piknockout
04-09-2008, 04:17 PM
Video of 4th run of 52.2xx seconds: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=35033876
Cliffs: First event, new setup, in the rain, against a national level driver, took the first place in STX! :mrgreen:
So it's finally that time of the year again, where cones sprout from the asphalt and we do our best to avoid them. :mrgreen:
WDCR held the first event of the season this past Saturday, a non-points practice event to work out the kinks before Event #1 on April 20th. Once again I am piloting the Spec V in STX...but with a few big changes. The biggest change was upgrading the suspension from the non-adjustable Tein Basics with 6k F/R springs (roughly 350lbs springs) to Koni yellow single adjustables with Ground Control coilovers running 500lbs front and 550lbs rear springs. In addition to the suspension changes, new wheels/tires were ordered, bumping up from 17x7.5 et45 Rota Subzeros with 235/40/17 Falken Azenis st615's to 17x8 et42 Motegi LC5's with 245/40/17 Bridgestone RE-01R's. Everything was installed in the last two weeks, setting the alignment back to it's previous setup of -2.5 camber and zero toe. There was a little bit of minor street testing, but no real way of knowing what the car was going to do.
After calling for 65 degrees and sunny for Sunday all week, the weather turned ugly with a high of only 50 degrees and raining, continuing to get colder throughout the day. While this did not provide the optimum conditions to test the new setup, it was still a good time to knock off some of the rust and refresh myself what it was like to dodge cones 5 months ago as this is my first event of the year.
As an added bonus, I recently found out that Cy Lee, a formidable STS national level competitor, had decided to add a Quaife LSD to the 1989 Civic Si over the off season and make a real run at STX in 2008. For reference, Cy finished 20th in STS at the 2007 Topeka Nationals with a raw time that would have been good enough for 10th in STX...without the LSD. This was going to be interesting. Last year Cy consistently beat me by about 1-1.5 seconds depending on course length and layout. This should be a good gauge at least.
First run, it had just stopped raining so an okay amount of water on course. Not to mention not know what the car was going to do on top of not driving for a while, so we'll not go too all out. Managed to pull out an STX leading 56.1xx on the first run...until Cy came out and topped it with a 54.6xx. Here we go.
Second run drove a bit harder and crossed the line with a 54.3xx. Woot! Oh wait...yep, there goes Cy with a 53.1xx. ARGH!
Third run, cars feeling pretty good in the wet and puddles are going away...just wet asphalt now. Start really trying to push the car and find the limits, but apparently I was far off before. How does a 52.8xx sound? Cy comes across with another 53.1xx. Could this really be happening? :eek:
Fourth and final run I go out trying to be a touch more aggressive in spots where I knew I was being conservative. Didn't expect much more than where I had finished previously, but knowing that third place was back in the distance, it was time to lay it all out. Besides, this is a non-points event so what does it matter, right? Finished the course and really surprised myself with a 52.2xx. Now is when I watch and wait for Cy to come through with the "hero run" and just destroy me...but alas, it never came. Good thing I went faster as he finished the day with a 52.8xx and giving me the (practice) win!
Now granted, I have NO idea what the car is going to do in the dry and I know that was Cy's first event this year in that car with the LSD. But this was also my first time with an entirely new suspension and wheel/tire package. Trying not to read too much into it as there were a lot of factors at play, but hopefully it's an indication that the car/driver may actually have a miniscule chance at not completely sucking at Topeka in September. Still a whole lot of time and driving left to answer that question though. I'm doing a Test and Tune this Sunday, which should hopefully be dry with 20+ runs to get the car figured out and knock some more rust off. Cy and his co-driver Chris Shenefield will be there as well, so hopefully I can use that comparison as a gauge to see how close I "could" be. Wish me luck! :mrgreen:
Sorry for the long read! Wanted to wait until the results were posted, but there seem to be some issues...I'll update once their posted as I'm interested to see where I PAX'ed. :mrgreen:
Cliffs: First event, new setup, in the rain, against a national level driver, took the first place in STX! :mrgreen:
So it's finally that time of the year again, where cones sprout from the asphalt and we do our best to avoid them. :mrgreen:
WDCR held the first event of the season this past Saturday, a non-points practice event to work out the kinks before Event #1 on April 20th. Once again I am piloting the Spec V in STX...but with a few big changes. The biggest change was upgrading the suspension from the non-adjustable Tein Basics with 6k F/R springs (roughly 350lbs springs) to Koni yellow single adjustables with Ground Control coilovers running 500lbs front and 550lbs rear springs. In addition to the suspension changes, new wheels/tires were ordered, bumping up from 17x7.5 et45 Rota Subzeros with 235/40/17 Falken Azenis st615's to 17x8 et42 Motegi LC5's with 245/40/17 Bridgestone RE-01R's. Everything was installed in the last two weeks, setting the alignment back to it's previous setup of -2.5 camber and zero toe. There was a little bit of minor street testing, but no real way of knowing what the car was going to do.
After calling for 65 degrees and sunny for Sunday all week, the weather turned ugly with a high of only 50 degrees and raining, continuing to get colder throughout the day. While this did not provide the optimum conditions to test the new setup, it was still a good time to knock off some of the rust and refresh myself what it was like to dodge cones 5 months ago as this is my first event of the year.
As an added bonus, I recently found out that Cy Lee, a formidable STS national level competitor, had decided to add a Quaife LSD to the 1989 Civic Si over the off season and make a real run at STX in 2008. For reference, Cy finished 20th in STS at the 2007 Topeka Nationals with a raw time that would have been good enough for 10th in STX...without the LSD. This was going to be interesting. Last year Cy consistently beat me by about 1-1.5 seconds depending on course length and layout. This should be a good gauge at least.
First run, it had just stopped raining so an okay amount of water on course. Not to mention not know what the car was going to do on top of not driving for a while, so we'll not go too all out. Managed to pull out an STX leading 56.1xx on the first run...until Cy came out and topped it with a 54.6xx. Here we go.
Second run drove a bit harder and crossed the line with a 54.3xx. Woot! Oh wait...yep, there goes Cy with a 53.1xx. ARGH!
Third run, cars feeling pretty good in the wet and puddles are going away...just wet asphalt now. Start really trying to push the car and find the limits, but apparently I was far off before. How does a 52.8xx sound? Cy comes across with another 53.1xx. Could this really be happening? :eek:
Fourth and final run I go out trying to be a touch more aggressive in spots where I knew I was being conservative. Didn't expect much more than where I had finished previously, but knowing that third place was back in the distance, it was time to lay it all out. Besides, this is a non-points event so what does it matter, right? Finished the course and really surprised myself with a 52.2xx. Now is when I watch and wait for Cy to come through with the "hero run" and just destroy me...but alas, it never came. Good thing I went faster as he finished the day with a 52.8xx and giving me the (practice) win!
Now granted, I have NO idea what the car is going to do in the dry and I know that was Cy's first event this year in that car with the LSD. But this was also my first time with an entirely new suspension and wheel/tire package. Trying not to read too much into it as there were a lot of factors at play, but hopefully it's an indication that the car/driver may actually have a miniscule chance at not completely sucking at Topeka in September. Still a whole lot of time and driving left to answer that question though. I'm doing a Test and Tune this Sunday, which should hopefully be dry with 20+ runs to get the car figured out and knock some more rust off. Cy and his co-driver Chris Shenefield will be there as well, so hopefully I can use that comparison as a gauge to see how close I "could" be. Wish me luck! :mrgreen:
Sorry for the long read! Wanted to wait until the results were posted, but there seem to be some issues...I'll update once their posted as I'm interested to see where I PAX'ed. :mrgreen: