know your pain. Where did you shift to 3rd? Where did you downshift? I was only on the limiter once on both courses.

Corey #89 STS

In my experience running a 2.5RS in G-Stock for a couple years, I would say that you are gauranteed to almost always need 3rd gear at least once in a typical NT course. It isn't that the courses are slanted toward higher geared cars, but that the RS is known for having a low 2nd gear. The only NT course I didn't grab 3rd on was South course at Nationals 2002, which was fairly tight and sweeping.

At some West Coast ProSolos I found myself running well into 3rd gear, while DS Type Rs were having issues bouncing up against the limiter in 2nd gear. I think their 2nd gear is good for 66-67mph or something if I'm not mistaken.

Chris H.

I guess I'm more underwhelmed by the other SM guys than overwhelmed with Daddio's times.

So I'm slow...no need to rub it in :p

So I'm slow...no need to rub it in :p


No, Daddio is just that fast. Last week in New York he had overall Raw time by @ 3 seconds. I'm just afraid to see him when he has a car that he thinks is dialed in combined with a run that he thinks is good. After every run he'd always say that he was leaving time on the course.

Honestly, you need to get real good at shifting. AND you need to get good at picking your shift points while course walking. I'm in the same boat as you... I know your pain. Where did you shift to 3rd? Where did you downshift? I was only on the limiter once on both courses.

Corey #89 STS

Yes, I definitely need to be really good at shifting, having now seen how fast a national course is. The only other time I've needed 3rd gear is at Virginia Motorsports Park and possibly once at a local Blue Ridge Region event.

On Saturday this was my shifting for my fastest run:
1st->2nd after turn at the start
2nd->3rd near end of first offset
3rd->2nd at 90deg left at back of course
2nd->3rd in back straight
3rd->2nd at other 90deg left at back of course
2nd->3rd after pseudo-slalom
Carry 3rd across the finish

All of those shifts were warranted by bouncing off the limiter like mad.

On Sunday I decided to forgo the shift to 3rd and see how I faired...obviously not well:
1st->2nd at right hand kink after start
Carry 2nd through offset and around the sweeping left hand turn...start hitting limiter, continue carrying 2nd until 90deg right hand turn
Briefly hit limiter in 2nd on back straight before right hand turn
Hit limiter in 2nd for a few seconds before final slalom at finish

I'll definitely be looking for points where I'll need 3rd next time, I just wasn't prepared for such speed all over the course.

And I forgot to mention before, but thanks to Justin for the wheel stud, Karen for the Camaro/Subaru friendly BFH, and some guy with a kart who had a castle nut for his truck that perfectly fit the new wheel stud for pulling it through. I am now the proud new owner of 5 wheel studs, 5 lugnuts, and 1 open lugnut for setting new studs.

nice meeting people, I posted my pics up in the other toledo thread too.

http://www.autoxphotos.com/gallery.asp?categoryid=19

I overall didn't have a fun weekend. Sunday was more fun because I was awake at least. I have grumbles about the course too. For the money I invested in the weekend I learned more about the extreme competitors than the extreme courses. I have a lot to learn. It was fun meeting everyone and I think pretty much everyone I met I got a picture of your car for posterity. Orion, thanks for all the kind words, sorry to hear you experience was bunk as well. I think it cost me $250 (fee,gas,tolls,food) to come to this event and it was an expensive, hot, humid, simple course and I didn't even get a stupid t-shirt :furious: . That was all I really wanted :lol:

FYI, for future reference for everyone: we carry spare wheel studs, spare lugnuts, and the open lugnut thingy with us to basically all events.

So if someone needs one, feel free to come find us. Or if you can't find us, and you need one NOW, raid our supply, but PLEASE be sure to tell us ASAP, so we don't think someone was robbing us. :lol:

Other items in attendance with us are usually battery jumper cables, metric and standard open-and-box-end wrenches, BFH, an assortment of sockets. Obviously a hydraulic jack, breaker bar, torque wrench, water sprayers. Sometimes jack stands (we really should bring them more often). We should probably start bringing the BF-pipe too. :)

For the money I invested in the weekend I learned more about the extreme competitors than the extreme courses.Don't discount learning about the extreme competitors! Racing against people and cars who are much faster than you is by far the biggest part of National events, IMHO.

Don't discount learning about the extreme competitors! Racing against people and cars who are much faster than you is by far the biggest part of National events, IMHO.

not discounting, I am saying that was one of the goodies!

J

the open lugnut thingy

Jen is getting a lot better at handing me the correct tools when I ask for them. She knows the difference between the vice-grips and the channel-locks now. But I'm not sure when we will finally get completely out of the "thingy" range of describing car parts and tools. :rolleyes:

I guess the good news is that she knows what a BFH is and what it is commonly used for: Generating swear words.

:lol: :lol:

"The thingy!"

Hell I use that all the time. "hand me that thing! dammit!"

-Tom

Jen is getting a lot better at handing me the correct tools when I ask for them. She knows the difference between the vice-grips and the channel-locks now. But I'm not sure when we will finally get completely out of the "thingy" range of describing car parts and tools. :rolleyes:

I guess the good news is that she knows what a BFH is and what it is commonly used for: Generating swear words.

Phillip and I owe a huge thanks to Justin "the stud" and to Karen's BFH. Without it we would have had to run my big pig!!! Yuck!!!

As bad as we ran overall, we both were a full second slower in my car on Friday's TnT.:eek:

edit: oh yeah, many apologies to Phillip for letting me make a mockery of the Subie name in his car. looks like i shoulda stuck to my own! i can only think i slowed the GC down.

yeah, i too always carried spare studs, lugs, and requisite tools to all events after i broke the first one (thanks to Andy on that one or i'd still be in Topeka :D ).

Ahhh...where to begin.....

Nice to finally meet you Karen! Also Crystalhelix! My first impressions of Saturdays course had me thinking the same things as most of you. Once I realized there was only one fast line and shifting became paramount with the trust of the tires and concrete...I think the design was deliberate and worthy of a 'tour. Sunday was shorter, but had more elements of highspeed handling. How many people were crying Saturday that it was a course out of the "ZO6 course design handbook" only to see a Lotus win? We were glad to see the rain...and only slightly disappointed that it didn't continue to downpour late into the 4-5th heats. I was eventually happy with my driving, but still angry over the poor gearing of the car. Even with way tall tires, we lost a ton of time when riding the limiter 40% of the time. Shifting was definately the answer and kept me in the hunt. I only wish I would've gotten the extra 2 tenths to trophy and put a bigass Subaru wedge in the BMW stranglehold. I'm calling the weekend "mission accomplished", as for us we opened eyes despite not being done with the development. The next few parts should help some of the remaining weaknesses left in the car.

Orion, sorry we didn't make it over for the BBQ. PMing you shortly.

Congrats to the trophy winners. Can sombody please wash Stompy?

Jay storm

How many people were crying Saturday that it was a course out of the "ZO6 course design handbook" only to see a Lotus win?Not me. We talked to Junior on Friday night. He was practically giddy about the course, from an Elise vs Z06 POV.

Very glad to see Junior take the win. Perhaps now the next course should be the complete opposite, so that the "Elise isn't a SS car" detractors can see him win on that course too. :lol:

Any shots of the Daddio-mobile

It looks like a stock white EVO RS. He paxed #1 overall in the event, although rain and whatnot kind of skews those results. On Sunday I think some of the ESP guys outpaxed him. Funny that the top 20 is half filled with SS guys with the course the way it was.

It looks like a stock white EVO RS. He paxed #1 overall in the event, although rain and whatnot kind of skews those results. On Sunday I think some of the ESP guys outpaxed him. Funny that the top 20 is half filled with SS guys with the course the way it was.


SS was 2nd heat I believe. They got a clean course and no rain both days. There was lots of tire dust and crap on the course during the first heat. SS was also some of the deeply contested too. I think the top 12 were about 1 second apart or something ridiculous like that after day 1.

Did ESP have dry runs both days? I don't remember back that far......

Here's the link to the PAX results. I'm satisfied with my results.....
http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/indexes/results/2005_tour_Toledo.pdf


Jay Storm

ESP was heat 4 and wet for all of day one as was STX

DS was heat 5 and had one WRX wagon and last run was on essentially a dry course.

ah, look at that nice STS pax. corey was 86th in pax time. oh, and those D(B)SP BMW's were at it again, though i think alex' car is an e30? nice to know that if i were to jump to DSP i'd have to knock 3.3 seconds off of corey's time to be in the hunt. of course, that doesn't include the 1.7 seconds i'd have to find just to catch up to corey.....

nate

It looks like an E30..... :rolleyes: Ironically, I was closer to the E36 on 285-30-18s than the winning E30..... Alex is a stud behind the wheel though, I can't take anything away from him for that. His days are numbered... :devil:
ah, look at that nice STS pax. corey was 86th in pax time. oh, and those D(B)SP BMW's were at it again, though i think alex' car is an e30? nice to know that if i were to jump to DSP i'd have to knock 3.3 seconds off of corey's time to be in the hunt. of course, that doesn't include the 1.7 seconds i'd have to find just to catch up to corey.....

nate
The days of an STS car on Hoosiers being competitive in SP are long gone...... ;) Although....alot of the field was on wet runs so those PAX figures have to be taken with that in mind.

Jay Storm

excellent photos from Toledo:

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12892

The days of an STS car on Hoosiers being competitive in SP are long gone...... ;) Although....alot of the field was on wet runs so those PAX figures have to be taken with that in mind.

Jay Storm

it wouldn't be an STS car on race rubber in DSP though. i've been kicking around the idea of going full bore DSP for a while now. there's probably $3k worth of work to be done to the car to even think of having a chance though, so it probably won't happen for a year or two.

for some reason i assumed DSP and STS ran in the same conditions. is this not true? was DSP in the dry?

nate

ah, look at that nice STS pax. corey was 86th in pax time. oh, and those D(B)SP BMW's were at it again, though i think alex' car is an e30? nice to know that if i were to jump to DSP i'd have to knock 3.3 seconds off of corey's time to be in the hunt. of course, that doesn't include the 1.7 seconds i'd have to find just to catch up to corey.....

nate

how are you caculating the pax overall placement? I didn't see it in the results. I'd like to know how bad I sucked overall.

Justin

for some reason i assumed DSP and STS ran in the same conditions. is this not true? was DSP in the dry?

nate

I couldn't have had any better conditions. I just wasn't that fast. I think DSP started Saturday on a drying course.

Corey #89 STS

how are you caculating the pax overall placement? I didn't see it in the results. I'd like to know how bad I sucked overall.

Justin

as Storm posted earlier.....

Rick Ruth calculates them here: http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/indexes/rtp2005.html

click on Toledo at the bottom.

thanks to the dry heat #2 i was 132nd. had everyone else been dry i should have been a bottom feeder.

Rick Ruth calculates them here: http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/indexes/rtp2005.html

click on Toledo at the bottom.

thanks to the dry heat #2 i was 132nd. had everyone else been dry i should have been a bottom feeder.

238/298 - I suck, thanks for sending me that! :lol:

238/298 - I suck, thanks for sending me that! :lol:

no problem.;)

:lol:

Don't feel bad Justin! At least you ran in the rain on Saturday. I ran in the dry both days, and I'm at 228/293. :(

9th in class * weak PAX = 68/298

Drove like complete crap on Sunday and was 151/298 with SM's awesome PAX index...so I guess I can't complain to much

....I just wasn't that fast....

:rolleyes: have you been talking to mr. ken "my car isn't that competitive" motonishi? good job btw, are you going to be at the devens tour?

nate

I'll be there. Take it easy on me with your home field advantage though. :cool:

Corey #89 STS

:rolleyes: have you been talking to mr. ken "my car isn't that competitive" motonishi? good job btw, are you going to be at the devens tour?

nate

and some guy with a kart who had a castle nut for his truck that perfectly fit the new wheel stud for pulling it through.

That was me. No problem, I'm glad it worked for you.

That was me. No problem, I'm glad it worked for you.

thanks again!:D i was his codriver and had the dark blue '05 RS right across from you.

gotta love subie peeps when you have a crisis, they're always there to help out!

I'll be there. Take it easy on me with your home field advantage though. :cool:

Corey #89 STS

you won't be worried about that once you see the car. :devil:

nate - needs to get to the dyno soon... and the scales...

methinks there are X stickers on Nate's car. Bastard!

-Tom

methinks there are X stickers on Nate's car. Bastard!

-Tom

when you see the car you'll be calling me a bastard, but not because of any stickers. well, maybe one sticker, but keith hasn't made that one yet. now if i could just get this tire situation sorted out...

nate - Got Trunk? Racing

It was good meeting some new Subie people. I regret not being able to hang at the cookout Saturday.

Justin - you drove well for being on the verge of puking BEFORE driving. Let me know if you want to discuss any of the suspension stuff further.

Tommy is driving Stompy like I knew he could. He was very fast on Sunday (top PAX for the day, I believe), and left some time on his fastest run. He would have been quicker on his last run if not for a braking mistake before the last left hand turn. Tak and Daddio also left some time out there, but I'm happy with our pace in the dry.

Joel

It was good meeting some new Subie people. I regret not being able to hang at the cookout Saturday.

Justin - you drove well for being on the verge of puking BEFORE driving. Let me know if you want to discuss any of the suspension stuff further.

Tommy is driving Stompy like I knew he could. He was very fast on Sunday (top PAX for the day, I believe), and left some time on his fastest run. He would have been quicker on his last run if not for a braking mistake before the last left hand turn. Tak and Daddio also left some time out there, but I'm happy with our pace in the dry.

Joel

It usually takes me 45 minutes to get to sleep. I managed to pull off about 10 minutes of z's between each run. ;) On Saturday I gave my roomy a ride back but he had to wake me up in my car before we could leave. Maybe next year it will be a better course and a better experience. I would like to talk suspension but I am still contemplating some of what you said and I am trying to absorb and then I will get back to you. I think my eyes were sunburned as well, they didn't stop hurting until today :lol:

I think my eyes were sunburned as well, they didn't stop hurting until today :lol:Yep, that'll happen. The primary reason I wear my sunglasses almost constantly at events. Or maybe it's just that I don't want my fellow STX and L2 competitors to read my game plan from my not-very-good-poker face. ;) :lol:

Toledo always burns your eyes and even with my cool desert storm camo boonie on i got massive sunburn on my face from the reflection of the white concrete! :mad:

Justin (and eanyone else close by) - you need to head over to OVR Jul 22-24 for Governor's Cup. I know ESP will be a competitive class for you. It's 2 separate PE's followed by a 64 car PAX runoff bracket on Sunday.

Unfortunately there's also a CenDiv that weekend at Grissom so I'd expect the Div Points chasers (Andy, Todd, the Croys, etc) to head over there. We had to readjust the OVR schedule since our lots ended up having conflicts with the previous scheduled dates.

We aren't sure if we'll do Governor's Cup or the CenDiv. The CenDiv is after the Tour, so it's not like it would give us setup time for the Tour. And I think we were only going to make it to a max of 3 CenDivs this year anyway, given the lack of a Toledo or Columbus event and missing 1 Peru event already because of the blown rear shock. So we might just do the Governor's Cup. We'll see.

I hate the rev limiter.

I hate 2nd gear.

The 05 Mini Cooper S is a DS car.

Next time I want to drag race I'll just stay local.

That is the first time I have EVER been beaten by a Neon. I'm not saying that that car isn't capable and that I'm driving my car at the limit, I just think that the courses (if you can really call them "courses") were somewhat biased towards higher gearing.


ES MR2's have to deal with the same thing. We should be lucky that the car is effective in 3rd gear as well.
I do agree that the 05 MCS belongs in DS. I don't think that they are invincible. They can be beat.

We have AWD, you should not be complaining. Tell me your launch technique.
Anything can happen, don't let one event get you down. I've heard good things about your driving, Phil. And to be honest, will be nervous when we face off. Everyone has bad days, but don't let them rule you.

Keep your head up, and don't let me be the only GS Suby at nats. mmmk


Jeremy Foley
01 RS #80 GS
Blueish