Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Had a fun time at Crows Landing this past weekend - qualified for the annual Miltonian Challenge with American Autocross Series, which was based on last year's entries and class standings (top 32 based on the 16 most populated classes). Made it to a tie for 3rd place, had a ton of fun in the challenge! Last year, the format was decided by PAX times - this year you had a dial-in based on your fastest competition time from earlier in the day (breakouts would penalize you in your next round, like at a Pro Solo). Here's my fastest run from the day:

BigT

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Nice run.

I think autocrossing at Crows Landing should go on my bucket list.

Jim3142

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Thanks! And yes, you should (and anyone, for that matter) try to fly out for a Tour/Pro, or hell, even a normal event weekend.

BigT

iTrader: (8)

Is that a co-drive offer?

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Depends on when you want to come to Crows

Jim3142

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Had a fun time at Crows Landing yesterday, we scrubbed in a new set of Nexens - hoping this set will last us until mid-August, before the Pro Finale + Nats. Took the class win over my co-driver Rob and Matt Ales (in his E46 M3), car felt pretty good except for the excessive hopping while exiting the slow pinch turn before the final turnaround. Added some more front camber (-4*) before this event, hard to tell if it helped or not since the tires were fresh (~100 miles on them, and that was driving on them to the event).


Also had weird incidents yesterday on course - 1) Rob hit a cone on his first run, which ended up wedged between one of the crossbars and downpipe underneath the car. The cone partially melted and fused to the downpipe before we could yank it free. 2) On my third run, the car ate up the passenger front fender liner - it was so loud that I aborted the run because I thought I broke something suspension related lol

Jim3142

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My usual co-drivers couldn't attend last Saturday's event at Crows Landing, so Bryan Heitkotter hopped in for a co-drive

Me:

Bryan:


Despite the cone, was pretty happy with being that close to Bryan's time on scratch (turned in a bit too early for the second slalom cone before the finish). Car was also hopping really badly (especially for Bryan, but he noted that he's more aggressive with transition inputs than I am), saw a small leak on the driver-side strut and pulled the shocks off to send them to MCS for a full rebuild - better to do it now than find out at Nats that they need repair (like last year ) since I have a free rebuild from them . Will also be checking for swaybar stiction. I should be getting the dampers back by mid-July, so that leaves about 3 event weekends before the Pro Finale/Nats, hopefully I can get the car working like it was before

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Hopping/excessive inside wheel lift has been fixed, car feels pretty good

Video from Sunday's event at El Toro:
Was dirty on all 4 runs, last 2 runs could've been clean but I turned in slightly too early on a slalom cone both runs, 3rd run I didn't setup well enough going into the first Chicago box and hit one there. Turnarounds probably could've been a little better and if I felt more confident in my downshifts, a few upshifts to 3rd might have netted some time as well. Happy with the car though, it was a disaster about a month ago.

Also, thanks to Marshall Grice, Christine Grice, and Tom Berry for letting me ride shotgun for a run with Christine in their ASP Evo - so much grip!

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

Pro Finale was fun, went ok as I placed 3rd in class behind Doug and Lane. Struggled with my launches (60fts and red lights) all weekend, was happy with only 1 out of my 12 runs, and it happened to be on a redlight run

Left:

Right:

Though I wasn't happy with my driving, the car felt like it was handling nicely so that was a good takeaway from the event.

Jim3142

iTrader: (2)

STU ran in heat 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday for Nats, you've probably heard by now that Tuesday was extremely wet - it actually stopped raining around 3rd runs during heat 3, so we got some drying conditions on the East course. Unfortunately, Rob was too aggressive and I was too passive and we were just out of the trophies on day 1 - a little disappointing but I guess it hammered home the fact that I needed more rain practice. I think I've done like 4 events in the rain/wet and I've autocrossed for 7+ years now

Rob:

Me:


Day 2 was a little better for us, but Rob tagged a cone on his fastest run that would've moved him up deep into the trophies while I went a little deep into the back left-hander and Solostorm says I lost around 7 tenths there compared to my second run.

Rob:

Me:


I've only glanced at the data so far, but I think a low-60 second run was definitely possible for us on the West course. However, the class-leading times were in the 59.9 range which just about on-par with STR, so there's still some more to do to get faster (driver and car ). Offseason plans include finally installing the 02 eliminator downpipe and new intake, plus getting retuned to take advantage of the open boost rules in ST. I was originally planning on doing all of that this year, but the unexpected clutch frying at the Fontana Pro took that part of the budget . I think I'll be staying on 91 octane though, as mixing is a pain for a car I drive over 10k miles a year. Hopefully, this year's Nats results have shown that the Evo is definitely a contender in STU

Also, congrats to Marshall for another win in AM and to Dallas for his first win in SM!

griceiv

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Thanks for the shout out Jimmy. Here are my runs for comparison.

Jim3142

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Just crazy

Jim3142

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Been awhile since the last update

After Nats, I've had a host of people co-drive the car with me and reaching out to some friends for setup advice, so here's some of the highlights/not-so-highlights:


This was an event in early October at Shafter Airport (conveniently located an hour away from home ), Bryan drove with me on the fastest autox course I've ever driven (hit a peak of 92mph in 4th gear). It was fun to hit those kinds of speeds in an auto-x setting, made the courses at Crows Landing feel slow



This event was a week later, and initially the car felt very pushy in the 2nd half of the course where it was all transitions and sweepers. Made a front adjustment and suddenly the front end was feeling a ton better, I wish all problems were this easy to solve . This run felt like one of my stronger ones from this year.




The next weekend, Matt Ales' STU M3 wasn't quite ready yet so he hopped into my car for the day. I blew the sweeper that transitioned onto the second runway, would've made it a little closer if I hadn't bombed in but overall I felt ok about the run.



This run is from mid-November; in late October there was another Marina event, the car was total garbage at that event. For this event, I put the front swaybar back on the stiffest setting and it seemed to help with front grip.




Last weekend, former codriver and good friend Tony Rodriguez hopped in for an event at Fontana with the Cal Club region - only changes from Marina were a fresh set of RE-71Rs (more on that later). Felt ok about my driving - could have driven the sweepers a little better but was happy with the car; this was the first time I've been at Fontana and actually happy with how the car drove at this site. Course was awesome and beautiful weather for December, just a great way to close out the 2018 season


The car has felt good and bad at times this year (though a lot of the times it felt bad were due to setup errors by me ). While it did feel good before and during Nats, I've been wondering if there was more time and grip being left out there. One of the things I'm wanting to do for next year is to take advantage of the permanent practice course we have at Crows Landing, at AAS events. This way, I can compare changes while eliminating the course variable. To do this, I need tires that can last longer than the Nexens, so I'm going to be back on the Bridgestone RE-71R for the upcoming year. I've reached out to some friends about other tweaks and have some things to try for next season, hopefully the car will be faster because of it .

kyoo

iTrader: (29)

adjustment to the front bar? what rates again? I'm personally flipping back to an even thicker rear sway bar, my tanabe is not adjustable

Jim3142

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600 lb/in springs up front, 900 lb/in springs in the rear, stock front bar with Cusco swaybar brackets (full stiff which is around 115% of OEM bar), and Whiteline 26mm RSB on full stiff.