4G63FLA
15+ Year Contributor
- 156
- 0
- Jan 4, 2007
-
................,
Alaska
Wiregrass Region SCCA Solo II Event #1
8:00 am, I awoke from my Quality Inn hotel bed to a beautiful sunny day in Dothan Alabama. I couldn't help but have a smile on my face for this was the first race I had run in over 3 years now. I stepped outside to see how the weather was, and it couldn't be more perfect. It was bright, sunny, not a cloud in the sky and it was about 35 degrees. Perfect turbo weather I thought to myself. Jumped in the shower and gathered my things and headed out to the track. Which was about 20 minutes from the hotel we were staying at. I pull into the event site and there were only a few cars there and the SCCA officials laying the day's course. I went to the registration table, signed in, got my armband and headed over to the pit area to set up shop. My girlfriend and official photographer of the #32 FP car would arrive later in the day.
10:30 am – Driver's meeting. We all gathered around the SCCA officials to go over the track layout a bit and what the standing rules of the day would be. After a brief (thank god) driver's meeting, we were each handed a copy of the track layout and had the opportunity to walk the track. As I walked the track with an SCCA-Pro driver from the Kobi Subaru dealership, I noticed the track was a bit confusing in some sections. We called the SCCA officials over to get them to setup some more pointer cones here and there thinking it could be easy to get lost in some sections, more on that later. After walking the track 3 times, it was time to get the racing underway.
1:30 pm – My first runs. As I pull into the Tech area, and I am greeted by Jay Scott, one of the SCCA officials my girlfriend and I had dinner with the night before. We chatted for a minute or two until the timing official called me to the line. The track was a very big Auto Cross track and they were running 2 to 3 cars at a time. The timing official turned to me and said, "ready"....GO !!!!! I revved the Tsi to 2500 RPMs and I was off on my 1st run of the day. Right up a short shoot and into a 75 degree left hander and I was shifting into 2nd gear. 15 pounds of boost and the turbo was screaming. Took a long right-handed sweeper followed by a hard 90 degree left-hander. Hard on the brakes for a brief second and then back on the gas shifting into second gear as I come to the 1st cross over box on the course. Slight right-hander as I reach the longest straight away on the track. Hard on the gas and into 3rd gear for the first time. Reaching the end of the straight, I stab the brakes pretty hard and slide slightly as I go around a 180 into the slalom section. Having walked the course earlier in the day, I knew I needed to enter this section from the right, so I could come out on the right side at the end to set up for the next left-handed sweeper. Through the slalom, I found a steady pressure for the gas and I worked the wheel bake and forth through the cones. Coming out on the right side, I setup for the left-handed sweeper followed by a VERY hard left had turn heading back into the crossover box. Shoot to the right through a section of 3 offset gates heading towards the back of the course. Around a 180 right-hander and through to the high-speed slalom section. Left, back to the right, left and into an extremely hard braking right-hander heading towards the start/finish line. I went in a little too hot and over shot this turn and around I went. A full 360 with an extra 180 so the rear of the car was point in the right direction at least. A quick turn around I was off to the start/finish line. I drive the car back over to the tech area and head over to the timing area to check my time. Not a very good run at all--84.377 seconds. I noticed the time-keeper had me down for hitting a cone that I some how didn't remember hitting, and a DNF. I asked what had I done wrong and he informed me that I missed a gate coming out of the slalom section of the track. With my spinout, a cone and the missed gate, it was a pretty eventful first run. On 2nd and 3rd runs of the morning, I encountered a problem that I was not prepared for. As I went into the hard braking corners, coming out of them, the car what start to buck violently and cut off and on. After the 2nd run, I looked down at the fuel gauge to see I was at a ¼ tank. I had read on DSM Tuners that people had experienced similar problems with this before. Not a very good run either, although I did manage to trim 2 seconds off the 1st time to a 82.923 second run. Still, I didn't like the fact my car was jerking around and cutting off like that. The 3rd run went much of the same because captain unprepared here did not bring any extra fuel to the track, thinking I would not need any. Even with a cone hit I managed to run a 78.574 second run on the last pass of the first session. Shaving 4 seconds from my 2nd run.
2:45 – Lunch. As some of the carts ran the course, we had an opportunity to break for lunch. I ran up the road to local Texaco/SubWay/Meeting Place/Gas Station (we are in the sticks here) and filled the car up. I was going to make absolute sure that the jerking and cutting off was the fuel level issue and nothing more serious.
3:30 – Second session of runs. After filling up the #32 TSi I was hoping that would solve the cutoff problem. Ok, on the line and off. I get to the sections of the course where the car was shutting off and jerking badly and with a full tank of fuel, nothing doing. The car ran through the section like I would hope it would. I was so excited it did, I let out a little HELL YEAH when nothing happened. I went on through the course with more confidence then the previous 3 runs and it showed on the times. I stayed right around the 78 second mark with a 78.998. On the 5th run of the day, the official photographer/girlfriend wanted to have some fun as well. So I got her a helmet from the SCCA officials and she was going to ride with me on the next run. She must have been a good luck charm because we ran a 76.702 5th run which to that point was my personal best run of the day. She got out of the car with a huge smile on her face and wanted to go again. But she understood I wanted the last run of the day to just be me and really give it all I had. She is SO great and understanding with my racing. She is the BEST. On my last run of the day, I really got off the line in a hurry and got into 2nd gear as fast as I had all day. I seemed to hit every point on the track I wanted to and with some limited tire spin in a few sections, I finally got off my fastest run of the day as well as the fastest time of the day for the FP class as well---75.440 seconds. I felt really good about my last run with the cars performance. I thought to myself on the drive home (2 hours and 15 minutes) that if I had another 2 runs, I could have closed in on that 70 second run I had wanted to get to. Overall I was VERY, VERY pleased with the day's events and the cars performance. This was the first time I had been behind the wheel in a race in over 3 years. One of the new mods I added to the car was a DG Industries Chassis Strengthening bar, which really seemed to help keep the light rear-end of the car stable through the slalom sections. Finishing 1st overall in the FP class also was a great feeling. It's always nice in a point series to have the early lead. I don't mind being the hunted.
Finally, as I pull the TSi into the garage in Pensacola Florida, a 175 mile trip from track to home, I am exhausted from being in the sun all day and the driving time back home. I pull the car in, lock up the garage and turn the alarm system on. A good overall weekend and a GREAT time racing. I cant wait till next month with a few more mods, some more weight loss and hopefully another 1st overall position for the day. Happy boosting !!
~Eddie Garrison
8:00 am, I awoke from my Quality Inn hotel bed to a beautiful sunny day in Dothan Alabama. I couldn't help but have a smile on my face for this was the first race I had run in over 3 years now. I stepped outside to see how the weather was, and it couldn't be more perfect. It was bright, sunny, not a cloud in the sky and it was about 35 degrees. Perfect turbo weather I thought to myself. Jumped in the shower and gathered my things and headed out to the track. Which was about 20 minutes from the hotel we were staying at. I pull into the event site and there were only a few cars there and the SCCA officials laying the day's course. I went to the registration table, signed in, got my armband and headed over to the pit area to set up shop. My girlfriend and official photographer of the #32 FP car would arrive later in the day.
10:30 am – Driver's meeting. We all gathered around the SCCA officials to go over the track layout a bit and what the standing rules of the day would be. After a brief (thank god) driver's meeting, we were each handed a copy of the track layout and had the opportunity to walk the track. As I walked the track with an SCCA-Pro driver from the Kobi Subaru dealership, I noticed the track was a bit confusing in some sections. We called the SCCA officials over to get them to setup some more pointer cones here and there thinking it could be easy to get lost in some sections, more on that later. After walking the track 3 times, it was time to get the racing underway.
1:30 pm – My first runs. As I pull into the Tech area, and I am greeted by Jay Scott, one of the SCCA officials my girlfriend and I had dinner with the night before. We chatted for a minute or two until the timing official called me to the line. The track was a very big Auto Cross track and they were running 2 to 3 cars at a time. The timing official turned to me and said, "ready"....GO !!!!! I revved the Tsi to 2500 RPMs and I was off on my 1st run of the day. Right up a short shoot and into a 75 degree left hander and I was shifting into 2nd gear. 15 pounds of boost and the turbo was screaming. Took a long right-handed sweeper followed by a hard 90 degree left-hander. Hard on the brakes for a brief second and then back on the gas shifting into second gear as I come to the 1st cross over box on the course. Slight right-hander as I reach the longest straight away on the track. Hard on the gas and into 3rd gear for the first time. Reaching the end of the straight, I stab the brakes pretty hard and slide slightly as I go around a 180 into the slalom section. Having walked the course earlier in the day, I knew I needed to enter this section from the right, so I could come out on the right side at the end to set up for the next left-handed sweeper. Through the slalom, I found a steady pressure for the gas and I worked the wheel bake and forth through the cones. Coming out on the right side, I setup for the left-handed sweeper followed by a VERY hard left had turn heading back into the crossover box. Shoot to the right through a section of 3 offset gates heading towards the back of the course. Around a 180 right-hander and through to the high-speed slalom section. Left, back to the right, left and into an extremely hard braking right-hander heading towards the start/finish line. I went in a little too hot and over shot this turn and around I went. A full 360 with an extra 180 so the rear of the car was point in the right direction at least. A quick turn around I was off to the start/finish line. I drive the car back over to the tech area and head over to the timing area to check my time. Not a very good run at all--84.377 seconds. I noticed the time-keeper had me down for hitting a cone that I some how didn't remember hitting, and a DNF. I asked what had I done wrong and he informed me that I missed a gate coming out of the slalom section of the track. With my spinout, a cone and the missed gate, it was a pretty eventful first run. On 2nd and 3rd runs of the morning, I encountered a problem that I was not prepared for. As I went into the hard braking corners, coming out of them, the car what start to buck violently and cut off and on. After the 2nd run, I looked down at the fuel gauge to see I was at a ¼ tank. I had read on DSM Tuners that people had experienced similar problems with this before. Not a very good run either, although I did manage to trim 2 seconds off the 1st time to a 82.923 second run. Still, I didn't like the fact my car was jerking around and cutting off like that. The 3rd run went much of the same because captain unprepared here did not bring any extra fuel to the track, thinking I would not need any. Even with a cone hit I managed to run a 78.574 second run on the last pass of the first session. Shaving 4 seconds from my 2nd run.
2:45 – Lunch. As some of the carts ran the course, we had an opportunity to break for lunch. I ran up the road to local Texaco/SubWay/Meeting Place/Gas Station (we are in the sticks here) and filled the car up. I was going to make absolute sure that the jerking and cutting off was the fuel level issue and nothing more serious.
3:30 – Second session of runs. After filling up the #32 TSi I was hoping that would solve the cutoff problem. Ok, on the line and off. I get to the sections of the course where the car was shutting off and jerking badly and with a full tank of fuel, nothing doing. The car ran through the section like I would hope it would. I was so excited it did, I let out a little HELL YEAH when nothing happened. I went on through the course with more confidence then the previous 3 runs and it showed on the times. I stayed right around the 78 second mark with a 78.998. On the 5th run of the day, the official photographer/girlfriend wanted to have some fun as well. So I got her a helmet from the SCCA officials and she was going to ride with me on the next run. She must have been a good luck charm because we ran a 76.702 5th run which to that point was my personal best run of the day. She got out of the car with a huge smile on her face and wanted to go again. But she understood I wanted the last run of the day to just be me and really give it all I had. She is SO great and understanding with my racing. She is the BEST. On my last run of the day, I really got off the line in a hurry and got into 2nd gear as fast as I had all day. I seemed to hit every point on the track I wanted to and with some limited tire spin in a few sections, I finally got off my fastest run of the day as well as the fastest time of the day for the FP class as well---75.440 seconds. I felt really good about my last run with the cars performance. I thought to myself on the drive home (2 hours and 15 minutes) that if I had another 2 runs, I could have closed in on that 70 second run I had wanted to get to. Overall I was VERY, VERY pleased with the day's events and the cars performance. This was the first time I had been behind the wheel in a race in over 3 years. One of the new mods I added to the car was a DG Industries Chassis Strengthening bar, which really seemed to help keep the light rear-end of the car stable through the slalom sections. Finishing 1st overall in the FP class also was a great feeling. It's always nice in a point series to have the early lead. I don't mind being the hunted.
Finally, as I pull the TSi into the garage in Pensacola Florida, a 175 mile trip from track to home, I am exhausted from being in the sun all day and the driving time back home. I pull the car in, lock up the garage and turn the alarm system on. A good overall weekend and a GREAT time racing. I cant wait till next month with a few more mods, some more weight loss and hopefully another 1st overall position for the day. Happy boosting !!
~Eddie Garrison
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