After day one...
former z driver Jason Ruggles is sitting 2nd .068 back
Adam Ruff is 6th just over .6seconds back
Glenn is 15th.
Chike Dellimore is 19th and his codriver 2 spots back.

I really wish I was able to go. Looking at other class results, the Nismo could have done really well.

 

Nice. Hopefully it's not raining there, I know a few of the SS and ES people got shafted yesterday when it started to rain in the middle of the heats.

 

The rain came five minutes after the last car finished the course (well, there were drops, but not really rain).

I had a serious case of cranial-rectal-inversion syndrome, especially today (VDC OFF *before* you leave the line!), but I think that we (read: I) also broke something on the car on Thursday, since it isn't as "planted" as it normally is (and max G loads are well below what would be expected on even asphalt). It isn't a problem during normal driving, just under hard acceleration -- so I'm guessing that it might be a transmission mounting point.

However, the site is utterly awesome! There was plenty of space for two LARGE courses (60 seconds with multiple places to hit redline in 2nd gear) plus a practice course and LARGE paddock spaces.

 

Well I'm bumbed... Couldn't get a clean run on the East coast. Tires got too greasy about 80% through each run and it became a fight to get the car to turn and stay on line. Cone 519 on my third run kept me from winning a trophy!

All in all, Nats is awesome. Glad I was able to go to my first. It was nice meeting Jason and Chike along with others. And lastly, thank you Glenn again for letting me co-drive.

 

I'm sorry to say, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the tires -- the loud bang on the first turn of my first East course run and the constant metallic buzz under acceleration leads me to believe that I may have broken something on my car. I know that we looked while in impound, but considering that I got that same metallic buzz pulling the mountains north of SLC, I know that there's a problem.

I was hoping to get the car up on some jack stands, but I'm being forced to keep my left leg elevated today to help reduce some swelling because I was stupid and injured it while I was packing to come home (and didn't realize that I'd injured it as seriously until a couple of days ago).

 

Looking at the data, I can see *in the data* where the car broke and how much more unstable it was from that point on, especially in left-hand turns (although right-hand turns also show an instability, it's just not as pronounced).

So, I need to get the car up in the air and get some good light to see what's broken, but something is definitely broken and affects the car's stability. I just hope that it's something relatively minor!

 

OK, now I know. One of the gusset pieces in the rear subframe on the right side has broken welds. Only when I got the car fully suspended in the air and got bright light on it could I determine the problem. Lightly tapping each side with a hammer confirmed the problem (the right side buzzes after tapping).

 

that sucks glenn. Can you just weld it back up? Hopefully you guys will campaign again next year and bring even stronger competition to nationals!

 

I'll have to see. It looks like the welds that failed were "cold" since it looks like they only barely penetrated the surface.

 

Hmmmm, that is very interesting. I have a similar problem on my car but havn't driven it enough lately to really notice a difference in handling. I definitely have the buzzing sound though.

 

Glenn - you got me worried about my car! I have 61k miles on mine with almost as much auto-xing as yours. Do you have any pics so I can take a closer look at my car?

 

I didn't have a good camera there with me, but get both rear tires up in the air on jackstands, and use a hammer to tap the subframe at the lower suspension pick-up point. Left-side was OK, right-side had a "buzz" to the tone. My daughter was in the garage as well, and she could hear it too.