2014 - Season (pre)Planning...

The past 2 winters - without a racecar - have been much different.  From 2009-2012 I was eagerly awaiting new classing rulesets to decide where to position the #929Evo, what mods to do or undo, what items to refresh and what would need done by my title sponsor (ECU Tuning, etc).  I would pull together all that information and eventually build my schedule.  The biggest pain of that process was scheduling the tuning/maintenance time with my title sponsors - AMS Performance or Buschur Racing.  The sponsors were great help - no issues there - but with them being between 3.5 hrs and 8 hrs away over the years, it provided schedule concerns, time off from work, issues with the weather, etc.  Some pics from years past:

The past 2 winters - without a racecar - have been much different!  No scheduling of long-distance trips, no pre-prep on the car, no figuring out mods, no ordering mods (UPS/Fedex guy probably misses me!), no time spent freezing in the garage during these cold months, etc.
So not owning a racecar isn't all bad news.  But I was extremely meticulous with my maintenance schedule and always strived to keep my racecar legal and in full advantage of the rules.

2014 Events Schedule to come...

#929Evo Projects - Pics and Press

Recently, I took some time putting together a group of pictures sort of detailing the 6+ years I had with the #929Evo.  As I purchased the car brand new, it went through quite a transformation to a weekend track car, to adding sponsors, to eventually being trailored and at the end being completely gutted and caged.  Below are the pics that work down from top-left.  It's a 16x20 framed photo.
Pics:

Project #2 was an effort to capture a magazine article for the #929Evo from mid-2012.  Many thanks to Evolution Magazine.  This was a long work in progress from the time the written interviews were taken until publishing over in Europe, then eventually I received a copy.  I eventually tracked down a few additional copies and was able to cut everything out and fancy it up with some additional pictures to round out the mount. 
Evolution Magazine article:

2012 Press --> #929Evo - (UK) Evolution Magazine

My apologies as I step back to 2012 to share some wicked-ass information!  I had some pretty rare overseas press on the #929Evo that recently went to print and eventually I was able to get my hands on a copy.  I'm just now getting around to scanning it in.

The story goes... a columnist from the Arizona area found me somehow and wanted to do a spread on me and the car for a new upstart British magazine. His job/goal was to share some stories about racing in the US to demonstrate that even though we're 1000's of miles apart we're not all that different. And to compare/contrast the availability of tracks, cars, competition, the racing ladder system, etc. We didn't have a lot of time (or any funds) to put together a photoshoot so I merely submitted pics that I had already. Enjoy.

Page #1:

 

Page #2:

 

Page #3:

2012 year in review!

2012 started with a 1000 mile roundtrip to Buschur Racing in Ohio in lots of snow and ice.  Out of that trip we yeilded up updated setup, tune and a new primary sponsor.  Shortly thereafter we headed on a near 1400 mile round-trip for my first ever trip to Road Atlanta with help from my Dad as a co-pilot.  Then the car was further gutted and turned over to Izzy's in STL for a proper 6pt cage.  After some teething issues which forced me to rent a car to complete COMP school in April I had my w2w license! 

The next few events were spent feeling out the dynamics of the #929Evo over the course of a 25-35min sprint race; in a single word:  HEAT!  Several upgrades over the rest of the year were made to handle the heat both inside and outside of the car. 

2012 yielded my first podiums & trophies from both Sprint races and Endurance Racing.  The latter courtesy of a GP Racing Products rented E3 Miata where I turned nearly 70 laps at Putnam.  We also set our first PTA track record. 

Some major changes on the personal side of life kicked off in April and really changed the scope of the year.  These somewhat played into my decision to officially put up the #929Evo for sale.  With the fall approaching and some aggressive pricing I was able to find a new home for the car in early September.  After that I wrapped up the year with 1 additional rental in a Chumpcar.

2012 yielded a total of 13 days on track.  10 days in the #929Evo and 3 days in rentals.  In all I competed in 6 different classes (TTA, TTS, ST2, PTA, E0, Chumpcar) in 3 different cars.

Mid Ohio - 7.1.2012 Race

After qualifying on the pole with a decent 1:34.2, we had another long break until the race; 3+ hours I think. I took the time to drop in the Hawk DTC70 front pads I had just picked up as I wanted to see if they would hold the brake system hold up better throughout the race. They are a touch high torque than the DTC60's I've been running mainly for the past 3 years.

Besides setting the ballast & fuel load, there was really nothing else the car needed. I started to pack up what I could as I'd be heading the 7+ hrs home right after the race and the day was heating up; already well into the 90's.

At the noon driver's meeting I got to stay behind as I was 1 of the 3 pole-sitters for the 3 waves we'd be having. A first! Being on the pole, I was told to maintain the speed of the pacecar after it pulls off all the way to the green flag - which would be 35mph. This is a very difficult thing to do with all the anticipation around you too!  The plan after Sat was to be more aggressive with passing and lap traffic - although there were already some close calls during the warmup & qual sessions!

The Race
Coming out of the keyhole after the pacecar pulled off we were in the 35-40mph range as expected. I had just downshifted to 2nd but was pretty high in the rpms, and as expected our speeds started to creep up just a little. I didn't want to touch the brakes and 'brake-check' anyone (maybe I should have) so I was trying to decide if I should shift into 3rd or not - right about the same time the green dropped and I was NOT ready. So I got a horrible jump; and would be chasing once again!
Just like the previous day, I was right on the tail of the leader and got a good run out of T1 (1:30 in the vid) only this time he blocked the inside line so I couldn't get in there to pass. I jumped outside instead to try and preserve all the momentum I could, but was definitely out-braked and gained nothing.
I'm not sure what the difference was, but for the first several laps I would be fighting some 4-wheel skidding; mostly started from understeer and backing out of the throttle. I'm not sure what caused this, the only difference was I had a bit less ballast in the rear since I came in 50lbs over my min after the Sat race. This definitely didn't help my chasing cause and led directly to an off in T11 that lost me a good bit of time.

Around the 6th lap my pedal started getting long. I pushed really deep into T1 at one point before it caught and caused ABS to kick in I think. I then did some quick pumping on the next straight to bring it back - same on the backstraight. On the next lap or so - #8 I think - I was weaving through traffic and around a cone going into T2 (aka The Keyhole) and not sure if I braked a bit later than normal since I was offline and couldn't directly see my brake point or what, but the pedal just wasn't there. If you brake too late into this corner, you miss the uphill section and then it transitions to downhill through the corner - and I couldn't slow down enough to make the turn. This is about where I ended the video as the next part wasn't good... Offtrack, through the sand to the right a bit and the rearend caught the tirewall. DNF. With damage to the driver's side of the car, most predominant in the rear quarterpanel. Sucks.


It also turned out the lead PTA car in front of me - that was ran off between T1 & T2 (9:30 in my vid; on the far left) had cooling issues from that off and had to nurse it around to the finish, so I would have gotten around him quite easily.  Sucks too; Traffic!

For an idea on closing speeds into some of the corners, check out the 6:25 mark and tell me WHEN you seen that car!

1st ever Sprint Race - 6-9-12 @ Gingerman!

After arriving about 10pm and drinking until 2:30am - morning came quick and I made the registration switch from PTA over to ST2 already.  I knew I didn't have a chance in ST2 w/o at least good tires but I wanted to be in the faster rungroup and get used to the traffic.  My goal was simply get the car through the weekend successfully and see how everything felt and reacted over the course of an entire race.  I prepped the car and went out for practice on street tires to feel out the brake updates.  Everything felt solid, although the car pushed hard on the street tires - which it has all year since the cage went in - I ran a 1:47 and had a car spin in front of me and 2 of us had to split to miss it in the track which was fun.  I was weighed afterwards and started doing to the math for the ballast I'd need.

I switched rims to the last of my leftover 2011 255 Hoosiers and stuffed the car full of fuel until it ran back out!  I only ran a few laps and qualified with a 1:41 trying to save the tires as they were pretty beat up from running hard TT sessions last year.  Last year pushing hard on the tire setup I ran a 1:38.8 (current TTA record) so I was in the ballpark.  I made weight, but not by much, so we definitely would need to add ballast.  Another issue was the oil temps.  In my effort to fix the brake cooling issue I admittedly borrowed from the oil cooler flow as well as fixing the hole in the rubbed fenderwell by adding a chunk of plastic.  I think the latter made things worse so I removed it and then worked up a special duct from the 'faux hole' around to the oil cooler.  I was fairly confident this would make things at least manageable. 

With a 3hr gap before the race I had some prep time.  I had a tire that was starting to cord, so I replaced it with an another used 255 I had.  I also was able to secure the ballast I needed, with the help of Jason from GP Racing we secured 25 lbs in the passenger side and another 30 lbs in the trunk.  I'd already topped off every fluid container in the car (oil, radiator, drink bottle, windshield fluid, fuel, etc).  Not knowing how much fuel the car would burn I errored on the heavy side as I didn't want a DQ.

The race went pretty well overall.  All of the ST cars lined up in the 1st of 3 waves; I was 9th of 12 in that group and started on the inside of a very tight T1.  I got a good jump, but all the big V8 N/A cars in front of me pulled harded off the line.  I also realized from my vid I should have been up closer to the car in front; so I'll learn.  I took T1 pretty slow trying to stay clean and dropped below boost in 3rd so I lost some momentum there.  I ran a few 1:42's and after that settled into a pace around 1:45-46 carefully eyeballing my oil temps the entire time around the 280-285 range.  I babied the car, avoiding the high rpms when I could by shifting early and pushing the clutch in to coast into braking zones - all tricks that I know help the oil temps.  Brakes felt good throughout and the tires stayed underneath fairly well since I wasn't pushing hard.  I picked up a few overall spots from traffic and I picked up the pace on the final few laps just to see how the car felt and the tires were giving up for sure.  In all the race lasted 17 laps and I covered about 43 miles.  As for the fuel, after the race I had exactly 1/2 tank but was not weighed.

Putnam Park - 5.13.2012 - Drifting into 1st place!

Saturday evening I rotated the tires; X'ing the front backwards. I figured the LF would be nearly bald - and it was. But the RF was worse! Sunday was going to be interesting with no grip in the rear, but I was thinking since the fronts looked ok that I'd at least be able to turn like I could early Sat.

(Pic):  Left side tires from Sat evening. Front on the left; rear on the right. I rotating the bald ones to the rear....

I made more suspension tweaks, rolling back the changes I made late Sat in hopes it would help the car grip more. I had some pulsing in the front end under braking on the out lap. I figured something was stuck to the rotor and/or the tires were flatspotted from sitting all night as I had reset my pressures to my normal morning starting pressures. It seemed to go away with some really hard jabs so I put it out of my mind and hit it hard. I ran 6 laps with a best of 1:18.2 which the car was no longer sliding, but rather drifting today! Jeff's Evo was behind me this session and got some good vid; check it out below.

For S2 I bettered my time to a 1:18.1 but that's all I could get. The rear was drifting around so much that I had to do more than countersteer, I had to get out of the gas some which is a killer for times. This is the session I put the camera on the rear and had a Mustang 302 behind me. My overall times were better than his, but in this session I just couldn't get the power down and after drifting through T4 and getting out of the gas I simply pointed him around.
When done, I looked over my tires carefully to see how bald the rears were now and to verify nothing was corded. The tires passed inspection, but the LF rotor did not. Check it out:

While I had a spare, it was 12:30pm at this point and very hot. With basically 0 chance to improve my times and only to play around more, I decided to forgo the fix and just pack things in and go surprise visit my Mom with it being Mother's day and all. It'd only add about 45min to my overall trip. With all the crazy turmoil with my wife's family recently; I've been trying to take the extra effort with regards to visits and calls and whatnot. I was actually going to cancel this event but the wife told me to go and enjoy the distractions. So I watched the start of my friend's race after packing up and took off.

Overall the car did great. No mechanical issues, just the broken exhaust bracket which was no biggie, the broken rotor which is a wear item and my boost gauge is still broke (so no, I've no idea what boost I was running). Oh, and my time easily held up Sunday for first in TTA once again.

After looking deeper at all my GPS data, everything is pretty cut and dry.  An 8/10's lap from 2011 on wider A6's yielded a nearly identical laptime to this year's lap at nearly 10/10's on skinnier R6's. Nuff said.
Braking force with R6's is crap compared to an A6; I had data confirming this already. Cornering G's were about the same but that's the 8/10's vs the 10/10's thing to allow that. I was able to push my brakezones a bit which is good and the car rotated great w/o hardly any understeer given what front grip I had at least.

The 2012 setup vs the 2011 setup to me feels better with regards to power and rotation. I'm really happy with how smooth the car idles, and I don't even notice the Synapse BOV thx to Buschur's tune (he assured me it'd be smooth; he's right). The differences being a Buschur tune on the engine this year and an ACD-tuning update in the ACD unit. Also different on this track were taller tires and a taller 4th gear as compared to May/2011 - both of which hurt my laptimes as the car was previously geared incredibly well for Putnam. With less speed on corner entry from the ****tier tires and the gearing changes I was actually forced to downshift twice more per lap to keep the turbo spinning. So factor in all those changes and running 1.3 seconds behind my blitzing 2011 time of 1:15.7 and I'm feeling pretty good about the car.

Video's coming...

Putnam Park - 1st in TTA - 5-12-2012

After running the Enduro on Friday afternoon/evening, I awoke at 6:45am Saturday tired and sore.  I still had to unload, unpack the car, and do some prep but that was about it.  Our warmup wasn't until after 10am so it was relaxed.  For the warmup I lined up around grip spot #3 I think and after waiting 1 lap for things to come up to temp I put down an easy 1:17.9 to earn #2 in grid.  I then went to tech and got weighed since I still had no solid idea of what the car weighed post-cage.  It came in at 3198 lbs; which was about 50 lbs over what I was claiming for the day so I was pretty happy with that given the current fuel load. 

Session 2 was at noon and I made no changes and fired a 1:17.0 which slotted me first in class and first overall.  I hit traffic very quickly as there were 44 cars in TT on Putnam's 1.7 mile course.  Also someone nailed the hay bails in the final turn so we had a few sitting on the exit of T10 which was right in the line - and after 2 laps of that I seen the double yellow.  I was probably going 130mph when I seen it, closing in on 2 lower classed cars probably going 95-100mph but I made the passes safely before the flagstand and tucked in behind the traffic.  Oddly though that traffic was another car giving pointby's that was off pace.  By the time I realized it I'd been re-passed by a few cars - I think this confused some cars as other passing from other cars ensued and only 1 was called in for passing under double-yellow.

For S3 I made a few small tweaks and ran a best of 1:17.2 but the car was really starting to slide at this point.  Wasn't sure if it was the heat - sunny and around 85 - or the tires giving up.  I figured a bit of both.  I know I was starting to drop 1-2 tires into the dirt in multiple corners on exit as the car just wouldn't hold and would slide.  It made 'catching' the slides a bit interesting and fun but I knew this wasn't going to be faster.  I was also given the pleasure of the 'meatball' flag and when I came in was told my exhaust was rubbing and throwing sparks.  This shocked me as there was no audible difference.  When I got back to my paddock spot I seen the brace by the rear axle had broken and it was hanging low and would need a bandaid!  I recently had another bracket re-welded and perhaps with that being tighter, me dropping tires and that rear brace being rewelded back in 2009 - the extra pressure caused it to break again.  Either way I had 2 hours to fix it, and with my idea and some help from a friend it was pretty simple.  (see pic)

For S4 I adjusted the suspension a touch to try and aid rotation/grip assuming things would be worse if the tires were the problem.  I had my answer in the first lap; it was the tires!  I ran 3 hard laps right around 1:18.3 until I hit traffic, then I played for another 1-2 and drifted.  I actually had a few people ask who left the drift marks in certain turns as I was at least having fun!  At this point I new the tires were shot, having 12-16 Heatcycles each.  Also good news was that our exhaust fixed had held up just fine.  My time from S2 would hold to land me 1st place in TTA by about 3 seconds - but I was 1.3 seconds off my record from 2011 when I was on wider stickier rubber.  But considering the tires I came with I thought the car did very well - running times right where I thought we would.  Power was smooth and rotation was great with no understeer; just an overall lack of grip especially at turn-in from the worn tires. 
Vid from Sat; A lap each from Sessions 2 & 3 from different angles:

Road Atlanta - 3.11.12 - Day #2

Day #2 at Road Atlanta started dark and slow. With the time change in the ET zone; it was pitch dark when I got to the track and nearly that for our morning meeting. Then a screwy schedule had me waiting around for about 2 hours. I really had no changes to make, other than remounting my camera and GPS and putting in a little fuel. I'm tuned for 100oct; and having used all I brought I was using a cocktail of 98 unleaded and 110 leaded since that's all they had (well had 112 leaded too). Oh, I did get my AFR guage hooked back up as the wire had come out. Lastly I had installed a different ACD in my car as I had planned on doing some testing on a reflashed ACD unit from ACD-Tuning. We talked over the winter and Mathew hooked with up with a unit with 3 special maps; each more aggressive than the stock Tarmac map.

When our first session finally came, I had the inevitable slow-down from a new track on a new day and not being aggressive. I also had overestimated the tire pressures so everything was high - which I could tell by the reduced grip. I took it easy on the tires and ran a some mid 1:35's. Watching the AFR down the long backstraight in 5th gear 'planted', I seen 10.5 - 10.6 on the new Buschur Racing tune with the 98/110 cocktail.  As for the updated ACD unit, I completely forgot about it until the session was done - which is good. Nothing detrimental at all to say about the map, no locking, no confusion, nothing at all that slowed me down. However, I didn't really notice any huge changes either which could mean I needed a more aggressive map or I simply wasn't pushing hard enough to tell - probably a combination of both.
I checked my data afterwards and I finally cleared 150mph on the backstraight!

Again - screwy schedule, so I had a big break before the next session. I had already started packing up, and continued that just in case I were to leave after this next session. Changes were small, reset the tire pressures was about it. I did decide to move my ACD to map #2 as I did not feel anything really different with map #1.
Finally around 12:30pm I lined up for session #2 - where I was up to 5th on grid I think. Knowing I had a 10hr drive home, I really just wanted to better my time from yesterday primarily. No sense in putting the car in danger with over-aggressive driving or torturing the tires (given the 2012 Hoosier contingencies). I ran a pair of 1:34's including my best of the weekend - a 1:34.1 - with a nice drift through T10A at the end of the long backstraight. Besides a few key areas, I was getting about as much out of the track as I could with the tires I had. I believe the time held for 1st place again in TTA and the 4th best out of 37 cars in TT.

Given the screwy schedule - I had 2:20 until my next session - I decided to head homeward. If we drove straight though I could be home around 12pm.
Gotta give huge props to David and crew at Buschur Racing for all the updated work on the car, installation of parts and most notably the new tune. Also thanks to AMSOIL, Forgeline, ACD-Tuning, KNS Brakes & Andrews Racing. The trip home was long and tiring. I'm thankful my Dad was with me, he drove the middle 4 hours of the trip probably and I ended up home about 2:30am ET. And yes I was at work Monday...

Road Atlanta - 3.10.12 - Day #1

 The day started with a 7am meeting. The TT group was first out at 8am. I went out on street tires with a goal to learn the track, stay out of the way of the locals, and try to set a fast enough time to stay towards the front of the grid.
The track was... pretty fun. Nothing too crazy. I was motoring down the backstraight and glanced down to see the odo approaching 140 really quick. Damn! Got past that; through the 'S' curve and then I went under the bridge and down the hill into T12. Holy sh1t; it was like the Log Ride - seemed like it was straight down. This was going to take some getting used to...

For S2 - I went back out on the street tires again. I was picking up the track, but definitely coasting down the latter part of the backstraight and down 12 (the huge hill) I netted a 1:39 still on street tires! I was actually pretty proud of that.

For S3 - I bolted on the Hoosier R6's. 2 were new; the other 2 were used so I'd need to scrub everything in. I tried to keep my track positioning in the first 2 laps and control the inevitable skids - which was fun. After a 1:37 I reset my tire pressures and was ready for S4 to hammer it.

S4 - Traffic! By now I was working my way through some of the TTS cars that are 1 class above me and run more HP. I'd catch them in the first part of the track but they could pull away down the long backstraight and down the big hill in T12. Track positioning is definitely important for a flying lap in TT. Best of 1:36.5.

S5 - I was up to 7th on grid by now, but as not everyone went out I was actually 3rd. This proved to be my best track position and allowed me to hammer w/o having to worry about navigating any traffic in front or behind. I had my best laps of the day; with the overall best of 1:34.8 that netted my 1st place out of 3 in my class of TTA and 5th out of 38 overall in TT.

The day turned out great, the Evo made it through it's first track event of 2012 with flying colors, which included a new tune by Buschur Racing. No problems over the ~100 miles on track including a top speed of 149.87 mph on the backstraight and around 130 on the front!
So I quickly rotated the tires and checked the car over before Then off to the NASA awards ceremony just off the main straight.  Above is a good vid from Session #2 looking backwards to demonstrate some of the elevation changes at this track.  Enjoy!

 

Buschur Racing Installs

After spending a few weeks at Buschur Racing, here's the total installation list.  Some of it was planned, some of it we figured out was needed after tuning on the dyno.  All-in-all here's the list of installs & updates the car got while at Buschur:

• Buschur Racing Oil Pan
• Buschur Racing O2 Housing
• Buschur Racing MBC
• Buschur Racing Evo Air Filter
• Buschur Racing Single Bend MAF Pipe
• Synapse BOV
• All A/C components under the hood removed
• 100 oct Dyno Tune

Fetching the car from Buschur Racing

David from Buschur Racing notified me Wednesday the car was ready to go.  So after checking the weather forecast, I left after work Thursday for the 1000 mile roundtrip.

Thursday 2/9/12
Took off after work to get the car. Drove about 5hrs and stopped for the night. Nothing special (thankfully). Watched some B-Ball and got the weather forecast for the next day which was some lake effect snow.

Friday 2/10/12
Got up at 5:45am ET, showered, coffee & muffin and on my way. Got to Buschur's about 10am ET. I believe the total from work was 7:15 and 470 miles. Only person I knew was David so I met everyone slowly, grabbed my trailer; loaded up the car and got my dyno sheets after talking with David for a bit.

About 11am ET I was packed up and on my way. I decided to take a different direction home - avoid lake-effect snow, avoid the tollroads with the trailer and get some new scenery to hopefully help keep me awake. I was also curious it the overall time was comparable. The crappy part was the first hour or so was all 2-lane. I did drive past the Mansfield prison (aka Shawshank) which I was lucky enough to tour during NASA Nationals last fall. Shortly after that I hit the interstate and after my GPS re-calced it told me about 15min longer this direction which I was fine with.
12:30pm ET - stop for gas, food - and it started to snow! Great. It wasn't collecting but it was sure causing some visibility issues. Snow came and went really.

Crossing into Indiana the weather cleared up; then got worse towards dusk. Had some sleet for a bit but really no ice which I was more worried about.

I passed through Indy about 4pm ET - fortunately traffic wasn't too bad. The bypass was busy but the weather wasn't bad at this point so that was good. This is about the half-way point for me.
Had a fuel stop just before Indy, so a restroom stop afterwards along with some much needed water (bought a gallon; drank half) to try and cancel out all the soda I'd drank all day to stay alert was in order. Started getting dark as I got back to IL and the weather got crappy again. My last stop was a rest area around 6pm CT and you can see the fun below. The last 1.5 hrs there was a 28mph headwind that actually made it difficult to maintain speed! I seen my mpg drop about 1.5-2 mpg just in this stretch alone!

I got home just before 7pm CT. Exhausted and very hungry. Total trip counter below. Just over 7hrs there - much faster with no trailor! The truck also crossed over 30,000; only 1.5 yrs old too

2012 - Parts on Order!

While the car is currently sitting at Buschur racing, I've been busy gathering parts needed for 2012.  Some the Evo has been waiting on for install and re-tuning, some are needed for maintenance before the first event and others will be needed down the road in 2012.  Here a quick list of what's either been delivered or ordered in the past few weeks:

• Updated ACD - ACD Tuning!
• Hawk Front Brake Pads
• PowerSlot front rotors - slotted & directionally veined
• Flat aluminum piece (reinforcement for splitter update)
• 3M Epoxy (for splitter update)
• Buschur Racing Oil Pan (improve oil pressure under G loads)
• Buschur Racing O2 Housing (more powa)
• Synapsis BOV (better hold high boost)
• Set of Hoosier WETS (road/race tires for use during rain days)
• Ice Vest (hoping to keep cool this summer)

January Tuning Trip - Part 2

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 since Oct) and backed it off the trailer (first time since Oct). It was still wearing Hoosier A6's so I took the time to swap my street tires back on. Parked the trailer in the back; locked the Evo - repacked all my tools and such I never leave without - and we were off on the ~500 mile return trip.

Sat 6:30pm - Now the debate; drive straight through or not. We decided to head back the same way as the roads were good. I originally was going to head back via Cincy - Indy just for new scenery but that's where all the ice had fell the night before. Eta would be about 2am if we made the full trip; all in the dark. We instead decided to hotel it; picking the same hotel I had booked Fri night and never made it...lol. It was about 3hrs away near South Bend. We got there with a fuel & food stop around 10pm.

Sun 6am - Back up and on our way... No change in the weather; just cold. We busted through Chicago taking I-55 home and the only drama was having to fight a strong cross-wind the last 3 hours.

Sun 11:30am - Made it home safely. Unpacked a little; then a shower and a beer! Later a big meal; more beer and lots of football!   The total trip counter (right) showed just under 17hrs driving and 1000 miles.  Whew.  And just think; I've gotta go get the Evo shortly!

2011 Season Recap!

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

25,000 miles and 83 track days in total on the car, all with the stock motor, cams, turbo, bottom-end, etc. 
As always a huge thanks to AMS Performance, AMSOIL, Forgeline, Hoosier, Hawk, Boostin Performance and Buschur Racing.

Replacement Part Needed!

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 of longer days at work and final prep to the car meant my schedule was tight. I had to get the car loaded no later the Wed (don't like to fire the car up late with neighbors and all). So around dusk on Wed I was loading the car and since I removed the front splitter (moving onto Config #2....) I figured I would not need to use the extra 2x12's to load the car. Well, the front didn't scrape, but something else did! The low point in the middle of the car obviously being my exhaust, with a clamp right in the middle. (see pic)

Being I run a Buschur exhaust, I got ahold of them early Thursday morning to find a replacement fitting. With my plans to leave Friday mid-afternoon for the drive to the track we decided to have the part overnighted to my Friday night hotel. So a big thanks to Buschur for working with me and the Holiday Inn Express for (I hope) for accepting and holding my package.

NASA TTA Win & Track Record @ Gingerman!

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). I ran just 2 laps of fun in the rain and literally slid through the last turn and into pit lane - but everything shook down just fine.
I went out in the first timed session, and planned to hammer it right away while the temps were still cool. It was a good plan, but I took it a step too far and blew through the first turn on my 2nd full lap. Just a scenic trip through the grass; no harm no foul other than a DQ for the session. Everything mostly felt good except the car liked to understeer out of some corners which seems to be a theme my last few events. It was bad enough in some turns that it was literally hopping while fighting for grip.
Anyways, in the final 3 sessions I put down faster and faster times and ended up with a 1:32.1 which snagged me first of 4 in class and broke the TTA class record.

In the last session I got a soft brake pedal so I figured my already this pads were shot. As soon as the session was over I tore into the brakes. I had put in an older replacement set to hopefully get me through the weekend; but they only lasted 1 day as they were down past the middle wear marker on the RF. Having a new set of DTC60's; I popped them in and rotated the tires to get ready for Sunday. I'm not a big fan of doing maintenance at the track, but this isn't a bad job and the temps weren't bad at all. Much better than how the day began with all the rain!

Sunday

Sunday we got to run the new config which adds about a 1/3 mile to the track in the form of another carousel turn and a longer backstraight that starts uphill. It took a bit to get used to it as their's really 2 carousel turns and some off-camber downhill stuff - the longer straight...well it's straight! Carousel turns can be difficult to get a handle on, especially if your car doesn't handle well. I think mine handles pretty well, but it seems to be disliking corner exits more and more over the past month; understeering like I mentioned above. It's probably a combination of a few things including the fact my JIC coilovers have 35+ days on them now and likely need refreshed. I also have the camber plates maxed out up front which only nets me about -2.5 of camber. And lastly I've been running a higher class - TTA. Even though I'm not fully utilizing my points allotment yet, I am running more horsepower which in turn seems to make the corner exit understeer that much more pronounced.
Anyways, I dealt with it the best I could in the carousels and came away with a best of 1:40.6. This time I flip-flopped with a TTA Corvette from Sat and finished 2nd of 5.

Old Course vs New Course:
Just to give you an idea of the changes and how they affect the Evo vs others:

• 1.8 miles vs 2.2 miles
• Top speed on backstraight of 110mph vs 125mph

Anyone that's competitively tracked an Evo knows that we fall victim to straight-line speed to things like Corvettes! I think the longer backstraight definitely brought this sad fact into play with my finishing order. The longer straight combined with basically 2 additional carousel type turns made for a new course that doesn't seem to flow quite as well. Then again; based on my results over the weekend maybe I'm biased! haha.