Day two cranked-up the intensity as we started revealing more racecraft. Mr. Pettiford had another student (who was a long term friend) who wanted instruction on a slightly modified c7 zo6. So he split time between us and while they were off turning laps it gave me time to slow things down and focus on optimal cornering, entry/exit strategy, eye targeting, and overall just getting more seat time (becoming more comfortable on the track). The other student also shadowed me and offered up guidance as well from his perspective (ususally behind me) and it gave me an opportunity to having some in my rearview & sideview mirrors.

I did a few hotlaps with what I’ve learned thus far (on the afternoon of Day Two) and took 7 seconds off my time - put down a 2:25 time. Much better cornering/entry/exit, I was holding top speed down the long straight, I was pushing the car harder (taking the engine to 6500 to 6700rpm) and just generally not making mistakes.

We also did the ‘cat & mouse’ game where I followed him and (did my best) to chase him down and switched roles and I took the lead and he chased me down … it wasnt really a fair fight between his experience and his solstice he was catching me at-will but it was a good exercise on how to gain and take competitors who drive sloppy or make mistakes … which he did (intentionally) to test me and my recognition of their driving discipline and when and where to be aggressive and when to take it easy. This exercise was my first real competitive driving where you dont allow room for the person in front of you and passing was encouraged at any point.

We did two rounds of the cat & mouse game and then discussed in the classroom. The other student had very good insight from the back of the pack.

Wrapped up the day (as mentioned this other studen and Mr. Pettiford are long time buddies) with the student leading with a well suited (sticky tires, cammed, throttle assistance, traction control dialed down) z06 leading Mr. Pettiford in his T2 turbo’d solstice (315hp/420ft-lbs/2900lbs). I rode in the Solstice and it was a very good lesson on how to drive competitively and aside from two (possibly 3) straights the solstice(experience of Mr. Pettiford) could have taken the vette in any segment of the track. It was a very good lesson on how to drive to get the best lap times and very different from the gentlemen driving that I’ve been exposed to with my other mentor.

 

Day three started out pretty good - got the cars situated, fueled, checked and took them out for warm-up and hot laps. I had some time on my own while Mr. P worked with the same student in the vette and I probably did 15 to 20 laps … a mix of 50% to 100% to further reinforce the racing line and on turns I wasnt comfortable on to take them slow and further learn them. HPR has a handful of variable radius turns along with quick left-right-left turns where if you botch the first turn it usually tanks the next two.

We reconvened and started talking about qualifying - all pretty straight forward and then did a mock-qualifying session. I took a warm-up lap, got three hot laps, and a cool down lap. It was earlier in the morning and temps were in the 50s to 60s so it was nice but I knew traction wouldnt be optimal. I was also making mistakes by overdriving the car. So told myself to have a good warm-up, and to just focus on hitting entries and exits, eye-targetting, pushing the engine, and just have fun with it. All three of my times were 2minutes and 22seconds … my best was 2/100ths faster than the day before. Was very happy with this and I knew I was still making (smaller) mistakes and the car still needs better tires, respectable brakes, real suspension, a better exhaust, etc - but still happy with pushing the time down.

We had some classroom time to talk about race-starting. Pretty interesting stuff and went over strategy or procedures. Did a session of mock-starts and a simulated 5 lap race. We took 3/4 of a warm-up lap and then lined-up how they’d do in scca. We did two single lap races with a mock start and the 3rd mock start was the ‘leave them for dead’ race where you just go go go for 3 laps. Mr. P was in a Mazda Speed 6 (as opposed to the solstice) and despite have a slightly larger engine, more power, more torque, rwd vs. fwd he pretty much stomped me on the laps. There were a few that I held my own but he is soooo experienced and so good that it was hard to take him. Hopefully will be a better experience once I get better components on the car.

We had some classroom time to eat and we did the mock-start and ‘leave them for dead’ race a second time and Mr. P pulled some tricks, made some intentional mistakes (to test me) and took advantage of my mistakes as well. The second session was much better and I had improvements … still got my butt kicked but it was a great learning experience. I also started feeling more comfortable around other cars at higher speeds and at technical driving.

More to come - I believe I can get back out on Wednesday October 9 for Day 4 (but I gotta move some stuff around for work and need a day or so to do upkeep on the car).

He did mention that Day 5 could be a Open Lapping Days and I wouldnt mind purchasing a 6th day to drive against him in another similarly outfitted car (such as the Mazda 6 or one of his NA Solstices) and do more of these mock driving scenarios, as they are very good training material

 

Little bit of an update - Next track sessions is scheduled for November 4, 2024. Been recapping some of the lessons from my first 3days and watching other high plains lapping videos to see how other drivers are doing. It seems like guys in lower tier cars (BRZ/FRS, Caymans, Boxters, Miatas, etc) are getting times closer to 2minutes to 2minutes 10seconds. Sooo, informally thats my goal - alot to improve on (myself and the car) but happy to continue refining my skils.

Got some maintenance and upkeep to take care of before then …

dont know if I mentioned it but the car was getting hot (not pegged but above the normal ‘9 oclock’ range). … and it would come down on temp during cool-down laps. But I did see that the radiator mounts were not right and it was a little jared and out of place. I zip-tied it back into place and it helped quite a bit but it will be replaced with a koyo before the 9th. I will also do ducting to channel airflow to the radiator, open up the OEM shroud better, and if I can do it ‘professionally’ I will vent the hood as well (got a few ideas brewing). Further, I’ll flushout the coolant and go with a distilled water / water wetter / coolant mix moving forward.

I picked up a 19row setrab cooler that I will install for power steering and I intend to make a larger reservoir that will hold 2x to 3x more fluid than the OEM reservoir.

I have a z1 diff cover that I will install and bought a pump and I have a hammy-down cooler that I will look to install (if I have time).

I knew about this going into my first day of school but the down-pipes/test pipes on this car are a complete trainwreck … humorous to a point … and this could be causing a high rpm power loss (which could be costing time) but I think these downpipes have are less than 2” diameter pipe sections, leading to an OEM Y-pipe, and a single exhaust … so picked up some 2.5” test pipes and I have a true dual exhaust that will be installed before session 4.

Probably the biggest factor will be picked up a set of hoosier R7 from Mike and I have a set of enkei RPF1s that they’ll go on. I do need a way to heat cycle them before November 4th.

Got a set of hawk fronts & rears for the non-brembo calipers on the car - should help quite a bit -

It may not happen before session 4 or 5 but I would like to add brake ducts to the car as well.

Another contributor factor is, Im running with VDC on and need to turn it off… I know its cutting power and also ‘saving’ me … I know this and I am going to run with it off my last two sessions - I dont have a ton of ‘trust’ in the car (as it currently sits - shitty brakes, bad tires, low-dollar suspension) but also need to learn to drive without it on - even if it means spinning out a few times.

Sidenote / story - on day 3 a group was out with a HR swapped DE chassis spec z doing training with another instructor and of course we started chatting and it turns out this guy lives about 10minutes away from me … he has two DE chassis and a L24 240z that is very pretty and track-appointed. He gave me some very good pointers on my setup from his experiences (some of which I already knew) and noticed I was running OEM non-bremos and offered up two sets of fronts and a set of rears - they are track-used so they should be blasted and re-coated and seals refreshed but didnt want anything for them. They came off his grey z which had akebonos on. I wont be able to install these for sessions 4 or 5 but I am researching rotors/lines for this setup.

 

All kinds of delays and schedule conflicts between myself, the track (where they repaved a few corners and are not allowing sticky tires) and Mike P. All good - I am wildly busy with a few other things so it’s all good. In the downtime…

First thing I did was replace the autoparts store brakes with the hawks (previously purchased). Did some bleeding and got everything back on.

Got the koyo 48mm installed … in the process I removed the AC condenser and compressor - not my favorite thing to do but I did not destroy any fittings and can re-install/recharge at any point. I also installed a single 12” fan. The install went well and with the shroud out I trimmed the fiberglass/plastic areas to allow better airflow (more on this later). Spent a few hours (attempting) to heat cycle and bleed the cooling system and it sorta worked but bit-the-bullet and got a lisle coolant funnel. Did about 70% water, two bottles of water wetter, and ~25% antifreeze … gotta have a respectable portion of antifreeze as the car does stay outside at times.

Also got the power steering cooler and bigger reservoir installed. The reservoir is (calcs out to be) around 1.4 quarts - which I’m pretty happy with. I welded brackets to the OEM crash bar in a similar fashion to the oil cooler.

I got the horrible downpipes off and the single exhaust off the car. Test pipes installed and a AAM true dual exhaust installed. Its still sorta droney around 2k rpms but it sings at anything higher than 4krpms (more on this later). Had to redo / adjust / reweld some brackets but it was able to hang it from the OEM mounts. I also replaced 3”dia / 6” long flex sections which were worn through from the previous owner - which made install pretty easy.

With the car up in the air I dropped oil, transmission fluid, and diff fluid and put fresh fluid in the car.

Picked up a pretty beefy windsheild mount and running track-addict off my phone. Really having fun with it.

Got the car 100% done and got 15 to 20 miles on it to ensure its ready for the track … everything was great but I got a P0128 - coolant below temp … did notice that my temps rarely got up past the 9oclock mark (in my test drives) but the heat was blowing hot air and both radiator hoses were hot. I dont know if the water/water wetter/coolant along with the bigger radiator were doing a above average job?? But I didnt freak out about it.

The HPR did some repaving in corners 2, 6, 7, 9 and (if you know HPR) and they put a moratorium on sticky tires until December 1, 2024 … so thats one reason we pushed sessions #4 and #5 off … but they did have an open lapping days about a week ago and it was a perfect opportunity to get the car out and freshen up what I’ve been learning with Mike, and ensure the car is ready otherwise. My last two sessions are schedule for December 5th and 6th and I should be wrapped up. And then there is an open lapping day on January 4, 2024 that I intend to do with some buddies.

I changed out tires to the 10.5” r888 (100tw) and a 9” Hankook Ventus (320tw) and it made a pretty big difference.

One of my bigger hang-ups is running with traction control on and I ran the first two sessions with VDC enabled to ensure I had my bearings and turn-in & exit points dialed in. Further, took open lapping session #1 pretty easy … just going 75%.

The last two open lapping sessions I balled-up and disabled VDC and initially took it easy … just really feeling the car and ensuring my steering angle and throttle position were in-sync for the track. As the lapping went on I felt more and more comfortable in the car. I did have three freak-out moments. Two were in freshly paved corners and other people were experiencing similiar traction issues … One moment I was able to catch and slid into the entry way (which no-one was coming) and the other two I slid off-track. But overall, the traction fear was much bigger in my head and I felt significantly more comfortable (all things considered). I suspect the sticky tires will do better for sessions #4 and #5 with Mike.

With that being said -
my baseline lap time was:
2:35 (driving school day 1)
2:25 (driving school day 2)
2:21 (driving school day 3)

and unobstructed (and no major f-ups) I was posting 2:17s and 2:18s at the open lapping day with two laps at 2:16.6. Overall pretty happy with the progress and know there is more to learn, better driving, and more time to shed off.

 

Good progression and nice video.not familiar with this track, but it looks fun with some interesting elevation changes. I wonder what it's like to drive a track with unlimited runoffs like this. Would I push harder knowing there's nothing to hit? Maybe? Probably not lol

 

Its a really fun track and they designed it in a manner for safety.

I’ve watched the two fastest laps and there is definately places to pick-up time. I think a few corners Im in the wrong gear and I just have to iron these mistakes to optimize my time. Not that more power is always the answer but tossing around the idea of getting tuned on Uprev to optimize the bolt-ons.

Excited for Thursday / Friday and hope to attend the Saturday January 4, 2025 open lapping days.

 

Wrapped driving school up this week … sorta with a bang and some excitement -

Day 4 was pretty exciting and fun - it was stupid stupid cold in the morning temps were fine (probably low 40s) sunshine, but the wind was blisteringly cold. Day 4 was also the first time I could use sticky tires (hoosier r7s). We did some warm-up laps and I was able to get the car down to 2min 14.6 seconds. Likely a little bit of everything (better tires, colder air temps, knowing the course better, etc.).

After warmups We spent about an hour in the classroom reviewing flags, situational awareness, racecraft, and race strategy. We also setup the next exercise which was mock-starts and running a laps. The Z did really well against the turbo’d solstice but said it was running rough and boost was cranked down but said I did well (which he is pretty straight forward with his feedback). We recapped the exercise over lunch and setup the next exercise of mostly Mike chasing me, observing my line/turn-in points/exit points. We spent some time driving and he would put himself in situations to test my driving and my decision making - essentially situations that I’d experience in a real race.

Humbly, I did make some mistakes and blocking that he scolded me for … which I was doing unintentionally and it was good to hear it from him.

We split track time with another driver/instructor (unrelated to us) and observed his driving. He had a new 911 and was putting down sub-2minute lap times.

Shut down around 3pm and one thing I like about HPR is that you can pretty much leave your trailer / car / setups there overnight. No one comes around and the facility is closed / gated.

 

Its been a minute … time for an update

I didnt mention this but Day 4 I slaughtered the power steering pump … it didnt die completely but it was absolutely killing my laps times. It started in the afternoon and the ABS/VTC/BRAKE/Traction lights would flash on and off … it would also reset my traction control to ‘enabled’ … initially I thought I messed up speed signal wires on the car or something with the ABS but sure enough, the PS was low on fluid … so I topped it off and finished up the day …

Start of Day 5 and Mike takes the car out on the track. We get a warm up lap in and on his second lap a lot of smoke is coming out of the hood and infiltrating into the cabin. I thought for sure the engine was toast but it turns out the PS pump was likely leaking and bleed-out as was run dry … killed the seals and was pissing fluid all over the front of the engine bay. Mike luckily brought two of his T2 soltices and I was able to ‘rent’ it for the remaining portion of the day. They are fun cars - it’s a turbo inline 4 that make about 360hp and 430ft-lbs of torque … redline is like 5500rpm or something? So they move quick.

I was definately unfamiliar and a little uncomfortable in them. I’ve never driven them and they have a different feel than what the Z is. Theyre far more powerful than the z and they grip differently. I did go off track twice and it was scary as hell. Part of this was bc of the fixed seat for Mike (who is over 6ft tall) and I had to stuff a pillow in the seat). But hattip to Mike for coming through and having two cars there!

Got through the 5th day and fulfilled the requirements of the program and got my scca license.

Not 100% sure which direction to go from here … a two of my driving mentors said the best thing I can do is Spec Miata … if nothing more do it for a year or two to get my feet wet with competetive driving, SCCA, travel schedule, etc. I gave myself a few weeks to think about it and do more research on it, watched all of the 2024 runoffs and I emotionally committed to running Spec Miata.

I created a budget both for a car, the seven race events in 2025, maintenance, tires, fuel, consumables, etc, along with travel costs and I think I can make the big four out of town races and the three in-town races (ie got the buy-off from the wife).

Mike had a NA miata that was ready to go and he ended up selling it to a new student that is going to race spec miata in 2025 as well! Which, all good and I’m happy for the new driver but the NA cars are not competetive.

There is a blue miata down in Pueblo from a couple that races in SCCA for sale that I have my eye on. I boxed out a saturday morning and took the 90minute drive to Pueblo to meet the sellers and see the car. The car is top notch for spec miata. They had issues with it in 2023(I believe) and sent the car to Xfactor for a new engine and a new transmission. its on spec penske suspension, three sets of wheels/tires, an extra transmission, bunch of spares, belts/seat are 7 out of 10 and expire in 2026.

It was the wife’s car that she was going to race in spec miata. But, with the car being down she got into Spec Ford Racers. The car is a NB chassis with the VVT 1.8liter engine. Break-in and tuning hours on the engine at this point … so needs the 2nd half of break in done.

I told them I’d think about it and ended up sending down a ‘hold’ payment on it (as we gotta get through taxes before we can allocate cash to the miata).

Last few weeks I have been reading up on the specs and seeing where I can bend some rules (jk). I’ll plan to get the car out to High Plains and possibly Pueblo for open lapping days and then 2025 starts in mid-April at World Wide Technology Motorsports Park in Illinois.

I pretty much have everything I need for the season … I am looking to sell the 28ft trailer and pickup something smaller and need a few safety items between now and then.

 

I have tracked both my Z and a Miata many, many times. There is a reason people say that "Miata Is Always The Answer". Especially for someone new to track, they are incredibly forgiving, slow enough to teach require good technique and the consumables are so much cheaper it is laughable. The competition in spec miata is also fierce, more so than anything remotely close cost wise.

 

One of my buddies told me the ‘Miata is always the answer’ last week…first time hearing it

It’s sorta where I want to be (tbh) despite their low horsepower I do want to learn momentum, the line, racecraft, etc.

The associated cost (even factoring in the cost of the car) is manageable to pull off.

I dont know how many spec miatas are going to be running in local/region events - I couldnt necessarily decipher from the 2024 records that SCCA puts out and further, how many NA chassis vs. NB chassis?? But I’m looking forward to competing!
WIth that being said, the runoffs (for SM) looked pretty intense!

 

We got popped with snow this week and then two amazing days of sunshine … I told myself if today (Friday) is nice and if Saturday looks promising than sign up for the Saturday open lapping day at HPR. Sure enough today was great and tomorrow looks to be dry and between 30s and 50s.

A few things to note … this will be my first track day with electronic power steering … I am not 100% convinced of it and if ***** out and/or doesnt perform like I want than I am going to install the new power steering pump I (already) bought. I didnt even remove the old hardline …

I believe I filled the rear diff with 75w-90 fluid previously and it didnt feel like my vlsd was kicking in … so I drained it and replaced it with 75w-140 … so hopefully it locks-up more efficiently. Further, put a z1 finned diff cooler and a bell raceworks diff brace on the car too.

Previous open lapping days I was on Toyo R888 rears and Nexux fronts and I’ve got the hoosiers on the car for tomorrow

No power steering pump or AC compressor on the serpentine belt so maybe I gained 5 to 7hp and can get my top speed up into the 115mph range … dont want to immediately target shoot for that and there are many other things that will come into play but it’d be nice to improve on the long straight (previous top was around 111mph).

on a more cerebreal level - been reading a few books on track driving. Suggested frist by my WRL z buddy was Inner Speed Secrets(finished) and Faster(25% complete) and I’m going to do my best to harness the lessons and concepts in each of those.

I believe my previous best was a 2minute 16second so I am going to give myself a goal of 2minute 12seconds.






***Excuse the blown diff bushing … planning to get poly diff and solid subframe bushings at some point in time -

Next major fix will be getting the brembos / performance rotors / braided lines on the car

 

Did you post about the electronic power steering before? I guess I missed it. Link to details?

 

Like the install? Or the results/thoughts/opinions?

So Saturday was good but not great … it was a great track day to run the car after some very cold weather and there were a surprisingly high number a guys running … I believe a porsche group attended as a bunch of 911s and 986 cars that were parked together and were on the track together.

The track cleared of snow and most shouldering were soggy / wet and the track staff pushed snow as far off the shouldering as possible but it was pretty intimidating. During the drivers meeting the operations manager basically told everyone to run 85% and dont try to set your lap records. He hinted at any off track driving would take body panels off.

There was also a few sections of the track that had runoff flowing across the track … not a significant amount but enough that halfway through the day water was being carried on tires and splashes well into the next corner and it was slippery. The snow plows also took out some the the exit / entry point flag-poles.

As advised - I took it pretty easy the first hour or so to shake off the rust and clean out the racing-line-cobwebs… and surer than **** a guy went off track and into the snow in a BAC Mono … I sorta laughed but did feel bad for the guy … I dont think he did any damage as he continued to drive… I suspect cold tires and a cold surface.

Further, I kept traction control on the whole day … I didnt want to risk spinning out and it’s been 6weeks or so since I last ran the car with this setup.

Overall, had a great time - the wife went with me and I took her out on my last session and maybe drove the car at 50% to 60% as I didnt want to freak her out, she said she was setting nauseous and I didnt want to go off track. Also was getting abnormal braking sound (I suspect was water getting on the pads) that I didnt want to have a catastrophic accident with.

I didnt put much emphais on track times but for the record my best time was a 2min 15second and my top speed at turn 4 was 111mph. Concerning Top speed I gradually starting braking at the 5th post and worked my way to 4th post … doenst seem like a huge accomplishment but it was for me … I’ll keep working on that as well.

The electronic power steering was surpringingly good … it struggled at lower speeds (~0mph to 10mph) but it worked like a traditional hydraulic system above those speeds - I was a little surprised (if Im being honest) and I will look to install this in the white z.

 

Yeah, I was wondering if an electronic pump would struggle at low RPMs, it has less torque than mechanical pump.
Do you have a link to install details?

 

I suspect it creates less pressure than a traditional pump and it’s obviously easier to turn wheels with the car moving versus standing still -

I just youtube / google what other guys have done with the volvo / fomoco electric power steering pumps

 

Figured I’d get a little update in … as it relates to the miata and some track time.

One of the really big events in Colorado is Slush … and they have a few of them around the county but I explain to my non-car friends that its the cocaine of car events in Colorado … Its held at Pikes Peak International Raceway and its just a massive mix of many car-generes mixed into one day. Well? Two days …

I ‘rent’ garage space to promote EverythingVQ and the event organizer has been very good to me and usually hooks me up with driving tickets. And you can run on PPIRs road course (the big oval and the infield) and its a blast. They do motorcycle hotlaps, car hot laps, and drift both Friday Night and Saturday. So I as able to get the miata out and rip it around. There’s no timing, theres no qualifying, theres no trophies but everyone is out there to have a good time and compete too … it sorta sucked having the lowest powered / slowest car out there and of course everyone passes you on the straights and you can make time back or at least hang with the big car in the twisties … If nothing more it was great exposure and a lot of fun.

So that was last weekend down in Colorado Springs and SCCA Major at Pueblo Motorsports Park is this weekend … a little more intense than last months event in La Junta and I registered with the spec miata under the ‘majors’ category rather than the regional.

Also, picked up a new trailer and been doing a few add-ons to make it a little better suited. Put a 2500lb winch in it (nothing fancy) and about 80% complete with putting down some left-over engineered hardwood flooring.

More to come!

 

Another quick update on the Miata … (above and beyond what DKMura has on the 2025 SCCA thread)

Getting ready for the Hastings Nebraska event. It’s warming up in the points standings - I’ve become pretty good buds with the father son combo that race Spec Miata and I’ve only run with them at Pueblo a few months back. I missed the High Plains Raceway event over the 4th of July and they did not go to the Ozarks weekend so we havent run together after Pueblo.

But I have found myself in first place in Spec Miata and for the record, I am slow as **** … The only reason I am in first is because I have had decent finishes with low / lower entrants and I have been able to keep the car on the track.

All that to say - we have two race weekends left (Aug 9th / 10th in Hastings and August 23rd / 24th at HPR). I suspect both the father / son will be gunning for me. I am only 1point ahead of the father and 11points ahead of the son and we’ve all completed the same amount of races (two race weekends/four races total) So I essentially need to beat them both out at all four remaining races.

I’ve been meaning to review basic maintenance and upkeep on these car. I had some time in Missouri and did an oil/filter change, transmission fluid change, diff fluid change, and spark plugs. I think I had an open lapping day at HPR, two days at La Junta, two days at Pueblo, and three days at Ozarks on this oil change and I didnt know when the trans and diff fluid were changed last but they looked clean coming out. For what its worth - put redline MT85 in the trans and 7590 in the diff.

As I was under the car I did notice that I had a small hole in the passenger side boot - it wasnt bad but it was noticable. So I put Sunday’s (Ozarks) Race on it and told myself to swap it out before Hastings. Got the car up in the air and was able to break the axle nut loose with the help of the brake pedal (no ebrake on this car and it was already up in the air). Got the brakes off (pads look great) knuckles off, and was able to pound-out the hubs. I am going to get them cleaned up and inspected. I need to push the bearings out and clean, inspect, and repack with grease before reassemblying everything but the ball bearings look good, spin freely and are plenty-greased up. I still want to clean everything and repack. I was also able to remove the axles and both inner boots are cracked and leaking. I decided to purchase all new boots for both axles(inner and outter boots) it was around $100 for OEM Mazda and thats fine. In a similar manner, I want to disassemble the CV joints, clean, inspect, and re-grease before I put the new boots on.

Hoping to knock this out over the next few days and then look at the front axles next.

other than that got some goodies for the trailer and looking forward to a Friday practice day, race Saturday, race Sunday in Nebraska.

 

Congrats on being tops in the SM Majors standings for Mid-America. The season-long series rewards consistent finishes and you've managed that. James may not be aware that you're also in first place in the Rocky Mountain Division Regional Championship as well! You can read about in Redline Magazine (2025 July Redline), as you've got a pretty good points lead after starting the year off with LaJunta. Also, things are looking up for the MPH race, as the entry seems to be climbing sufficiently to allow Nebraska Region to run it without the risk of going broke. We'll see you at HPR later this month, as I'll also be helping a friend get his Dodge Hellcat out for the Friday practice session ahead of the Majors weekend.

 

Soooooo … Nebraska … another adventure (all apologies for the long thread)…

Let the adventure begin … Planned to leave Thursday morning but needed to get my truck to the shop that replaced my transmission for a 1000mile checkup … I had some rough/hard shifts from the Ozarks trip that I made the service writer aware of and it wasnt a big deal and they were going to scan the software and check updates. They couldnt get to it on Tuesday so I dropped it off on Wednesday morning … Around 10am, I get a call from the shop saying that a brake line burst and that the tech was pulled over.

I live in a relatively large suburb of denver and coincidently I did see the tech driving my truck while doing some morning errands … including when he was pulled over with the brake line issue. Figured he was scanning the TCM/ECU

I didnt make a big deal out of it and happy it burst on tech and not while I was towing but I suspect he was left-foot braking to build boost and load on the engine and transmission to replicate my feedback on the hard shifts. But I dont know this for 1000% certain but it does make sense. I turn around and go check in with the tech and look over the truck. The shop had it towed back shortly there after.

But the anxiety builds in-that I dont have a tow vehicle and they have about 24hours to fix it before I have to get on the road. Scope turo for diesels or bigger trucks but nothing really looks like it’ll work. I message Mike Pettiford who is running in the race as well and he has an open spot on his trailer - I throw him some cash and he comes and gets the car and will drive it to Hastings and the wife & I will just drive her car.

We end up leaving Thursday afternoon and have a pretty good drive and arrive around 10pm that night.

Friday is a practice day and I hired Mike for driver coaching as it’s a new track and I want to be as prepared as possible. We have three really good sessions and I get a black / meatball flag for some oil-burning smoke. I know it’s something goofy because it only occurs after three pretty sharp left-hand turns. Black flag and they tell me I went four-off and didnt come in (which I did not, reviewed video and everything) but the burning oil was a bigger issue. One of Mike’s buddies is racing and is doing practice with us and he instantly said it was the PCV valve. So, pulled the value and of-course it was essentailly useless. I was able to track-down a full-aluminum replacement and some new hose and was able to get it fixed that afternoon … but I ended up not being able to run the last two sessions of practice.

I was pleased with the practice session and went into Saturday’s qualifying with great confidence. Qualifying went extremely well… My times started a little high but they dropped considerably. I ended up qualifying 3rd out of 4 spec miatas and only missing 2nd by .6seconds … the guy who qualified first was very good and very fast - I believe he has been running spec miata for 6 years.

Fast forward, Saturday’s race was pretty ****-poor … I didnt do well and I couldnt keep pace with 2nd place and fell behind by a half lap after the 20minute session. Pretty disappointing after such a good practice day and qualifying session … But, in the grand scheme of things, I still got points (gained one point on my lead with the guy who finished 4th) didnt wreck the car, didnt pop the engine and the new PCV valve fixed the issue.

Spent the rest of Satuday night reprograming my mental driving line, reviewed my videos with Mike and just let myself have a bad race and hit the reset button.

Sunday morning - a corvette blew a transmission line and put down ATF on about 2/3rds of the track … track shut down for 30minutes and there were portions of the track that were slick.

No one re-qualified for Sunday … it was essentially pointless as we all turned faster laps in the race. So Sunday’s race started the same way … I did substantially better for the first half and was keeping pace with 2nd place depsite over-driving the car. But around halfway I started to fall behind a few car-lenths on each lap. At the time it didnt 100% matter because I was solidly in 3rd place and I had 15minutes or so of racing. I just told myself to run the lines, dont over drive and dont take dumb risks and you can sit on 3rd place and add another point …

but thats where things start falling apart … there was a bad interaction with both myself and the 4th place driver where a spec racer ford pushed myself and 4th place off the track on turn 13 … I did go 4 off but was able to keep the car straight, recovered and got back on the track. 4th place also went off, I think spun, but was able to get back on the track as well… it sorted jaunted my confidence.

In the last 5 or 6 laps the 4th place driver caught me and stayed with me and passed me on the last lap … it was sooooooo disheartening … we chatted afterwards and he said either he was going to spin-out or was going to take 3rd place.

A few fatal flaws that came of this …
I missed 2nd to 3rd gear 3 or 4 times on turn 13 (last turn of the track) and it probably cost me 1 to 2 seconds by the time I got to turn 1. Not 100% sure why it wasnt going into gear (aside from operator error).

4th place did give me some very ‘stand-up’ advice (that could very well cost him places) in-that when I am waiving faster cars (such as the spec racer fords) I am lifting for a fraction of a second to let me have a clean pass. He said he could noticeable see me slow down and he could see that he was gaining on me. Such a foolish mistake… so, I will happily point faster cars but but I wont lift … which shouldnt be an issue with those higher power:weight cars.

My tires were under-inflated for the entire weekend (more on this later) … but it definately cost me time and speed.

I dont think it really mattered but I ran 87octane fuel for the entire weekend. Compression is 10.5:1 on the SM engines and I dont think it mattered, I didnt get any CELs for knock.

Overall disappointing but Im still in 1st place for points but will need a good showing at High Plains Raceway.

I did get excessively hot and felt nauscious after the first race … so, I will be picking up a cool-suit and I’ll install a water bottle this week.

some pics:

 

Some other side topics of the weekend -

I did clean, relubricate, and re-boot both rear axles / both inner & outer boots, and put new bearings in the rear wheels prior to the Nebraska weekend. Was actually a fun maintenance operation.

Further maintenance (after Nebraska) I removed and cleaned my injectors … I am getting a small discrepancy between injectors where one is flowing about 12% less than the highest one and one is flowing about 6% less. So I got a new/used set of OEM injectors coming and I will flow test them as well and take the four injectors that are closest matched. For now, I put the two least flowing injectors on cylinders 1 and 4, which get less air than 2 and 3.

Also checked to ensure my throttle body is opening fully and it was.

High Plains is next weekend and I have a few pre-paid open lapping days passes … so used one and attended Satuday’s session. Went with a buddy with a gt350 mustang and we had a great time… Just worked on optimzing the line, pushing my braking zones, and cornering harder.

I am sorta lost on tire pressure… A few of the ozarks guys said go 25psi cold and heat them up to 30psi or so?? I did this for Ozarks and everything seemed fine and then in Nebraska I didnt notice any ill effects. But I googled it, and chatgpt’d it and it came back with hot temps should be 36psi to 38psi … so I added air accordingly and the car feels much better and better planted!

Im going to try to get another open lapping day in and do the Friday practice session before the Saturday and Sunday Races.

A little bit of retrospect - it was this time last year, the 2024 Last Chance Race I attended with some formula car friends and it was sorta the ‘go’ moment to get into SCCA, get my license, and jump in head first.