Scott McIntyre
DSM Wiseman
- 309
- 44
- Mar 15, 2002
-
Halifax,
NS, Canada
This was the last event of the 2008 season. Great turnout with 31 competitors. It was a regional event so we had people from NB as well.
If you don’t know already, AMP is a 2.5 km, 11 turn, road racing track. For this autoslalom event, they place cones on various section of the track, creating several slaloms, lane changes, etc. But it remained very fast! I spent most of the time in 3rd gear.
Overall, this season has really sucked for me. I’ve had multiple mechanical failures, missed half the season, poor weather, and generally crappy driving. My overall performance has been way down compared to past years. I was hoping to redeem myself somewhat with a good result at this season closer.
Run 1: Considering the shear size of the course, it’s nearly impossible to memorize the optimal racing line prior to your first run. So for most everyone, the first run is exploratory and used to learn the course. My first wasn’t too bad. I got the second quickest of my run group but hit a couple cones.
Run 2: This run I sped things up considerably, but hit another cone. However, even with the cone penalty I had provisional FTD. Things were looking good!
Run 3: By this time someone had bettered my time and I was chasing for the lead again. Pushed a little too hard and got completely sideways in one turn, and took out 5 cones.
Run 4: Times were dropping in a big way as the track warmed up, and I was falling further and further behind. I needed to pull out a fast one to make any ground. But unfortunately, I hit cones again and finished the event with not one clean run.
So it was a fitting end to a dismal season. I finished 8th overall. The only positive thing about the day was that it had been my best performance out of the whole season (which isn’t saying much...
).
Having learned my lesson this year about making major modification mid-season, I plan to start prepping the car early for next year. I’ve got several upgrades planned, such as SPC adjustable control arms, 900 lb/in front springs, and a FP Big28 turbo.
The SPC control arms will allow me to gain castor and dial-out some negative camber. My current cut/re-welded OEM control arms are not adjustable and are quite likely uneven from side-to-side. While they offer great ultimate grip, they make the car less predictable and the car really suffers in braking because of the nonadjustable negative camber.
The 900 lb/in springs will reduce body roll produced by the grip of those steamroller tires, requiring less static negative camber, and increasing braking performance.
And the FP Big28 turbo… Well, that should give me a nice bump in power over the T25 I currently have on the car. I’ve got all the supporting mods installed (FMIC, injectors, DSMLink, cold-air-intake, 3†exhaust, etc.)… The turbo is the final element.
I’m also actively looking for a co-driver for next season. Such an arrangement can have many benefits such as cost cutting, car setup, driving technique, class competition, etc. If I find a suitable co-driver, I might also look into getting a data acquisition system to help with getting the most out of the car / driver(s). Should be interesting!
If you don’t know already, AMP is a 2.5 km, 11 turn, road racing track. For this autoslalom event, they place cones on various section of the track, creating several slaloms, lane changes, etc. But it remained very fast! I spent most of the time in 3rd gear.
Overall, this season has really sucked for me. I’ve had multiple mechanical failures, missed half the season, poor weather, and generally crappy driving. My overall performance has been way down compared to past years. I was hoping to redeem myself somewhat with a good result at this season closer.
Run 1: Considering the shear size of the course, it’s nearly impossible to memorize the optimal racing line prior to your first run. So for most everyone, the first run is exploratory and used to learn the course. My first wasn’t too bad. I got the second quickest of my run group but hit a couple cones.
Run 2: This run I sped things up considerably, but hit another cone. However, even with the cone penalty I had provisional FTD. Things were looking good!
Run 3: By this time someone had bettered my time and I was chasing for the lead again. Pushed a little too hard and got completely sideways in one turn, and took out 5 cones.
Run 4: Times were dropping in a big way as the track warmed up, and I was falling further and further behind. I needed to pull out a fast one to make any ground. But unfortunately, I hit cones again and finished the event with not one clean run.
So it was a fitting end to a dismal season. I finished 8th overall. The only positive thing about the day was that it had been my best performance out of the whole season (which isn’t saying much...
).Having learned my lesson this year about making major modification mid-season, I plan to start prepping the car early for next year. I’ve got several upgrades planned, such as SPC adjustable control arms, 900 lb/in front springs, and a FP Big28 turbo.
The SPC control arms will allow me to gain castor and dial-out some negative camber. My current cut/re-welded OEM control arms are not adjustable and are quite likely uneven from side-to-side. While they offer great ultimate grip, they make the car less predictable and the car really suffers in braking because of the nonadjustable negative camber.
The 900 lb/in springs will reduce body roll produced by the grip of those steamroller tires, requiring less static negative camber, and increasing braking performance.
And the FP Big28 turbo… Well, that should give me a nice bump in power over the T25 I currently have on the car. I’ve got all the supporting mods installed (FMIC, injectors, DSMLink, cold-air-intake, 3†exhaust, etc.)… The turbo is the final element.
I’m also actively looking for a co-driver for next season. Such an arrangement can have many benefits such as cost cutting, car setup, driving technique, class competition, etc. If I find a suitable co-driver, I might also look into getting a data acquisition system to help with getting the most out of the car / driver(s). Should be interesting!
