Thursday we loaded up, and leaving at 4:30 sharp, we headed out to Lafayette Indiana. Home of the Subaru of America plant, the birth place of Simi's Legacy as well as the home of Purdue University. It was about 3 1/2 hours and an uneventful drive. About an hour to go, we spotted rain, and the last bit of the drive was a steady down pour. We arrived, and searched out a dinner, which ended up being a subpar visit to Chilis. Checked in the Hampton, and called it a night. Up at 7 on Saturday and a 5 minute drive to the Subaru Plant. The course was setup by the Indy region's club of volunteers. 89 Subarus showed to compete, and probably a dozen more to spectate.
The course was the exact same as last year, and was told the same as the year before. Changed tires, slapped on the magnetic numbers, and were ready to go. Simi ran in the ladies group first thing in the morning. She did well, and the car seemed happy. I ran the afternoon session with a slight drizzle, but times were dropping. My group was 45 cars, with 10 in my STU class, and the rest all running Street Mod. All the Street Mod guys were annoyed with my times some 5-6 seconds faster than theirs, yet I'm running my car at stock boost levels. I saw some old friends, and chatted and after our group was done we all had lunch. Subaru brought in make your own deli sandwiches, pasta salad, potato salad, fruit, and cookies. It was pretty good.
Post lunch, my group was already gridded so we ran again. My times in the morning session were getting chiseled away, so I had to go faster as well. I chipped down 3/10ths quicker on my final run, but found the morning session already secured the class win. Switch over to Simi's group, and she proved to be one of the fastest in her group. All said and done, the awards were given out, and Simi won the Ladies Challenge. An excellent effort, winning back to back. I won my class and finished second overall, beaten out by a former National Champion from Toledo. He's always fast. First place overall received a Subaru bar stool, and R/C car.
Simi drove home Saturday night, and we arrived around 9pm. We left the car untouched, trailer attached, and resting in the driveway. Sunday we slept in until 10am, then proceeded to make French toast and omelets. We watched Formula One practice, qualifying, and the race. Simi took an afternoon nap and I watched more racing on TV. Sunday night I worked on repacking the trailer's bearings, and cleaning up, and putting everything away. Simi cleaned house, and her sister and college roommate came over for pizza and salad for dinner.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Saturday morning, another points event. Ran in the first group. Car felt ok, but still is a Jekyl and Hyde machine. Sometimes I think it has a personality. Simi said she was fighting the car, but it started to get better with tire pressure adjustments. I ended up liking the car, but hating the course. Come to find everyone hated the course. Never fast, never flowing, just string after string of very slow speed, super tight corners. I was patient in the corners, allowing the car to rotate and blew out a huge 1.2 second lead over my class. They were baffled. Blazing heat the afternoon, followed by final results. I was first in class, 4th overall.
Saturday afternoon we were home by 4, and we found it a good time to nap. Slept until 6, then dinner at 7, and I found myself still quite tired, and was back asleep by 9. Simi got a 2nd wind and stayed up a little later.
Sunday arrived, and it was a normal quick event in the morning, and then a single elimination round in the afternoon. The course was backwards of Sunday, and modified to be much more flowing and fast. Sunday morning, my car was the exact same as Saturday, but it was impossible to drive. It just didn't want to do anything. I fell back and was 2nd in class, loosing by a few tenths.
Sunday afternoon, the field of 64 cars were all sent out. Simi was in the group, and she drove great. The fastest 32 of the field moved on, and that was paired down to the sweet 16. My run to make it into the sweet 16 the car came alive. It blasted the course 8/10ths faster than any run, and felt PERFECT. I was the #1 seed, having a 7/10ths lead overall. At the sweet 16, instead of having #1 go against #16, names are drawn from a hat. I was #4, so I was placed in the #4 spot. So much for that reward. I had a clean, decent run, but was slower, and just scraped into the great 8. My next opponent was a very fast Ford Shelby Mustang, who was actually first overall on Saturday.
He did his run, I did mine. He told me he had his fastest run of the day against me, and we heard his name announced on the loud speaker. I thought it was over, a valiant effort, but alas, I actually won that round. His name was announced as NOT moving on to the final four. In the final four, I was matched up against another Subaru in the same class. My times were quicker, but approaching the fastest part of the course, the car pushed wide on greasy tires, and I had to let off and brake. Hit a cone for a 2 second penalty, or let off and hope the coasting around didn't destroy me too much. I let off, and my time faulted. The other Subaru advanced on a clean run. It was in the final round, where it lost to a very quick Honda, giving the Honda guy the overall victory.
I lost not because I was beaten, but because I screwed up. Final four was a great effort, but at the wrong time the car acted up and tossed me a curve ball. It really is just this thing that you never know how it's going to react. I'd like to think it was just me, but my wife drives it too, and she is in the same boat. Sometimes it punishes you, sometimes it rewards you. Predictability needs worked on, and hopefully in time I can get it there.
Thanks for reading.
Saturday afternoon we were home by 4, and we found it a good time to nap. Slept until 6, then dinner at 7, and I found myself still quite tired, and was back asleep by 9. Simi got a 2nd wind and stayed up a little later.
Sunday arrived, and it was a normal quick event in the morning, and then a single elimination round in the afternoon. The course was backwards of Sunday, and modified to be much more flowing and fast. Sunday morning, my car was the exact same as Saturday, but it was impossible to drive. It just didn't want to do anything. I fell back and was 2nd in class, loosing by a few tenths.
Sunday afternoon, the field of 64 cars were all sent out. Simi was in the group, and she drove great. The fastest 32 of the field moved on, and that was paired down to the sweet 16. My run to make it into the sweet 16 the car came alive. It blasted the course 8/10ths faster than any run, and felt PERFECT. I was the #1 seed, having a 7/10ths lead overall. At the sweet 16, instead of having #1 go against #16, names are drawn from a hat. I was #4, so I was placed in the #4 spot. So much for that reward. I had a clean, decent run, but was slower, and just scraped into the great 8. My next opponent was a very fast Ford Shelby Mustang, who was actually first overall on Saturday.
He did his run, I did mine. He told me he had his fastest run of the day against me, and we heard his name announced on the loud speaker. I thought it was over, a valiant effort, but alas, I actually won that round. His name was announced as NOT moving on to the final four. In the final four, I was matched up against another Subaru in the same class. My times were quicker, but approaching the fastest part of the course, the car pushed wide on greasy tires, and I had to let off and brake. Hit a cone for a 2 second penalty, or let off and hope the coasting around didn't destroy me too much. I let off, and my time faulted. The other Subaru advanced on a clean run. It was in the final round, where it lost to a very quick Honda, giving the Honda guy the overall victory.
I lost not because I was beaten, but because I screwed up. Final four was a great effort, but at the wrong time the car acted up and tossed me a curve ball. It really is just this thing that you never know how it's going to react. I'd like to think it was just me, but my wife drives it too, and she is in the same boat. Sometimes it punishes you, sometimes it rewards you. Predictability needs worked on, and hopefully in time I can get it there.
Thanks for reading.
Monday, August 10, 2009
GL Div at Grissom
Drove out on Thursday night. 3 1/2 hours to Grissom. Hampton Inn for the night(s). Friday test and tune. 40 second course, unlimited runs. FUN! Dialed in tire pressures, and shocks, and pulled a full second against the closest competitor. Saturday, day one of racing, did my runs and found the car quite different, even though I didn't change anything. It just had some understeer compounded by power on oversteer. Hard to drive, yet same surface, different course, but blame it on the pressure of competition. I was down 2/10ths ending Saturday. Sunday started, closed the gap to 1/10th but still in 2nd place. Sprayed down tires, radiator, intercooler, engine, and myself as it was 96 on the car's temp gauge, and at the Air Force Base miles of open air made the constant 15mph wind feel like standing next to a hair dryer. My 2nd run the car felt great, like it did on Friday. I didn't change anything, I just drove. I pulled 5/10ths ahead of 2nd place which put me 3/10ths ahead overall. Second place driver over drove the car on his final run and lost time securing me the win.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Friday a trip to Canfield. Easy, but always the 5pm traffic leavingColumbus is difficult. Met Simi as she was closing the Subway storesand went to Quaker Steak n Lube for some wings. Saturday I was up at7am to play some tennis. I need practice but I had fun trying forsure! A few errands, and such, followed by a quick afternoon nap, thendinner at a nice pizza place called Inner Circle. From there we wentand saw "The Hangover". A hilarious movie, but not for kids.
Sunday, we were up at 6am, and out the door by 6:30. A rainy driveacross the turnpike landed us near Cleveland for an autocross. TheOhio Challenge, as the folks from Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, andPittsburgh were in attendance. Sadly, only 4 people from Columbus madethe trip. Half being Simi and I. We were out of it for the OhioChallenge, but still in for fun! We worked the 1st heat in dryingconditions. Second heat we made a trip for lunch. Third heat was ourtime to run. Simi buckled in, and we decided to let her do her 6 runsin a row. The quick turnaround between those driving two driver carswas pretty hectic, so we just did 6 and 6. Her runs improved, as Itweaked the car, adjusting shock settings and tire pressures. She hada good time, and I think did pretty well against the 13 total peoplein our class.
My 6 runs were to follow. The course was VERY fast, flowing down ahill at highway speeds around a kink, where it was threading a needle.Followed by a series of 180 degree turns, a blast back the other way,touching highway speeds again, then a flowing series of corners to thefinish. My times were in the hunt. On my 4th run, the car was justperfect. I hadn't had a run like that in a LONG time, were even Iwould get my fingers tingling, and just had a huge smile. It felt great.
On my fifth run, I told Simi I was going to just push it harder thanpossible and see if it works. "I'm likely to hit a lot of cones", Isaid. She replied, with "This isn't the coney challenge." - in areally comical pun of the Koni Challenge, a racing series that travelsAmerica. The object is to NOT hit the cones that line and guide thecourse. My 5th run, the tires were too hot, and on the 6th run I wasable to close in on my own best time, but I wasn't able to go muchfaster.
I changed my tires, chugged some water, and we packed to head home. Weawaited the awards ceremony. I ended up winning my class by somethinglike 0.088 seconds. Less than a 1/10th of a second! It was close! Myprize was a KONI CHALLENGE banner! Haha! Simi and I both had a greatlaugh at that.
Then they read off the top 25 index times. The index being how fastyou are, versus how fast you should be. A slow driver in a fast carwon't do well here. A fast driver in a fast car will climb the charts.The top five, top 4... then 3rd place... then 2nd place, and I won!Yeah! I won the whole damn thing.
My prize? A three night, four day trip to Orlando Florida! $50 creditto Universal Studios, and a $500 coupon book for area attractions! Weonly have to pay for our flight. Holy cow! The look on Simi's face wasso awesome. I was in shock! Many of my friends we happy for me, andgave me a nice hand shake or pat on the back. Such a nice group andreally make some great friends after doing this for so long. Our tripisn't likely until January or February as it'd be a nice break fromchilly Ohio cold. We drove home, and arrived by 6pm, in which we had anice dinner, and were both fast asleep by 9pm.
Sunday, we were up at 6am, and out the door by 6:30. A rainy driveacross the turnpike landed us near Cleveland for an autocross. TheOhio Challenge, as the folks from Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus, andPittsburgh were in attendance. Sadly, only 4 people from Columbus madethe trip. Half being Simi and I. We were out of it for the OhioChallenge, but still in for fun! We worked the 1st heat in dryingconditions. Second heat we made a trip for lunch. Third heat was ourtime to run. Simi buckled in, and we decided to let her do her 6 runsin a row. The quick turnaround between those driving two driver carswas pretty hectic, so we just did 6 and 6. Her runs improved, as Itweaked the car, adjusting shock settings and tire pressures. She hada good time, and I think did pretty well against the 13 total peoplein our class.
My 6 runs were to follow. The course was VERY fast, flowing down ahill at highway speeds around a kink, where it was threading a needle.Followed by a series of 180 degree turns, a blast back the other way,touching highway speeds again, then a flowing series of corners to thefinish. My times were in the hunt. On my 4th run, the car was justperfect. I hadn't had a run like that in a LONG time, were even Iwould get my fingers tingling, and just had a huge smile. It felt great.
On my fifth run, I told Simi I was going to just push it harder thanpossible and see if it works. "I'm likely to hit a lot of cones", Isaid. She replied, with "This isn't the coney challenge." - in areally comical pun of the Koni Challenge, a racing series that travelsAmerica. The object is to NOT hit the cones that line and guide thecourse. My 5th run, the tires were too hot, and on the 6th run I wasable to close in on my own best time, but I wasn't able to go muchfaster.
I changed my tires, chugged some water, and we packed to head home. Weawaited the awards ceremony. I ended up winning my class by somethinglike 0.088 seconds. Less than a 1/10th of a second! It was close! Myprize was a KONI CHALLENGE banner! Haha! Simi and I both had a greatlaugh at that.
Then they read off the top 25 index times. The index being how fastyou are, versus how fast you should be. A slow driver in a fast carwon't do well here. A fast driver in a fast car will climb the charts.The top five, top 4... then 3rd place... then 2nd place, and I won!Yeah! I won the whole damn thing.
My prize? A three night, four day trip to Orlando Florida! $50 creditto Universal Studios, and a $500 coupon book for area attractions! Weonly have to pay for our flight. Holy cow! The look on Simi's face wasso awesome. I was in shock! Many of my friends we happy for me, andgave me a nice hand shake or pat on the back. Such a nice group andreally make some great friends after doing this for so long. Our tripisn't likely until January or February as it'd be a nice break fromchilly Ohio cold. We drove home, and arrived by 6pm, in which we had anice dinner, and were both fast asleep by 9pm.
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