Welp, Andy McKee's Boxster got first place today. We'll have to see what the folks say as to whether it was a "Boxster course" or whatever...

 

Hey-

I just got off the phone with Jason Saini.

Joe Goeke got second, Jason was third from what I was told. I think Brad was 14th. Supposedly the Boxster zapped everyone by .6 seconds, with the next seven places all falling within .7 seconds... All heresay- not confirmed...

Congrats to all!

Good Luck Juliann! We're rooting for you here in Chi-town!

 

Here's a link to the details:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...6912#post296912

 

I had a great time meeting all the S2K drivers on the board that went to Nationals. Everyone was really great. I especially want to thank Jason, Brad and Juliann for the spare parts and Windscreen for the setup help.

Mr. McKee was driving so well, I'm not sure anyone could have cought him. In defense of the S2K drivers, the fast sweepers did make it more of a Boxster course IMO. And a lot of S2Ks were having handling problems as well. It was really a testament to some great driving that many S2Ks were able to finish pretty high despite these challenges. I was just trying to do my part to keep us out of AS next year.

 

Hey Rob, it wasn't your fault, remember? The car broke, so you were using unfamiliar parts on it, which drastically changed its behavior! With the parts you were used to, you would have done much better

And yes, I'm the guy that introduced himself while looking at the opposite end link of the one you were replacing....

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by robj
[B]And a lot of S2Ks were having handling problems as well.

 

This being my first post after Nationals, I'd first like to say that it was nice meeting some of the other s2kers out there. It was a tough week for everyone, not the least of which being the SCCA staff. They made the right decision, to cut the event to one course. Due to the country's circumstances, not everyone was operating at 100%...

Add to that the typical Topeka problem of a very bumpy surface, and you get to the bottom of some of the handling problems. There were bumps at the entry of each of the long sweepers on the South course, and that caused a tremendous entry understeer, which exasperated the steady-state understeer that our car was exhibiting. In fact, my first run was a DNF as the car understeered around the outside of the first corner.

Unfortunately, our testing at Peru hurt us... the surface there was much grippier, so on the Topeka concrete the car pushed horribly. We simply had too much swaybar dialed in and not enough time between runs to adjust it. (they were running cars every 13 seconds.) So we used shocks and tire pressures to make the car more balanced, which only helped to a point... Guy Ankeny helped us between runs, and if it wasn't for him I would have been out of the top 10. So thanks to Guy for helping sort the car out.

As for the ProSolo Finale, the transitional nature of the course didn't reveal how bad our car was understeering. Plus, the ProSolo course didn't have any high-speed sweepers... In fact, we had to downshift twice to keep up with the torquey Mr2 Turbo's which are excellent in ProSolo's. I was quite happy to finish 2nd only .1 behind the winning Toyota!

It was a tough Nationals, and an emotional Nationals... A time that none of us will ever forget. I can only hope that next year at this time we will have gone a long way down the road to healing and protecting. Congratulations to all the champions, and a hearty thanks to the National SCCA staff for perservering...
Read this:
http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/national...invocation.html

 

Great post Jason and congrats to all who went to Nationals.

 

Thanks for the report Jason. Third place ain't too shabby. Its been a tough week for our country and in the racing world as well with Zanardi's crash.........