A pic of Todd's/Stroh's national caliber CP car, 500+ chp 310 ci SBC, 4 spd, cambered 9", 3 link, SLA front suspension, etc, etc.
What class to run... It has been my dream for a long time to win SSM. SSM is a Tamscc only catch-all street tire class. Any car with current registration, inspection, and tires with 101 treadwear or higher are allowed. Any mods, so long as the previous requirements are met. I think there are a lot of NDA's (no driving asses) winning SSM, and someone needs to go in there and show them what real driving is like. SSM has gotten much faster as of late, with a C5 Z06 (poorly driven by Zach) and several StEvos. My Formula always has craptastic street tires on it, so I never ran it in SSM. The Corvette, however, should prove to be a great car for SSM, espically if I can get the weight lower. But, the LT4's street tires are worthless. Kumho ASX, 420 treadwear all seasons with way too many track days at TWS. SSM domination will have to wait...
So, with little else to run, I brought out my Hoosiers that I bought on sale for a mere $100 a piece. They are R3S04's. Yeah, 3 years old and the road race compound. Not ideal for auto-x, but they worked pretty well at TWS, dropping my lap times over 4 secs back in Chapter 11. The proper SCCA class for the car is BP....but the SEB recently dropped that class from national competition. That means the slowest class I can run is XP. Ouch. BP is still legal for regional events, so that's where I ran. Of course, no one showed up for that class either. But, Todd and Stroh did show up in their national caliber CP car. BP should be faster than CP. A fully prepped BP car: 2600 lbs, 550+ hp (C5's also go to BP, and 550+ RWHP is not that hard with an LSx) and big slicks, none of this DOT-R crap. CP is similar, with slightly higher weights (2750 for small V8 with big wheels), and of course a solid axle out back. Todd drove this borrowed car to 2nd at the SCCA Nationals in 2006. Over 500 crank hp from a 310 ci SBC, with 14" slicks. SLA front suspension and a 3 link rear, with cambered 9" axle, make it one of the fastest CP cars in the country. This weekend they were on old tires, but still quite foridable none the less.
My first run finally comes around, and I'm not sure exactly how the car will handle. I had only auto-xed once before, at our OD102 novice auto-x school. Back then, I was on craptastic free tires. This time around, I expected much more grip. First run was OK. I totally blow the 2nd corner, due to cold tires and tons of dirt on the course, even though this is the second (and final) heat. I run a 79.731. Not bad, and the car feels good. Second run is better; I completely coast thru the dirty 2nd corner, but manage to not push completely out of position. I hit one cone, and end up with a 77.666+1. Dropped over 2 secs, but added most of that back with the cone. The tires are starting to warm up nicely. Unlike a Kumho V710 which gets very greasy when over-heated, these road race compound Hoosiers need a little more heat to perform well. The small size of this heat helps keep the tires hot. Run three is better still, dropping to 76.982.
While waiting in line for my 4th run, Bobby's dad's Thunderbird Supercoupe blows up while go thru the finish lights. Not I may have dropped a valve blown up. Rather the awesome kind: rod thru the block and oil everywhere kind of blown up. There is a nice oil trail thru the entire stop box (but luckily not on the timed part of the course). I was 2 cars back from the start line when this happens. Everyone pitches in and applies speedy dry ASAP, and pretty quickly we have the mess cleaned up. But, of couse, my tires have cooled off considerably during this 15 min stopage. Cars begin running again, and I get to be the lucky 2nd person thru the oil drop zone. I come thru the lights, and the display remains blank. Hmmm... It seems Pranav forgot to turn on the timers when runs resumed, so I get a re-run. Woot!! Quickly pulling back to the start line, I take this oppertunity to run on hot tires, and lay down a 76.873. Faster still, but only by a tenth.
Due to low turnout, we are getting 5 runs today. Due to me being a pillar of awesome, I have had many requests for rides, and I have taken a passenger on all of my runs to date. For my final run, I go solo in an effort to get that last little bit. 76.738, my best time on the final run. I end the day with only 1 cone total. I wanted a 75; it was out there, but I just couldn't get my brain to keep up with the car. It changes direction so much faster than I'm used to. Since I have no one in BP to compete with, I check out Todd's and Stroh's times. Todd has a 76.654 and Stroh has a best of 77.359. Holy shit! I beat Stroh, and end up only a tenth behind Todd! They are on old ass tires, but they have 200+ more hp, bigger tires, less weight, and a stratch built SLA front/3 link rear. Todd had 2 faster runs, including 1 75.752, but it had 2 cones.
I did notice an interesting trait, however. My car seems to have some transitional throttle lift oversteer. Going into the slaloms, I would lift but not brake. This would cause significant oversteer. In steady state cornering, the car is very balanced, and generally pushes slightly at the limit. Under braking is the same story, but under transitional lift conditions, there is some wicked oversteer. Transitional problems are usually related to shock valving, and it may be approaching time to re-evaluate my shock valving (Bilsteins are revalvable).
A pic of Todd's/Stroh's national caliber CP car, 500+ chp 310 ci SBC, 4 spd, cambered 9", 3 link, SLA front suspension, etc, etc.
Before this event, I did manage to continue removing interior from the car. The passenger side of the dash looked pretty worthless, so out it came. Wow,
that is a lot of wires. Also removed were the passenger side air bag (sorry, passengers...), HVAC ducts, HVAC control panel, and supporting brackets. This
really clears up space for storing tires in the passenger seat area.
Here are some pics taken by fellow Tamsccer Zach Driver as I leave the starting line with Russell Hall riding shotgun.
