I just wanted to say hey to Jeff who showed up at CKR points event #2 driving his S2000. It was cool of you to stop by and say hi. I’m glad to know someone local is reading the site and enjoyed something on here, haha. I have to apologize for having no speed and only drift skills right now; I’m working on getting back in the saddle. Until then, keep reading for more pictures, videos (from Japan and Stateside), and other fun stuff.
Tell your friends. *thumbsup*
Well, I’m 2 events into the 2008 Solo2 season. So far the beginning has been less than ideal but was probably to be expected. The car hadn’t been driven much in the year or so it was in storage, and it it had some gremlins to sort out of it. It still does. I hadn’t driven in almost a year as well, save for sparse occasions, and also had many gremlins to work out of my driving. I still do. I missed the test and tune event, the first two points events were in full wet conditions, and one on 2 season old tires.
What can be said is that the car didn’t fall apart, all the wheels stayed attached, and as I learn to drive fast again I’m catching up to the competition. It’s uninspiring now, but if things keep improving at the rate they have then perhaps I’ll be back in the fight mid-season. Here’s the run down.
Car Prep: Upon driving the car I discovered that it was possessed of a strange vibration and stalled about half the time it was in neutral if the RPMs were dropping from the neighborhood of 2.5K+ down to idle. The left rear caliper had seized beyond repair and baked the brake equipment in the back.
I scrambled before the first event to make the car driveable and barely managed to replace the rear caliper before the event. I headed into points event #1 in a car that had a strange vibration in the steering at high interstate speeds and stalled half the time it was taken out of gear. The tires were old, hard, and the tread compound had given up it’s grip on the pavement. I was hoping for a memory jogging (and hopefully confidence inspiring) set of runs in a familiar car that somehow felt like an unknown stranger.
To make matters worse, it rained. Hard. I had my return race in full wet conditions which the old and near treadless RT615’s found intolerable. Every turn I entered with understeer, and half the turns I exited with oversteer. I set a slow first time. Then I matched it. 5 runs and I didn’t improve upon my first, instead hovering tenths behind it.
Not a confidence inspiring drive. But, on the other hand, the car held together if not to the pavement and felt solid under the vibrations of slip angles small and large. I’m sure it had alot to do with the rain and the equipment; having not driven a car towards the limit in so long I didn’t have the vocabulary with which to know if I was driving close to, or quickly crossing, the sweet spot of cornering force. The only other brightside was that my drifting ability seems not to have diminished in the slightest, as I embarrassed myself (though pleased the corner workers) with a show of full lock cone-free course navigation. I placed a miserable second to last in a class where 2 years ago I probably would have been on 2nd or 3rd.
By event number two I had procured an aggressive new alignment a set of Bridgestone RE01R’s-which confirmed my suspicion that the vibration came from the nasty camber wear on the old Azenis-and like before I barely had time to scrub them in properly before event #2. Now I was back to what I was getting trophies with in 2006: A slow, under-tuned, and under-tired car but one that had a chance. Fortunately in this region many of the competition’s cars are also using the 205 width tire. The limit, as I’ve covered previously, is 225. Though I had an interest in pursuing 225 width tires for this season, the bigger picture: weight, offset, and the limitations of a 4 lug bolt pattern make it clear that my only options are Volks priced around 500+ a wheel, and for that money I could have a custom set of wheels made to my own specifications. 17×7.5 +10 or maybe +0 offset anyone?
In any case, event #2 was once again a full wet event. I still had not had the chance to build much of a rapport with the new tires and rain confidence was still nonexistent. At least as an autocross driver I don’t have to worry about an off course excursion being damaging. I was amazed at the traction level of the new tires. They truly made it feel as though I was driving in the dry on my previous (though past their prime) set. Once I got a feel for the course I discovered that the tire always had more grip than I expected of it. On my final run I finally overdrove the tires on one turn; I should have been more aggressive from the start. Again the car felt solid and this time more familiar. Again I wore the URAS driving gloves of doom (you’ll surely notice them in a picture or video eventually). Again I placed a miserable second to last. The gap had dropped from too many seconds to mention down to about one though. And I still had room to drive harder. At least I didn’t feel like I belonged in Z stock.
So it looks like things are off to a slow but not disastrous start. I may not finish this year with a trophy like in 2006, but I’ll drive every event that I can and try to climb to the front of the pack again. What better place to start from? This Sunday is points event #3 and it looks like it will actually be a dry day. If that holds true it will allow me to finally get some real driving in (I have to re-learn fast in the dry before I can re-learn fast in the wet) under the new tires. Too bad everyone else will probably be that much faster too. I think it’s the last points event this year at my favorite location: UK Stadium, so I’ll have to give it my best.
