SCCA Autocross at TMS infield - 2nd in STU

[SWortham]

My friend took a stab at driving my car and pulled off an amazing 2nd place finish on his first try. He's good...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-HhkxAkpjM]YouTube - SCCA Autocross at TMS infield - 2nd in STU[/ame]

 

The only one to beat him was Terry Fair. Last year Terry got 2nd place at nationals. So he's really good. But with a little more practice and preparation it's looking like Mike could place very well at nationals himself.

 

Here are a few pics from the event...

http://www.gldomain.com/STi/autocross/2007-07-15/20070715%20SCCA%20Event%205%20-%20TMS%20015_800px.jpg

 

http://www.gldomain.com/STi/autocross/2007-07-15/20070715%20SCCA%20Event%205%20-%20TMS%20016_800px.jpg

 

And one of me forgetting to turn the "6" upside down and running with Mike's number...

http://www.gldomain.com/STi/autocross/2007-07-15/20070715%20SCCA%20Event%205%20-%20TMS%20122_800px.jpg

[KartRacerBoy]

I hate folks with raw talent. Was this his first autox or competitive event in a car? How far off Terry Fair's time was your friend?

 

I'm an exceptionally less than mediocre racer myself, if I do say so!

[SWortham]

Haha, it is kinda frustrating isn't it? He's been autocrossing for as long as I have -- about 2 years. We race with SCCA at almost every local event and we'll go to the occasional Equipe Rapide event as well. That amounts to maybe 10 events a year. But somehow he's just a whole lot better than me. He typically drives a RSX-S in GS and gives the Mini's a run for their money. This was his first time driving my car. And Terry was 7 tenths faster.

 

The funny thing is that people have given me a lot of flak when I ditched the lowering springs I had in favor of stock springs. But Mike basically proved to me that my car can be very competitive as it is now.

 

This was a day for firsts because it was also the first day to try out my new suspension setup at an autocross...

- Ohlins struts (damping adjustable)

- Stock springs

- RCE lowering camber plates (3/8" lower in the front, without reducing travel baby)

- Group N rear mounts

- Whiteline 24mm front/24mm rear adjustable sway bars

- Kartboy front & rear endlinks

- alignment: -2.1 degrees front camber, -1.6 degrees rear camber, 0 toe all around

- 245/45-17 Bridgestone RE-01R's

 

Although I think the best mod of all was a driver change, lol.

[KartRacerBoy]

Ok, 2nd is good, but IMO you're not really "competitive if you have one hotshoe who is 2 seconds ahead of second place. This means you have one really good driver in a class and a bunch of wannabes. The 2nd place driver can go to the big pond but he'll only get his patootie kicked by the big fish.

 

So how far was your buddy behind Mr. Fair in this event, time-wise?

[SWortham]

You must have missed it. Mike was 7 tenths of a second slower than Terry.

 

Terry isn't the only fast STU driver around here. There's also his wife Amy Fair, Jason McCall, Paul Magyar, Brian Hanchey. We'll see how we do at the next event, but I only expect Mike to get better. The scary thing is that he's been analyzing the run again and again and picking up where he lost time. I just hope some of his skill rubs off on me.

 

I also need to buy a harness... I think that'll help a lot and it's something I've put off for too long.

[KartRacerBoy]

Reading disorder! I read it as 7/10s ahead of you. Sorry. That's pretty damn good. I'm gonna go buy a Prius now...

 

As for a harness, get a CG Lock. Or be cheap like me. I use a device that rolls up the seatbelt to lock babyseats down. It winds up the belt with a lever after you jerk the belt to lock it in place. It cost $10 bucks vs CG Lock costing $40. Thank you Babys R Us!