Arkansas Nationa Tour Thoughts...
03-20-2005, 07:38 PM
#1
Arkansas Nationa Tour Thoughts...
The surface was concrete, VERY rough on tires, kinda slick but still not a bad surface over all, a little breakup after day 1, patches before day 2. The weather was pretty windy on Friday, not as much wind on Saturday, by Sunday the wind has switched and was blowing form the east. Not near as strong as Friday though. Both mornings were chilly, saturday was 36 degrees when Heat 1 started at 7:55am. By 1:30 it was ~60 degrees out, Sunny, with a light wind.
The event ran very smoothly, great job by the Arkansas Region and SCCA staff. Only two event recommendation I would have, the front gate didn't appear to be staffed very well during the non-heat times (not sure during heats). The other being the choice of Saturday night dinner locations. It was a little too small for the number of folks we had at the event, just a thought for next year
There were 185 drivers, I worked first heat in the trailer doing radio, which was nice because I got to stay inside where it was nice and toasty
BS ran Second heat both days, there were 10 drivers (2 M3s (4 drivers) 1 RX-8, a Red 350Z, a Brickyard 350Z and my Daytona Blue 350Z with myself and Andy driving). Andy and I were trying out some Kumho 710s, some very large Kumho 710s! We managed to squeeze 275s on all four corners, including the 7.5" front wheels, I ended up installing a spacer up front just to be sure we didn't rub, I don't think it would have been an issue though even without the spacer.
After first runs on Saturday I had a mid 46, with Ashir (sp?) running a 46.8 though I thought I had about a 1.5 second lead on the class. Andy, my codriver, I believe had a cone on his first run. Second runs Andy ended up with some car troubles. Just before the big sweeper (turn around) the car died. We're not sure how, or why, but it wouldn't start back up right away. The first though people had (course workers) was that it ran out of gas, which wasn't really an option as it had 1/2 tank of gas. I generally run with little to no gas in the car, but didn't plan so well for this trip and filled up before making the 240 mile drive to Walnut Ridge, which left me with over half a tank. I tried to burn off some gas driving through town, and then hoped to use up some at the practice event on Friday.
Andy got the car started back up and came off after his 2nd run with a DNF due to the mechanical difficulties. We looked the car over, revved id, smelled it, looked underneath, nothing appeared out of place or missing/broken. I went out on my second run and the car ran fine, though I was a bit slower, I think due to worrying about how the car would react. Andy went out for his third run and jumped in front of my first run by about .15 seconds. I went out on my third run hoping to best his time, which I was unable to do. I knew this would happen, as I seem to have problems improving runs at big events, I almost always have my best run up front and then I guess over think everything else. Ashir ended up dropping some more time on his third run and finished behind me for the first day by .066 seconds.
Sunday brought a new day. I went out on my first run and put about a second on the field, but got a late cone call in the final slolom to put me back into 2nd or 3rd I believe. Andy's first run was one of the fastest in the class, and unfortunately for him was his fastest clean time of the day due to other difficulties. 2nd run he went out and blew the course away, he knocked off 2 seconds from his time and about 1 second from mine, but yet again, a late cone call came into play. Ashir didn't quite seem to be able to get a good handle on the car on Sunday, I believe due to some changes they tried making to the sway bar the night before.
My second run I went out, sped up a bit, and cleaned up my run, enough to actually take the class for the day. Andy went out for his third run intent on whiping the floor with me, and he may very well have, except for two things. He killed a cone right before the first slolom entry, and then shortly after that slolom the car died yet again for him. He finished with a 72 something, plus 1. I went out on my third run and dropped ~.5 seconds off my second run, just to add a little padding, Ashir was making his third run when I started, and I had the radio on to listen to his time to know how fast I needed to run, if faster than my second run. I however, turned off the radio right before my run because I decided not to distract myself with listening to the radio.
Overall I was very pleased with the car. The tires were excellent, though possibly a little mushy. The new sway bar seems to have helped the inside tirespin a bit, it hasn't completely solved that problem though. Other than for some reason the car shutting off on Andy two times the car was perfect IMO all weekend. I do want to try to figure out what the heck Andy was doing to make it shut off though, if for nothing else to not do it myself.
As for me winning my first National Tour, I'm very excited about that, pleased with my performance, though I know there was more time out there, and I still need to work on improving my times after my first run. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get to the Atlanta Tour which I hadn't planned on going to!
I'll try to document more of the weekend with video, G-Tech data, and pictures early this week, possibly in the next day or so, you can find more info on
http://www.solo2.org/Default.aspx?tabid=27
The event ran very smoothly, great job by the Arkansas Region and SCCA staff. Only two event recommendation I would have, the front gate didn't appear to be staffed very well during the non-heat times (not sure during heats). The other being the choice of Saturday night dinner locations. It was a little too small for the number of folks we had at the event, just a thought for next year
There were 185 drivers, I worked first heat in the trailer doing radio, which was nice because I got to stay inside where it was nice and toasty
BS ran Second heat both days, there were 10 drivers (2 M3s (4 drivers) 1 RX-8, a Red 350Z, a Brickyard 350Z and my Daytona Blue 350Z with myself and Andy driving). Andy and I were trying out some Kumho 710s, some very large Kumho 710s! We managed to squeeze 275s on all four corners, including the 7.5" front wheels, I ended up installing a spacer up front just to be sure we didn't rub, I don't think it would have been an issue though even without the spacer.
After first runs on Saturday I had a mid 46, with Ashir (sp?) running a 46.8 though I thought I had about a 1.5 second lead on the class. Andy, my codriver, I believe had a cone on his first run. Second runs Andy ended up with some car troubles. Just before the big sweeper (turn around) the car died. We're not sure how, or why, but it wouldn't start back up right away. The first though people had (course workers) was that it ran out of gas, which wasn't really an option as it had 1/2 tank of gas. I generally run with little to no gas in the car, but didn't plan so well for this trip and filled up before making the 240 mile drive to Walnut Ridge, which left me with over half a tank. I tried to burn off some gas driving through town, and then hoped to use up some at the practice event on Friday.
Andy got the car started back up and came off after his 2nd run with a DNF due to the mechanical difficulties. We looked the car over, revved id, smelled it, looked underneath, nothing appeared out of place or missing/broken. I went out on my second run and the car ran fine, though I was a bit slower, I think due to worrying about how the car would react. Andy went out for his third run and jumped in front of my first run by about .15 seconds. I went out on my third run hoping to best his time, which I was unable to do. I knew this would happen, as I seem to have problems improving runs at big events, I almost always have my best run up front and then I guess over think everything else. Ashir ended up dropping some more time on his third run and finished behind me for the first day by .066 seconds.
Sunday brought a new day. I went out on my first run and put about a second on the field, but got a late cone call in the final slolom to put me back into 2nd or 3rd I believe. Andy's first run was one of the fastest in the class, and unfortunately for him was his fastest clean time of the day due to other difficulties. 2nd run he went out and blew the course away, he knocked off 2 seconds from his time and about 1 second from mine, but yet again, a late cone call came into play. Ashir didn't quite seem to be able to get a good handle on the car on Sunday, I believe due to some changes they tried making to the sway bar the night before.
My second run I went out, sped up a bit, and cleaned up my run, enough to actually take the class for the day. Andy went out for his third run intent on whiping the floor with me, and he may very well have, except for two things. He killed a cone right before the first slolom entry, and then shortly after that slolom the car died yet again for him. He finished with a 72 something, plus 1. I went out on my third run and dropped ~.5 seconds off my second run, just to add a little padding, Ashir was making his third run when I started, and I had the radio on to listen to his time to know how fast I needed to run, if faster than my second run. I however, turned off the radio right before my run because I decided not to distract myself with listening to the radio.
Overall I was very pleased with the car. The tires were excellent, though possibly a little mushy. The new sway bar seems to have helped the inside tirespin a bit, it hasn't completely solved that problem though. Other than for some reason the car shutting off on Andy two times the car was perfect IMO all weekend. I do want to try to figure out what the heck Andy was doing to make it shut off though, if for nothing else to not do it myself.
As for me winning my first National Tour, I'm very excited about that, pleased with my performance, though I know there was more time out there, and I still need to work on improving my times after my first run. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get to the Atlanta Tour which I hadn't planned on going to!
I'll try to document more of the weekend with video, G-Tech data, and pictures early this week, possibly in the next day or so, you can find more info on
http://www.solo2.org/Default.aspx?tabid=27
03-20-2005, 08:41 PM
#2
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Congrats on the win. I hope to take advantage of some of your work as I will be autocrossing a touring roadster locally in place of the Mustang Cobra that I have run in STX for the last several years.
I take it you think the 275s were too much tire in the front. How about 245/45s on the 17 x 7.5" wheels up front and 275/40s on the 8" in the rear? Which of the Kumhos do you recommend? All of our events are on asphalt.
Thanks and congrats again.
I take it you think the 275s were too much tire in the front. How about 245/45s on the 17 x 7.5" wheels up front and 275/40s on the 8" in the rear? Which of the Kumhos do you recommend? All of our events are on asphalt.
Thanks and congrats again.
03-21-2005, 04:06 AM
#4
The 275s are a LOT of tire, but too much? That I'm not convinced of. I think we'll continue to run the 275s, the added grip they allow I think outweigh the downfalls. You just have to know to turn earlier than you would with a narrower tire as the sidewalls flex.
The TCS was turned off on all his runs, as well as on my runs, so I'm not sure what was causing it. We're wondering if it has something to do with the fact that he left foot brakes, possibly getting into ice mode and being on the gas at the same time causing problems?
No clue really, but that's one guess right now.
The TCS was turned off on all his runs, as well as on my runs, so I'm not sure what was causing it. We're wondering if it has something to do with the fact that he left foot brakes, possibly getting into ice mode and being on the gas at the same time causing problems?
No clue really, but that's one guess right now.
03-21-2005, 05:25 AM
#6
We were running 36 up front and 32 in the rear. 36 on the front was about as low as we felt we could go, with that pressure the tires wore completely to the edge. 32 in the back let the tires in the rear rub to about 1/4-1/2 inch from the edge.
I also just figured out that we had the shocks on full SOFT this weekend, that's what I get for adjusting the koni's with a pair of plyers instead of the Koni tool, I had intended to set them at full stiff.
I also just figured out that we had the shocks on full SOFT this weekend, that's what I get for adjusting the koni's with a pair of plyers instead of the Koni tool, I had intended to set them at full stiff.
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03-21-2005, 05:38 AM
#8
No pictures as of yet. I have a little video of BS from Saturday, hope to have some up later today. I didn't take any racing photos but I know the photographer who did and I believe he'll have photos up shortly, he thought perhaps last night but I haven't seen them on his site yet.
03-21-2005, 05:50 AM
#9
Made a post about our engine troubles, if anyone has any thoughts feedback would be appreciated!
https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....07#post1333507
https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....07#post1333507
03-21-2005, 06:53 AM
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Chris...the engine shut down may well be due to Andy's left foot braking.As you know if you if you touch the brake while accelerating the engine control goes into a defeat mode..80%. We stopped left foot braking when we got our first Z for this reason.Another cause is slamming the accelerator too hard...this will cause a defeat mode that requires five restarts to clear the defeat mode.We only had this happen once probably because we're usually squeezing the gas on and rarely slam it to full open in autocrossing.
Bet your rear wheel spin would have been minor if you had the Koni's on full in the front.
Bet your rear wheel spin would have been minor if you had the Koni's on full in the front.
03-21-2005, 07:31 AM
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Originally Posted by tomsn16
DEL105.....How did you do in JAX?
Don't ask, The first day was a really tight with a bunch of slaloms and very technical. It was made for a tiny car. I cant remember the exact times but Kevin in the 911 ran a 39.9 ish and I was in 2nd with a 40.5 ish. The second day the course was much faster and I felt it favored the Zs. I had alot of problems with the last obstical and coned every single run on the same cone I even slowed down to the point that my times weren't even competetive and I still hit it. Over all I just had a bad driving day but it was alot of fun. I ran really low pressures the 2nd day and I think it made the car slower. I was running 34f 31r the first day and 33f 29r the second. I'm thinking I should have run a little higher both days. I don't remember the final times but it was kevin in 1st Richard in a 350z in second and andrew clark in a miata 3rd.
03-21-2005, 08:05 AM
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Don't feel too bad...as I told you Kipta's 911 is as fast as they get and a tight course is what that car wants. Low 30's sounds about right for Kumho's but it may turn out that the 40 series tires need alot more pressure than the 35 series.Let's gettem in Atlanta.
03-22-2005, 04:39 AM
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Congrats Chris on the win!
In the Southeast Divisional I was able to eek out a win in BSP, and recieved a trophy with a picture of Cater's car on the front!
In the Southeast Divisional I was able to eek out a win in BSP, and recieved a trophy with a picture of Cater's car on the front!
03-23-2005, 10:11 AM
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good work
I'm an Arkansas region guy, and I enjoyed seeing Asher (correct spelling btw) have some real competition 
I have a 03 touring and recently got my 710s mounted on 4 oem 17s (Technicaly not legal, but not a big deal around here) I would have loved to run this weekend but I couldn't justify the cost to runs ratio of a nat'l tour event, especially with my complete lack of experience running the car (I've been running a 97 civic EX in STS for the past several years) Anyway, I made the drive up there saturday, but unfortunately showed up after BS had already ran, wanted to come back sunday but our GRM Challenge car is requiring a lot of last minute work
Ian
I have a 03 touring and recently got my 710s mounted on 4 oem 17s (Technicaly not legal, but not a big deal around here) I would have loved to run this weekend but I couldn't justify the cost to runs ratio of a nat'l tour event, especially with my complete lack of experience running the car (I've been running a 97 civic EX in STS for the past several years) Anyway, I made the drive up there saturday, but unfortunately showed up after BS had already ran, wanted to come back sunday but our GRM Challenge car is requiring a lot of last minute work Ian
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