TL;DR: 11-second stock turbo evo, smashed cars spinning out, 5 seconds faster on the road course, 2nd place TTS SU.
PG2014.1 is a wrap, fantastic weekend! This event gets more and more organized as time goes on and the weather this time was absolutely perfect--this weekend will live in my mind for a long long time as the icing on the cake of the best summer I've had in years. In December/January I decided that this year I was going to start road racing, and this event was my 6th road racing event of the season, more events than I've ever attended in a summer. I was conservative with money through the whole time so I could just get as much seat time in as possible and focusing on me sucking as little as possible.
Camping spot, i luv:
I'm still inconsistent but once the rubber hit the road I feel like every time I go out on the track I learn something new about the car or myself and keep adding these pieces to my effort to go fast. I'll never be 'the best' but I was shocked how the weekend turned out and I'm proud to say thanks to all of the people that have helped scoot me forward in progress through the year--I hope I did you proud!
I registered for the TTS (Triple Track Showdown) event in the Street Unlimited class. Valent9 is very stock compared to some of the other cars in this class, basically put in here only by the 1000cc injectors it has. That being said, I think we put up a good fight.
Saturday morning was drag racing, I am finally getting consistent with the car here. Stock turbo + the exedy twin disc are like butter leaving the line. I launched the car a total of ~28 times this weekend and she didn't skip a beat! I lowered the tire pressure to ~20psi and with the boost cranked up I was able to get the car down to a 1.7x 60' and 114mph. In June I was struggling to find 1.9's and 113mph. I ran several low 12 second ET's and last run of TTS competition I ran an 11.975, wahoo! Stock turbo son!
Wingless once again!
In grid for drag racing:
The car still has more in it (contrary to my dyno/ecu obsession with the evoX I have really let go of that on this car) so its probably time for a quick trip to the dyno and a turbo upgrade is still nagging in the back of my mind, purely to try and keep up to the guys in their light light RS's but the stock turbo is SO awesome everywhere else on the track I hate to mess with it. I did run without the new wing (see the dirty/rusty spots in pics, lol) for this event.
After drag racing the TTS guys hung around autoX and we ended up in the last heat, didn't get to run until almost 7pm. I re-inflated my tires to ~38psi and sat ready to kick some ass. It was late and started to get dark fast, but we made the most of it. First run out I ran a 35.x and found about 10 spots to go faster. I started to apply them in the second run but damn with the new tires the car just wants to grip and rotate so being conservative I wanted to just pick a few spots to go a little faster on.
At the end of the run, turning facing the setting sun, hauling ass towards the finish I was greeted with a bunch of missing cones so as soon as I realized something was wrong I hit the brakes...pulled past a smashed subaru that I had been talking a lot to all morning, very nice guy, very nice car but he spun into the wall....this almost never happens at autoX but it did this time.
I was a little shook up and honestly botched the next few runs, but finally started to dial things in towards the end. I LOVE the new swaybar/tire setup on the car. I got my time down to a best of 32.9 IIRC and watching the GoPro video of that run there are still a bunch of spots where I can go faster.
It got dark, we ate good food, drank all night and I tried to catch some sleep but I was wide awake for hitting the road course bright and early the next morning. I skipped breakfast and opted for a hot shower instead and showed up ready to rock my practice sessions. I did the 'super-size me' option for TTS and got 2 extra HPDE practice sessions for $50. This is a pretty impossible deal to beat. 4x 20 minute sessions, 9:20, 10:20, 11:20, and 12:20, just enough time inbetween to refuel and let the car cool down.
In paddock for road course:
I ran pretty good the first session, Matt D instructed for me and I was taking it pretty easy to get the car nice and hot and work my way up to going crazy fast. I don't remember if it was the first session or the third but an Integra TypeR spun out in front of me on turn 6. He gave me a wave and was fine, pretty scary none-the less.
The second session I went solo. I know I can't have my hand held forever, so I am trying to force myself to do this more and more--I have to make sure I know my own braking points, my own limits, and dial myself back safely when need be. Well it was a disaster. Nothing major happened but I was all over the place--my line sucked balls, my braking points were horse shit, and I was so inconsistent I was just literally yelling at myself (hrm I probably have video of this).
Third session, after talking with Matt about it he offered to come with but encouraged me to pretend he wasn't there and that he'd be more quiet. This worked awesome (not that I don't love every word coming from his mouth but you get the drift) as I asked a few questions when needed and he even didn't respond to me a few times when I was asking stupid questions/talking too much
At the end he told me I had all the pieces I needed to go around the track but if I wanted to go fast I needed to grow a pair and go for it. Gulp. Yea...I am definitely a big pu$$y so this was a good kick that I needed.
Fourth session I felt consitent, strong, and pretty quick. Stayed on teh line, worked on braking points, did my best to just find my zen/happy spot and fill it with E85 fumes and a big helping of 'yeee haw!' It worked. Car felt fast, I felt good, all set to go into competition mode!
After first lap of standing-start, ignition breakup. Easy fix?
After a quick lunch of cheese sticks, lunch meat, and crackers (of champions?) I got ready to do the fourth official TTS event: Standing Start Road Race/Time Attack/High Speed AutoX. Reference point: In June, I ran a bunch of 110.0-second laps and one 109.5. All kinds of stuff happened, but in heat 1 I ran a 108.6, about a second faster than my fastest time last time here. Yaa buddy! Talking with spaz he was in the 106's and I thought more about what Matt D told me....grow a pair....so I went out session 2+3 and started to push the car in more spots, get on the gas earlier, let it hang out in the tighter turns/carousel but most importantly use that new rear wing and hang onto 4th longer going into turn 1....WOW the car is just a f*cking rocket ship! I literally was freaking myself out going into turn 2 (right-hand sweeper, 100+mph) and coming out and flying through turn 3 like never before.
Finished run #8 with a 104.8 and literally woop woop woop'd it up out the window like I was almost running fast (other guys out there were running 100's and less, simply unreal--but lots of aero and slicks). I didn't care, this is so much faster than I had ever run before it was sawwww wheeeeeeeat!!!!!
Ahead of schedule, we got 4 more laps. I was almost out of fuel, so topped up from Ron@RS--next time I *will* bring that 5th 5-gallon container, yes sir!--and hopped back in the car. GoPro is dead, screw it. First lap out I'm FLYING through turn 2 just past the apex and OMG WTF!!! 10-foot wide and 30-foot long swath of gravel on the track. I'm going about 100mph, full throttle in 5th gear, and at the limit of turning right. I love you mom! Goodbye friends! I stay ON the gas and move teh wheel to the left about 1cm as smooooooooth as possible. The car slides left and clears the sand/gravel and I let off once out of the corner. Brown shorts. I hit the brakes and honk and wave at corner worker to stop the next guy, so scared its too late.
Someone told me it was Ronnie that had spun but later I found out it was spazzy, lucky ducky he was ok! Unreal spot to go sideways, I never want to do that.
Brown shorts in tow, I line back up. Adrenaline is PUMPING and I'm scared to go fast. Ugh. Man. The. F*ck. Up. Track is clean, time to do work.
105.x, 105.0, 105.x.
Whew, I'm consinstently running good times, almost 5 seconds faster than in June. YES. Pull up for the last lap and double-check, timing tent says, 'yes, this is your last lap---and you need a 104.42 to move up a position!'
Gulp. Eff you guys! That's 4-tenths faster than my fastest lap so far. No way dude.
Launch, miss 2nd gear, rolling away from the starting line by about 20 feet and just bouncing off the rev limiter, run is shot. Goodbye sweet time, just go have fun--this is your last lap! So I tear it up, put it all together, rest of the lap is just SO SO FUN! Come through the finish and look at the timing lights and cannot believe my eyes--104.24. Wahoooooooo!!!!!! I beep my horn and let out a 'yee haw' and I am pretty sure I see a few people on the starting area jumping up and down for me....(thats how I remember it anyways, lol). Still much slower than the next-fastest in my class I ran more than *5 seconds* faster than when I was here in June. BOSS.
That puts me in 2nd place for my class, and third place overall for TTS. I couldn't be happer! Yes there were a lot of guys that weren't running but I don't care, it was the perfect storm and I was able to have a blast doing it. LOVE IT, what a weekend, what a year!
In case I haven't said it enough, I want to thank anyone that's poked/prodded me into going fast from the sidelines or next to me and specifically: Spazzy, Shawn Carrol, Matt D, Mike Vida, Ron@RS, and Brandon Ranvek. You guys make this SO MUCH FUN and THANK YOU for helping me GO FAST!
Also, thank you to Andy Smedegard and the entire CWSCC crew for putting on TTS! Such an epic event, I love it!
. I have plans for it to be a shelf someday!
Bloody Seal Bounce Champion!
Sonic Champion!
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