project:BDR 2006 Evo STU build thread
Mar 22, 2013, 06:20 AM
#361
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What I do know is that your car looked really good out on course, as in it wanted to dance a little around cones. I wish we had a chance to do some car swapping as I would like to see how well the car is handling (especially after Sam's comments), but oh well, another time.
Not sure about your thoughts, but first day out on the Z2's felt pretty good to me. Car had plenty of grip, even in the cold conditions. Not sure what they'll do when it gets hot, but definitely encouraging. I'll let you know how the BFG's work this weekend.
We didn't take any video to compare with, but we'll be able to do all kinds of video comparisons at Hershey in April. Looking forward to it.
Not sure about your thoughts, but first day out on the Z2's felt pretty good to me. Car had plenty of grip, even in the cold conditions. Not sure what they'll do when it gets hot, but definitely encouraging. I'll let you know how the BFG's work this weekend.
We didn't take any video to compare with, but we'll be able to do all kinds of video comparisons at Hershey in April. Looking forward to it.
Apr 23, 2013, 07:45 PM
#369
Event #3: AI event #2 @ Waldorf, 3-24-2012
I forgot to do the writeup at the time. This event kind of sucked though. It was cold and windy all day and impossible to keep any heat in the tires. Working morning waivers, I only got to do one coursewalk. I did remember the camera at least.
I had the suspension full soft and tire pressures down around 32/30 compensating for the cold. I was not getting much rollover at those pressures... just not a lot of grip to be had.
First run, 44.6. Second run, 44.2. Third run, 44.3. The runs felt better, but my times weren’t getting faster. That led to a little bit of desperation trying to keep the tires warm...
It did not work
Final run, faster 44.2. Not even the fastest STU time. There was a co-driven 2010 STi on BFG’s (well prepped and driven for sure) with a 44.15. Mental note, pick up a codriver for these events or get tire blankets! It’s massively frustrating having all your runs be pretty much the same. I guess our seasons in the DC area usually aren’t as front-heavy as this one is so far. But if next year is similar, I’m getting blankets.
I ended up 5th in PAX, behind 3 Hondas on Toyos (all very good drivers) and Keath in his STi.
It’s not all about heat in the tires though. I think I was mentally stuck as well. My first fun run, with the same cold tires, was a 43.9, and they went down from there. I had a 43.2 that I’m 99% sure was clean, as well as a 43.0 where I definitely hit something but not sure it was out of the box. (obviously, timing and scoring for fun runs is VERY unofficial )
Even the 43.0 still wouldn’t have gotten top PAX. Ian and Mike are fast. Mike later ran a 42.9 in fun runs, so I left a TON on the table.
Event #4: Susq-SCCA @ Hershey, 4-6-2013
Hershey is one of the better lots near us - a little over 2 hours from DC. The courses are usually very well done, and the events definitely have some quirks (heat imbalances, coursewalks between every heat, among others) but it’s usually worth it.
This event had some hiccups for sure. At some point during or after the first heat, the event was so behind that they had to go from 4 to 3 runs. So the folks who had already taken 4 runs, got their 4th runs retroactively deleted. We worked first and ran 4th so it was a very long day.
The course wasn’t that fun, the tires were cold, and the car was loose. First run, spun and hit 2 cones. 48.0+2. I had started in the middle on the shocks all the way around, but after the first run I backed the rear out to full soft. There was a particularly painful tight section near the end of the course where the car felt awful, but it felt.. okay otherwise. Not good. But with three runs I couldn’t afford a spin or near spin on runs 2 or 3. Trust issues. Perhaps overreaction.
2nd run - much better, 44.129, but still slow, and the tight section still sucked.
3rd run - 43.4. Still a lot of mistakes and/or fear. Late in the last slalom, far off some cones in the tight stuff, generally no aggression anywhere.
Ended up 8 tenths off Josh. Figure that’s about 1.1 seconds on a 60 second course. PAX’d 12th/153 but really left a lot out there.
Skittle battlestage!
Event was pretty forgettable overall.
Event #5: Susq-SCCA @ Hershey, 4-7-2013
Some differences today - the course was reversed, but a little bit longer, and a little bit faster. Still not that creative, but at least a lot more fun. Since the weather was warmer, I swore I would stick with the normal warm setup - 37/35, middle on the shocks all the way around.
The car felt good, except for the really tight section. There were really two key areas to set up for - both sweeper exits into very fast offsets.
Run 3 (43.4) vs run 4 (43.5):
Datas:
Run 3 had a better initial slalom by about a tenth.
Run 3 had a better tight section and entered the fast stretch into the first key sweeper better.
Halfway through the run, Run 3 was about 5 tenths faster!
Run 4 gave it up to enter the final sweeper though. This allowed run 4 to get on the gas much much sooner. Run 4 picked up .4 versus run 3 here.
So if you fix that one entry, 4 tenths... bleh. Josh ended up running a 42.7 clean, so my 43.4 probably works out to about a second behind on a normal 60 second course. I did end up PAXing fairly not that great, 21st out of 144... behind a lot of good drivers mind you, but still disappointing overall.
Also a very good lead-in to next weekend's Fedex events, in terms of giving up a ton of time by not staying ahead.
The lip stayed on the car at least...
I forgot to do the writeup at the time. This event kind of sucked though. It was cold and windy all day and impossible to keep any heat in the tires. Working morning waivers, I only got to do one coursewalk. I did remember the camera at least.
I had the suspension full soft and tire pressures down around 32/30 compensating for the cold. I was not getting much rollover at those pressures... just not a lot of grip to be had.
First run, 44.6. Second run, 44.2. Third run, 44.3. The runs felt better, but my times weren’t getting faster. That led to a little bit of desperation trying to keep the tires warm...
It did not work
Final run, faster 44.2. Not even the fastest STU time. There was a co-driven 2010 STi on BFG’s (well prepped and driven for sure) with a 44.15. Mental note, pick up a codriver for these events or get tire blankets! It’s massively frustrating having all your runs be pretty much the same. I guess our seasons in the DC area usually aren’t as front-heavy as this one is so far. But if next year is similar, I’m getting blankets. I ended up 5th in PAX, behind 3 Hondas on Toyos (all very good drivers) and Keath in his STi.
It’s not all about heat in the tires though. I think I was mentally stuck as well. My first fun run, with the same cold tires, was a 43.9, and they went down from there. I had a 43.2 that I’m 99% sure was clean, as well as a 43.0 where I definitely hit something but not sure it was out of the box. (obviously, timing and scoring for fun runs is VERY unofficial
)Even the 43.0 still wouldn’t have gotten top PAX. Ian and Mike are fast. Mike later ran a 42.9 in fun runs, so I left a TON on the table.
Event #4: Susq-SCCA @ Hershey, 4-6-2013
Hershey is one of the better lots near us - a little over 2 hours from DC. The courses are usually very well done, and the events definitely have some quirks (heat imbalances, coursewalks between every heat, among others) but it’s usually worth it.
This event had some hiccups for sure. At some point during or after the first heat, the event was so behind that they had to go from 4 to 3 runs. So the folks who had already taken 4 runs, got their 4th runs retroactively deleted. We worked first and ran 4th so it was a very long day.
The course wasn’t that fun, the tires were cold, and the car was loose. First run, spun and hit 2 cones. 48.0+2. I had started in the middle on the shocks all the way around, but after the first run I backed the rear out to full soft. There was a particularly painful tight section near the end of the course where the car felt awful, but it felt.. okay otherwise. Not good. But with three runs I couldn’t afford a spin or near spin on runs 2 or 3. Trust issues. Perhaps overreaction.
2nd run - much better, 44.129, but still slow, and the tight section still sucked.
3rd run - 43.4. Still a lot of mistakes and/or fear. Late in the last slalom, far off some cones in the tight stuff, generally no aggression anywhere.
Ended up 8 tenths off Josh. Figure that’s about 1.1 seconds on a 60 second course. PAX’d 12th/153 but really left a lot out there.
Skittle battlestage!
Event was pretty forgettable overall.
Event #5: Susq-SCCA @ Hershey, 4-7-2013
Some differences today - the course was reversed, but a little bit longer, and a little bit faster. Still not that creative, but at least a lot more fun. Since the weather was warmer, I swore I would stick with the normal warm setup - 37/35, middle on the shocks all the way around.
The car felt good, except for the really tight section. There were really two key areas to set up for - both sweeper exits into very fast offsets.
Run 3 (43.4) vs run 4 (43.5):
Datas:
Run 3 had a better initial slalom by about a tenth.
Run 3 had a better tight section and entered the fast stretch into the first key sweeper better.
Halfway through the run, Run 3 was about 5 tenths faster!
Run 4 gave it up to enter the final sweeper though. This allowed run 4 to get on the gas much much sooner. Run 4 picked up .4 versus run 3 here.
So if you fix that one entry, 4 tenths... bleh. Josh ended up running a 42.7 clean, so my 43.4 probably works out to about a second behind on a normal 60 second course. I did end up PAXing fairly not that great, 21st out of 144... behind a lot of good drivers mind you, but still disappointing overall.
Also a very good lead-in to next weekend's Fedex events, in terms of giving up a ton of time by not staying ahead.
The lip stayed on the car at least...
Apr 23, 2013, 08:26 PM
#370
Event #6: WDCR #1 @ Fedex, 4-13-2013
I forgot the MaxQ and the GoPro (left them at home, charging
).
New numbers though, thanks to Mike Snyder at SSC Tint. I wanted some numbers you could pretty much see from space, that would go with the general color scheme, but also be portable to another car (even if it was black or orange or silver). I think the mission was accomplished
Walking the course, I was worried it was going to be painful. There were a lot of big fast sweepers (a la the 2012 “Sweeperfest” West Course) and I wasn’t sure how the car was going to do. It’s not often we have a course that is this sweepery and I don’t have a lot of experience with sweepers this sustained, other than in Lincoln. Surprisingly, the car wasn’t bad at all - definitely not overly pushy, more like the sliightly pushy side of neutral. The car was pretty good at Fedex at the end of last year, and I didn’t make any radical changes this year so that was reassuring.
First run felt pretty good - 69.0, +1. Definitely pleased with steady state in particular. But Shane had a 66.9 (dirty) and Josh ran a 67.5 (dirty) so definitely work to do.
Next run, lots of overdriving and stupidness. 71.0, went offcourse somewhere trying to avoid plowing into a wall.
3rd run, get it together. 68.2, clean. My first clean run at Fedex all year, out of 11 total. At this point, Josh got down to a 67.1, and Shane was on a 67.8 clean, so not that far out all things considered.
4th run, I managed to clean a couple parts up but the finish was ugly and I ended up going through the finish chute wall backwards (run was clean up until that point). The raw time was another 68.2. I did fix a couple things, but not enough. I ended up about 1.8 off Shane and 1.0 off Josh. 41st out of 194 in PAX, which is something like the 78th percentile. Definitely sub par especially compared to 2012 for me.
Sucky update without video, but there were two interesting pictures that came out of it, in the “showcase” sweeper - (thanks AJ)
Rear wheel is WAY off the ground in that picture. My first reaction was “damn, I need more roll stiffness”. But, it was a very off-camber part of the lot, and I have a 24mm rear bar, and completely avoiding wheel lift is probably very difficult in one of these things. I think even with 700# springs in the front the rear wheel would probably be off the ground in this scenario, though probably not as far off. In the rear, I could go up in spring (maybe 900s), and down in rear bar, in order to get less wheel lift... but even if that wheel is on the ground, I don’t know how much power is really getting to it. I dunno. It seems like an extreme example, but I was also lifting wheels at Nationals last year - mostly a flat surface (certainly compared to Fedex) but a lot more grip than we get here.
It’s something that I’ve always wrestled with, the “it’s close enough, just drive better rather than obsessing about small details” versus the need to tweak things. Given the distance between me and the two folks in the #83 car, I am inclined to leave it alone for now, but definitely would appreciate anyone’s feedback. I did just re-read Dallas’s posts in the 2013 STU thread and it does have the gears turning.
I forgot the MaxQ and the GoPro (left them at home, charging
).New numbers though, thanks to Mike Snyder at SSC Tint. I wanted some numbers you could pretty much see from space, that would go with the general color scheme, but also be portable to another car (even if it was black or orange or silver). I think the mission was accomplished
Walking the course, I was worried it was going to be painful. There were a lot of big fast sweepers (a la the 2012 “Sweeperfest” West Course) and I wasn’t sure how the car was going to do. It’s not often we have a course that is this sweepery and I don’t have a lot of experience with sweepers this sustained, other than in Lincoln. Surprisingly, the car wasn’t bad at all - definitely not overly pushy, more like the sliightly pushy side of neutral. The car was pretty good at Fedex at the end of last year, and I didn’t make any radical changes this year so that was reassuring.
First run felt pretty good - 69.0, +1. Definitely pleased with steady state in particular. But Shane had a 66.9 (dirty) and Josh ran a 67.5 (dirty) so definitely work to do.
Next run, lots of overdriving and stupidness. 71.0, went offcourse somewhere trying to avoid plowing into a wall.
3rd run, get it together. 68.2, clean. My first clean run at Fedex all year, out of 11 total. At this point, Josh got down to a 67.1, and Shane was on a 67.8 clean, so not that far out all things considered.
4th run, I managed to clean a couple parts up but the finish was ugly and I ended up going through the finish chute wall backwards (run was clean up until that point). The raw time was another 68.2. I did fix a couple things, but not enough. I ended up about 1.8 off Shane and 1.0 off Josh. 41st out of 194 in PAX, which is something like the 78th percentile. Definitely sub par especially compared to 2012 for me.
Sucky update without video, but there were two interesting pictures that came out of it, in the “showcase” sweeper - (thanks AJ)
Rear wheel is WAY off the ground in that picture. My first reaction was “damn, I need more roll stiffness”. But, it was a very off-camber part of the lot, and I have a 24mm rear bar, and completely avoiding wheel lift is probably very difficult in one of these things. I think even with 700# springs in the front the rear wheel would probably be off the ground in this scenario, though probably not as far off. In the rear, I could go up in spring (maybe 900s), and down in rear bar, in order to get less wheel lift... but even if that wheel is on the ground, I don’t know how much power is really getting to it. I dunno. It seems like an extreme example, but I was also lifting wheels at Nationals last year - mostly a flat surface (certainly compared to Fedex) but a lot more grip than we get here.
It’s something that I’ve always wrestled with, the “it’s close enough, just drive better rather than obsessing about small details” versus the need to tweak things. Given the distance between me and the two folks in the #83 car, I am inclined to leave it alone for now, but definitely would appreciate anyone’s feedback. I did just re-read Dallas’s posts in the 2013 STU thread and it does have the gears turning.
Apr 23, 2013, 08:48 PM
#371
Rear wheel is WAY off the ground in that picture. My first reaction was “damn, I need more roll stiffness”. But, it was a very off-camber part of the lot, and I have a 24mm rear bar, and completely avoiding wheel lift is probably very difficult in one of these things. I think even with 700# springs in the front the rear wheel would probably be off the ground in this scenario, though probably not as far off. In the rear, I could go up in spring (maybe 900s), and down in rear bar, in order to get less wheel lift... but even if that wheel is on the ground, I don’t know how much power is really getting to it. I dunno. It seems like an extreme example, but I was also lifting wheels at Nationals last year - mostly a flat surface (certainly compared to Fedex) but a lot more grip than we get here.
Apr 23, 2013, 09:38 PM
#372
2013-04-14: WDCR/SCCA #2 @ Fedex
For this event, the course from 4-13 was reversed, but tweaked a little. This was probably the hardest course I’ve run in the last 3 years, and I’m including Nationals. The results bear this out I think - just as an example, at the 4-13 event, the 20th place PAX car was 1.1 seconds out of first. At this event, the 20th place PAX car was 2 seconds out of first. The best people Just Got It and there was a lot of space between everyone depending on what percentage of the course they managed to stay on top of. There was just soooo much room to hang yourself if you didn’t line up the fast sections, or if you used too much distance, and I was doing both.
Josh and Shane ran in the morning, so by the time the rest of STU showed up (STU ran afternoon), the bar had been set pretty high. Shane had run a 63.8 and Josh had a 64.6. For comparison a very well prepped and very well driven BSP 350z (hi Mike), who PAXd 4th, ran a 63.3.
First run - 66.9. Definitely one of those, exploratory, way too careful runs. I didn’t feel like I set anything up well at all.
Run 2 - Shane came along. I started out more aggressively, picking up .4 in just the first 7 seconds of the run by getting on the gas more. I then entered the big sweeper into the first very fast stretch by driving straight at the entry, which gave away .3 of that improvement. So at this point, run 2 is .1 up on run 1. Through the showcase, run 2 took a tighter, less distancey line - at the exit of the showcase, run 2 now up by a total of .7. But then run 2 got so horribly behind coming back up the hill that at one point it was doing 29.7 mph compared to 43.6 mph on run 1. In the middle of the big lefthand sweeper, run 1 was now only .2 behind. The run across the offsets at the top of the lot was about the same, run 2 a little better, and run 2 saved some distance in the last big lefthander. After that, run 2 was up by .5 again, mostly on the strength of that distance. Run 2 forgot to set up for the last slalom though, and paid for it big time.
Just in that run 1 to run 2 comparison you can see the massive inconsistency.
Run 1 Run 2 Why
Start 0 0
First 7 seconds 0 -0.4 Run 2 more aggressive
Entering the big sweeper -0.3 0 Run 1 more ahead
Going through the showcase 0 -0.6 Run 2 less distance
Middle of big lefthander -0.5 0 Run 1 ahead in offsets
Run across the top 0 -0.3 Run 2 less distance
Last slalom and lefthander -0.7 0 Run 1 ahead in slaloms
Better sections -1.5 -1.3
Final Run 1 .2 faster
Run 2 threw away 1.5 seconds worth of good stuff, and only added 1.3 seconds of good stuff. If you keep the good parts of run 1 and apply it to run 2 (not an exact science obviously), there’s a 65.7 in there somewhere - still a ways off, but certainly MUCH better than a 67.1! Ugh.
Run 3 was similar to run 2, in that there were big gains and losses. 66.9, again.
Run 4, same thing. Halfway through the run, run 3 was six tenths faster. But run 4’s second half was much, much better, and run 4 ended up 3 tenths faster - i.e., from the halfway point forward, run 4 was *nine tenths* faster.
Run 4 video. Hurts to watch
For comparison, here’s Shane’s 63.8
I haven’t actually sat down and compared the two yet - going to try to do that Friday night at Dover when it can help me out more.
This was just a bad day. I psyched myself out early, and stayed there. The splits make it seem not as bad as it felt, and strangely enough I actually PAX’d better than on Saturday. I definitely think the car has nothing to do with the poor performance. As with Saturday, the balance was good, but the car can’t fix a bad line. If the Hershey course had 2-3 areas where a careful entry was absolutely necessary for any sort of good time, this course had like 13. And I couldn’t string together a single run where I hit more than half of them... just bleeding tenths away repeatedly.
So, 2 seconds off Josh and 2.8 off Shane. I didn’t know it was possible, but they are getting even faster. Still 3rd in STU (.9 over 4th and 2.6 seconds over 5th) but the inconsistency was pretty ugly.
Next time:
* Remember this is supposed to be fun.
* Don’t worry about anyone else’s times. Maybe actively try to not-know anyone else’s times.
* More coursewalks. I ended up doing less than 2 - we only had about a half hour and it was a very long course so it was hard to do more than that unless you were jogging or something.
Next event is Dover. Hoping to get plenty of TnT time in on Friday to play with some stuff, but mostly just want to identify the key spots and really consistently nail them. I think it’ll help to have all that time to walk the course and come up with a plan.
Until then!
For this event, the course from 4-13 was reversed, but tweaked a little. This was probably the hardest course I’ve run in the last 3 years, and I’m including Nationals. The results bear this out I think - just as an example, at the 4-13 event, the 20th place PAX car was 1.1 seconds out of first. At this event, the 20th place PAX car was 2 seconds out of first. The best people Just Got It and there was a lot of space between everyone depending on what percentage of the course they managed to stay on top of. There was just soooo much room to hang yourself if you didn’t line up the fast sections, or if you used too much distance, and I was doing both.
Josh and Shane ran in the morning, so by the time the rest of STU showed up (STU ran afternoon), the bar had been set pretty high. Shane had run a 63.8 and Josh had a 64.6. For comparison a very well prepped and very well driven BSP 350z (hi Mike), who PAXd 4th, ran a 63.3.
First run - 66.9. Definitely one of those, exploratory, way too careful runs. I didn’t feel like I set anything up well at all.
Run 2 - Shane came along. I started out more aggressively, picking up .4 in just the first 7 seconds of the run by getting on the gas more. I then entered the big sweeper into the first very fast stretch by driving straight at the entry, which gave away .3 of that improvement. So at this point, run 2 is .1 up on run 1. Through the showcase, run 2 took a tighter, less distancey line - at the exit of the showcase, run 2 now up by a total of .7. But then run 2 got so horribly behind coming back up the hill that at one point it was doing 29.7 mph compared to 43.6 mph on run 1. In the middle of the big lefthand sweeper, run 1 was now only .2 behind. The run across the offsets at the top of the lot was about the same, run 2 a little better, and run 2 saved some distance in the last big lefthander. After that, run 2 was up by .5 again, mostly on the strength of that distance. Run 2 forgot to set up for the last slalom though, and paid for it big time.
Just in that run 1 to run 2 comparison you can see the massive inconsistency.
Run 1 Run 2 Why
Start 0 0
First 7 seconds 0 -0.4 Run 2 more aggressive
Entering the big sweeper -0.3 0 Run 1 more ahead
Going through the showcase 0 -0.6 Run 2 less distance
Middle of big lefthander -0.5 0 Run 1 ahead in offsets
Run across the top 0 -0.3 Run 2 less distance
Last slalom and lefthander -0.7 0 Run 1 ahead in slaloms
Better sections -1.5 -1.3
Final Run 1 .2 faster
Run 2 threw away 1.5 seconds worth of good stuff, and only added 1.3 seconds of good stuff. If you keep the good parts of run 1 and apply it to run 2 (not an exact science obviously), there’s a 65.7 in there somewhere - still a ways off, but certainly MUCH better than a 67.1! Ugh.
Run 3 was similar to run 2, in that there were big gains and losses. 66.9, again.
Run 4, same thing. Halfway through the run, run 3 was six tenths faster. But run 4’s second half was much, much better, and run 4 ended up 3 tenths faster - i.e., from the halfway point forward, run 4 was *nine tenths* faster.
Run 4 video. Hurts to watch
For comparison, here’s Shane’s 63.8
I haven’t actually sat down and compared the two yet - going to try to do that Friday night at Dover when it can help me out more.
This was just a bad day. I psyched myself out early, and stayed there. The splits make it seem not as bad as it felt, and strangely enough I actually PAX’d better than on Saturday. I definitely think the car has nothing to do with the poor performance. As with Saturday, the balance was good, but the car can’t fix a bad line. If the Hershey course had 2-3 areas where a careful entry was absolutely necessary for any sort of good time, this course had like 13. And I couldn’t string together a single run where I hit more than half of them... just bleeding tenths away repeatedly.
So, 2 seconds off Josh and 2.8 off Shane. I didn’t know it was possible, but they are getting even faster. Still 3rd in STU (.9 over 4th and 2.6 seconds over 5th) but the inconsistency was pretty ugly.
Next time:
* Remember this is supposed to be fun.
* Don’t worry about anyone else’s times. Maybe actively try to not-know anyone else’s times.
* More coursewalks. I ended up doing less than 2 - we only had about a half hour and it was a very long course so it was hard to do more than that unless you were jogging or something.
Next event is Dover. Hoping to get plenty of TnT time in on Friday to play with some stuff, but mostly just want to identify the key spots and really consistently nail them. I think it’ll help to have all that time to walk the course and come up with a plan.
Until then!
Apr 23, 2013, 09:40 PM
#373
BTW, thanks
May 2, 2013, 08:26 PM
#375
Event #8? SCCA Dover Championship Tour, 4-26-2013
First national event of the year for me. I had unsubscribed from the Pro to avoid doing four weekends in a row, and figured the Dover Tour was probably a better bet since it wouldn’t involve potential clutchsplosion.
Friday: practice course
Keeping in the theme of the last entry, I wasn’t going to worry about anyone’s times or anything like that. I was using the practice course for setup and car feel only, not trying to get the best possible time per se. I set the shocks to their usual middle location to start. I got out on my first run and the car was terribly pushy, when I realized the pressures were low (something like 35/32). I ran back to paddock, got them up to 37/35 and went back for another 2 runs. Still miserably pushy... Hrm. The car had felt very good at Fedex (even though it was slow), what gives?
After various experiments in various directions (lots of air, soft shocks, stiff rear shocks) I ended up settling on a slightly softer than normal shock setup (3/1 front, 2/2 rear) with raised air pressures in the rear (38 psi front, 38 psi rear). It seemed to feel the most tossable and the least pushy. I was hoping/assuming that the practice course was just unusually tight and that on a full course it would be okay.
(Note, I really need to get to a test and tune where I can play with pressures. 37/35 has worked out just fine at Fedex, but I haven’t had time to really try the extremes in either direction. This was just an experiment that felt pretty good so I went with it.)
I ended up hitting a (metaphorical) wall on the practice course. I had started out at a 34.0 on the first run with nowhere near enough air. I had run two 32.6’s and a 32.7 afterwards, but couldn’t crack it no matter what I tried. The #37 STU car had run a 32.3 so I felt a little off the pace, but the center section was so slow and painful I wasn’t going to take it too seriously.
In keeping with the lesson of previous entries, I was determined to walk the hell out of this course. Friday night, I did 7 walks. Since STU ran 4th heat, I would have two opportunities on Saturday to walk (the morning, and the break between heats 2 and 3) which I would definitely take advantage of. I wanted to make sure I really had a plan.
This should be a collection of brightly colored wheels, but I guess Shoe was saving the good ones for Saturday.
The course was definitely not as technical as the DC course two weeks ago. There was really very little room for line creativity. Lots of digs, and lots of fast sections.
Saturday
After starting with another 2 coursewalks, I watched the first heat folks (including the heavy hitters in SS) and how they were attacking certain elements. The hard right-hander in the middle of the course seemed to be a pretty key spot as it opened up a straightaway in the middle of the course (over some serious bumps). There was also a 180 pinch turn towards the end that a lot of people were pushing out wide on. I was determined to stay on the good side of those elements - seemed like a pretty big difference in how the fast guys were taking them compared to everyone else.
Heat 4 finally comes up. I run the course a bunch of times in my head, reminding myself of some visual cues to keep me on track. I go out on the first run, and I’m not aggressive enough at the start, a little behind in some of the pinchy stuff, and I drive straight at the last finish cone rather than getting cleanly past it. 45.6 clean.
Shane runs a 45.0+1, Josh runs a 45.1+1, and I know I’m a little off the pace. I grab my laptop, watch the video, find the spots where the biggest mistakes were made and focus on fixing them.
Run 2 - much better. I hit the inside cone in the pinchy righthander (:30 mark in the video) but other than that, the run is really tidy. Steady hands, mostly looking ahead, etc.
45.1+1. I felt great after this run - I knew what cone I had hit and I knew it was definitely fixable. Josh ran a clean 45.1, and Shane ran a 44.9+2. Even just looking at raws I was in the mix.
Run 3 - just want to run the same one, but clean. Run felt great, came across the line, chanting “45.0, 45.0” in my head, and then Howard announced it! 45.0, slotting me into 1st in STU. Shane had to back off to get a clean one in, and had a 45.6, and Josh ended up sitting on the 45.1.
Going into the pinch turn. Rear wheel mostly down.
It figures.. I forgot to start the video. But according to the MaxQ, it was almost identical to run #2. Except without the cone obviously.
So I finished Saturday in the lead at a National Tour, something I’d never done before. I was winning STX at the DC Pro in 2010 but it was a small class and I was only one of two AWD cars. This was definitely different. And it screws with your head a little. The easy thing to do is, well, you’re in good shape for tomorrow, Josh and Shane are just going to pass you, try to mantain 3rd place. I really did not want to fall into that trap. The way the course was (very unfriendly to STi gearing), this was a very good opportunity if I could run strong on day 2. But the lead was only 0.149 to Josh and .570 to Shane, which against these guys is almost nothing.
The car, with a setup I had stumbled onto on the practice course, felt fantastic. Very good in the opening steady state sweeper and even good in the tight slow stuff. It was always pointed in the right direction. The shocks were also doing a very good job dealing with the massive bumps in the second half of the course. No ice mode freakouts or anything.
I did another 7 coursewalks or thereabouts before the paddock shenanigans won out.
Sunday
In reverse the course had some even faster sections, though it was a tick longer. It was definitely a little trickier in this direction due to the high speed walloms in the middle and the patience sections in the beginning. I would end up hitting the rev limiter 4 times on each run, sometimes for quite a while.
After 2 morning and 2 later-morning coursewalks heat 4 finally rolled around.
Run 1 - nowhere near aggressive enough. Late entering the walloms. Late entering the chute. Didn’t brake enough at the end of the chute. Meh. 46.173. Josh: 45.1+1, Shane 44.9+1. Still in the lead due to the cones, but WAY off the pace. I had gotten off my plan and was just driving off old habits. I grabbed the video and resolved to go back to tidy driving mode.
Run 2 - much better. I pegged a stupid inside cone early but the rest of the run was okay. I still did not line up the quasi-straights as well, and wasn’t really committed in the slalom the way I needed to be. 45.671+1. Josh landed a clean one, 45.250, and Shane ran a 44.9+2.
Josh was now in the lead. I needed a 45.398 to take the lead back and keep him honest, less than 3 tenths off the raw I just ran. I knew that was doable.
Run 3 - some improvement here but some loss too. I’d really appreciate feedback on this. It felt okay, but I felt like I wasn’t flat out in the slalom or the walloms and didn’t quite exit the walloms right.
For comparison, Josh’s video
I came across with a 45.700 (would have liked that extra thousandth to be in the 45.6’s). It was almost a half second improvement from run 1, but I did give up some compared to the raw of run 2. Shane came across the line shortly after with a 45.181, ending up less than half a tenth back. Josh tacked on another .168 on his 3rd run and finished up winning the class (and 2 tires) by .469.
… and across the line
I was really happy. This is the first time I’ve ever finished ahead of Shane in a fair fight (when they were not scrubbing in tires) and as close to Josh as I’ve been since we both went to STU. There were certainly some mitigating factors - having Evo gearing definitely helped, maybe the Dunlops are better than the BFGs (?), and the straightforward course design definitely helped me. But I’ll take it and try to use it as a building block for next time.
I can’t say enough nice things about the car either. Someone who was less of a hack would probably have taken better advantage of day 2
The data breakdown:
Sector 1 (start) - run 3 backsided the beginning of the first bit of patience stuff, and stayed out a little entering the slalom after the pin turn, so that it could get on the gas faster. Run 2 had to give it up a little to drop into the slalom. Run 3, up by a tenth.
Sector 2 (slalom) - run 3 got the car a little squirrelly, just a little, and had to get off the gas. Run 2 makes up a ton of time here - at the braking zone after the fast slalom, run 2 is faster by 4 tenths This means run 3 gave up a full half second there 
Run 3 stays tighter in the next patience left-right combo and makes up some of it. Entering the walloms, run 2 is .2 faster.
Sector 3 (walloms) - basically a tie. Run 3 gets off to a more careful start but is more aggressive at the end. At the end of the wallom section, run 2 is still .2 faster but run 3 has entered the chute section much better (got a little aggressive on that steering input as you can see in the video).
Sector 3 (chute, finish sweeper) - the chute is a wash, but run 3 brakes better at the end and starts the finish sweeper much more tidy. Run 2 does a little better job giving it up for the final left, versus run 3 overslowing a little (Run 2 carrying about 3 mph more). They cross the line about .050 apart by the data, which jives nicely with the clock (yay, 4 year old maxqdata system!).
So, by the data at least, run 3 with a better slalom is enough to make it awful close. But the whole point of this sport is consistency so that does not help me Day 1 I was hitting my marks pretty precisely, and day 2 - slightly harder course - I was not. Pressure? Maybe. In retrospect it's at least reassuring that I know where I messed up and what I needed to fix to get the run I needed.
Some mental notes for next time:
* I'm currently revving to 7800 vs stock 7600. A course like this, I could have definitely used 8000. GPS says I'm hitting 63-64 mph when I am on the limiter - I think I can safely go for a little more but want to research it (for big events at least).
* Coursewalking helped a ton. Until I can force myself to look ahead more consistently I can at least think ahead with memorization. (note, don't try this at home)
* Don't be afraid to change the setup. It might work.
* If you don't believe you can, you never will. So... believe it's possible. Insert something more inspirational than that here.
The DC Pro has 9 entries in STU. Definitely looking forward to it, as long as the clutch holds.
First national event of the year for me. I had unsubscribed from the Pro to avoid doing four weekends in a row, and figured the Dover Tour was probably a better bet since it wouldn’t involve potential clutchsplosion.
Friday: practice course
Keeping in the theme of the last entry, I wasn’t going to worry about anyone’s times or anything like that. I was using the practice course for setup and car feel only, not trying to get the best possible time per se. I set the shocks to their usual middle location to start. I got out on my first run and the car was terribly pushy, when I realized the pressures were low (something like 35/32). I ran back to paddock, got them up to 37/35 and went back for another 2 runs. Still miserably pushy... Hrm. The car had felt very good at Fedex (even though it was slow), what gives?
After various experiments in various directions (lots of air, soft shocks, stiff rear shocks) I ended up settling on a slightly softer than normal shock setup (3/1 front, 2/2 rear) with raised air pressures in the rear (38 psi front, 38 psi rear). It seemed to feel the most tossable and the least pushy. I was hoping/assuming that the practice course was just unusually tight and that on a full course it would be okay.
(Note, I really need to get to a test and tune where I can play with pressures. 37/35 has worked out just fine at Fedex, but I haven’t had time to really try the extremes in either direction. This was just an experiment that felt pretty good so I went with it.)
I ended up hitting a (metaphorical) wall on the practice course. I had started out at a 34.0 on the first run with nowhere near enough air. I had run two 32.6’s and a 32.7 afterwards, but couldn’t crack it no matter what I tried. The #37 STU car had run a 32.3 so I felt a little off the pace, but the center section was so slow and painful I wasn’t going to take it too seriously.
In keeping with the lesson of previous entries, I was determined to walk the hell out of this course. Friday night, I did 7 walks. Since STU ran 4th heat, I would have two opportunities on Saturday to walk (the morning, and the break between heats 2 and 3) which I would definitely take advantage of. I wanted to make sure I really had a plan.
This should be a collection of brightly colored wheels, but I guess Shoe was saving the good ones for Saturday.
The course was definitely not as technical as the DC course two weeks ago. There was really very little room for line creativity. Lots of digs, and lots of fast sections.
Saturday
After starting with another 2 coursewalks, I watched the first heat folks (including the heavy hitters in SS) and how they were attacking certain elements. The hard right-hander in the middle of the course seemed to be a pretty key spot as it opened up a straightaway in the middle of the course (over some serious bumps). There was also a 180 pinch turn towards the end that a lot of people were pushing out wide on. I was determined to stay on the good side of those elements - seemed like a pretty big difference in how the fast guys were taking them compared to everyone else.
Heat 4 finally comes up. I run the course a bunch of times in my head, reminding myself of some visual cues to keep me on track. I go out on the first run, and I’m not aggressive enough at the start, a little behind in some of the pinchy stuff, and I drive straight at the last finish cone rather than getting cleanly past it. 45.6 clean.
Shane runs a 45.0+1, Josh runs a 45.1+1, and I know I’m a little off the pace. I grab my laptop, watch the video, find the spots where the biggest mistakes were made and focus on fixing them.
Run 2 - much better. I hit the inside cone in the pinchy righthander (:30 mark in the video) but other than that, the run is really tidy. Steady hands, mostly looking ahead, etc.
45.1+1. I felt great after this run - I knew what cone I had hit and I knew it was definitely fixable. Josh ran a clean 45.1, and Shane ran a 44.9+2. Even just looking at raws I was in the mix.
Run 3 - just want to run the same one, but clean. Run felt great, came across the line, chanting “45.0, 45.0” in my head, and then Howard announced it!
45.0, slotting me into 1st in STU. Shane had to back off to get a clean one in, and had a 45.6, and Josh ended up sitting on the 45.1.Going into the pinch turn. Rear wheel mostly down.
It figures.. I forgot to start the video. But according to the MaxQ, it was almost identical to run #2. Except without the cone obviously.
So I finished Saturday in the lead at a National Tour, something I’d never done before. I was winning STX at the DC Pro in 2010 but it was a small class and I was only one of two AWD cars. This was definitely different. And it screws with your head a little. The easy thing to do is, well, you’re in good shape for tomorrow, Josh and Shane are just going to pass you, try to mantain 3rd place. I really did not want to fall into that trap. The way the course was (very unfriendly to STi gearing), this was a very good opportunity if I could run strong on day 2. But the lead was only 0.149 to Josh and .570 to Shane, which against these guys is almost nothing.
The car, with a setup I had stumbled onto on the practice course, felt fantastic. Very good in the opening steady state sweeper and even good in the tight slow stuff. It was always pointed in the right direction. The shocks were also doing a very good job dealing with the massive bumps in the second half of the course. No ice mode freakouts or anything.
I did another 7 coursewalks or thereabouts before the paddock shenanigans won out.
Sunday
In reverse the course had some even faster sections, though it was a tick longer. It was definitely a little trickier in this direction due to the high speed walloms in the middle and the patience sections in the beginning. I would end up hitting the rev limiter 4 times on each run, sometimes for quite a while.
After 2 morning and 2 later-morning coursewalks heat 4 finally rolled around.
Run 1 - nowhere near aggressive enough. Late entering the walloms. Late entering the chute. Didn’t brake enough at the end of the chute. Meh. 46.173. Josh: 45.1+1, Shane 44.9+1. Still in the lead due to the cones, but WAY off the pace. I had gotten off my plan and was just driving off old habits. I grabbed the video and resolved to go back to tidy driving mode.
Run 2 - much better. I pegged a stupid inside cone early but the rest of the run was okay. I still did not line up the quasi-straights as well, and wasn’t really committed in the slalom the way I needed to be. 45.671+1. Josh landed a clean one, 45.250, and Shane ran a 44.9+2.
Josh was now in the lead. I needed a 45.398 to take the lead back and keep him honest, less than 3 tenths off the raw I just ran. I knew that was doable.
Run 3 - some improvement here but some loss too. I’d really appreciate feedback on this. It felt okay, but I felt like I wasn’t flat out in the slalom or the walloms and didn’t quite exit the walloms right.
I came across with a 45.700 (would have liked that extra thousandth to be in the 45.6’s). It was almost a half second improvement from run 1, but I did give up some compared to the raw of run 2. Shane came across the line shortly after with a 45.181, ending up less than half a tenth back. Josh tacked on another .168 on his 3rd run and finished up winning the class (and 2 tires) by .469.
… and across the line
I was really happy. This is the first time I’ve ever finished ahead of Shane in a fair fight (when they were not scrubbing in tires) and as close to Josh as I’ve been since we both went to STU. There were certainly some mitigating factors - having Evo gearing definitely helped, maybe the Dunlops are better than the BFGs (?), and the straightforward course design definitely helped me. But I’ll take it and try to use it as a building block for next time.
I can’t say enough nice things about the car either. Someone who was less of a hack would probably have taken better advantage of day 2
The data breakdown:
Sector 1 (start) - run 3 backsided the beginning of the first bit of patience stuff, and stayed out a little entering the slalom after the pin turn, so that it could get on the gas faster. Run 2 had to give it up a little to drop into the slalom. Run 3, up by a tenth.
Sector 2 (slalom) - run 3 got the car a little squirrelly, just a little, and had to get off the gas. Run 2 makes up a ton of time here - at the braking zone after the fast slalom, run 2 is faster by 4 tenths
This means run 3 gave up a full half second there Run 3 stays tighter in the next patience left-right combo and makes up some of it. Entering the walloms, run 2 is .2 faster. Sector 3 (walloms) - basically a tie. Run 3 gets off to a more careful start but is more aggressive at the end. At the end of the wallom section, run 2 is still .2 faster but run 3 has entered the chute section much better (got a little aggressive on that steering input as you can see in the video).
Sector 3 (chute, finish sweeper) - the chute is a wash, but run 3 brakes better at the end and starts the finish sweeper much more tidy. Run 2 does a little better job giving it up for the final left, versus run 3 overslowing a little (Run 2 carrying about 3 mph more). They cross the line about .050 apart by the data, which jives nicely with the clock (yay, 4 year old maxqdata system!).
So, by the data at least, run 3 with a better slalom is enough to make it awful close. But the whole point of this sport is consistency so that does not help me
Day 1 I was hitting my marks pretty precisely, and day 2 - slightly harder course - I was not. Pressure? Maybe. In retrospect it's at least reassuring that I know where I messed up and what I needed to fix to get the run I needed. Some mental notes for next time:
* I'm currently revving to 7800 vs stock 7600. A course like this, I could have definitely used 8000. GPS says I'm hitting 63-64 mph when I am on the limiter - I think I can safely go for a little more but want to research it (for big events at least).
* Coursewalking helped a ton. Until I can force myself to look ahead more consistently I can at least think ahead with memorization. (note, don't try this at home)
* Don't be afraid to change the setup. It might work.
* If you don't believe you can, you never will. So... believe it's possible. Insert something more inspirational than that here.
The DC Pro has 9 entries in STU. Definitely looking forward to it, as long as the clutch holds.