[Randy Chase]

Should be fun. I will be racing a Toyota powered midengined car in C-Stock. Hoping to win some money and tires....


http://www.scca.com/news/press04_42.html

http://www.scca.com/amateur/solo2/prosolo/index.html


http://www.scca.com/amateur/solo2/prosolo/2004/sanbernadino/index.html

http://www.scnax.com/maps/norton_map.jpg

I will be back on Sunday night....

 

[ConeFusion]

http://www.scca.com/news/press04_42.html

Looks like our fellow EliseTalk member Imp (aka KC) is getting some good press there! Nice picture.

 

[Randy Chase]

Cool!

 

[ConeFusion]

Results after the first day are up:
http://www.scca.org/amateur/solo2/prosolo/2004/sanbernadino/results.html

Our forum master is sitting on 2nd place in CS. John Stimson, who I have also seen posting here, is on 7th in CS. KC seems to be on a cone killing mission, and is currently 8th in STX.

 

[Randy Chase]

Technically, first place in CS. A couple of circumstances came together to screw up my weekend.

The course was pretty flat out with two long straights. It rewarded horsepower.

DS and STS2 both did not have enough cars to make a class, so they bumped them into my class.

In DS, there are BMWs with 225+ horsepower to my 130hp MR2.

One of those BMWs (3 entrants) was driven by a very good driver (Evolution instructor Glen Hurricane Hernandez) and he beat my times by 1/2 second overall. It cost me $$ and free Hoosier tires, which was my main reason for running in CS.

I still take 1st place and get 20 points (max)... but I don't care about that since I am not going to run the CS series this year. Unless they somehow class the Elise in CS.

Good to meet KC (Imp) and John Stimson. John drove pretty well for a ProSolo rookie. Also attending was Andrew who was driving a new-to-him car this weekend and learning that the turn in on a Miata is not the same as his car.

Also my first event on the new S04 Hoosiers. Not so sure about these tires. Seemed a lot more sluggish than the S03s. Turn and fast transitional response was not there, but the car did drifts well.

 

[apkom]

Interesting observation: ES MR2 driven by Paul Brown beat best time in CS/DS. That's a 130HP car weighing much more than similar horsepower'ed MR2 Spyder or Miata. How come?
2nd and 3d place in ES also beat respective CS/DS times.
Did course concditions change?

The course was pretty flat out with two long straights. It rewarded horsepower.

 

[Randy Chase]

ES MR2s often do that because of the torque. Paul's car weighs under 2400 pounds and is about as well prepped as a car can be. Those MR2s are not 130hp, they are non-California MR2s that are 135hp stock.

It is my opinion that there is no performance difference between CS and ES and has not been in many events over the last few years. I often feel I could be faster in my older MR2. The Spyder has some limitations.

Lastly, I did not drive well for a number of reasons. I should have been faster.

 

[Robert Puertas]

Randy, how did the new Hoosiers hold up?
Was Norton as gentle as we expected on the fronts?

 

[MattG]

In DS, there are BMWs with 225+ horsepower to my 130hp MR2.

Why aren't you using the 49-state header pipe? Would that really be illegal for SCCA, when most cars in the US came that way (no second cat)? I've always assumed that was the reason the CA cars were down on power. Also, I've got a 49-state ECU if you want it, it's just taking up space in my garage (I don't know if there were any changes).

 

[John Stimson]

I think that Spyders are 50-state legal with 138-140HP, and Randy's just rounding down a lot.

The ProSolo was fun. I'll be going to the one in Atwater...

 

[Randy Chase]

I think that Spyders are 50-state legal with 138-140HP, and Randy's just rounding down a lot.

The ProSolo was fun. I'll be going to the one in Atwater...

Yeah... The Spyder has only one configuration. I did round down to try to get more sympathy about those monster BMWs.

Robert, Hoosiers showed almost zero wear. Norton is so slippery, they don't use much tire.

 

[brownsa5]

Randy,

Did you run the same pressures as the S03's? It sounds like the tire is very different than the S03's. Do you think more pressure would help, or that the lot influenced the performance?

I need to get a new set, and I really like the S03's. You have me nervous about the S04's (they sound more like kumhos). Maybe I should stick to S03's (on a miata)?

Thanks

Steve

PS - anyone else with an opinion please chime in!

 

[Randy Chase]

Tough because of the strange surface that is Norton AirForce Base. It's slippery. Like running in the rain.

Check out this pic.. you can see how shiny the surface is. It's sealed tarmac.

The general rule I heard was to bump up the pressures on the S04s by about 3-4 pounds. The general rule on Norton's surface is to run pressures a little lower (IMO). So I ended up running them about the same, which on the Spyder was 42-43 rear and 40 front.

 

[John Stimson]

Note that the reflections you see are in the shiny rubber layer that had been laid down on "the line".

The A3S04s definitely don't like too much pressure. I tried the A3S04s at a pressure that, although seemingly high, worked just fine on the A3S03s. Correcting for the extreme slipperiness of the asphalt at Norton, I'd guess that the pressures are nearly identical to what works on the A3S03s. Soon I will find out if that hold true on the extreme high grip end of the scale, at Castle.

 

[z06fun]

Your lucky it didn't rain, heavily sealed lots can be real real nasty in the rain, and then if you don't have street or rain tires, you start to wonder if you should just get out and walk lol.

 

[John Stimson]

Rain would have been great! I'd been practicing on Azenis for the last 8 local events, about half of them on wet asphalt...

Did I whine yet about my 150 pound weight disadvantage compared to the other cars in the class? And I was only 0.329 behind the 3rd place driver...Shoulda' brought a '99 sport!

 

[Randy Chase]

Shoulda' brought a '99 sport!

Spyder would have been a better choice.

0-60 feet... 2.01 seconds.

 

[John Stimson]

Shoot, I was pulling 2.1s in my lardy 2001 LS Miata...you sure you know how to launch that thing, Randy?

By the way, are the 60-foot and 200-foot times recorded anywhere, or did you just have to be listening and writing them down?

 

[Imp]

Sheesh, I come in here and I didn't realize I was being talked about!

Yeah, slick surface + loose car (it's a drift car) = cone killer.

I ended up 4th in STX, not bad considering the lack of hp. compared to the WRX in the calss, or that I drive.

Oh well. At least the weather was fantastic compared to here.

On a side note, no more ProSolos for me this year. I got back to work and found out that they have a bit of work for me to do in a small amount of time (6 months... for a 9 month project) so that means... no more taking time off for events, or keeping it to a minimum. (But Solo-II nationals is a must).

Nice meeting all of you guys that were there. Dave, you should have received my e-mail.

--kC