NorCal UFO Marina AutoX round 11, almost done.

[SLOroadster]

We had round 11 of 13 today down at the Marina airport. The fog was high, but eventually burnt off. I was planning on running the Alfa for the remaining events, but due to my own stupidity I broke it on Thursday night (nothing too serious, just $$, I'm too embarrassed to go into it.) So last night I did a quick packing of the roadster and set off early. Knowing that my race tires are beyond dead I didn't bother running race gas, or for that matter running light on gas to save weight either. I ran in full detuned street mode with a full tank of gas and a passenger on all but my last run. My times were off by about 4 seconds, but I only spun once after what might have been the longest drift of the day. I started to get sloppy and thought I could get it back, but got into the marbles, and that was it. I still managed a fair time with a spin, I keep it clean and didn't hit any cones either. I continued to improve as the morning went on and found myself in 4th place in class after the dust settled. I can't complain as I was surprised the tires gripped at all, infact the car felt really good in street tune and heavy. I dropped one second by loosing the passenger on the last run.

The trip down and back was uneventful, and the car ran great as always. Really, with the amount of abuse the car has seen this year, I have to be pleased with its performance. Its only real limiting factor is the amount of tire under it, and I might be able to solve that for next year. I'll post pictures when they are posted.

Will

[SLOroadster]

According to the official results, I was 3rd in class on Sunday. The 914 didn't beat me, infact he didn't finish a run as his fuel pump died about 15 seconds into his first run.

There is a small chance that I can move up in both overall and class standings. A few of the SM guys (street mod) are thinking of posting a protest against the two guys ahead of me. The 240Z that runs 275/17s obviously has tires that are entirely too large, and the engine could be a L28, rather than an L24, and the 510 has a long rod L20b in it. Neither car runs an interior (I'm just missing carpet and a center console.) and so the EVO guys and one supercharged Miata guy might protest for the overall points. It will be interesting to see how things pan out. I'm not going to say anything. I'll let the feathers fly and see where I end up. I'd rather not win a championship this way, but it could happen.

Will

[SLOroadster]

How about some pictures. Here is a sequence of shots on my second run. It was the only one I spun on, but it was a monster drift until I got into the marbles. Then it was all over.
Corner entry,

rounding the corner

nice wide arc, back end starting to swing



the back end is loose... I think I can get it back.

maybe...

I'm not giving up...

I think I got it...

Or not...

clearly I'm not going the right direction now,

found the marbles,

I might be in trouble here...

alright, the car wins. Around we go.


and this concludes our lesson on spinning in an autoX.


I still managed to run a 55 second run with all that. I did come to a full stop, go for reverse, and got going again. For what ever reason, my seriously hard, corded tires decided to have some stick that day.

Will