CFR Solo2 results

[oilleak]

Central Florida region held it's latest event today in Tampa. It was a good day. We had 3 Datsun Roadsters at the event. A lot of folks were shocked by that alone as many had never even seen a roadster before. Glenn's 1600 wasn't completely healthy and he was running on fairly hard street tires so he wound up 7th in novice. Woody and I were in CSP which is one fast class. Woody was on Azenis which automatically relagated him to 3rd of 3 cars but his best raw time was a respectible 45.5
At this point I need to give a big thanks to Steve Allen. I finally got the Hoosier's he sold me (at a bargain price) mounted and ran on them for the fist time today. My goal was to see how competitive I was. Last time I ran (on the Azenis) I was 3.6 seconds off the win. Today I was only 6 tenth's off and my best raw time was only 150 thousands off the win - I tagged a cone on that run though. The Hoosiers are amazing. They make the Falkens feel like driving on ice! Also got the LSD in and that is wonderful. Should have been standard equipment on these things.
so I didn't get the CSP win but I'll be in the hunt for it at the next event. I did wind up with a faster time than a lot of impressive cars though. Seems the Datsun is raising a few eyebrows and folks really like seeing it run.

[DatsunBucky]

oilleak-

Glad to see someone is restoring Datsun Roadsters to their rightful place in the wonderful world of autocross. None run in Utah, and I can't remember the last time I saw one in the results from Southern California/L.A. area, probably mine from the late 70s. One of the nice surprises is that people have no real idea what our babies can do. I feel a lot of the youth nowadays think that if it doesn't have FWD and fuel injection, it just CAN'T be any good. We'll show 'em!

The 67.5 I'm working on is aimed squarely at EP. None of this Stock, then Street Prepared, then Prepared stuff! I'm going right for fast. I know it'll be an uphill battle, but I'm confident it can be done. According to the on-line poll for the Nationals, Ron Baker is the odds-on favorite (last time I looked) to take EP, and if it's the same guy I think he is, he runs a very well prepared 510. Gives me something to shoot at.

Let's all KEEP THE FAITH, BABY!!

[SLOroadster]

Sept 14 should see at least one roadster racing on the west coast. For anyone who is interested, there is an autoX at the Marina airport (just outside Monterey). I will be up there with my car as well as another roadster (maybe) from down here. Anyone up in the south Bay should come down and race. Its a blast and it won't hurt your car.

See ya,
Will

[oilleak]

I think Andy Cost is running his in EP (in Texas). That sounds like a lot of fun but I don't think I can afford to be fast in prepared class. Too much modification allowed. I haven't read the rules for EP - how esoteric can you get with the suspension? - especially the rear.

[DatsunBucky]

15.5, 15.6 and 15.8 all deal with the rear end and/or brakes.

The way I read 15.8, we have to stay with a live axle, but it can be replaced with any other live axle. I've heard that the 3rd member from a 1st gen RX-7 "SE" can be used, and you get the LSD and rear disk brakes. It just has to be narrowed about 8" total. Maybe there's a way to get negative camber in the rear. Hmmmm.

15.5.A states "Any springs or torsion bars may be used...Spring seats and points of attachment may be replaced or altered." (.B) Coil overs may be used..."When load bearing shocks are used, the original springs may be removed." The rest of that section doesn't really apply. It has to do with ducting and materials allowed.

The bad part of the SCCA Solo II rules is that if it doesn't specifically allow it, you're not supposed to do it. That takes all the "creativity" out of it. Darn! "supposed to do it" being the key phrase. But you didn't hear it from me...

Be that as it may, I'm going Prepared because I want to use good ole racin' tars. Not DOT approved tires. The good ones. I want to gut the interior. I want to remove the windshield. I want to use...well, everything. To that end, I used a spreadsheet to create a list of every section and sub-section of the rules and what it applies to. Then I set up a column to indicate whether or not that is in my plans for the car. That way I can go through the list and see what sections I haven't used in the prep of the car.

I may get no further than local events, but I had an absolute blast back in the 70s (Jeez! They had cars that far back??). I gotta say, when I went to racing tires, even though they were used and old and hard, it was the single biggest change in stretching "the envelope" that I made to the car.

Well, the absolute best of luck to you who are bringing us back!

Keep on truckin'!!

[oilleak]

No doubt. I knew that the Hoosier's I used this weekend had more stick but I had no idea the difference would be so dramatic. The Falkens were pretty sticky to begin with, but the amount of slip angle the hoosiers would tolerate had to be twice what the falkens would. I never even got the car twichy this weekend.
On the rear axle bit, I'd take a look at a toyota pickup rear axle. Don't know specifically which year and model but the parts are plentiful and relatively cheap, Limited Slips are available, the axles are quite stout, and they make gear sets numerically higher than 6:1! Lots of choices. The RX-7 stuff is getting harder to find and you don't have many choices. The RX7 LSD is a salsbury type too so it'll require setting the breakaway torque at least once a year. I think TRD has Torsen LSD's available for the toyota truck axle.

[S Allen]

Brian,

Glad to hear you finally got to try the Hoosier's out. Yeah, they stick like a magnet on metal. I tried the Azenis too and they are day and night apart. Sounds like you are having a ball at the solo events. Keep us posted.

My racing for this year has come and gone. I will have to once again go to drivers school next March but I plan to get my regional license at the beginning of the year. I just had way too much going on this year. The car is fully road race ready and I will get some testing in before next March to make sure nothing falls off. I need to adjust my toe as the custom front springs I had made slammed the front end and threw everything off. I also have a lightened fly wheel I want to put in this winter as well.

Give 'em -ell!

Steve

[oilleak]

Thanks again Steve. Now I'll be in the hunt right from the start of next season. There's actually a chance I can make enough events to get into the year end trophies this year but I don't know if I'll be able to make 2 of the last 4 and I need them all to be eligible.
Once this set wears out, I'm going to move up to the 225/45-15's. Warp speed Scotty!