April 2011, Part 1

Date:  4/17/2011

Event:  BMWCCA AutoX School

Location:  Devens

Participant/Results:  Bryan/N/A

Notes:  I hate Devens weather sometimes.  The best way to describe it was “intermittently shitty with periods of deceiving sunshine”.  The weather was oscillating between rain and sun for most of the morning into early afternoon.  It was nice having some rain practice though.  That’s about all I have to say about that.

Video:

Date:  4/16/2011

Event:  FCSCC Points #1

Location:  Stratford, CT (Small Lot)

Participant/Results:  Bryan/1^st, Ryan/1^st

Notes:  The MR2 take two first place trophies at the first FCSCC points event of 2011!  Both in ES and Rookie Non-Stock (CSP PAX used).  Ryan Smith came out to co-drive the car for his second event ever (first being the FCSCC Rookie school 3 weeks earlier) and first time in the MR2 (drove a VW R32 at the aforementioned school).  No one taught him proper co-driver etiquette and he beat me in my own car which had he been in ES would have netted him the 4^th quickest PAX time of the day.  An extremely impressive feat for a novice.  The weather was really cold and windy for this event and that probably contributed to my 1+ second margin victory in ES.  Unfortunately the LeMons race conflicts with the next points event so I have to hope for event 3 I can maintain my points lead…maybe I can win a jacket this year yet!

Video:

Date:  4/10/2011

Event:  NER/SCCA (non-points) Event

Location:  Devens

Participant/Results:  Bryan/1^st, Chris/2^nd

Notes:  In the wake of the previous day’s impressive feat of failure I managed to will myself out of bed and suffer another day at the hands of the MR2.  This time I’d be shedding the Toyo R888s for the Hoosier A6 autocross rubber and hope that makes a difference.  To put it simply:  they make a difference, actually they make all the difference.  It always surprises me that people don’t pay more attention to the tires that are on their cars.  The tires are arguably the most important part…they are the only parts that contact the road…  These tires have just unbelievable grip.  Anyways that’s enough of extolling the Hoosiers.  Chris has decided to join me for the season in NER/SCCA and the two of us made up all of E Stock.  It is really quite disappointing because ES is probably the most competitive class in the region, however for this season a new “Pro” class was introduced and all of the former ES defected to that newly created class.  So this event became a classic Chris vs. Q battle for the top 2 spots (in the 2 person class).  After comparing our times to the ES cars in the Pro class there is a whole lot of catching up to do, we got creamed by over 3 seconds to some cars that were on lesser tires.

Video:

Date:  4/09/2011

Event:  Renegade Miata AutoX School

Location:  Devens

Participant/Results:  Bryan/N/A

Notes:  Back to Devens at last.  Still riding off the high from my performance at the FCSCC season opener I was ready to see what the MR2 could really do now that all the suspension bits were in and working and I was on a course with some serious speed potential.  If you skipped ahead to the video, you’d already know that my bubble got burst pretty quickly.  I struggled all day to keep the rear end of the car in line.  In retrospect I think that some combination of my tire pressures being too high and the shocks being set too soft exacerbated the driver incompetence leading to the frustrating tendency of the MR2 to abruptly become a FWD car.  I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t several times during the course of the day wondered how much I could get for the car if I just sold it, jumped ship and bought something else.  I was feeling that bad.

Video:

Date:  4/03/2011

Event:  CART AutoX Event

Location:  Hartford, CT (Laz Parking)

Participant/Results:  Bryan/4th

Notes:  My primary motivation for going to this CART event was to get some early-season seat time especially since Mass Development (people who manage Devens) preemptively cancelled the first SVT event which was supposed to happen on 4/02/2011.  The course was tight and challenging and the grid/parking area was absolutely atrocious.  The lot was in ruins with gravel and debris everywhere.  I understand the lack of sites suitable/available for use in the area, but every time I drove to or from the course I cringed.  Also the event was an exercise in why I don’t enjoy CART events.  The events are too laid back and aren’t run as efficiently as the other clubs I have run with.  I don’t regret going because it was a good opportunity to network with some other people from the region, however I don’t see myself going out of my way to go back to Laz again.

The MR2 ES Debut

Date:  3/27/2011

Event:  FCSCC (non-points) Event

Location:  Stratford, CT (Big Lot)

Participant/Results:  Bryan/2^nd, Keira/4^th

Notes:  So it begins again, where it left off last.  Just this time the MR2 is in a much better position to compete with the fleet of Miatas that inhabit the E Stock class.  The course was a truly delightful mix of fast, open sections and tight corners that require proper car placement and skillful application of brakes (something that has become much more important now that I’m running without ABS).  For this event I am also running competition rubber for the first time.  I mounted up the Toyo R888s and wow do they make a difference (at least over the junky all-seasons on the MR2 previously).  I am slightly concerned with how quickly they wear though…I may have to eat a set while I figure out tire pressures.  I went into the event fully expecting to be scraping the bottom of the ES pile, however I was able to pull a second place finish out.  I know there is room to improve too, cue optimism.  In addition to being second in class, I also managed the seventh fastest run of the day and the fifth fastest index time of the day as well of the 71 competitors.  Keira also attended and she made marked improvement over her first event (driving the Subie then, MR2 now).  Since FCSCC requires drivers competing in the “Rookie Stock” class to be on 140+ treadwear tires (R888s are 100) she got bumped to “Rookie Non-Stock” with the car being paxed as CSP.  Given that handicap, she was able to pull out a respectable 4^th place finish in RN finishing behind drivers with a lot more experience than her and in cars appropriately prepared for their classes.

Video:



So it Ends

Date:  11/7/2010

Event:  FCSCC (non-points) Event

Location:  Stratford, CT (Big Lot)

Participant/Results:  Bryan/4th, Chris/6th, Keira/8th

Notes:  The final event of the year came dangerously close to a cliche for me.  For the first time since my first autox event of the year (and ever) the event was held in the "Big Lot" in Stratford and I drove the Subie.  My only motivation for doing so was because it was Keira's first autox event and she preferred to drive the AWD Subaru (same as her car +/- 6 years) instead of the tempermental mid-engine RWD MR2.  I managed to win a 4th place trophy in the highly competitive Street Tire (PAX) class, coning away 3rd.  The course was a big departure from the typical FCSCC, given the vastly improvement in available real estate and made for a great course for new drivers to learn on.  It was a fun challenge for me too given the lack of grip available on the all-season tires that both of my cars are cursed with (I got to drive the MR2 on a fun run at the end of the competition after co-driving the Subie all day).  The mix of higher speed sections and hard braking zones is an unfortunately uncommon mix since FCSCC events are usually too tight to be fast and clubs running at Devens tend to make the course more flowing and fast rather than to incorporate elements that require braking skill to navigate quickly.  Both Keira and Chris had respectable showings in their respective classes (Rookie Stock and First Timer).

Video:

Season Winding Down (Event Log)

Date:  10/31/2010

Event:  NE-SVT #4

Location:  Devens

Results:  N/A

Date:  10/30/2010

Event:  Boston-BMWCCA #7

Location:  Devens

Results:  N/A

Date:  10/23/2010

Event:  Renegade Miata #7

Location:  Devens

Results:  N/A

Date:  10/17/2010

Event:  NER/SCCA Team Challenge

Location:  Horseneck Beach

Results:  Ummmm...Hard to determine

Date:  10/16/2010

Event:  Renegade Miata #6

Location:  Devens

Results:  N/A

LOG 30 AutoX

Over the weekend of October 8th-11th Chris and His father attended the annual Lotus Owners Gathering, this year held in Gettysburg Pa. On Sunday morning an all Lotus AutoX event was held, and Chris, his Dad and his brother Brandon all drove. The course was an easy to learn figure 8 course, and on his first run Chris managed a 32.5, competitive, but at the back of the Elise pack. Run two saw a mistake and a 32.3 second run. Run three was a 30.5 second run, enough to contend for the front of the pack, and run 4 was a 29.9 second run, one of only 4 runs the entire day to break below the 30 second barrier.

With this 29.9 second run Chris won the "Elise/Exige Naturally Aspirated" class, and also had the 4th fastest run of the day across all classes. The leading three cars were two Caterham's and a Buick powered E-Mod prepped Esprit. This means that Chris ran faster than even the forced induction Elise and Exige cars.