DC Tour Review
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From: Milwaukee
I'll start this off with the disclaimer that I'm typing this hurredily on my Pocket PC w/ <20% battery left, waiting for my plane. Sorry for bad spelling & grammar.
This was very much a roller coaster of a weekend for me. Starting w/ the (crummy) practice course, I was a fair bit slower than quite a few other S2000's. It didn't bother me, though, historically I suck on T&T courses if I dont get to walk them.
The DC site is very hilly from my flat land midwestern experience, so the extreme amount of off and on camber turns was something new to Brad and me. The camber didn't turn out to be as difficult as I thought, and the site (asphalt) does have tremendous grip, even in the 1st heat. The course was very much speed maintenance, and not quite as fast as I thought on Friday walks.
SATURDAY
Brad had a great 1st run, that nobody in the class would catch. The Geez showed I was faster on the first part of the course, which was downhill esses, quite fast, and a bit squirrley - my favorite part. It appeared he made all the time up in the following slow section, where we entered in 1st gear.
Day one = Lamont, Aidelbaum ~0.25 back, Labetti, Obadia, me ~0.58 back of Brad. I may have 3rd & 4th mixed up.
SUNDAY
Sat's course backward, but the finish (sat start) changed to shorten the course ~8 sec. Nearly everyone coned their first runs. That was interesting since BS hit very few cones on Sat. Second runs and Brad broke the pass. side inner CV on the 1-2 up shift, ~30 yards before the finish.
Before we were even over to push the car back to grid, Randy Pearson offered me to drive his car. THANKYOU SO MUCH, RANDY. What a stand up, great thing to do. This is why I love the Solo community so much. Shortly after, Brad found a ride with Randy P. from NY for his 3rd run.
Back to my 2nd run, in Randy's car. I was a bit tentative, being a strange car and all...little more corner exit oversteer, not as grabby of brake pads. My time was quick for the day in BS by about 0.040 sec. For my last run we lowered the rear pressures a bit. I knew I had nothing to loose, so I got really aggressive on the run (my preferred style, I suppose, vs. being really smooth). I hit nearly all my marks, made a few small mistakes, but improved ~0.7. No one else improved, so I vaulted to 1st, and my 1st ever Tour win!!!
Thanks again, Randy. Your car seems to work very well. I owe you one!
Steve
(edited for formatting)
This was very much a roller coaster of a weekend for me. Starting w/ the (crummy) practice course, I was a fair bit slower than quite a few other S2000's. It didn't bother me, though, historically I suck on T&T courses if I dont get to walk them.
The DC site is very hilly from my flat land midwestern experience, so the extreme amount of off and on camber turns was something new to Brad and me. The camber didn't turn out to be as difficult as I thought, and the site (asphalt) does have tremendous grip, even in the 1st heat. The course was very much speed maintenance, and not quite as fast as I thought on Friday walks.
SATURDAY
Brad had a great 1st run, that nobody in the class would catch. The Geez showed I was faster on the first part of the course, which was downhill esses, quite fast, and a bit squirrley - my favorite part. It appeared he made all the time up in the following slow section, where we entered in 1st gear.
Day one = Lamont, Aidelbaum ~0.25 back, Labetti, Obadia, me ~0.58 back of Brad. I may have 3rd & 4th mixed up.
SUNDAY
Sat's course backward, but the finish (sat start) changed to shorten the course ~8 sec. Nearly everyone coned their first runs. That was interesting since BS hit very few cones on Sat. Second runs and Brad broke the pass. side inner CV on the 1-2 up shift, ~30 yards before the finish.
Before we were even over to push the car back to grid, Randy Pearson offered me to drive his car. THANKYOU SO MUCH, RANDY. What a stand up, great thing to do. This is why I love the Solo community so much. Shortly after, Brad found a ride with Randy P. from NY for his 3rd run.
Back to my 2nd run, in Randy's car. I was a bit tentative, being a strange car and all...little more corner exit oversteer, not as grabby of brake pads. My time was quick for the day in BS by about 0.040 sec. For my last run we lowered the rear pressures a bit. I knew I had nothing to loose, so I got really aggressive on the run (my preferred style, I suppose, vs. being really smooth). I hit nearly all my marks, made a few small mistakes, but improved ~0.7. No one else improved, so I vaulted to 1st, and my 1st ever Tour win!!!
Thanks again, Randy. Your car seems to work very well. I owe you one!
Steve
(edited for formatting)
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From: Beavercreek
Sounds like a really crazy weekend. Congrats on your first tour win. I was just looking at the results before I read your post, and realized that it came down to the last runs. Way to make the money run count. And in a borrowed car!!!
What's Randy running? Konis? Customs? Maybe trick shocks aren't the answer, and you should just get rid of your Penske's.
Martin and I will gladly take them off your hands. 
What's Randy running? Konis? Customs? Maybe trick shocks aren't the answer, and you should just get rid of your Penske's.
Martin and I will gladly take them off your hands.
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From: Tampa, Florida
Congats Steve,
Solo drivers are the nicest people. I noticed the only A stock S2000 didn't run the second day. Anyone know what happened. Was it a mechanical break down or a driver thing.
Ken
Solo drivers are the nicest people. I noticed the only A stock S2000 didn't run the second day. Anyone know what happened. Was it a mechanical break down or a driver thing.
Ken
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From: Milwaukee
Ahhh, back home to the eternally wet Midwest.
AFAIK, Randy is on off the shelf Koni Sports (Yellows) and the Comptech adjustable front bar. I don't know any of his settings, nor did I ask. I just assumed that he's been doing this long enough and had his equipment optimized. Besides, I would have no idea where to start, setting wise, on the Konis since I've never driven a car before with them.
I'm not quite ready to trade in my Penskes for Konis, but I sure was pleasantly surprised how well Randy's car worked. It just goes to show that you don't need to spend big bucks on equipment to get the job done. I've always said, get all the seat time you can. I don't consider myself a natural driver, which is why I run every weekend from spring to fall...gotta pattern this stuff in my brain. To put it another way, I need to beat the skills into my thick skull.
Steve
AFAIK, Randy is on off the shelf Koni Sports (Yellows) and the Comptech adjustable front bar. I don't know any of his settings, nor did I ask. I just assumed that he's been doing this long enough and had his equipment optimized. Besides, I would have no idea where to start, setting wise, on the Konis since I've never driven a car before with them.
I'm not quite ready to trade in my Penskes for Konis, but I sure was pleasantly surprised how well Randy's car worked. It just goes to show that you don't need to spend big bucks on equipment to get the job done. I've always said, get all the seat time you can. I don't consider myself a natural driver, which is why I run every weekend from spring to fall...gotta pattern this stuff in my brain. To put it another way, I need to beat the skills into my thick skull.
Steve
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From: Chicago
First off, congrats to my co-driver for a well earned win this weekend. He was bummed after finishing in 5th on Sat. But instead of letting it get him down, he really attacked on Sun and moved ahead of everyone. 
I also have to give credit to the Wash DC region for a well run event and a great course design. Very challenging.
And finally, thanks to the other Randy P for letting me take my last run in his car.
Steve already talked about the mechanical difficulties, but here's a couple of action shots:
http://homepage.mac.com/booboo/.Pictures/P...1F8B2FB11D8.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/booboo/.Pictures/P...887B2FB11D8.jpg
I can't wait until next weekend. Here's to hoping the course is a bit slower and more technical so I have a chance against Steve
Brad
#91 BS - 2001 Honda S2000
I also have to give credit to the Wash DC region for a well run event and a great course design. Very challenging.
And finally, thanks to the other Randy P for letting me take my last run in his car.
Steve already talked about the mechanical difficulties, but here's a couple of action shots:
http://homepage.mac.com/booboo/.Pictures/P...1F8B2FB11D8.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/booboo/.Pictures/P...887B2FB11D8.jpg
I can't wait until next weekend. Here's to hoping the course is a bit slower and more technical so I have a chance against Steve
Brad
#91 BS - 2001 Honda S2000
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Also, there was a protest in BS at the Tour.
The driver of #94 BS (BMW M Coupe) Dave James, protested car #44 (Black S2000) and the driver Randy Petschauer for having removed the rear view mirror from the windshield.
Dave had previously talked to Randy about it and didn't feel that Randy was taking him seriously about making the car legal. So he filed the protest to force the issue. As a result, the protest committee found the car illegal and added 2 sec to each of Randy's runs. While Randy was not happy about it, he accepted it and said he would fix it for the future.
Unfortunately for me, this was the car I jumped in to for my last run and so I was assessed a +2sec for my last run as well. Fortunately (sort of), I coned the run so it wasn't my fastest anyway.
Brad
#91 BS
The driver of #94 BS (BMW M Coupe) Dave James, protested car #44 (Black S2000) and the driver Randy Petschauer for having removed the rear view mirror from the windshield.
Dave had previously talked to Randy about it and didn't feel that Randy was taking him seriously about making the car legal. So he filed the protest to force the issue. As a result, the protest committee found the car illegal and added 2 sec to each of Randy's runs. While Randy was not happy about it, he accepted it and said he would fix it for the future.
Unfortunately for me, this was the car I jumped in to for my last run and so I was assessed a +2sec for my last run as well. Fortunately (sort of), I coned the run so it wasn't my fastest anyway.
Brad
#91 BS
Joined: Oct 2000
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From: Williamson County TN
That was a lot of fun.
I'm barely competitive locally and to end the first day in the top three was one hell of a thrill.
I think the first day's course was about just driving the hell out of the car and trying to stick a run. The second day's course required a lot more planning and really showed where experience payed off. I think the fact that Steve hopped in someone else's car and jumped from fifth to first shows that he really had a plan in mind for this course, nice job Steve.
As a side note, I broke a wheel stud on Friday. I met Steve and Brad while waiting in line on the practice course. I told them that I had broken a stud and by the time I had taken a practice run and returned to the line Steve was waiting there with a replacement stud for me. I know they broke their CV, hey mechanical things are going to brake, but in the "good things happen to good people" category it was nice to see Steve go out there and stick that run (even if I was rooting for Perry to take the win gotta root for the NJ guys ).
Thanks again guys. To the other guys who ran at the DC event don't pass up that NE Div event at Ripken in July. We can have another fun BS competition there.
-- Tom
I'm barely competitive locally and to end the first day in the top three was one hell of a thrill.
I think the first day's course was about just driving the hell out of the car and trying to stick a run. The second day's course required a lot more planning and really showed where experience payed off. I think the fact that Steve hopped in someone else's car and jumped from fifth to first shows that he really had a plan in mind for this course, nice job Steve.
As a side note, I broke a wheel stud on Friday. I met Steve and Brad while waiting in line on the practice course. I told them that I had broken a stud and by the time I had taken a practice run and returned to the line Steve was waiting there with a replacement stud for me. I know they broke their CV, hey mechanical things are going to brake, but in the "good things happen to good people" category it was nice to see Steve go out there and stick that run (even if I was rooting for Perry to take the win
gotta root for the NJ guys ).Thanks again guys. To the other guys who ran at the DC event don't pass up that NE Div event at Ripken in July. We can have another fun BS competition there.
-- Tom