ACM
20+ Year Contributor
- 679
- 56
- Dec 11, 2002
-
Jamaica Plain,
Massachusetts
Doug has been working his @$$ off putting my autocross car together since I'm too stupid to do it at the moment. There's been numerous problems getting the car together - the usual problems when one accumulates a large pile of random parts and then expect them to bolt together seamlessly onto a car they were never intended for. But nothing Doug couldn't find his way around 
After a couple of shakedown events, Sam Krauss and I headed out for the Washington DC ProSolo this last weekend. First Pro of the season, and first for me in quite a long time, we went simply to see how we and the car shaped up to the competition. Competition comprises primarily of the various decades of the different pony cars, plus most of the WRXs except the recent 2.5 with the big turbo, which competes alongside the Sti.
ProSolos have two mirror image 30-35 second long autocross courses, 1 car each course, with drag strip lights to launch. Rapid succession, 2 runs each side morning and afternoon session, one session on Sunday.
My goal was not to finish last, pure and simple - see if I can learn to drive again. Sam on the other hand finished 2nd in the country in my car in 2010, so he's hoping to move that one little step forward We would have been back out last year for that task, but events conspired against me.
The end result of the event was that I didn't finish last, rather made it up into mid-pack, which I was pretty happy with given I couldn't "see" the left course -just couldn't find it...Right side was fine, but left ? Nope, not a clue...
We got through to Sunday, Sam ran first and pulled out a pair of times that nobody else got close to - he ended up 0.975 seconds ahead of second place. I went out after Sam, put in a decent time on the right course, I lined up for my first run on the left course, launched decently and BAM - instant redline and no drive.
My big fear was punching a hole through the trans and dumping half a gallon of of oil on the course, so I got off the racing line and out of the way as quickly as I could. I idled into the pits, stopped and looked back and I didn't see any oil anywhere - big sigh of relief ! I've been really bad about the TRE trans - it should have gone back to be checked out ages ago, but it keeps on working and shifting perfectly, so more pressing matters always keep getting in the way. Strictly speaking we could have been protested for leaving grid, but everyone was fine about it thankfully. It became obvious later on that a rear driveshaft (left, most likely) had broken. Always something...
Again - many thanks to Doug & TRE !
After a couple of shakedown events, Sam Krauss and I headed out for the Washington DC ProSolo this last weekend. First Pro of the season, and first for me in quite a long time, we went simply to see how we and the car shaped up to the competition. Competition comprises primarily of the various decades of the different pony cars, plus most of the WRXs except the recent 2.5 with the big turbo, which competes alongside the Sti.
ProSolos have two mirror image 30-35 second long autocross courses, 1 car each course, with drag strip lights to launch. Rapid succession, 2 runs each side morning and afternoon session, one session on Sunday.
My goal was not to finish last, pure and simple - see if I can learn to drive again. Sam on the other hand finished 2nd in the country in my car in 2010, so he's hoping to move that one little step forward
We would have been back out last year for that task, but events conspired against me.The end result of the event was that I didn't finish last, rather made it up into mid-pack, which I was pretty happy with given I couldn't "see" the left course -just couldn't find it...Right side was fine, but left ? Nope, not a clue...
We got through to Sunday, Sam ran first and pulled out a pair of times that nobody else got close to - he ended up 0.975 seconds ahead of second place. I went out after Sam, put in a decent time on the right course, I lined up for my first run on the left course, launched decently and BAM - instant redline and no drive.
My big fear was punching a hole through the trans and dumping half a gallon of of oil on the course, so I got off the racing line and out of the way as quickly as I could. I idled into the pits, stopped and looked back and I didn't see any oil anywhere - big sigh of relief ! I've been really bad about the TRE trans - it should have gone back to be checked out ages ago, but it keeps on working and shifting perfectly, so more pressing matters always keep getting in the way. Strictly speaking we could have been protested for leaving grid, but everyone was fine about it thankfully. It became obvious later on that a rear driveshaft (left, most likely) had broken. Always something...
Again - many thanks to Doug & TRE !
