Chapter 16: MSC @ TWS CW

It was finally that time again, more MSC @ TWS. I had a credit saved up from corner working a day a few events ago. After waiting most of the year to get to the track with my new cam, I was ready to see what it would do. Two of the Hoosiers I used last time were corded, but I scored a set of Michelin Pilot SX's from the junk pile at the track. It was a staggered setup (275 front,335 rear) from an early Viper. I hate staggered setups. But the price was right(free), and they fit on wheels I already had. Due to having to work on Saturday morning, and having MSC Open House with Tamscc Sunday afternoon, I ran Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I raced from work straight to the track, and made it just in time for my first session.

There is only 1 word to describe how the car handled: plow. The 275's on the front were not cutting it. The rear grip felt OK, but corner 10 (long, slow 180 degree left hander) was painful, and I was losing signifcant time to other cars in this corner. The front end just wouldn't stick. The car, however, ran great, other than some fuel starving caused by slosh in the tank. I really need to find a setup to fix this; either baffles in my exsisting tank, or a fuel cell setup, as having to run nearly a full tank can't be helping my lap times. My power steering worked great, and the car held together quite well. The car seemed to be making decent power, but I won't be pulling on any C6 Z06's anytime soon.

Heading out on track on Saturday with the small front tires, taken by Russell Hall

Chasing an ITE E36....Yeah, I passed him :), taken by Russell Hall

Even with a blower, the Miata was no match, taken by Russell Hall

Satruday night I decided that understeer is just bullshit. So, I busted out my two remaining uncorded 335 Hoosiers to put on the front of the car. Sure, it might make the car a little loose, but by god there wouldn't be any understeer. To help with the balance, I turned the spoiler up significantly. I had it turned down all the way on Saturday to try and keep the understeer at bay (didn't help). I got out for the first session, and surpising the car was quite well balanced. I was definitely faster than the previous day, and it was WAY more fun to drive. But, the first session wasn't all kittens and rainbows. About 2/3 of the way through the session, the car got very squirely under braking for turn 11. In turn 10, it was very loose. At corner exit, it was obvious something was wrong. I pull off onto the oval out of the way. The LR tire is completely destroyed. All of the 335's I have run on the car have rubbed a little, but it has never been a problem. I'm not sure if the rubbing caused the flat or not, but the tire was toast. Luckily, my wheel was OK.

This is what the tire looked like when I stopped on the oval.

Not wanting to throw away free track time, I put one of the 275's on the left rear. Yes, I now had 3 different kinds of tires on the car. Surprisingly, the car handled OK (better than Saturday!), and I finished my last session with no problems. I didn't set any lap records, but the car held together (about damn time..), and I didn't go off the track (but I got close!). Coming up next weekend was the first Tamscc autocross of the semester and time to let the cat out of the bag :)

But, that will all have to wait for the next update.

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