AutoX April 14th-15th Championship: The RETURN to HANDLING!

Been awhile since I've written about a past event and the results....so, here's I goes:

3RD Place! (out of like 21 entries....whew, number of runners in class keeps on increasing! First place was won by that immoral jackhole who doesn't belong in class but that's another story altogether.)

Besides that, I am happy to report the changes I have made to the rear suspension along with the alignment tweaks have helped to finally PUT the POWER DOWN coming out of corners which was one of the main problems of why it was hard to go faster.

NOW, her rear-end is tamed and she doesn't shake her booty all over the place like the macarena- she instead as Mystikal once said, shakes her ass but "watches herself."

- 2nd and 3rd Place Respectively-

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I'll discuss more in another post of most of all of the changes I've done to the rear suspension (don't want to divulge all my secrets) but just know that the mods involved an S14 subframe and new rubbers *wink wink.*  

Results here: 

http://members.quixnet.net/free2000/cscc041512_fin.htm#CST

Semi-Dirtay Racing or "SDR" (Not San Diego)

Some wisecracker once told me (and I'm sure some of you have heard this):  
"If you ain't cheatin', you ain't trying. "

Cheating goes on in all forms of sport and specifically in motorsports, it can and does happen. It's just up to the rules-makers to catch and enforce the rules imposed. 

Which leads me to this argument:  I do not like it when a driver competes in a car other than his own in autocross. Why?

Well, what I am getting at is that there was a certain driver at the last event who competes in my class who has his own car (that he has been racing for the past couple of years) who did this such thing: On race day, he found another guy who drives the exact same car but the difference was it had practically NEW Star Spec tires.  So why the switch? 

Engine blew? Broken upper or lower A-Arm?  Nope and nope- he just wanted to try and win.

- Mr. Sheen's Winning?-

Now it's perfectly fine to want to win and what he did was totally within the rules and nothing is against it BUT to me, I feel it is dishonorable and a real sucky thing to do. Whatever happened to using your own car to win?   Before you start spouting fire at me, hear me out...

This guy's car had no "mechanical issues" i.e. engine failure or suspension failure AT ALL. In fact, his car was running perfectly fine at practice the previous day before Sunday's competition runs. 

Only thing was, he was spinning like a top run after run which would lead one to believe that either he's not such a good driver OR his tires weren't gripping well.

So why did he make the switch?  I can list many reasons: Insecurity, infidelity, inconfidence, dishonesty, dishonorable, etc etc etc.... he did in fact state that his Hankooks were "done."  SO, that basically gives all the reason in the world of why he did it.

Whatever the case, my belief is that at this amateur/grassroots level of motorsport you should compete in your own car, barring any mechanical issues.  If your engine blows up or something broke and you can't fix it in time before competition starts, then sorry but you're SOL.

This ain't Formula1 or ALMS where you have a backup car or your teammate's car to pilfer if you're the #1 driver. Heck, I could've done the same thing this guy did like "Uh, I'm not fast enough SO I'll just go grab my friend's Ferrari and lay the smack down...."

Nope, not me...not ever.  Long as my car can run fine, I'm driving it. 

And the Bottom line:

Don't BAIL on running your car UNLESS you REALLY have to. Having shitty, worn-out tires DOES NOT count because that's YOUR fault for not using new tires for competition.

So to that guy who used another car to compete with despite his own car being PERFECTLY fine:

DON'T BE A DICK: DRIVE AND COMPETE WITH YOUR OWN CAR.

Thank you, end of rant.

2012 Wheel n' Tire Setups

For the 2012 season, decided to FINALLY go 5 lug because WHY THE HECK NOT???!  Plus my 240sx has been 4-lug for like FOREVER. 

And because there's just SOOO many more nice wheel choices when you go 5 lug, I got some new shoes for my gal to strut her stuff in:

AutoX/Grip- 

Enkei RPF1s 

17x9 +22 offset 

Shod with 255/40/17 Hankook RS3s 

- Mmm mmm Sexy-

- Sexymoarback -

AND...

Daily/DRIFT:

MB Battles

17x9.5 +15 offset

Shod with 235/40/17 Nitto NT05s

- Concavityness -

- MOAR Concavityness Goodness -

The Reason and the Rhyme: 2011 Season Review Part II

August was the beginning of the demise, start of the end, "insert dramaticky, epicky, words here."  I finished a hard-earned 3rd after driving the pants OFF the car and for the rest of the season, I did not post any wins AT ALL.

Talk about SLUMP.

In a manic-panic I started reading some more, digging some more online...I kinda went mad trying to find the answers.  I talked with fellow autocrossers trying to find a magic handling-unicorn where there was none. Because of all this stuff, I did these changes to the car:

> S14 Subframe (a supposed improvement over the S13 subframe)

> A LESS-TIGHT locking Cusco LSD (80% out of 100%)

> SBC Manual Boost Controller (which didn't work out that good so I sold it)

> Increased boost pressure via HKS adjustable wastegate (BIG MISTAKE).

That last item was the KILLER because it was what lead to this:

-GRENADED! Yep, this is kinda similar to what happened to my car...-

OK, the picture is a little bit over-dramatic BUT it's a good representation of what happened to the car when I OVERBOOSTED (yes, overboosted).  Yours truly got a little bit greedy and was desperate for a little bit more power so, being a dumbf*ck, he adjusted the length of the actuator rod a wee bit too short and result was lots and lots of smoke like in the pic above.  Probably killed a lot of mosquitoes too. 

Luckily, I had a spare KA engine block complete with pistons SO I did a rebuild (and added some good parts too) in less than 2 weeks to get the car ready for November's Autocross event.  But even that wasn't enough to make a comeback and so after November's event, I was surely going to finish 2nd for the season.

I'd like to thank my sponsors FRSport.com, Nismoshop.com, and Crown Auto Repair (C.A.R.) for supporting me with all the parts and accessories I've really really needed AND most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude to all my friends, family and supporters who have been there behind me this past year.  Without you guys, none of this would be possible.

Here's to a WAY more successful 2012 season!

- In the immortal yet misunderstood words of Awhnald Schwarznegger: I'LL BE BACK. -

The Rhyme and the Reason: 2011 Season Review Part I

RETROSPECT is a b*tch.  That being said, my 2011 Autocross season started out great but then ended not as how I intended.

And most of the blame has to be put on ME unfortunately.

The first half of the season was going good: I had posted 6 wins from January to July and the car was running good, setup was there. But then things started going south in August.  

I had started thinking sometime in June-July that maybe I should make a change to my car that would make it more faster than it was already because I was only winning by a few tenths to a near second over my nearest competitors.

Figured that if I do that, I would be able to separate myself from the rest of the pack and gain a bigger lead in the points standings.  BUT that didn't work out as I had planned...  The thing I wanted to change on my car was: Alignment.

Alignment can either help or hinder a car and in my case, it was helping me from January to July.  But before August, I read a few articles, threads, etc online SO an idea was planted in my head to try something different with the settings and see if that would make the car faster.

All I can say is: DAMN YOU INCEPTION!  Wonder if they could have done a mind-dive to take out that idea that had taken root in my head...

-

-Damn Inception: WHY MUST YOU ANTI-G FIGHT ME!!! Fight was pretty cool though...-

PART 2 of the season review to follow shortly...

Like the prodigal son, I have RETURNED!

SO...

Where have I been? Under a rock, in a hole, behind a tree???

There's both the long and short explanation but basically, I lost the motivation to write. Why?

To put it simply and bluntly: I did not win the championship in CST class, did not get the jacket...I came up woefully short and barely held on to 2nd place in the year-end standings.

And where am I now?  Somewhere between lost and found.

Here's to the first post of 2012.

Finally.

- 2012 AutoX Spec-

The Slump de Dumps: How humbling racing can be

All good sports teams go through a slump in a season, even the championship winning ones.  Why they go through a slump is subject to guesses, analysis, and overblown conclusions BUT the fact of the matter remains that in order for a team to take the next step and become a better team and/or champion, they must face adversity.

And it is from this adversity that the team learns just how much they're made of as it is a test of one's mettle, soul, and their character. 

As for me, I am going through a slump which is making me learn and realize what I am made of. 

It all started back in August with a 3rd place finish in that championship followed by a September of discontent with at 5th place result.  Now fast forward to October's event and we have.....

A 4th place finish....Do I feel down? Yes.

Am I humbled?  Most definitely yes.

What am I going to do about it?  Race on and keep on until I get to first place again.

Hopefully, that will happen very soon as I will ascend to the next level...that is the best I can do. 

Where is the horse and the rider....somewhere out where.