Hyper-X

Surprisingly, I feel that I'm almost at the limits of what the car can do in its present form. The tires aren't losing much traction despite its age, probably because I'm getting better with the throttle or just driving like a wus. Accelerating hard from 1st to 2nd on race rubber caused my clutch to slip for a second (this is getting worse as each month goes by) so I'm probably due for a change soon.

I'd like to experiement with more grip from wider wheels and tires but I don't think my stock suspension can take it without excessive compression and rebounding resulting from added grip... I think left to right transitioning will get worse when more lateral force is applied. I'm wondering if a more aggressive alignment would help beyond the OEM UK alignment specs...

smccurry

Jerry, that's a possibility that I'll have to look into. Probably not though.

808style, it is true that there are things to hit at HRP, but you can take your own pace. There are a lot of guys that go out there to just have fun and take it to 9/10ths with no problems. The S2000 team is extremely competitive though, and we run it to 10/10ths and in this case 11/10ths
That being said, damage to your car from solo II racing is rare, though it does happen. It is racing, after all.


Jimmy: Did you see Curtis' statement about future track set-ups on the hawaii forums? I think he's taking out his frustration at this past event on you guys which is wrong. He mentions that the track set-up personnel should not be trying to set it up only for their own cars. boo hoo hoo. He only won by 1.5 seconds this time.

Hyper-X

Yeah, I saw the statement and if that's how he feels, then I don't know what to say. When I was brainstorming about how the setup should be, it wasn't intentional to favor any car. I was hurting on the backside between the crossover and the chicane since I was between gears... 6000 rpms in 2nd with no power or 9000 in 1st? Our section was supposed to have both elements involving car control and short bursts of hard acceleration, kind of like a reward/punishment type of track. The fact that he didn't do as well is evidence that we included elements that challenged even the best of them. Jennifer is usually in the top 5, not too far away from Curtis, but I almost had her this event showing that for the first time we were able to find a weakness in the 240Z's armor. It wasn't intentional to disrupt "the flow" as some mentioned.

We made the Chicago boxes a lot larger and as Matsushige commented (after driving his Camaro), the boxes weren't much of a big deal for him so it wasn't designed to favor, for example, our S2000 necessarily. I recall Elton and I both commenting about certain areas that may give us some difficulty and that it was important to keep it that way.

This is just my 2 cents into the whole deal and I'd like to ask you guys for your opinions on this. Given the position of SCCA President and our reigning 1st place champ in overall times, I don't think that it is a wise/fair thing for him to be anywhere involved in the track setup because ultimately he can change the course that may favor his car. I understand that he brings a lot of experience both at the local and National level to our region and I appreciate that. I don't have a problem with anyone else being the course supervisor who's job is only to make corrections in cone spacing, marking off hard to read areas and designating safety zones where we need to excercise more caution.

rstark

Stephen, sorry to hear about your car, but think of the bright side - the dimples in your front fender from that @!@#$(&*()!&!#$ gasket install are gone. Whew, just thinking about it makes my blood boil!

PAKS2K

Is there going to be any pictures posted on the Auto X.

Sounds like it was fun

smccurry

You think that's bad. Have you heard that Jimmy and the mechanic from Pflueger can get it done in about 45 minutes?

I guess there's always the bright side to everything. I also don't worry about a junk-a-lunk car parking too close to me on the left side
It is somewhat embarrassing to drive around now though. I don't go through Waikiki when I can help it and I don't drop the top anymore.

smccurry

Hey Bruce. You can find lots of pictures and information here --->SCCA Hawaii

Kekoa

Glad everything is okay Stephen.