FSP 1.1

Needed: weedkiller

Wide open paved spaces, with no ditches, trees, walls, lamp posts
or other such hazards are great for developing and testing
car handling and driving skill.

Former and downsized airforce bases with sturdy concrete apron
pavement are particularly excellent venues. However, they still
need maintenance, crack filling, and weed control.

From the Southern Indiana SCCA:

Looks like lawnmower racing to me.

New season for f1, autocross

The Formula1 circus comes to town in Australia.

The red cars go fast ! More ridiculous smack-talking from
disgruntled Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone on
Saturday after once again putting Ferrari in pole position
for the Australian Grand Prix.

Ecclestone had sounded dismayed at the prospect of the
Italian team, who have won the constructors' title for the
last five years, embarking on another triumphant year
after dominating Friday's practice.

This is not the sort of day we were expecting or wanted
to see," he had told reporters. "It's a disaster. Ferrari were
not supposed to be going this fast. They were supposed to
have all sorts of problems with tyres and their engines but
it doesn't look like they have.

Nice impartial comments from the top man in the sport's
management. [News Credit: AtlasF1.]

In other motorsport news, year 2004 national level autocross:
The National Tour, Pro Solo come to Castle Airport, Atwater, Northern California.

2004 SCCA National Tour Autocross at Castle Airport, Atwater, CA.
2004 Pro Solo SCCA Pro Solo Autocross at Castle Airport, Atwater, CA.
Both hosted by San Francisco Region SCCA.

What I Drive (for Friday Five)

It is better to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

1. What vehicle do you drive?
2002 MINI Cooper.

2. How long have you had it?
1 year, 6 months. 19,000 miles.

3. What is the coolest feature on your vehicle?
Handling on transitions between corners, thanks to quick steering, and a
responsive suspension. An excellent car for a slalom.

The buttons on the steering wheel which control an iPod are also cool.
Thanks, Bridger.

Also note the cat-rescue mode, as seen in the owner's manual.

4. What is the most annoying thing about your vehicle?
No limited slip differential available as a factory option.

5. If money were no object, what vehicle would you be driving right now?
Audi RS6; and Lotus Elise.

If I had the money for the RS6, I'd not buy it but keep the MINI
and enjoy it more, on closed course private roads.

Also, with the money left over from not buying the RS6, I'd get a
Subaru WRX STi.

Submitted in compliance with Friday Five.

Subaru takes Pro street tire classes

News from the Pro Solo 2003 Finale in Topeka, KS.

Billy Brooks takes STS in a 2000 Subaru Impreza RS.

And Keith 'KC' Casey wins STX in a 2002 Subaru Impreza Wagon (!).

More information about racing Subarus:
i-club.com, subrew.com, nasioc.com (North American Subaru Impreza Owners) forums.

(ST in STS, STX means Street touring).

Kumho 710

The new Kumho 710 looks to be a very competitive autocross tire.
No more tread squirm, and no need to sacrifice wear by shaving the
tread away. Stylish, too -- looks like a Formula One slick, back
when Formula One ran on slicks.

Background: this is a DOT approved (or approvable, soon to be approved)
tire intended for competition use. Very grippy, very light. But not
durable, and might be scary in rain.

Thanks to Kumho for sponsoring SCCA Autocross.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Update, 2004 January: Released tire, in production.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Prototype, autumn 2003, with yellow letters:

Driving, NJ, not in a SUV

DRIVING: An S.U.V.? Oh, That's So Over!

The hills around the Vernon Valley in northern New Jersey have curving stretches
of graded, tree-lined back roads, and almost no traffic. It was here that Mitch
Joseph led a group of other car owners on a Sunday afternoon drive. Mr. Joseph,
38, an electrician from Elizabeth, N.J., likes to explore, looking for hidden roads
with what he calls rhythm, and a couple of times a month he shares his
discoveries.

As their all-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza WRX's hugged the twists of the two-lane roads
against a backdrop of autumn's peak display, the scene looked like a car commercial set
to a turbo-charged beat.

''I like the stealth aspect of my car,'' Mr. Joseph said. ''It doesn't look like a sports car, but
it performs like one.''

By ANNA BAHNEY, NYT, 2002 Nov. 11.

The WRX is great. Review forthcoming.

And the rear differential looks lie a mace. Great fetishizable kit.

Here's Keith Casey of Somerset, MA, in his WRX Hatchback/wagon.

Peevesome Peavey stickers

It's great that Solo2 competition has sponsors.
That sponsors actually make equipment we use
(tires, timing gear, suspension parts, and in the
case of Peavey, audio announcing equipment) is
great and makes our strutting their logos more
authentic.

However I wish the Peavey stickers did not
wilt in the wind and leave an icky goo behind.

Update: 2002 Dec 22
The Evo-list recommends 3M Adhesive Remover.
(Find it at any automotive or commercial paint supply).
Paint thinner, or lighter fluid also work fairly well.

3M makes a liquid called
3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner.
Part No. 051135-08984 for the 1 quart size.

It does a great job; also removes bug guts
and road tar.

It WILL damage body moldings that are painted
the color of the car or other plastic. It works great
on painted surfaces. I would test it on an area not
exposed/visible if you aren't sure as to what it
might do.

Turn/refold/replace your rag or paper towel often,
otherwise you just end up smearing the snot around.
When you're done, be sure to wax the area that
you worked on - most of these solvents will remove
the wax.


It's definitely flammable, so no smoking and will
remove all the wax too.


tire wear

My Bridgestone s03 Pole Positions are worn. Six autocrosses and 10,000 . Still, they are excellent rain tires, and good dry tires. Used at 95 percent of their limit, they are great tires. But exploring the limits and overdriving them rapidly wears the outer tread block. The s03 performs much better than the Yoko AVS I used prior. Click on picture to enlarge.

f1 Indy

Back in August 2002 , I toured the Indy Formula One course
and facilities. Saw the paddock, media tower, garages, and
suites. Took a lap, spun my wheels on grid, tested the ABS,
and rumbled over the curbs.

Conclusion: Indy is in great shape and ready for a race.

Some particular illustrated notes below.

MINI in full competition trim (direct from SCCA Pro Solo) is noticed.

A closer look at SCCA sponsors.

Tires: Falken Azenis 215-45-16

Cooper S comes by.

Cooper S goes by.

I take a lap.

Backmarkers !

Looking back. Love the sunroof and Nikon Coolpix twistbody.

ob BMW Compact e36/5 318ti. I am at Indy thanks to Tarun of the 318ti list.

The pit wall is wired.

Really wired.

The garage is wired for an international array of plus.

Friendly uniformed staff await the mixer.

Tired: swooshy logos; wired: winged logos.

Mini mania

Here's a car with exceptional handling.
You can throw it and catch it every time.

AutoX season has started

Autocross season has started. Results from round one are posted. I ran (three timed runs) and this was my best driving yet, both in terms of my driving and course and organization. The Oakland Coliseum parking lot is quite greasy and features mild elevation changes. The course was moderately fast, with only one slow corner. I counted 13 turns plus one short slow slalom and one 2nd gear rev limiter[*] slalom. My best time was ~55 seconds. The technique of rotating the car by tapping the brakes just after entering a corner was working just right, and feels so much better than scrubbing off my outside front tire under excessive understeer. I started with tire pressures f: 38 psi and r: 35 psi for my first run, then dropped 2psi out of my heated front tires. I usually make my first run with a high pressure in the front tires to protect them in case I overdrive them on an unfamiliar course. (Bridgestone 225/50/16 s03-pp). I find that an isolated really slow corner between two fast segments, such as the u-turns common on BMW-CCA-GGCs autox courses, benefit cars with great brakes and acceleration over the small nimble cars. The nimble and balanced cars benefit from sequences of closely spaced turns where the exit from one turn is the entrance to the next, so there's no straight to relax on and recover control of the car. I also experimented with seat adjustments. I put my seat (stock 1997 BMW half-leather sport seat, stock three-point seatbelt) at max low, max back, got in, put on my seat belt, exhaled, tightened and locked my seatbelt, then slid my seat forward about 80 mm so I could hardly breathe. The poor man's harness. The Toyota Starlet that set FTD was highly modified, and had a lucky (and talented) driver. Due to timing malfunctions, he got in a couple of practice (re-)runs which others didn't, thus had the spare runs to to risk oversteering while entering corners. Done just right, this is the fastest technique for a moderately powered car to conserve momentum, but done wrong easily results in a spin or taking out some cones with the outside rear tire. Especially on a greasy circuit, once you put more than one wheel outside of the lines used by the cars before you, you will lose some time if not go off course. The Boxsters and S2000 rock. Many new Toyota Celica were there, and a few BMW (the 540 was the most common model). A couple of well sorted VW Golfs, one A3, one A4. Audi A4, S4, and TT. GM F-bodies have such terrible throttle lag exiting corners, but a big engine and big sticky tires makes them fast by the end of the faster segments. My ti will never catch the Porsche 993 turbo and 996 turbo. Navid's tuned e46 m3 might. All three of those cars can really put power down during chicane transitions and are pretty to watch. The older 911 really hang their tails out, just like they're famous for. A couple of slammed Hondas with noisy exhausts were painfully slow, but a some older Civic Si ran just great. And a Honda Insight was well-driven on Kumho R-compounds. The old British Jensen and trailered-in Lotus Europa and Elan (circa 1970) are nice to watch but not particularly fast. A Volvo S80T6, a Lexus IS300 sportwagon and many WRX ran. There was one thing that looked like a Formula car (F3000) which wasn't that fast. Also, the SCCA classification scheme is a bit out of synch with times set by actual cars; HS is faster than GS. The sun came out and warmed up the course for FS and FSP, so FS had a one or two second advantage. (BS means 'B-Stock': A are the theoretically fastest cars, B a bit slower, etc, down to H; S means stock, where the main modifications allowed are R-compound DOT tires and shocks.) SCCA car classification table. The m44 Z3 is in CS, the 328is, 328is are in DS, the 318is is in GS; the ti can be entered as 'BMW NOC' in HS, and on street tires, my ti can be run in HSN. In BMW-CCA-GGA, my 318ti is classed with Z3-6cyl. [*] Maybe not on the rev limiter for an S2000. I'm getting addicted. Posted by dc at 02:30 AM | Comments (16)