Monday, May 26, 2008

May 25, 2008 - SDAD Championship

Well, what a weekend it was. I haven't driven an autocross since the Porche event in Santa Barbra on April 20th. That was a learning experience, but was lazy again to update my blogger. I guess when i start winning i'll be updating more... haha

OT:
This weekend was full of activities for me to attend to. Friday come home...Saturday go to my brothers Graduation Pinning @ Cal State Long Beach... Sunday Grab a win in STS.

Progress: My car is a MESS!!! Friday night while coming home, as i passed Temecula i noticed my fromt right bearing was going out again. WELL little did i know, as i pulled into the mobile gas station the noise got WORSE. So when i pulled in, i jacked up the front end and what do i see.... MY WHEEL WAS ONLY HELD ON BY MY FRONT CALIPER!!!
My whole front end is messed up. I need new wheel hubs, axles, upper/lower ball joints, tie rod ends, front cross member, and wheel bearings.

Alright, now on to the event. Thanks to my good friend Clay Schoen I was able to Co-Drive his STS prepared car for this championship.

All those following my blogs, be aware of Clay... hes determined to get better and almost has the car complete to compete with the big boys. Some Instruction and seat time and he'll be up there in no time.

Anyways, STS ran in the 3rd run group and we worked 2nd. I opted to work at the Slolam since it had a 2 cone straight into a 45ยบ 3 cone slolam. It was something I hadn't ran on before so i wanted to check it out and see how much speed i can carry through there. Clay came along with me as well and listen to what i had to say about most of the course. After a reasonably short run group, we were next and i was itching to get out there.

I had conversations with Jason (international allstars) about this event and we were both excited to see how i would do in STS. Technically this was my first STS event running a semi prepped car.

So me and Clay were in grid getting the tires aired up properly, setting the shocks right, and placing our numbers. We decided that Clay would run his 4 runs and then I run mine after him... It didn't turn out this way at all...hahaha. Clay went out for his first run coming in the 64 second range. He said the car was very stable and that there was a slight understeer at the limit. I decided that i wanted to check out what he was talking about so i went out to see what could be done to change. The only thing i can tell was that the front tires were SPINNING mid throttle?!? Must be the corner weight problem (national tour we lowered the rear and upsetted the balance). OH WELL.... well as i came in, I ran a 61.4xx and what do I hear from the trailer?

"...and jonathan comes in with a 61.4xx.... thats good enough for 1st place in STS..."

WHOOOO HOOOO.... i know i was like the 5th car out in STS but i was stoked to just hear those words. Now i just need to maintain that stand. The car was feeling good, so Clay was kind enough to let me run 2 more runs. My second run I was able to improve my time to a 61.1xx and heard the trailer say that i was still in 1st. IM STOKED... but then again Marcko (sts 2.5 RS) hasn't gone out yet and his Co-Driver Bruce McArthur was coming close to my times.

'Street Touring S' - Total Entries: 8 Trophies: 2 Club Times


Total T. Diff.
1T STS 822 Bruce M 01 Subaru 2.5 RS DCCSD 62.131 60.576 61.102 61.031 60.576 -
2T STS 522 Marco V 01 Subaru Impreza RS SCNAX 64.058+1 60.902 61.443 60.935 60.902 0.326
3 STS 382 Jonathan L 91 Honda Civic Si
61.512 61.101 61.159 63.025+1 61.101 0.199
4 STS 73 Mark D 89 Honda Civic Si DCCSD 66.064 63.539 62.565 61.884 61.884 0.783
5 STS 888 Romel D 96 Acura Integra TART 62.607 71.224+1 61.886 62.426 61.886 0.002
6 STS 451 David B 94 Honda Prelude
68.520+2 63.768 64.047 63.714 63.714 1.828
7 STS 245 Clay S 91 Honda Civic SCNAX 64.962 64.254 64.152 87.544+1 64.152 0.438
8 STS 752 Rod S 06 Acura RSX-S
66.655 66.422 65.435 65.108 65.108 0.956

Well he went out and on his 1st run already beat my time and got down to the 60 second range. I know that if i had waited for my runs about the same time Marcko started, i may have been in the 60s range as well. I like playing catch up =). My reign as 1st quickly went down to 2nd... then by the end of the day 3rd. Im still stoked on how i performed tho... there were sections i know i could of smoothened out and kept steady pace. The Course was FAST BTW.... 3rd gear in a STS EF civic??? CRAZY Stuff.

Pos. Class # Driver Car Model Club Total T. Factor Pax Time Diff. From 1st
1 PAXSS 17 Gary T 04 Porsche GT3 DCCSD 54.467 *0.852000 46.405 0.000 0.000
2 ESP 82 Henry B 02 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 DCCSD 55.399 *0.841 46.590 0.185 0.185
3 PAXEM 143 Jeff K 58 Austin Healey Sprite SCNAX 53.226 *0.887000 47.211 0.621 0.806
4 PAXSS 37 Leslie C 03 Chevrolet Corvette DCCSD 55.666 *0.852000 47.427 0.216 1.022
5 IS2 200 Brian G 07 Mazda Miata SCNAX 56.572 *0.844 47.746 0.319 1.341
6 PAXF125 76 Michael C 04 Arrow AX8 SCNAX 50.603 *0.948000 47.971 0.225 1.566
7 BS 841 Jason I 05 Mazda RX-8
57.697 *0.832 48.003 0.032 1.598
8 BM 29 Larry D 74 Aardvark DB SDAD 52.018 *0.937 48.740 0.737 2.335
9 SK2HS 156 James W 98 Subaru Impreza L SCNAX 62.959 *0.776160 48.866 0.126 2.461
10 SS 142 Tom K 94 Mazda Rx7 DCCSD 57.439 *0.852 48.938 0.072 2.533
11 STS2 435 Michael H 95 Mazda Miata SCNAX 60.055 *0.818 49.125 0.187 2.720
12 PAXSTX 293 Derek P 97 BMW 328 DCCSD 59.932 *0.820000 49.144 0.019 2.739
13 STS2 35 Steve C 90 Mazda Miata SCNAX 60.153 *0.818 49.205 0.061 2.800
14 SK1AS 6 Jeff C 04 Honda S2000 DCCSD 59.686 *0.825160 49.250 0.045 2.845
15 DS 572 Carl M 98 Acura Integra Type R SCNAX 60.657 *0.812 49.253 0.003 2.848
16 M1EM 66 Mark K 58 Austin Healey Sprite SCNAX 55.692 *0.887000 49.398 0.145 2.993
17 STS 822 Bruce M 01 Subaru 2.5 RS DCCSD 60.576 *0.816 49.430 0.032 3.025
18 STU 126 Larry C 97 BMW M3 DCCSD 59.633 *0.830 49.495 0.065 3.090
19 STU 101 Thomas S 04 Subaru WRX STi SDAD 59.745 *0.830 49.588 0.093 3.183
20 M1CM 58 Terry L 70 Titan Formula Ford TART 54.911 *0.904000 49.639 0.051 3.234
21 STS 522 Marco V 01 Subaru Impreza RS SCNAX 60.902 *0.816 49.696 0.057 3.291
22 SK1BS 370 Kenneth B 06 Mazda RX-8 DCSSD 60.975 *0.815360 49.716 0.020 3.311
23 SM2 540 Paul R 92 Mazda Miata
57.381 *0.867 49.749 0.033 3.344
24 SK2HS 148 Tyson N 07 Mazda 3 SCAT 64.165 *0.776160 49.802 0.053 3.397
25 STS 382 Jonathan L 91 Honda Civic Si
61.101 *0.816 49.858 0.056 3.453

Yay i ended up PAXing in the Top 25/118. Not too shabby i guess...

STS was very competitive. Top 5 contenders were in the 60-61 sec range all within hundreds of a second. I had a blast and can't wait till Divisionals in July.

More info on that later...

No comments: