It seems I've forgotten how to drive. Two weeks ago, I struggled at Fed Ex field and got my butt handed to me my jbrennen and Brian Garfield. A few days later, I scrape both right-side rims on a curb. A few days after that, I lose to Wojo who is still on his Advans and go off course three times and collect many cones in the process. And then yesterday I swap paint with my garage.

WTF?

Anyway, congrats to wojo. Hopefully I can get my act back together tomorrow and put Jack and Wojo back in their places

Full results are at http://www.autocrossers.com/SLZR2.html

JW

 

Getting your butt handed to you by Brian Garfield doesn't imply anything about your driving.

to Wojo.

See you tomorrow.

 

It also seems that I jumped the gun on Wojo winning. Fatih Selekler was faster in his STi, but he was incorrectly listed under DS so I didn't see his time until someone else pointed that out. Anyway, I did put Wojo back in his place today , but it looks like that jbrennen guy is going to be a real PITA. He beat me by over a second on a 45 sec course and he was on his Advans for this event. I may not have been spectacular today, but I didn't think I left that much time out there.

Brian's novice schools must be awful good, maybe I should take one next season. Now if I can only convince him I'm a novice...

JW

 

You left out the part about how I rudely introduced myself to 7 cones over my first three runs.

I drove that fourth and final run with the overriding idea that the run absolutely must be clean. And surprise, not only was it clean, but my best raw time of the day as well. That's one of the most important things I learned at Brian's schools -- the instructors there will absolutely not cut you any slack if you drive out of control. I can just imagine what they would have told me after my first three runs today. Most likely -- "What the hell was that?"

 

Hey Jack: were you really running on Advans this past Sunday? If so, then.........wow.......hmmm..............i have no excuses then. Good job!!!

 

Yes, on some increasingly worn A046 tires. I never seriously considered using the Hoosiers at Rosecroft, with the condition of the lot. Seeing how many big spins there were on Sunday, I'm glad I stuck with the stock tires.

 

I had fun running and talking with you guys. I took some notes and pictures that I will be post later on our web site.

I was certainly dispointed loosing to all 3 Evos , but that is all I had for this course. I ran out of 2nd gear during the my last 3 runs on both sections of the course, and I was just cruising for some amount of time stuck at 6800-7000 rpms.

However, I know I could not possibly do any better than high 45s even if I had the gears. So, great job guys, I will see you on the 19th with a vengence; that over 1 to 2 second lap difference is way too much for me to sleep tight



Ohh, by the way, that AS first place for me must be a mistake or someone might have put some 63 octane gas in both Jtodd's and Filip's cars, I have no idea how that happened

 

BTW, would any of you mind letting me know what is the OEM wheel offset, hole, and PCD are?

I am trying to locate some appropriate "upgrade" wheels for the Evo, and may have to special order some specific Work or Volk wheels if I cannot find the appropriate ones.

Thank you.

 

The stock wheels are 17x8 with offset of +38mm. The PCD for the lug holes is 5x114.3. The stock wheels and lug nuts have a flat seat -- the lug nuts actually have flat washers which seat against the wheel. Most upgrade wheels will have a conical seat, requiring new lug nuts. The lug studs are 12mmx1.5 pitch.

Finding wheels which clear the front calipers is a chore, regardless of wheel size. A lot of discussion has gone on here previously especially about finding Stock-legal 17x8 wheels for the Evo.

 

Thank you John for the information. It is certainly not easy but I think there are some Work wheels that will work, need to check.

My primary objective is to get the most out of chassis improvements and still stay in SP class, so I am looking in to 8.5" or 9" wide rims.

If you were to run in SP, what would be your preference in width and size? Would you go up to 19" or would you rather stay 17 and keep using 40 profile tires. There are quite a bit of variance in preferences when it comes to this, what is your opinion?

Thanks again.

 

Call me Jack -- everyone does.


Given what I know today, I'd likely run 245/40ZR17 Hoosiers on lightweight 17x9 wheels with the smallest offset possible (the most outboard position that wouldn't rub the fender).

Bigger diameter wheels don't seem like a good idea for competition. They'll increase the rotational inertia of the wheel/tire assembly and acceleration and braking will not be as responsive.

 

LOL. I am so confused about this; I thought it was "Jack", but then I saw you listed in the SCCA results as "John". Jack it is

You have a point. Some prefer to put lower profile tires (especially for track days rather than auto-x) to get more precision in turn-ins, which is also good for auto-x. But my personal preferrence is to use higher profile tires (40s) as I find it quite difficult to sense the break-away in traction with low-profiles. The Michelin's I have on the Bimmer are notorious for not giving any warning before loosing tracktion, but the Bridgestones on the STi are much easier to handle and manage.

So, it all comes down to personal preference, and I need to figure out those various preferences.

JTodd and Filip - what do you guys think and what are your preferences, if you don't mind sharing (any secrets? )?

 

Jack is a common nickname for John, especially among us Irishmen. The most famous example being Pres. John F. Kennedy, known familiarly as Jack.

As to whether I'm really of Irish heritage... I probably have more Scandinavian blood than Irish, but the paternal line of ancestry goes back to Ireland.


Back to the wheel/tire discussions.

 

Oh God! Not only I now work with bunch of Irish and for an Irish company, I am now getting beat in AutoX by an Irishman!

 

Ah, but I can trace my mother's side of the family back to Finland. Perhaps you've heard of some good Finnish drivers... I think one of them drove an Evo once upon a time -- a guy named Tommi or something like that.