End of the season, better finish backward...

[SLOroadster]

The NorCal UFO season finished out yesterday with a final autocross. It was a good sized turnout, and a somewhat tricky course. I managed to lure my friend and real race car driver Tim Arnett out for the day. After a quick walk through I got the car setup and was first on grid for the 3rd run group. I sent Tim out first to warm the tires up (it was about 60 degrees out) and so I could get an good view of the course before I ran. The course consisted of an immediate right turn onto a short straight then a left turn into a 3rd gear slalom that went the entire side of the course, we were well up in 3rd gear when we got down to the first tricky spot, it was a hard left turn into a tight V of a corner, the entrance was wide, but the V its self was very tight, the following left turn emptied out into another fast top of 2nd gear straight, that made a semi sweeping left through a kink, and then a "Im going to sucker you into blowing this corner" right hander, if one got it right it turned into a straight shot through the middle slalom and into a semi-double apex right hander that if done right could be drifted with style. This ended in a 170 degree left hand turn that was pretty narrow, but once again you could be suckered into blowing the last section by standing on the throttle until you got down to the "are you kidding me?" tight slalom that made a hard double apex right hander that opened back up to the finish straight and the timing lights.

I rode with Tim for his first run but turned him loose after that. It was kinda fun both hearing and seeing the car run without being in it. Tim shaved about 2 seconds off per run to take the class winning time of 50.xxx seconds. I then got in the car and went out.

All the "I'm going to sucker you into doing this wrong" sections got me, but I still turned a respectable time for a first run. The second run was about 2 seconds faster, but with lots of silly little mistakes. The 3rd was much the same and i only improved a few tenths. The 4th run was my best time up till this point. The end of the run however turned out to be the finish of the day. After threading the car through the crazy tight slalom, I went for it and drifted the final 2 turns, but the car kept rotating... and rotating... and... oh, I'm really not going in the right direction now... and well I'm not loosing any time here but I am facing 180 degrees from where I should, and rolling backward at 20 mph... through the lights. I stopped the clock backward, without hitting any cones, and without loosing any time. I figured I was done for the day, and drove back over to where my stuff was and loosened the lug nuts to swap back to the street tires when I hear over the PA "Will Campbell, we only have 3 run times for you, please come back for your last run" Tim and I kinda looked at each other and I climbed in the car while he retorqued the wheels. I rolled back over to the start line where they lined me up as first car on course for the next run group. After doing a mental reset, they sent me out and all the areas I had blown previously I got cleaned up and smooth. Apparently it was very smooth as Tim said afterward that he figured the run was very fast, or really slow. It turned out to be pretty quick as I cut 2 seconds off my previous fastest time and took second in class to Tim who was just a couple hundredths of a second faster. So the roadster ended the season on top with a class win and and 2nd places in the final 2 races of the season.

I ended up winning the season championship for the Vintage Stock class in the Alfa by a land slide, and really shook up the Vintage Street Prep class with the roadster at the end of the year with 3 second place finishes, and a win. One of those 2nd places could have been a win with another run, I posted a faster time in a fun run than the class winning time with the class winner in the car with me.

For next year I might take a shot at winning VSP again, or I might go for E prep class, and bank that the race promoters skip a couple races early on with there EP 510 (that has won that class for years in a row.) If I go this route, I'll be able to run non DOT full slicks and I have a supply of 15" slicks for free, I just need to get some wheels to run them. There are a few other cars that frequent the class, one of which ran VSP against me last year. As it stands now there are 3 510s that can run the class, Dennis and Peggy Hale have won with there 510 "Pinky" for the past 5+ years, however there is another 510 that comes out on rare occasion, and the guy who ran VSP with me last year. If I can get one race in being the only car in class (like in the rain) I could win outright just by showing up every month as I've done now for the past 2 seasons. The funny thing is if I go this route and show up in the rain in the Alfa and run it alone, I win. I've beaten Pinky when I had the fresh V710s so I know the roadster is fast enough to do it, but I'm not sure I want to blow a real chance of winning VSP or VS again.

I did shoot video, but the computer has eaten it, I'll have to see if it coughs it up later in the month sometime. (I don't know why it does this, and I don't know where it goes.)

Will

[dbrick]

Cool finish, very Stroker Ace. If you have to spin, do it with style.

BTW, these were on Ebay, don't know if they might be a good extra set. Listing ended, but they didn't sell.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/14-x-7-L ... 0451918979

[SLOroadster]

I have plenty of 14 inch wheels, Looking to go 15s since there are more free tires at the track. Thanks for the heads up though. The finish was pretty good, I just wish I had gotten the video of it.

I've been researching the Rota RB-Rs, in either a 15x7 or 15x8. I've heard some bad things about Rota wheels and from other people nothing but good things. The price is right if I can sell my Libres. It would be nice to only need one set of lug nuts for all my wheels.

Will

[RC240z]

Well done Will.

Sounds like the roadster gets better every year.

if you are few hundredths off of Tim's time you are doing really well...

Glad that the car is working for you. What was Tim's take on your car?

Ron

[SLOroadster]

So the video appeared, however my backward finish didn't. I was hoping someone got some pics of that, but still no luck.

Here are some shots of my last run. The amount of tire deflection is wild.






Thats all for this season. Thanks for the support.

Will