929's Evo - 2012 Time Trial / Time Attack

January Tuning Trip - Part 2

2012-01-30T08:41:00.000-06:00

Buschur Racing - Yep; Buschur was the final destination. We arrived there about 5:30pm local. I'd never been to the shop; only met Dave last year at a NASA event and we've been in touch every since while working out a plan. I've got high hopes for their work and his tuning so wish me luck! Fortunately their lot had been plowed so it was mostly clear to unload. I started the car (3rd time

January Tuning Trip - Part 1

2012-01-26T10:12:00.000-06:00

So I've been trying to figure out a good time to get the Evo to my tuner. It's a long trip and being January the weather has definitely played a part in adjusting the time table. It needed to get there as soon as I realistically could make it to keep my plans in March and April on track (more to come). Details: January 13th - Cancelled trip due to snow and 30mph gusts causing drifts. January

Trusted Evo Tuners?

2012-01-23T11:17:00.000-06:00

I bought my first Evo in April, 2003. It was the 2003 model and I didn't know squat about aftermarket parts, tuning, upgrading or anything besides window tint, stereo's and rims. It's amazing what a really fun car, some internet forums and a quest for speed & knowledge can do! I had that 2003 Evo flashed, hell we actually flew a guy in from California with a laptop and had about 20 Evo's from

Prepping for the COLD winter!

2012-01-13T09:40:00.000-06:00

Having a bigger garage really helps out with winter prep. I'm actually able to leave the Evo on the trailer and fit both into my garage at home. With some careful parking, I can still fit both my Truck and the wife's car in there as well. It's tight, but it works. So with that said, I try to leave the Evo on the trailer for as long as possible. That means I can do some work to it, but

2011 Year Ending Hoosier Stockpile!

2012-01-04T15:35:00.000-06:00

December brought the annual deadline to claim any leftover contingencies from Hoosier. The Hoosier/NASA contingency started in 2009 and has been insanely popular in the non-spec classes including TT where the #929 Evo participates. And luckily another successful year left us with some tires to claim last month! Now the downside of claiming tires in December is the fact that the 2012 rules were

Stripping Winter 2012 version... Update #3

2011-12-28T10:04:00.000-06:00

The dash has finally been completely removed from the car! I had to dig up an exploded diagram to find that last 2 bolts (under the passenger side airbag module)! But with some help I was able to remove it completely from the car. Now with a little more room in the car, I plan to pull out any and all remaining sound deadening and firewall protection that was hiding behind and under the dash -

Stripping Winter 2012 version... continued

2011-12-19T13:17:00.000-06:00

The fun continues! As you can see from above, I was finally able to get the entire dash assembly out! It'll eventually be going back in, but before that I'll be removing as much sound deadening from underneath as I can along with whatever else just looks useless. On the left is the driver's side door. I was able to pop off the plastic door 'skin' and so far have only removed the speaker in

Stripping Winter 2012 version...

2011-12-13T14:23:00.002-06:00

Not knowing whether or not I'm going to cage the car, I decided to tear into it either way. If I want to cage it, I can save some $ by pulling the dash out myself. If I'm not caging it, I figure I can still save a little weight by gutting some of the dash. So, I tore into the dash recently and finally got it completely removed last night. I also was able to pop off the door skin as well.

Rolling the Calendar to 2012

2011-12-08T13:55:00.001-06:00

While it's not officially 2012 yet.... Planning for 2012 is well underway. The tentative plans are once again to build to a specific NASA TT class (2011 was TTA) and compete in the 2012 NASA National Championships in September at Mid Ohio. However, what class, Time Trials and/or w2w Racing, and what tracks will make up our schedule prior to Nats is very much up in the air. Here are the main

2011 NASA Nationals - All Class Winning Times

2011-12-01T09:43:00.001-06:00

One thing I never listed out was ALL the top times per class and what type of car won them. So here's the info, along with a brief reminder of the power/weight per class. Mid Ohio PRO course was the track. Note; I competed in TTA; with a best of 1:32.8 TTR - 1:27.1 - Radical SR3 TTU - 1:29.7 - Evo IX (BBK turbo + lots of Aero!) TTS - 1:30.8 - C5 Vette (lots of Aero!) TTA - 1:32.5 - C5 Z06

TTS/ST2 class bump - The Downside...

2011-11-25T11:05:00.000-06:00

Whether I race or not; a class like TTS/ST2 where it's completely open to mods can be very enticing. I just have to meet a modified power/weight ratio based on the size tire I run - and I can slide the power/weight up or down to my liking! 95% run in the 3050 - 3301 lb range as anything below that starts to get heavily penalized on low weight; plus would involve a lot of expensive weight

TTS/ST2 - 2012 NASA classing change??

2011-11-19T09:10:00.001-06:00

Playing with the multipliers and possible 2012 racing setups. There's always the possibility that NASA can update the base class for your vehicle or change the value of certain mods that you are currently using. Either of these updates can effectively bump you up to the next class. Likewise, it's just fun to go faster; and that happens in higher classes! 2011 we ran in TTA. The next class up

Average Speed Per Lap

2011-11-09T11:13:00.000-06:00

My Traqmate GPS data is good for a lot of things, probably a lot more than I use it for. But one of the neat things it'll calculate is the average speed per lap. So I pulled up pretty much every track that I have data for and here's how they stacked up. This is using my best lap at each. 74 mph - Gingerman (Old) - TTB setup 77 mph - BlackHawk Farms - TTB setup 79 mph - Gingerman (Long) 81

2011 Season Recap!

2011-11-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

2011 NASA Midwest Region TTA Champion 2011 NASA Great Lakes Region TTA Champion 2011 NASA Nationals 3rd place TTA (out of 14 competitors) 2011 TT Most Improved - Midwest Region 2011 TT Perseverance - Great Lakes Region 16 Regional Events 10 1st place finishes 5 2nd place finishes 1 3rd place finish 5 track records in 2011 My last 38 NASA events dating back to 2009: 29 wins 12 track records

NASA 2011 MW/GL Awards Banquet

2011-10-26T11:55:00.001-05:00

In conjunction with the last event at Road America, the Midwest / Great Lakes regions of NASA held their 2011 Awards Banquet that weekend as well. I came away with a few expected and unexpected prizes. The above is the first place awards for TT. Note a few of us claimed first in both regions (me included)! The entire haul for the night included: 2011 NASA Midwest Region TTA Champion 2011

929 Evo - First trip to Road America!

2011-10-17T11:09:00.001-05:00

Ah, the drag strip known as Road America! Our final event on the NASA MW/GL calendar was a crossover event at Road America. I signed up about 30min before the deadline and decided to go and check out this new track since it was only 350 miles from me and super duper famous! As with any yearend event, I would be trying to use the last of my 2011 supplies of tires and brakes before the

Road America - 147.2 mph!

2011-10-12T09:26:00.001-05:00

147.2 mph was the top speed for the #929 Evo at Road America this past weekend! I think that's pretty good for a little 2.0 four-banger tuned by AMS Performance! We had a best lap of 2:29.2 which reached my personal goal of a sub 2:30 lap. It's a fun track and pretty easy to pick up; with mostly the need to figure out your braking zones as you're going about 140mph in 3 sections on this track!

Road America!

2011-10-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

The last scheduled event on the NASA MW/GL schedule is a crossover (aka combined) event at Road America this weekend. I'm signed up and the weather looks crazily great with highs in the low 70's. So I'm headed the 6 hrs north for what will probably be my last event of the year. Wish me luck! The car hasn't been touched since we left Nationals - and it's a great opportunity to use up the

2011 NASA Nationals - Day 4 - Sunday

2011-10-03T09:53:00.000-05:00

So entering Sunday I was on top. I felt pretty good about pushing the car Saturday, but looking at my data Sat evening, I found there was definitely a few more tenths out there in some key corners. The first session looks to be a good one. With a good lap on the books, I elected to make a small setup change in loosening the front rebound. This proved to make the car worse unfortunately

2011 NASA Nationals - Day 3 - Saturday

2011-09-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

Entering Saturday (Day 3 of 4) I was in 3rd of 14. The biggest factor looked to be the weather. It'd been foggy every morning, but we were out earlier this morning and the fog was worse! Couple that with the forecast for 50% chance of rain the entire weekend and it was hard to know if/when we'd have a good session. So for the morning session I had already decided to push and push hard.

NASA Nationals - Day 2 - Friday

2011-09-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

Entering Friday (Day 2 of 4) I was in 2nd of 14, but there was a long way to go. After the politics from the previous day with the rear of the grid, the front of the grid returned the favor with an insanely slow outlap. I was actually going about 20mph into the carousel as the front guys were trying to get the cars in the rear to bunch up tight. Needless to say that screwed everyone's

NASA Nationals Day 1 - Afternoon/Evening

2011-09-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

9/8/2011 - Thursday Afternoon/Evening After piloting through the rain to a 2:13 I started 2nd in grid. The track wasn't perfect, but it was nearly dry for the afternoon session. I knew there'd be some very impatient high HP cars wanting around the 12 or so of us that had gridspots because we braved the rain in the morning. And sure enough, it was an absolute mess. I had cars dive-bombing me

NASA Nationals - Day 3 overview

2011-09-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a fun event, but a bit difficult to dial in the 'perfect' lap as is needed for TT. We've got 13 cars in TTA including last years National Champion so it's going to take the 'perfect' lap to win. Up to this point, I've been slower than my pace in August. I've been fighting some grid issues, politics, traffic, bad luck, etc. Some of it expected, some

NASA Nationals - Day 1 morning

2011-09-08T22:26:00.002-05:00

So the drive Wed afternoon/evening/night was fortunately uneventful. I made the 450 miles in just 2 stops. Think about that... 7+ hours with 2 chances to pee. And into that I was exhausted for some reason, so pushing the water, caffeine and coffee. I was pretty much a zombie the last 45min. Got to the track at 7:50; just in time to register. Unloaded; got food, 10min at the pool to relax;

2011 NASA National Championships - Sept 8-11th

2011-09-07T08:32:00.001-05:00

It's here! The primary goal for this year and the culmination of the entire year's worth of effort. The 2011 NASA National Championships kick off at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course on Thursday Sept 8th and flow for 4 days. For the Time Trials groups, we get 1 practice and 8 timed sessions scattered over those 4 days to set our fastest lap. It's not a great deal of tracktime, so prepping the car

Finishing Touches - 1 week to Nationals!

2011-08-31T12:48:00.000-05:00

In exactly 1 week from right now, I'll be on my way to Mid Ohio for the 2011 NASA Nationals. With that in mind, I've been completing the finishing preparations. I got the front rotors, pads and brake bleeding completely earlier in the week. And last night I even had a chance to wash the Evo! There's still a few minor things to take care of, including packing up and loading

New Front Rotors & Pads!

2011-08-25T09:19:00.002-05:00

I thought my rotors might last through Nationals; nope! This pic is of the LF and yep that's a nice looking crack. The RF actually does not look too bad. Obviously I'm pulling these off in favor of a new set and putting in new pads as well. More of the same; Stoptech front slotted and directionally veined rotors with Hawk DTC60 pads all coming from Jay at Andrews Racing. Check out his new

Sunday 8.14.11 Mid Ohio

2011-08-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

So somehow we avoided the rain on Saturday. I celebrated the day with several brews! I awoke to clouds but not rain, and it looked threatening all morning. Lining up for the first session it was still dry. We were allowed to line up wherever we wanted, which I didn't agree with because I ended up behind a few cars that I was faster than on Sat. It didn't seem like a big deal until the

Sat 8.13.11 Mid Ohio -1st in TTA & Track Record!

2011-08-17T11:13:00.002-05:00

After nearly 600 miles 10.5 hrs of driving on Friday (to Ohio via Chicago)... Sat warmup was pretty early! I did very little to prep the car, having not even started it since I left Mid Ohio in July! After unpacking it, I adjusted the tire temps a little, slapped on the camera and that's about it! I ran about 6 laps, each a little quicker than the last and qualified with a 1:35.0 - which was

3 weeks till NASA Nationals!

2011-08-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the August Mid Ohio NASA MW/GL Crossover event. Great weekend. Learned a bit more about Mid Ohio, reinforced some ideas I had and confirmed a setup idea I was pretty confident in. I'll have a complete writeup along with video shortly. Until then, I've got a long to-do list to make sure everything is ordered, installed, maintained and ready to go for NASA Nationals back at

Shout-Out to AMSOIL - and Scott!

2011-08-10T10:17:00.001-05:00

I wanted to give a quick shout-out to AMSOIL for their help this year. I've been partnering with AMSOIL since 2009 and it's been a great experience. I previously had been running their 'Dominator' Racing branded 10w30 oil. However, earlier this year I started to have some bearing wear discovered by the oil analysis reports I send in to an independent 3rd party. This is probably from a

Prepping for Aug Mid Ohio Event!

2011-08-03T13:22:00.001-05:00

With the knowledge from our trip to Mid Ohio in July, we're prepping the car a bit differently for the next trip! We'll be back at Mid Ohio for an important NASA MW/GL crossover event, which means double points, bigger fields, more competition, etc. It's also another chance to improve at Mid Ohio for the National event in September. So currently the car has the stock wing on it, and it will

Mid Ohio Sunday - 7.17.11

2011-07-28T13:23:00.003-05:00

Sunday actually started with a fog delay! I had decided to run the car with the stock wing today. For that, there would be some prep work needed. I put the best tires back on - which meant the corded tires would no longer be in the rear; lol. I pulled some weight in the car as I had 4pts to play with since the Kognition wing was off the car. I also lowered the LR ride height some to

Sat 7.16.11 Mid Ohio

2011-07-25T12:39:00.000-05:00

I lined up in the morning with R6's in the front and crappy (partially corded) old A6's in the rear. I wanted to run a time good enough for top 15 out of the 55 cars registered in TT. I also wanted to be safe with the new setup changes including Kognition wing back on, more aggressive alignment and more toe. I fired a 1:37x that slotted me into #8 on grid and was pretty happy. The car

Autobahn Sunday - 07.10.11 - 1st place in TTA!

2011-07-19T10:29:00.001-05:00

For Sunday I knew I needed to make a change. I decided the simplest was to pull the Kognition rear wing and put the stocker back on. The car felt much better when I was there in April and I ran the stocker back then. The Kognition was definitely producing downforce, but since I don't have a front splitter to balance it out, with my current alignment/settings it's just too much for this track

Autobahn Saturday 7.9.11 - Working through Troubles!

2011-07-13T10:51:00.000-05:00

Saturday I went out for the morning practice session with a passenger. I lined up with my buddy Jarrod behind me as it was his first time in TT; 2nd time at the track and I wanted to show him the lines. I ran a 1:37 and qualified 7th in grid. I went to switch in 2 grippier tires for the first timed session, but realized an issue. The car was covered in thick fluid by the driver's front tire.

New Config 4K! (yes another config)

2011-07-07T10:04:00.002-05:00

Pulled all the brake pads out just to verify them. Front have more wear in 2 weekends than I thought they'd have but they are ok. The rear still had ST43's in them, so I decided to put new Hawk DTC60's in there so I had the same compounds all around. Did a few other maintenance items as well, tightened up a few things, gave it a quick wash etc. But the bigger news (right) is we'll be

929 Evo -> AST USA Blog

2011-06-30T13:11:00.001-05:00

Got some recent love from the folks over at AST USA in a feature story on their blog. Check it out: http://ast-usa.com/blog/ I searched long and hard for a new suspension setup that would fit into the NASA ruleset and give me the top quality performance I demanded and not empty my wallet! AST was really the only option that fit all of those critera. I needed a quality non-inverted shock (non

Boostin Performance Trans Refresh - Complete!

2011-06-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

Went and picked up the car from Boostin Performance Friday night. Left work around 3:30pm and made the trip up to Chicago. I got pretty lucky with traffic; going the opposite direction and all. I spent about an hour at the shop talking with Devin and Kristin about the car and what all it's been through in the past few years. I packed things up and headed back home; yep it was a turn-around

Boostin Performance

2011-06-22T12:02:00.000-05:00

After my last track event in Michigan, I decided there was a good hole in the schedule to get the transmission addressed. It had developed a small grind into 5th at my first event of the year. Till this point, the trans has been great. Car has 24,000 miles on it and around 70 days on track. I've been using Redline fluids in the trans for awhile. I change them 2-3 times a year as it's a pretty

NASA - Gingerman - 1st in TTA & Track Record - June 5th!

2011-06-13T08:58:00.000-05:00

The TT group was the first group out on track - 8am. Very early. I figured the track might be a little damp, but I was wrong. After about 1.5 laps of 'recon' I started pushing it. I ran a solid time of 1:39.6 but I didn't have the optimal tire/pressure setup so I left some on the table as I did not think the track would be optimal. It was almost a grave mistake as another TTA car ran a 1:39.0 but

NASA - Gingerman - 1st in TTA - June 4th!

2011-06-08T10:37:00.001-05:00

After driving up late Friday night (~6 hrs), got up Saturday, unloaded all the remaining crap inside the car, unloaded the car and did a little prep. This was the first time the car had been off the trailer since being loaded at Putnam Park May 15th! Only changes were a quick wash and I had installed a Kognition rear wing on the car since! With the new wing set at the lowest possible angle, I

Kognition Wing!

2011-06-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

After running the APR GTC-200 wing for 3 weekends this year, we came to the conclusion that we needed a bigger wing. I know it was helping keep the rear more stable, but I am just not sure how much of an improvement it is over the big OEM wing. And with the NASA TT point system, a rear wing is +4 pts; so it better be working! I pulled out my earlier research on wings; prices, sizes, claims,

May 2011 - "Config #2"

2011-05-26T14:59:00.002-05:00

After running March-April in 'Config #1' (look at May 10th entry for details) I was ready for further testing. I showed up at my May Putnam event in 'Config #2'. I removed the front APR splitter and bolted my sweet AMS FMIC back on. I was actually expecting another package, but the vendor somehow misunderstood my next event date which I think is completely BullShit myself as I stated it several

Updated Graphics!

2011-05-24T13:48:00.000-05:00

Got some updated stickers and graphics on the car I wanted to show. Besides the obvious name addition, I've been sporting some additional 'MWE' aka MidwestEvos.com graphics. Thanks to Scott and the whole group over at www.MidwestEvos.com that read, support & root for me. If you haven't been to the site, you should really check it out.

NASA - Putnam Park - Day #2

2011-05-20T11:22:00.001-05:00

Having won my class and set a new track record on Saturday before the rain set in; Sunday we woke up to more rain. It wasn't a hard rain; more of a spray/mist that held out the entire day. I mounted up the street tires - my 3yr old Dunlop Z1 StarSpecs - and went out for the first session in my #2 gridspot behind the 500hp TurnInConcepts (TIC) Subaru. I made no suspension changes. Putnam just

NASA - Putnam Park - TTA Track Record!

2011-05-18T16:20:00.002-05:00

Headed to Putnam Park this weekend for a NASA MW/GL crossover event that has been sold out for a few weeks. After a very long week at work, I got to the track about 8am (ET) local. I knew that I had to install that new exhaust clamp that I have overnighted - and that was finished w/o drama - all good. The forecast was about 50% chance of showers throughout the day but it was holding off to this

Replacement Part Needed!

2011-05-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

Breaking stuff... it's inevitable. You try to do as much accelerated maintenance as you can, keep everything greased and lubed, buy and use quality parts, use skilled companies for tuning, etc. But shit can, will and does happen. Besides the above mentioned reasons, there's a few more that'll bite you as well. Like simply being tired or in a hurry. The latter is what bit me this week. A week

March-April 2011 - "Config #1"

2011-05-10T16:27:00.001-05:00

I spent a LOT of time over the winter researching Aero. Wings, Splitters, Diffusers, Canards, etc. And I still feel like I have a very miniscule knowledge on the subject. It also seems like there are a lot of people that offer advice that they can't confirm - mostly because they are churning out the same supposed 'expert' principles they've read somewhere on the internet and never tested

New Rotors & Pads!

2011-05-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

The front calipers are ready to go back in; new seals and dustboots are in place. Along with them, a new set of Hawk DTC60 pads and Powerslot rotors going in as well - and a good bleed/flush with fresh AMSoil DOT4 brake fluid. With this preemptive maintanance, we should be close to good for the rest of 2011 with the entire front & rear brake system. Depending on the total # of track days, we

Brembo Caliper Maintenance.

2011-04-29T11:14:00.000-05:00

I had to pull the rotors & pads off last week as I was working on a big comparison test (coming soon). So I didn't stop there. I thought about my schedule and I already have 6 days on track in 2011. I usually run 16-18 per year so I'm nearly 1/3 of the way complete! And since I skipped redoing the caliper seals this winter; I figure why not now! Yeah... Better to take care of it

NASA - Autobahn - TTA Track Record!

2011-04-21T10:28:00.000-05:00

Sunday morning the TT group was the first ones on track at 8:30! I decided to go out and defend my gridspot - as we grid by time and all the Sat times were in the 2:03-2:35 range. So I asked a buddy to go with me for the hell of it because I like to scare people! As it was in the 40's it took a bit for the tires to warm up, so the rear was pretty loose for several laps which is quite fun!

NASA - Autobahn - 1st Place in the Rain!

2011-04-19T11:59:00.000-05:00

I had big plans for this weekend. I know Autobahn pretty well and I planned to test 2 different configs in 2 days - weather dependent... We drove up Friday night after work. And by 'WE' I mean myself, my wife (married 6 months ago) and our 3 yr old puppy. It's about 3hrs to Autobahn up by Chicago, IL. The plan was to camp out Fri & Sat at the track. With Severe Weather Warnings and Tornado

NASA - Mid Ohio - TTA Track Record!

2011-04-14T11:04:00.001-05:00

Sunday it was wet; again, as it rained overnight. I skipped S1. In S2 I put down a 1:39.4 and slotted into 2nd as the Corvette in front of me broke the track record! S3 I had planned on being my last of the day as I had a solid 7.5hrs home but I had issues. Basically I was late to grid because I was waiting to switch in the wing mounts (remember I'm sharing them so we keep frantically switching

NASA - Mid Ohio - 1st in TTA!

2011-04-13T11:09:00.001-05:00

After 7.5 hrs and 466 miles (over 2 days) I pulled into Mid Ohio very early Friday morning. I ran the testday mostly in the rain; we were running the Club Course all weekend. My best lap of 2:10 in the rain and a 1:55 in the last session when the track was a bit drier. Knowing the class leading times would be nearly 20 seconds faster over the weekend... Saturday morning at Mid Ohio was foggy

Teched and Ready for 2011 NASA Season!

2011-04-07T10:47:00.001-05:00

Talked things over with my pit crew (the wife and sometimes the puppy) and the advice was to put the rains back on the car in preparation for the Mid-Ohio forecast this coming weekend. At the time it was showing mid 50's and 30% chance of rain on Friday. Knowing I HATE to change tires in the rain; the advice was to show up on the rains/streets. So I made the change, tightened things down and

Initial Track Day Testing!

2011-04-01T15:26:00.000-05:00

After my alignment @ Winning Formula on 3/25, I got about 4hrs of sleep and was at Putnam Park Saturday morning - bundled up and unpacking the car! It was downright cold and windy in the morning with a high of about 37 degrees that day. Temps under 40 definitely bring up a host of additional issues! I was probably going to be running street tires all day and definitely needed to turn the boost

Alignment & Corner Balance @ Winning Formula

2011-03-28T23:10:00.000-05:00

With < 9 hrs of sleep in 2 days and about 830 miles logged - I'm freakin exhausted! Part 1 of 2. Alignment trip & Test Day. Part 1 takes us down to Louisville, KY and to The Winning Formula. The shop consists basically of 2 people; Aaron who I know from the track and have been dealing directly with - and the owner, Mike. It's pretty much just them 2. They primarily setup SM's (Spec Miata's)

Seats & Harnesses bolted back in!

2011-03-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

Final prepwork for the upcoming testday being wrapped up. Testing Sat 3/26 at Putnam Park. With that in mind, we put the seats & harnesses back in. Drivers:Driver seating position has always been a small struggle with me. I definitely like to sit low; lower than stock! I've went through 3 different seats and 6 different mounting options. With fixed back racing seats, you don't have as many

Brake Bleeding.

2011-03-21T16:33:00.008-05:00

More maintenance this weekend. Getting down to the last of it though. I pulled all the brake pads and checked them, the brake lines and the rotors - all for premature wear. Looking good although my front Girodisc rotors are already showing some minor spider-cracking after just 3 trackdays of use. We'll see how long they last! .I greased up the pads and put them back in. I then flushed the

ARP Splitter & Wing!

2011-03-17T15:24:00.002-05:00

New for 2011 will be some aero bits from ARP. A front splitter and a rear wing. Like a lot of people, I am a bit concerned with the potential downforce on the front splitter. Being made of carbon fiber, this thing is super light and super thin. I would like to reinforce it and attach it to the frame somehow down the road. I'm a complete newb when it comes to aero as I've never had anything

FMIC swap!

2011-03-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

FMIC swap time! It's never ever fun to make your race car slower; but that's exactly what we did this week. Because of NASA's TT point system, you have to pick and choose your modifications wisely. And although my AMS FMIC is a work of art and adds a solid 20 whp/wtq, I believe the 4pts for an intercooler upgrade are better spent elsewhere (more info coming).Therefore I pulled the upgraded AMS

Driveline Fluids!

2011-03-08T12:02:00.000-06:00

Ah, the fun of crawling under the car when the cement garage floor is still really cold! I changed out most of the fluids in the Evo last week. I got the Engine Oil, Transmission fluid and T-Case fluid. Left yet is the Rear Diff and later flushing out the Radiator.

Sticker & Decal Update!

2011-02-28T12:59:00.001-06:00

First of all, I want to say a huge 'Thx' to my buddy Randy for providing a majority of the official numbers and class stickers I run. He does excellent work. This winter I decided to remove everything on the car, thoroughly clean and re-apply. I know I'm going with a slightly different font, probably arrange things differently and a few other changes. I haven't fully decided yet, just getting

Trailer Maintenance - Seals and Bearings!

2011-02-21T13:43:00.000-06:00

I took care of the trailer this weekend. Repacked the wheel bearings, rotated the tires and gave it a quick scrubdown. All-in-all not a bad job at all. Thx to my Dad for helping me get things started. Everything was in excellent shape and probably could have gone another year easily. But with ~11,000 miles on the trailer and another potential 8,000 miles planned this year, I wanted to take the

Thanks to Midwest Evos!

2011-02-15T09:56:00.000-06:00

If you own an Evo in the Midwest, you owe it to yourself to check out http://www.midwestevos.com/ Scott runs the forums and actually posted a mission statment a few years back that's worth reading: My mission for this site is also simple: To offer a fun and laid back environment for all Mitsubishi owners and enthusiasts in the Midwestern United states or wherever you may live. When it all comes

2011 Hoosiers!

2011-02-09T12:11:00.000-06:00

New stock of Hoosiers! This allotment of 7 brand new Hoosiers was the remainder of my freebie contingency tires from 2010 that I had to order. All-in-all I have a total of 22 Hoosier tires in my possession at this time. Of course, 8 of those are trash/used and the rest aren't all new... Thank you to Hoosier for their generous NASA contingency program. The 'purple crack' rocks.

AMS Tuning!

2011-01-31T11:56:00.000-06:00

Took the car up to AMS Performance in Chicago last Friday. I had AMS replace some leaking seals, and a wideband A/R gauge for safety and retune the car. AMS last tuned the car in mid 2008, and there's been some parts switching so an updated tune was in order. I also wanted to verify the boost leaks were the only reason my traqmate logs showed me down on power and not something more severe.

Boost Leak Testing!

2011-01-24T09:17:00.000-06:00

Here's some pics from the boost leak test I setup. I did everything with the car still loaded on the trailer in my garage! Not ideal, but not impossible. Here is a pic of the turbo 'cap' I built. (On the left is the air hose.) It's a way to enter metered air into the turbo. I use an compressor initially set to a stockish 20psi and let the system build up and started listening for major leaks.

Tentative Schedule for 2011

2011-01-11T14:48:00.003-06:00

Here's an aggressive schedule for 2011. It's basically the entire NASA MW/GL region events minus Brainerd - with the GRM UTCC weekend at VIR added. I might trim one of the events in June depending on how the car is progressing throughout the year. We'll have a lot of new parts to dial in! Should be a good time. March: TBD - Local Test-n-Tune April 8-10: Mid-Ohio - NASA Great Lakes April 16

2011 Planning

2011-01-03T11:09:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!2011 Planning is well underway for the 929 Evo. We're planning our changes & updates for the upcoming season. For 2009-2010 the car was maximized for NASA TTB; abiding by the modification point system and a modified 10.25 power/weight ratio limit. This proved to be a good class for the Evo with many wins and track records. With a few changes we competed well in higher classes

2011 NASA Ruleset Released!

2010-12-27T11:00:00.000-06:00

After a few months of waiting, the 2011 NASA Time Trials rules have been released! This means all competitors can pour over the rules and see what class they want to compete in and prep their car accordingly. Let the strategizing begin! Or rather finalize... (I have a good plan)

2010 Track Records - n' such

2010-12-08T08:53:00.000-06:00

So NASA MW/GL decided to give out these little Track Record certificates for Saturday events in 2010. I collected a few and wanted to preserve them somehow. So my wife gave me the idea of framing them, and I had enough room to squeeze in the 2010 UTCC in GrassRoots Motorsports magainze and a few other items. The bottom right is from Phil Wicks Driving Academy; my first ever event! (yes, my

929 Evo - 2010 NASA MW TTA Champion!

2010-11-05T11:52:00.001-05:00

2010 Overview: 15 NASA TT events. Competed in 3 different regions in 3 different classes. * 11 wins in 3 different classes * 4 track records * 1 Regional Championship --> Midwest TTA Dating back to 2009: Last 23 NASA events - 19 wins; 7 track records 17 Days on track this year. A total of 60 on the car. Stock motor, cams, turbo, bottom-end, trans, etc... Huge thanks to my main sponsors:

October Vids!

2010-10-21T15:28:00.000-05:00

Here's vid from Oct 9/10th @ Putnam Park Swept NASA TTA with a best lap of 1:17.4 Here's some vid of the practice session which is different than most of the vid I show of just 1-2 clear & open laps. Enjoy. Only ran a 1:19x to get a descent grid spot, then just navigated traffic: For sessions #2 and #3, I let it fly. Ended up with a personal best of 1:17.4 winning my class by about 1.5 seconds

Putnam Park! - Double NASA TTA wins!

2010-10-13T15:02:00.000-05:00

The final event of the NASA MW/GL regions was last weekend at Putnam Park outside Indianapolis. The forecast was to be gorgeous, and it actually turned out HOT! High of 87 Sat with zero clouds. The NASA MW/GL region does an end of the year banquet now on Saturday night, so Saturday was to be a double-points day for all classes. For TT, that meant we get 1 warmup session as usual; then 2

Nov/2010 GrassRoots Motorsports Mag

2010-10-03T09:52:00.000-05:00

The November 2010 issue of GRM is out! The cover story is the UTCC (Ultimate Track Car Challenge) held again this year at VIR. The UTCC is an invitation only event and I jumped at the opportunity. I set out on the 900 mile trek alone to a brand new track and it was an amazing adventure. 6 days and 2100 miles later I came home with a best lap of 2:11.098 and a new tow truck (the other

Aug/Sept Track Vids!

2010-09-21T12:29:00.001-05:00

Gingerman (old/short course) - new TTA record Gingerman (new/long course) Autobahn S Autobahn S - new TTA Record (external GoPro view)

Double NASA TTA Wins & Track Record @ Autobahn!

2010-09-14T13:20:00.000-05:00

The weekend started with a trip to Chicago late Thursday night; en-route to an 8am Appt at AMS Performance for some upgrades. Waiting at the shop was an upgraded 12 plate rear diff from Shep racing! Also planned was an AMS Moustache Bar Eliminator to further reduce unneeded weight and improve shifting. SaturdayRain overnight and into Sat provided wet track conditions until about noon. I

Girodisc Front 2-piece Rotors!

2010-09-02T14:28:00.002-05:00

My new quest of lightening the car as much as possible along with needing new front rotors led me to Martin @ Girodisc! After some conversation a set of Girodisc 2-piece front floating rotors along with their recommended Raybestos ST43 pads f/r were on the way. The old front PowerSlot rotors did a good job for a 1-piece but after 14 days there were shot! This will also be a brand new pad for

NASA TTA Win & Track Record @ Gingerman!

2010-08-26T16:35:00.000-05:00

Woke up to rain. Got to the track and finished unpacking and it was still raining for the warmup. Even though I was on Hoosiers, I decided to head out just to make updates were all installed correctly. I switched back to TTA mode, meaning I reinstalled my AMS FMIC, AMS LICP, AMS MBC and brand new Buschur UICP (finally dumping the stock UICP for good and all it's troubles staying attached I hoped

Shedding some weight!

2010-08-19T10:14:00.002-05:00

Every little bit helps! With NASA, you have to meet certain minimum weight requirements with each car. Mine is 3263lbs and I can get right down to that mark current with about a 1/2 tank fuel. However, you have the option of taking 'mod' points for additional weight reduction. Personally, I don't think it's the best use of points, but in the absence of something better - why not! I can

Brake Pad Checkup!

2010-08-16T09:18:00.000-05:00

I was changing tires in prep for my next event next weekend. I usually seem to change out pads and rotors well before they're done since I'm anal about that and do not want ANY downtime on the weekends. But I knew the pads were getting low, so I figured I'd pop them out and give them a lookover and here's what I found: Whew; glad I looked! This was after 3 days and ~200 miles

VIR Videos!

2010-08-11T15:22:00.000-05:00

2010 GRM UTCC - 07/23/2010 at VIR NASA Mid-Atlantic 07252010 at VIR

NASA TT @ VIR!

2010-08-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

Fresh off my first day at VIR (see earlier post) I was just getting started on the weekend's festivities! After the GRM awards ceremony, I went back to my pit area to transform/downgrade the car into NASA TTB trim for the weekend which besides a small tire and weight different includes about 50whp less! And guess what; it was still insanely hot. Saturday Morning: The call was a 7:

GRM's Ultimate Track Car Challenge @ VIR

2010-08-02T14:37:00.001-05:00

Part 2 - UTCC Event Went out for the morning practice session at VIR! Never been there before, only watched videos. I knew the top cars were going to try and put down a fast lap to get a good grid position. So I was pointing around cars and on lap #2, going ~120mph down the back-straight I see a few fast movers coming - a Porsche GT3 & 2 Vettes - come flying past me probably 30-40mph faster, bang

Ultimate Track Car Challenge @ VIR - 950miles there!

2010-08-02T14:34:00.000-05:00

Part 1 - The trip down As I had to be at VIR first thing Friday and it's 800+ miles, I knew I needed a FULL day of travel. I had to take care of some business in St Louis on my way through, so a slight detour was needed before spending the night in central IL with

VIR Odyssey Complete!

2010-07-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

What an insane 6 days! Yes...6 days. A total of about 2100 miles driven, 52 miles of being towed, 200 miles on track at VIR and a lot of fun! The track is insanely fun. 140+mph in 2 sections and 120+mph in the esses - per lap!! 102-103 temps all weekend plus humidity. The car held up just awesome; zero problems. The truck did not - and was the reason for the towing mileage. It's actually

NASA @ Autobahn - Another 1st!

2010-07-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

Wow, welcome to summer track temps! It was easily 90+ all weekend with humidity. NASA was handing out bottles of water to everyone going through the tech/impound shed all weekend! The results - 1st of 5 in TTA on Saturday and 2nd of 9 in TTA on Sunday. Good results, but my personal times were disappointing to me. I'm sure the heat had a LOT to do with it. I'm trying to figure out if

July (mid-year) Maintenance

2010-07-14T14:54:00.001-05:00

Mid-year maintenance! Time to flush out those drivetrain fluids as we're approaching the halfway point in the 2010 track season. July is a busy month with a quick turnaround for me, so getting to this early. In case you're wondering, yes I did use that old mustard bottle to squirt in rear diff fluid! Fluids flushed Evo Rear Diff Fluid Evo ACD Fluid Evo Trans Fluid Truck Trans Fluid Also,

July 10th - AMS Track Day @ Autobahn

2010-07-12T22:41:00.001-05:00

Made the trip Saturday to Autobahn Country Club to instruct for an AMS Performance track day. Helped out a few students and ran a few sessions myself as well. Temps were high and the car performed well once I got all the intercooler hoses tightened back up. I ran in my developing 'TTA' form and ran some 1:36-1:37 laps with a passenger so I was a good 250lbs over my min weight. I will be back

Weight Removal!

2010-07-08T09:06:00.000-05:00

I was switching my exhaust back last night and looking around the car for more things to rip out (aka lighten it). I was literally shocked to find these still in the car! Gone now...maybe 10lbs total with screws and such, but every bit helps!

Misc pics from June Events

2010-06-25T12:38:00.000-05:00

(Right) Here's a pic of the temporarily replaced lugnut from the last track event. Man was that a huge PITA to try and locate a replacement. It's got a new ARP extended stud back in there now. And I'll be packing extra's from now on! (Below) I also mounted a fire extinguisher in the car this June. It was a requirement for the Redline event, but I plan to keep it in there for extra safety.

Videos - June 12-13 Events

2010-06-22T10:31:00.001-05:00

June 12 - BlackHawk Farms Raceway - NASA TTA class. June 13 - Autobahn CC - Redline Time Attack - Street AWD June 13 - Autobahn CC - Redline Time Attack - My Rain Drifto Vid: June 13 - Autobahn CC - Redline Time Attack -My spectator video of the Super Session.

June 13 - Redline Time Attack @ Autobahn

2010-06-17T17:55:00.000-05:00

After a challenging but successful trackday with NASA @ BlackHawk Farms here I took 1st in class and set a class record, we were headed to Autobahn for the Redline event. The next day I switched to my street tires, got teched and was ready for Street AWD practice. Because of the previous days issues, the car still had 93oct in the tank that needed used up before I could switch to 100 and up

June 12 - NASA @ BlackHawk Farms

2010-06-17T11:57:00.001-05:00

Sat morning I setup the car, got a practice session in, got a rain session in then went to mount up new Hoosiers. At about 11am I discovered a stripped front wheel stud. With my extra ARP extended studs at home... I seeked out all the other Evo's at the track along with calling parts stores in both IL and Wisconsin for parts - notta. I was able to locate 2 stock length studs in Wisconsin and

2 Tracks in 2 Days Complete!

2010-06-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

Crazy weekend so I'll try to be brief. The plan was to run Sat 6/12 with NASA @ BlackHawk Farms then drive the 2.5 hrs to run with Redline Time Attack @ Autobahn on Sun 6/13. Short story; it was accomplished but not without some issues! I'll go into more detail later but here's the highlights of the weekend:Saturday: I finished 1st of 3 in class and set a new TTA track record Sunday: I finished

New Seat Installed!

2010-06-11T09:49:00.001-05:00

Installed a Sparco Circuit seat this week. I've been wanting a new seat that held by legs down better - and with the Redline Time Attack rules requiring 2 front seats for Street class - it was a good excuse to pick one up. I figured it was a good idea to get one with some extra head protection as well, and this model fit well. Install is now complete. The bottom cushion it comes with has got

New goodies from AMS Performance installed!

2010-06-08T13:21:00.005-05:00

Thanks to quick shipping from Chicago, last night I was able to install an AMS FMIC & LICP combination for this weekends events. I think the quality of this FMIC is what really sold me on AMS Performance. This should really help out intake temps and airflow, especially when running my 100octane tune. Above is a mid-install pic. Below is my helper with the smaller stock fmic to the left.

Deciding June 12-13 Track Plans...

2010-06-02T14:41:00.002-05:00

June 13th I am planning on competing in the only stop the Redline Time Attack series makes within 15 hours of me - Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL. I will be there to defend my 2nd place finish from the 2009 event in Street AWD. Once again, I'll guarantee that I will be down more than 100hp to several competitors so I'll have to use my usual strategy of driving the sh1t outta the car!