mavisky
DSM Wiseman
- 5,390
- 62
- Sep 13, 2002
-
Atlanta,
Georgia
Well this was it. Up here in the chilly midwest this last event on October 22nd was to be the last event of the season. After experiencing some engine troubles earlier in the year and missing some events I was unfortunately out of the hunt for any championship points 
. With that in mind I decided to take this last event to try out some theories I've been considering for next year. I also invited along a couple other dsmtuners. Jim (AutoRST) from the Norwalk area and Zach (My Precious) both came down to get a taste of autox for themselves and to see what the event was like. Unfortunately the weather on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous, but turned to mild rain, 10-20mph winds, and temps in the low 40's on raceday. These guys were both troopers for hanging in as long as they did. This weather was plain nasty.
For this event we'd setup in the larger of the lots at Kruse Auction Park who has been our title sponsor for the series the last two years and will be next year as well. It's support from company's like this that help keep the costs of racing low and good sites available. I wish we had more gracious company's like Kruse out there. But let me digress back to the course. It was probably the fastest course I'd raced on all year layout-wise although it required downshifting to 1st multiple times the course was fairly simple and with quick flowing turns I thought I might have a chance at placing well in my class. For this event I'd decided to move to my R-compound tires up front to try to get the car to rotate a bit more. I normally run on 205/55-16 Falken AZENIS RT-215's all the way around which have a treadwear of 200. For this event I'd switched out the front tires for a set of 225/50-16 Khumo Victoracer V700's which have a treadwear of 50. I knew that their near slick tread would cause me issues with the dirt and rain mix on course, but since the Falken's have such huge treadblocks as well I was hoping that the extra stick of the Khumo's would perform better still.
Sunday - 6:45
My phone rings and it's Zach. He's sitting at the spot I told him I'd meet him at and apparently my alarm hasn't gone off so I'm forced to rush around just to get to Bob Evan's in a decent amount of time. After a good breakfast and some chit-chat about the days events and each other's cars we load up and head out to the site. It's absolutely dreadful in the weather out here, but I switch out the street tires for r-compounds anyways figuring I'd rather use this last race of the season as a guinea pig than the first race of next season. After going through the usual registration and tech process I finally meet up with Zach and we take a walk out on course.
Now as I said the course is pretty open and has potential, but unfortunately with the weather this is going to be a day where my car isn't able to put down any power whatsoever. I know i'll have to rely on braking and cornering to carry me through which isn't the best as compared to the other cars in my class I outpower most of them on the power to weight ratio, but their cornering is as good if not better than mine. Looking out from the start line there's just a simple large slalom that leads into one of the more interesting corners. A full 270 degree left hander around one cone that then sends you into another slalom. The slalom is mandatory left start and it winds through pretty easily and you really only need to worry about two of the cones which is nice because exiting the last important cone sets you up for a 40-50mph left hand sweeper into another straight away. I am really hoping that the car's excellent balance can help me get through this section quickly and allow me to make up some good time on my other competitor's. As you get to the end of this little straight away you approach a fun decreasing radius near 180 corner. It tightens down severely at the late apex point requiring another gear change down to 1st and then as I pull out I have another straightaway which is just long enough for me to get into second and get the car back up to around 40mph. You then approach a 45 degree right hander over some bumps that set you up for a 135 degree right hander. This is a tricky spot as you have to brake just after apexing the 45 to get stopped in time. A short run down another short chute from the 135 right and you enter a 135 left which requires another gear down change. A short 1st gear blast to an extremely 180 degree right and then a 1st and 2nd gear blast across an extremely bumpy finishing chute.
I can tell that Zach and Jim are both able to see the course well which is the hardest thing for first-time autox'er to be able to do. It's so easy to just see a sea of cones out there and get totally lost, but I can tell that these guys are both in the right frame of mind and are on top of this course.
First Heat -
Luckily today I'm not running first heat. This course is dirt, mud, and puddle strewn and I'm more than happy to not be on the gravel crew clearing the course. Watching the first run group I can tell that alot of people are having trouble with turning in and putting power down on the last 180 before the finish line and I'm hoping I can get the car to behave the way I want it to through this section as it's sure to put my car to the test as well.
Second Heat-
Go time. Luckily the rain had almost completely stopped during the first heat so the large puddles are mostly gone but the course is still covered in a slimy dirty grit that is going to make this a tough event.
First run and with Zach riding shotgun we're off with some minor wheelspin and as I short shift into 2nd gear I begin to work through the slalom. The car's turning alright, but with cold tires and slippery surface it's not responding very quickly and with lots and lots of understeer. I get throught the tight 270 and try to put some power down and I'm greeted with spin in first and wheelhop in second. I get through the slalom and approach the left hand sweeper and the car sails through it smoothly. Perfectly neutral and I get back on the power as I approach the first 180. On the brakes softly to keep from locking up and the car comes in smooth and gets out decent. More wheelspin and hop as I try to accelerate thoug and as I approach the light 45 the car once again feels perfectly neutral. I can tell that grip is way down, but the balance is good and I spin and understeer some more throught the last few corners to see a 54.3 pop up. I know that time sucks but I know there's alot of time out there left on course. A little talking amongst the other cars in my class reveals that John Kraft in his modded SRT 4 on 225 Khumo V710's all the way around scored a dnf somehow out on course, my other main competition Sean Rupp in hit 1977 Trans Am wearing 275 Hoosiers all the way around set down a better 53.367 time, then the shocker to end all shockers. Brian Grimm, a guy who's first event was at the last event has laid down a 51.837 in his 1996 Ford Taurus SHO with all season tires on it. To give you an idea of how shocking this was, Brian was 2-3 seconds back at the last event held here in the dry. It seems today that all season tires may be the better bet. Luckily noone was on all seasons with awd in our class or they would've killed us.
On the second run I approach everything about the same but I notice that the car's beginning to turn a little bit better, maybe I'm finally starting to get some heat in these Khumo's despite the temperatures. The car begins to feel better than the first run and with some judicious throttle control I come back in with a time of 51.590 which puts me in second behind John Kraft's time of 51.245 in his SRT-4.
Third run and the course is beginning to dry out in spots and the tires are starting to get sticky. This time the car feels much faster through the first section and as I approach the fast left sweeper and turn in it starts to understeer a bit so I breathe off the gas and to my surprise I'm drifting. Apparently the rears have been collecting rocks, rain, and mud and hve now become significantly less grippy than the front. I countersteer and carry the slide into the decreasing radius turn, almost like I'd meant it to happen. No idea how fast that was, but it sure was fun. I begin to accelerate back into the final twisty section and approach the right 45 at about 40mph. Shortly after apexing it I go to get on the brakes to get slowed down and the instant I lift my foot off the gas I'm in a big 4 wheel drift that carries me into the tight 135 right hander. Drive her through the last tight section and across the line to a 51.053. Apparently that sliding was actually helping me get the car lined up for the next corners and my time drops by half a second. At this point I'm in first place in class with a .2 second lead over John in the srt-4, a .7 second lead over Brian in his Taurus, and a full second ahead of Sean in his Trans Am who's struggling like I am with putting his car's power down. By now Andy Moraitis has packed it in, and rightfully so, so no photos of my drifting exist to my knowledge.
On the fourth run I'm fully expecting the car to slide again but I botch the 270 corner and finish with a time of 51.590. Unfortunately for me my bad run turns into the best run of the day for my competitor's with John leaping an entire second to a 50.117 in his srt-4, Sean in the Trans Am shaves over a second and a half to a 50.403, and Brian in the Taurus turns in a 1.3 second faster 50.433 right on Sean's heels. I'm stuck in 4th now still with my 51.053 as my best.
Fifth run and the pressure's on to jump back up the ladder. The car is turning good, feels fast, but the rain's coming down again and I can't accelerate out of any of the corners again. I drop to a 50.885 but still in 4th. Everyone elses times come up except for Brian who's all season's are apparently not affected and he turns in a 50.400 to edge out Sean for 2nd by .003 seconds.
I'm a little bummed that I've lost to cars I know I should've beaten, but with a final spread from 1st to 4th of .7 seconds it shows how tight the fight today really was as we were all dealing with terrible weather. For reference one of the nicest cars there, a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang in CP with completely custom suspension, 400+hp, and 12" wide wheels was turing a best of 52.021 while the awd subaru's on all season or all season sports had 5 or 6 of them under the 50 second range. On a dry day this would've been a much different situation.
Going into next season I know that I'm still learning as a driver and the car needs some tlc in a couple areas as well as some chassis modifications I hope to be out there again with the gracious backing of my current and future sponsors doing the DSMTuners name proud.
I'd like to thank Chris here at DSMTuners for beleiving in me and although I know I didn't turn in a championship, I hope to be in the hunt next year with his backing and the encouragement of all those of you on this site. I'd like to thank Dave Johnson of Dejon Powerhouse for a great FMIC package to help keep the power on tap, I know that once I hit a road course I'll be able to appreciate this great kit even more than currently. Another big thanks goes out to Tom Straessle at Signs & Wonders here in Fort Wayne for the excellent graphics on the car. I have no doubt that had I not been rather specific on what I wanted the car could look even better, but his flawless execution of what I asked for and the high quality's of his vinyl should keep this car looking for for the coming years. Of course they wouldn't look nearly as good if it weren't for Michael Myers of Michael's Tint who's also sponsored by Tom for doing a perfect install. Lord knows that the only crooked decals on this car are ones I foolishly tried to install myself. It absolutely pays to have a professional do the work. I also owe a new and large thanks out to my newest sponsor, Andy and his Wife melissa and their image production company www.imaginegrafix.net . These guys have been out to my two most recent events and have caught images of my car and others that are truly inspiring.
For results and some photos of the other cars head here:
http://www.fwscca.com/Solo/Events/Season2006/Event07/2006_soloII_event07c.htm
. With that in mind I decided to take this last event to try out some theories I've been considering for next year. I also invited along a couple other dsmtuners. Jim (AutoRST) from the Norwalk area and Zach (My Precious) both came down to get a taste of autox for themselves and to see what the event was like. Unfortunately the weather on Saturday was absolutely gorgeous, but turned to mild rain, 10-20mph winds, and temps in the low 40's on raceday. These guys were both troopers for hanging in as long as they did. This weather was plain nasty. For this event we'd setup in the larger of the lots at Kruse Auction Park who has been our title sponsor for the series the last two years and will be next year as well. It's support from company's like this that help keep the costs of racing low and good sites available. I wish we had more gracious company's like Kruse out there. But let me digress back to the course. It was probably the fastest course I'd raced on all year layout-wise although it required downshifting to 1st multiple times the course was fairly simple and with quick flowing turns I thought I might have a chance at placing well in my class. For this event I'd decided to move to my R-compound tires up front to try to get the car to rotate a bit more. I normally run on 205/55-16 Falken AZENIS RT-215's all the way around which have a treadwear of 200. For this event I'd switched out the front tires for a set of 225/50-16 Khumo Victoracer V700's which have a treadwear of 50. I knew that their near slick tread would cause me issues with the dirt and rain mix on course, but since the Falken's have such huge treadblocks as well I was hoping that the extra stick of the Khumo's would perform better still.
Sunday - 6:45
My phone rings and it's Zach. He's sitting at the spot I told him I'd meet him at and apparently my alarm hasn't gone off so I'm forced to rush around just to get to Bob Evan's in a decent amount of time. After a good breakfast and some chit-chat about the days events and each other's cars we load up and head out to the site. It's absolutely dreadful in the weather out here, but I switch out the street tires for r-compounds anyways figuring I'd rather use this last race of the season as a guinea pig than the first race of next season. After going through the usual registration and tech process I finally meet up with Zach and we take a walk out on course.
Now as I said the course is pretty open and has potential, but unfortunately with the weather this is going to be a day where my car isn't able to put down any power whatsoever. I know i'll have to rely on braking and cornering to carry me through which isn't the best as compared to the other cars in my class I outpower most of them on the power to weight ratio, but their cornering is as good if not better than mine. Looking out from the start line there's just a simple large slalom that leads into one of the more interesting corners. A full 270 degree left hander around one cone that then sends you into another slalom. The slalom is mandatory left start and it winds through pretty easily and you really only need to worry about two of the cones which is nice because exiting the last important cone sets you up for a 40-50mph left hand sweeper into another straight away. I am really hoping that the car's excellent balance can help me get through this section quickly and allow me to make up some good time on my other competitor's. As you get to the end of this little straight away you approach a fun decreasing radius near 180 corner. It tightens down severely at the late apex point requiring another gear change down to 1st and then as I pull out I have another straightaway which is just long enough for me to get into second and get the car back up to around 40mph. You then approach a 45 degree right hander over some bumps that set you up for a 135 degree right hander. This is a tricky spot as you have to brake just after apexing the 45 to get stopped in time. A short run down another short chute from the 135 right and you enter a 135 left which requires another gear down change. A short 1st gear blast to an extremely 180 degree right and then a 1st and 2nd gear blast across an extremely bumpy finishing chute.
I can tell that Zach and Jim are both able to see the course well which is the hardest thing for first-time autox'er to be able to do. It's so easy to just see a sea of cones out there and get totally lost, but I can tell that these guys are both in the right frame of mind and are on top of this course.
First Heat -
Luckily today I'm not running first heat. This course is dirt, mud, and puddle strewn and I'm more than happy to not be on the gravel crew clearing the course. Watching the first run group I can tell that alot of people are having trouble with turning in and putting power down on the last 180 before the finish line and I'm hoping I can get the car to behave the way I want it to through this section as it's sure to put my car to the test as well.
Second Heat-
Go time. Luckily the rain had almost completely stopped during the first heat so the large puddles are mostly gone but the course is still covered in a slimy dirty grit that is going to make this a tough event.
First run and with Zach riding shotgun we're off with some minor wheelspin and as I short shift into 2nd gear I begin to work through the slalom. The car's turning alright, but with cold tires and slippery surface it's not responding very quickly and with lots and lots of understeer. I get throught the tight 270 and try to put some power down and I'm greeted with spin in first and wheelhop in second. I get through the slalom and approach the left hand sweeper and the car sails through it smoothly. Perfectly neutral and I get back on the power as I approach the first 180. On the brakes softly to keep from locking up and the car comes in smooth and gets out decent. More wheelspin and hop as I try to accelerate thoug and as I approach the light 45 the car once again feels perfectly neutral. I can tell that grip is way down, but the balance is good and I spin and understeer some more throught the last few corners to see a 54.3 pop up. I know that time sucks but I know there's alot of time out there left on course. A little talking amongst the other cars in my class reveals that John Kraft in his modded SRT 4 on 225 Khumo V710's all the way around scored a dnf somehow out on course, my other main competition Sean Rupp in hit 1977 Trans Am wearing 275 Hoosiers all the way around set down a better 53.367 time, then the shocker to end all shockers. Brian Grimm, a guy who's first event was at the last event has laid down a 51.837 in his 1996 Ford Taurus SHO with all season tires on it. To give you an idea of how shocking this was, Brian was 2-3 seconds back at the last event held here in the dry. It seems today that all season tires may be the better bet. Luckily noone was on all seasons with awd in our class or they would've killed us.
On the second run I approach everything about the same but I notice that the car's beginning to turn a little bit better, maybe I'm finally starting to get some heat in these Khumo's despite the temperatures. The car begins to feel better than the first run and with some judicious throttle control I come back in with a time of 51.590 which puts me in second behind John Kraft's time of 51.245 in his SRT-4.
Third run and the course is beginning to dry out in spots and the tires are starting to get sticky. This time the car feels much faster through the first section and as I approach the fast left sweeper and turn in it starts to understeer a bit so I breathe off the gas and to my surprise I'm drifting. Apparently the rears have been collecting rocks, rain, and mud and hve now become significantly less grippy than the front. I countersteer and carry the slide into the decreasing radius turn, almost like I'd meant it to happen. No idea how fast that was, but it sure was fun. I begin to accelerate back into the final twisty section and approach the right 45 at about 40mph. Shortly after apexing it I go to get on the brakes to get slowed down and the instant I lift my foot off the gas I'm in a big 4 wheel drift that carries me into the tight 135 right hander. Drive her through the last tight section and across the line to a 51.053. Apparently that sliding was actually helping me get the car lined up for the next corners and my time drops by half a second. At this point I'm in first place in class with a .2 second lead over John in the srt-4, a .7 second lead over Brian in his Taurus, and a full second ahead of Sean in his Trans Am who's struggling like I am with putting his car's power down. By now Andy Moraitis has packed it in, and rightfully so, so no photos of my drifting exist to my knowledge.
On the fourth run I'm fully expecting the car to slide again but I botch the 270 corner and finish with a time of 51.590. Unfortunately for me my bad run turns into the best run of the day for my competitor's with John leaping an entire second to a 50.117 in his srt-4, Sean in the Trans Am shaves over a second and a half to a 50.403, and Brian in the Taurus turns in a 1.3 second faster 50.433 right on Sean's heels. I'm stuck in 4th now still with my 51.053 as my best.
Fifth run and the pressure's on to jump back up the ladder. The car is turning good, feels fast, but the rain's coming down again and I can't accelerate out of any of the corners again. I drop to a 50.885 but still in 4th. Everyone elses times come up except for Brian who's all season's are apparently not affected and he turns in a 50.400 to edge out Sean for 2nd by .003 seconds.
I'm a little bummed that I've lost to cars I know I should've beaten, but with a final spread from 1st to 4th of .7 seconds it shows how tight the fight today really was as we were all dealing with terrible weather. For reference one of the nicest cars there, a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang in CP with completely custom suspension, 400+hp, and 12" wide wheels was turing a best of 52.021 while the awd subaru's on all season or all season sports had 5 or 6 of them under the 50 second range. On a dry day this would've been a much different situation.
Going into next season I know that I'm still learning as a driver and the car needs some tlc in a couple areas as well as some chassis modifications I hope to be out there again with the gracious backing of my current and future sponsors doing the DSMTuners name proud.
I'd like to thank Chris here at DSMTuners for beleiving in me and although I know I didn't turn in a championship, I hope to be in the hunt next year with his backing and the encouragement of all those of you on this site. I'd like to thank Dave Johnson of Dejon Powerhouse for a great FMIC package to help keep the power on tap, I know that once I hit a road course I'll be able to appreciate this great kit even more than currently. Another big thanks goes out to Tom Straessle at Signs & Wonders here in Fort Wayne for the excellent graphics on the car. I have no doubt that had I not been rather specific on what I wanted the car could look even better, but his flawless execution of what I asked for and the high quality's of his vinyl should keep this car looking for for the coming years. Of course they wouldn't look nearly as good if it weren't for Michael Myers of Michael's Tint who's also sponsored by Tom for doing a perfect install. Lord knows that the only crooked decals on this car are ones I foolishly tried to install myself. It absolutely pays to have a professional do the work. I also owe a new and large thanks out to my newest sponsor, Andy and his Wife melissa and their image production company www.imaginegrafix.net . These guys have been out to my two most recent events and have caught images of my car and others that are truly inspiring.
For results and some photos of the other cars head here:
http://www.fwscca.com/Solo/Events/Season2006/Event07/2006_soloII_event07c.htm
Hopefully with some off-season help I can bring up the safety level of the vehicle as I firmly believe that it's an area where you can never spend too much money, and I don't believe that many dsm'ers realize the importance of that one area.
It definately suprised me. 
