Snails - Racing for Real

  • Thread starter CoachMK21
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Unfortunately, my fun is over. I have to have sholder surgery on Friday. There is next year though. I think i am going to get a frs or brz and try to get into that new spec class next year

That stinks about the shoulder surgery. My dad and uncle both had it, but they were older (60+) when they had it and the recovery was long. Make sure you do exactly what the Doc and PT people tell you and you'll be in good shape in no time.

The new SSC class is interesting. Hopefully it takes off and has a good amount of competitors. My biggest complaint about the SCCA set up is too many classes, and they just added a couple more this off season.
 
Just checked out the ssc class thats pretty sweet. Should have bought a frs haha. I am stoked for this season though first time i alotted myself 200tw tires 340 being what i ran last year.
 

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online racing is *sooooooooo* much easier than competing IRL :banghead:
Does 2nd gear ever break online?
Does your backup car ever lose its turbo (no boost) online?
Once you swap the turbo, does it fail to produce full boost online? :ill:

I've basically been offline for 2+ weeks taking care of those little IRL details.

So, @whatbadgerseat, my son and I were at the 3 events mentioned earlier, here's our results (hope badger doesn't mind me sharing his success), and congratulations to whatbadgerseat on 1st place at the champ tour and podium finishes at the other events!

Event ....@whatbadgerseat my_son me

San Diego Match Tour....2nd 3rd DNF
Crows Champ Tour.........1st 6th 5th
Crows ProSolo................3rd 8th 5th

So, the sob story starts with the San Diego match tour, where the "not totally unexpected" 2nd gear failure took place during morning runs. My son was able to get a ride in a competitors car to finish the event, but not yours truly - we just packed up the car and headed back home the next day. (I should mention whatbadgerseat tried really hard to share his car with us, but sadly event rules prevented us from implementing his generous plan.)

gratuitous 2nd gear failure vid:

So we found out the transmissions were back-ordered, so we needed to use my backup car - 1993 toyota mr2 turbo which had a bad turbo since ~Feb. so I did an "emergency turbo swap" - finishing less than 24 hr before being on site for the event. Here's a pic of whatbadgerseat's ND with my MR2.

IMG_20180413_154657636_HDR.jpg

The MR2 was fun, had to buy new tires for it just before the event, and it didn't place to badly among the competition which was mostly 2016+ Mazda MX5s, and especially given that it was running at probably 80% power (7psi vs 12psi stock boost). It is however not a very forgiving car to drive - here's two spins: one by me, one by my son - not a bad ratio, each of us spun the car once in 18 runs.

MR2 spin/snap oversteer:


The good news is the dealer received the transmission today, they already installed it, and I pick up the MX5 tomorrow!


So, I'm back to some online racing, and appreciating the maintenance free aspect of it more than ever!
 
The opening Finger Lakes Region SCCA event was this past Saturday at Xerox. It's a tired lot, but it's a good sized lot too. Many of you know I have been looking for a Miata for a long time and after I sold my 350z in March, I was really able to get serious with my car search. I found one in North Carolina that fit the bill. 1999 Mazda Miata with the Hard-S package, ideal for E-Street autocross. This was my first event in this car and I also had my son and a friend co-drive with me. It was wet to start the event, but it dried up pretty quickly during the 1st run group.

For my son, it was his 4th or 5th event over the past 18 months and he did very well. He had a bad case of hitting cones, with only 1 clean run, out of 8. His fastest run was his 7th, even with a 2 second penalty for hitting a cone. He finished 4th in Novice and 33rd overall. With a clean run, he would have been 3rd and 23rd.



My co-driver, John owns a DSP RX8, that I drove last year and put in the grass, so I owed him a co-drive. He's very fast and was able to adapt to the Miata faster than I did. On his last run, he put together a great drive. He finished 2nd in Pro and 3rd overall.



I struggled early with trying to unlearn some habits from my 350z (ie, mash gas, mash brake). In fact, I spun on my first run with a little too much brake pressure trying to trail brake. The car rotates amazingly well and does what you want. I just need to learn to be more sensitive with my inputs. I wasn't very happy with my overall performance, but I learned a lot and know what I need to work on to improve. I finished 4th in Pro and 6th overall.

 
The opening Finger Lakes Region SCCA event was this past Saturday at Xerox. It's a tired lot, but it's a good sized lot too. Many of you know I have been looking for a Miata for a long time and after I sold my 350z in March, I was really able to get serious with my car search. I found one in North Carolina that fit the bill. 1999 Mazda Miata with the Hard-S package, ideal for E-Street autocross. This was my first event in this car and I also had my son and a friend co-drive with me. It was wet to start the event, but it dried up pretty quickly during the 1st run group.

For my son, it was his 4th or 5th event over the past 18 months and he did very well. He had a bad case of hitting cones, with only 1 clean run, out of 8. His fastest run was his 7th, even with a 2 second penalty for hitting a cone. He finished 4th in Novice and 33rd overall. With a clean run, he would have been 3rd and 23rd.



My co-driver, John owns a DSP RX8, that I drove last year and put in the grass, so I owed him a co-drive. He's very fast and was able to adapt to the Miata faster than I did. On his last run, he put together a great drive. He finished 2nd in Pro and 3rd overall.



I struggled early with trying to unlearn some habits from my 350z (ie, mash gas, mash brake). In fact, I spun on my first run with a little too much brake pressure trying to trail brake. The car rotates amazingly well and does what you want. I just need to learn to be more sensitive with my inputs. I wasn't very happy with my overall performance, but I learned a lot and know what I need to work on to improve. I finished 4th in Pro and 6th overall.


Good stuff @CoachMK21 i unfortunately had to work and could not make it out hopefully next one
 
Hey thanks @Lessen. My buddy has an 07 si and my brother 13 si lol can kinda say we like hondas around here.btw i had an 02 si i loved the ep3 the shifter placement is by far the best.
 
Hey thanks @Lessen. My buddy has an 07 si and my brother 13 si lol can kinda say we like hondas around here.btw i had an 02 si i loved the ep3 the shifter placement is by far the best.

Yeah, it's funny how people knock it for being weird, but it's completely natural placement. I an '03 before I bought this one new. This one has the HFP package on it though.
 


Here is my best run from last nights FLR SCCA event #2 at marketplace mall. First night event and it was fun. Ran very late however this run took place about 1:15am? My goal before heading out was a sub 40s. i hit that so i was already happy. I managed a best of 36.7s (clean)
 
Cool @TVV0_ 👍

I wish I would have set up my Gopro but I didn't have high expectations for my first outing. I guess I sold myself a tad short as I was approached by a fellow racer who was a bit surprised by my time. Then even more surprised I was on AS tires, and my first time racing....

Potenza RE71R's arriving this week. :D
 
Autocross can be learned, however each person has their limit and to an extent you either have it or you don't. More than one person has taken FTD at their first solo outing. Don't be surprised.
 


Here is my best run from last nights FLR SCCA event #2 at marketplace mall. First night event and it was fun. Ran very late however this run took place about 1:15am? My goal before heading out was a sub 40s. i hit that so i was already happy. I managed a best of 36.7s (clean)


Nice run @TVV0_. I had no intention of making this one. I did the night event fall and wasn't a fan. I also was at WGI this past weekend and even though I didn't race, I was exhausted.


Cool @TVV0_ 👍

I wish I would have set up my Gopro but I didn't have high expectations for my first outing. I guess I sold myself a tad short as I was approached by a fellow racer who was a bit surprised by my time. Then even more surprised I was on AS tires, and my first time racing....

Potenza RE71R's arriving this week. :D

Good show to you too @Lessen. I'm not surprised by you doing well. Karting translates pretty well and you've certainly showed that you're pretty quick there too.
 
Thanks @CoachMK21 hope i can catch you at one. I liked the night event personally. (From what i hear the parking lot is better lit now)
Ending results confirmed
ST class 6th/8
RAW 43rd/81
Pax 36th/81
 
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