blueosprey90

Have a strategy and then some fun.

pgss2k

Be careful, with all those stickers you might become too fast,too furious!
Now I want to hear about that 10 sec lap!!!

s200059

Paul is a Certified "Sticker Man" - he helped me with them at my first National.

But having the correct stickers usually means "Contingency Money" so you gotta have them.

Waiting to hear how today went....come on, where's our update. We are sitting here at home without news !!.

A 2

boy - I got schooled today. The track is very technical and requires finesse. I went out with the novice group and did some sighting laps. Then I went out with my group. They broke up the Advanced group into A & B based on car speed and I was part of the Advanced B group. I had a few moments where I had four offs, but that wasn't on to grass but rather past the curbing on asphalt. I continued on and I wasn't called out for it. But they did say during impound that they consider that a four wheels off and they want people to be back in pit lane to discuss it.

So the first session was slow as I stayed largely in 4th gear to get a hang off the track. My fastest was a 3:04. Now the Solo Spec Coupe (SSC) class cars (BRZs and FRS' with an SCCA approved suspension and wheel and tire package) were going great. During the second session, I was better, but on my first flyer after the recon, the black flag comes out. I'd just sent the SSC autocross champion by and I caught the flag, but he did not and kept going. I was the first car in the group to pull into pit. Then they send us out and just as I finished my recon and started my lap, the checkered comes out on the back straight. I was pissed. I had no time and my time from the morning would put me dead last. But these were practice sessions and times were only being used for grid. I had one more practice session.

During the third practice session, I still had the same issue. Fast cars and point bys and idiots who drove sketchily. Especially this dude in an Integra Type R, that would accelerate hard on the straights and park it in the corners causing me to check up. I improved my lap time and got down to a 2:47 I think. The SSC champ had done a 2:34. There is still time to be found, but I am not sure if I can catch up to within 5 seconds of him. The SSC kit provides spec shocks, springs, camber bolts and eibach swaybars. These guys are running around 3.25 negative camber in front to my zero camber. So sort of like me bringing a knife to a gunfight.

In the afternoon, they had what was called a Track Sprint. They set up a start and a finish on the east course and sent us out for 3 runs. We'd do a run, get past the finish and then line up for our next run. We got 3 runs and I managed a 50.7 that was 5 seconds slower than the spec champion, and I think 2 seconds behind the guy in second place also running a SSC. Initially I was a second behind the guy that held second, but then he dropped and then I dropped further. In any case, here is video from the track sprint. I'll upload the other video from my last full course session and share it by the AM.

A 2

Practice session 3 from day 1:

s200059

A2 - don't get too awful discouraged about your times, I have always found that you will get schooled at any National event, especially the first time you attend.
There will always be the racers who will spend unlimited amounts of money and time just to win an event.

Just try to get some clear track today and put down some consistent laps. I never look at the time sheets until the end of the day, I use my in-car timer to gauge my lap.
It is especially satisfying to beat some of these be dollars guys at their own game. Some will crash, some will break and some really aren't that good on track.

BUT - we are there for the experience and to be part of the event, meet new people and to see what top level competition is all about.

​​​​​​​Have a great day and keep your chin up. Make MoHud proud.

A 2

So early this AM, I received a pep talk from Greg and that helped clear up things. I had kind of decided before going to bed that I needed to get into a zen state of mind and calmed my mind down and focused on what was going right. The pep talk from Greg put a smile on my face as I made my way to the track. I had determined that I wouldn't be able to match the SSCs but I was going to drive the best I can. I did a data review with Andrew Rains (from Apex Pro) yesterday. Andrew is this young kid and he is super helpful with sharing insights into how he can help. We talked a few corners and he suggested based on data traces that I try a different line. As I slept I went over that.

We had three timed sessions on the full track and the best time would count. Based on yesterdays experience with traffic, the group coaches suggested that we go out as a group and in the last set of corners space ourselves about 5 seconds between cars. They figured that way we could get some clear laps in. This session went reasonably well and I dropped my time by a second. In the second session, I got stuck behind the Corvette of the Detroit Regions RE and I guess I was a bit rude on track with gesticulating etc. (we did hit it off very well off track and had a great conversation - he is a nice guy, I was the dick). I didn't get clean laps on this run. I noticed the car was understeering a bit on the first two runs in certain places with the tire pressure even on all corners. I decided before the last run that I would bump up my tire pressure in the rear by two PSI. That made a difference, and it felt like it helped in some corners and felt like an annoyance in other corners. I kept it together though and when I came in, I realized that my first flyer after the recon was my fastest and I had knocked 3 seconds off of my time from yesterday. On the other laps I was a bit ragged and it showed but the times were pretty consistent. I felt good about it. I walked over to see Andrew but he was away. Baker that works for Apex Pro and is their data guy said that while he couldn't quite provide the kind of insight Andrew could, he said that both he and Andrew thought I was driving the car darn close to the edge.

Then we had a track sprint on the longer west course and I thought I did ok. Jack Baruth (of Road & Track) came up to me before I went out and gave me some advice on one specific corner where he thinks I can roll about 10 more MPH and he knows the place like the back of his hand with all the testing they do for R&T over there. I did try going faster, but it never seemed right. That's something I'll go over with Andrew tomorrow if possible and work it out. Jack Baruth is a great guy BTW. No pretensions or delusions of grandeur that he writes for R&T. Just a very soft spoken guy that genuinely cares about helping people.

In any case, here is the video of the session where I got the fast one. It is the first lap after the recon with me chasing the Integra Type R (the guy is selling it and wants $30K for it )

A 2

and I am currently in 11th place
https://www.sccahq.com/

The guy in 10th has the SSC dampers with a non-spec set of springs, eibach swaybars and is running on Bridgestone RE71Rs that are a size larger than mine. I'm hoping I can do better tomorrow and hopefully finish in the Top 10.

pgss2k

Thanks for the update.
Get some sleep and put it all together tomorrow!

s200059

I stayed up as long as I could but had to wait until this morning.
You guys stay up LATE.

We had our debrief this morning at 7 am and A2 is ready t go do battle.

Well A2 - you have done everything correct, today try to stay focused throughout the day.
Good luck - show them what you got !.