I finished last in my class. As a matter of fact, I finished just about last across the board.

I had a slight oil leak that had been bothering me for some time and spent three hours on Friday removing the transfer case and exhaust to make sure it was secure. I changed the gear oil while I was down there for both the transfer and transmission. I drove around on Friday afterward and it appeared to be fine.

Day 1: I set out for the track Saturday morning and stopped off at NAPA for a quart of oil to make sure I had enough for the day after being a little low from before. When I got to the track, there was oil dripping from the bottom of the car - too much to pass inspection. I decided that I could either just watch everyone else or try to fix it. I ran to NAPA, picked up some gasket sealant, extra gear oil, and a clean drain pan so I could reuse the Royal Purple I put in a couple weeks ago.
I removed the exhaust, transfer case, and driver side driveshaft and pulled pan. I had two cracks in the pan near the bolt holes. I used some JB quick weld and sealant and resecured the pan. The whole day (about 6hours was spent with my car in pieces. I took it out for one quick run just to see if the car would hold up. It still smoked and leaked a little, but seemed fine.

Day 2: Sunday was the actual timed event. This would be the first time I would be able to mark myself with others in the class. I was placed in OSPO because of the balance shaft and bigger turbo, even though I was at the VERY bottom of the class for those mods.

I was in the first group of the morning and lined up on the grid. My first time around the track and I was barely getting any squeal going around most of the corners. I still do not have my timing set correctly and it pulled a couple of times. My first run was 1:24, almost a full ten seconds behind others in the class.

My second run I pushed much harder and felt the car slip away in several spots. Throughout the run I was missing the apexes and most of the turn points when the car slipped to the side. Each section that was an acceleration point I felt the tires skip and the car would simulate a drift situation with the rear out just slightly more than the front. Even on some of the straights with just a slight rhythm segment I was scooting to the side.

In at least two sections I lost grip on the tail during acceleration, slipping to a rough stop laterally while trying to keep going forward. After the second run I was having trouble idling in the grid for the cool down period. My WBO2 was reading fairly lean during idle; I examined the palm log while sitting there and saw the fuel trims way off. I checked the injector plugs and as soon as I pushed one in, the car idled much higher. It looks like I am getting intermittent injector connection.

I decided to hit one more run; even though we were allowed four, I didn't want to blow my engine if that injector plug comes off all the way.

My third run was much more controlled than the second. I was actually hitting most of the shift points and getting into higher gears sooner with higher exit speeds overall. I missed timing in two corners and dropped the rpm's way too low for turbo spool, killing exit speed. There was also a span where I was idling into the corner, as I hit the highest RPM I'm comfortable with well before hitting the brake point, unlike the other two runs. With those two or three mistakes I ended up with nearly the same time as the second.

My best time for the day was actually that second run at 1:20.163. With so much loss of control, I now know that 200k+ miles on stock suspension is not the best equipment for AutoX.

Highlights of the day:
At the long curve of the course during my second run I nearly hit a squirrel the was on the inside of the track. He just kind of looked at me like ?!

Taking a couple turns sideways was exciting, no matter how inefficient and against the rules it is.

I kept my tires squealing throughout the second run and was a blast being on the verge of losing control throughout.

Things I learned: Set your timing before going to the event, so that you can actually get the best performance out of the vehicle. Find out class regulations before doing any modifications, so you're at least in the middle of the group instead of the most poorly equipped vehicle in class. Make sure you race a vehicle that you don't care about, it makes it much less nerve wracking when you're getting up to rev limit for extended periods and slipping across the hot asphalt.

Suspension and tires is what wins in AutoX. Street tires are nothing like track tires and make the difference between taking a turn at 35 or 55. Leave the spare tire in the back for AWD and have the least amount of gas in the tank; sloshing back and forth with so little weight and crappy suspension was part of the problem with tail whip on the tight turns during acceleration.

I have a couple of goals that really stood out during this little run, reducing the priority to upgrade my engine further. I really need new suspension. Even stock new suspension with all new bushings would be a vast improvement. Dumping that clogged Cat and getting better flow is a high priority; I realized my WBO2 was reading levels after I dropped off the throttle, which indicates a lot of the exhaust is not exiting as it should.

The TOP item on the list: new oil pan. I'm still leaking pretty heavily and the JB weld isn't holding as well as I had hoped. Permatex Ultra Black does not work well as a gasket maker, only a sealant, so I'm switching to Stuff from now on.