Look forward to seeing you in Toledo. I've decided to spend Saturday there to spectate. Lots of rotary goodness in the entry list and all the local Detroit Region members to cheer on.

 

Nice progress John! You'll absolutely love the RS-3's. Nice video - but I think your 53.3 is a typo (your best was a 55.3 iirc?)

I ran a similar time to you in STX (55.4), and it was interesting to see your tighter line around the "goose-egg" skid pad. I definitely lost some time there to you.

 

I haven't even watched the video yet... Greg put them together so yes it must have been a typo. My best was a 55.3, I think he had a 56.3.

I'm gradually learning momentum lines. This car is so painfully slow that any time lost to sliding around or slowing down for tight turns really hurts.

How bad are full tread RS-3s compared to shaved... any idea? I found a set but they're full tread and I did *not* enjoy my set of unshaved RE-11s... was like driving on grease.

 

I haven't compared a shaved to a non-shaved set, but Hollis has said many +ve things about how the RS-3's perform even at full tread depth that I just ran my RS-3's unshaved. From my "butt dyno" their grip has seemed to improve slightly as the tread has worn down (I'm somewhere around 5-6/32nds right now).

 

something about a mx5 with the robot from hitch hikers guide to the galaxy driving...


the 6/27 WDCR#3 vid is the vid i was watchin lol

 

I don't get it.

 

Loving the hankooks. I took 3rd at the Toledo ProSolo and my co-driver took 4th. The tires loved that surface, the car was predictable and quick and acceleration out of corners is much improved.

Still... the car just really isn't there. I had what felt like a couple hero runs Sunday morning but I was still .4 out of the lead after two days. And Ian was having a bad morning with cones and redlights and would have finished about a second up on me if he had those raw times cleaned up.

There are a few little things I can do to improve the car - lighter seats, lighter wheels (with an extra half inch of width), improve the brake bias with different pads - but I am not sure the car is ever going to be a top car. It's making good power - we were getting the CRX in the straight line stuff, but it just is too heavy and with not enough tire to hang in the corners. The bummer is that the car is super fun to drive. It's just not quite there and I'm not sure it ever will be.

I think I will run it locally the rest of this year but I'm not taking it to nationals. I will probably hunt around for something else to run out there and either bag out on the Pro finale or find a Miata to drive.

 

Good thread

 

Not sure to many others here would be so disappointed with ONLY getting in the trophies at a ProSolo! You both must have been driving well to finish 3rd and 4th. Keep up the good work as you are really encouraging others that this car is not that far off the Miatas.

 

Maybe I'm expecting too much too soon but I built the car to win, not to trophy. All the same, I think the differential between me and the top guys is just too much right now. Typically I'm about 1 second off of Ian on a 60 second course, and if Ian had gotten his best run clean it would have been a second. There isn't any one thing I can point to with the car that says "fix me and find a second." STS is relatively weak in participation on the east coast so for what it's worth. If a couple other guys had shown up that had originally planned to show up, I wouldn't have trophied. No way.

I may try a couple things to improve the braking, namely going to a less grippy rear pad and see if that helps. But the next big steps (wider, lighter wheels and lighter seats) cost enough money for what will likely be a small return that I'm thinking it's not worth it to do them.

Maybe it's post-event frustration but right now I'm not in a happy place about the car.

 

Awesome.

 

Here are a couple pics from the event.

 

Hey man, this thread is a great read. I just got an '89 GTUs myself, and was thinking of going running it in STS as well, and this is good inspiration. Thanks for posting!

 

Ok, so I convinced myself to take the car to the ProSolo Finale and Solo Nationals in Lincoln, NE. It'll be good data, and while the car isn't capable of winning a title, I'd like to see just how far I am off of the top cars and drivers.

Now I just need to get Keizer to make me a set of 15x7.5 lightweight wheels and source some stock rear brake pads and I'll be all ready to go.

 

WOOT!!!!
Way to Represent!

 

That's great to hear John! Good luck!!!

Btw, I love this SoloLol pic from the Toledo Pro:

 

Lmao!

 

i usually don't around here much, so i guess that's why this build went unnoticed by me. great build thread. you built this thing and now have it doing what it was built for. i call that success!

 

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to see people are enjoying the thread. I certainly enjoyed building the car and it is a blast to drive. Just need to be patient while we try to get faster.

 

Forgot to mention: I turned over 2,000 miles on my rebuild (177,200 miles on the chassis) on my way to the gym yesterday. It's never once flooded on me, it doesn't use any coolant, doesn't leak, doesn't smoke and starts first crank every time.

Now I just need to get back to the dyno for some more tuning...

 

You run it without coolant?!?

 

I never said that...

 

John,

Have you ever checked to see what kind of dB numbers the car has been hitting at National Events (Tours/Pro Solos)?

 

Yes, in DC we were between 95 and 97 dBA both days. In toledo we were between 95 and 97 dBA both days with one stray reading at 100.4 dBA (could have been a plane taking off or noise from the adjacent lane - Ian's header cracked and it was making an unholy racket).

I have a different muffler I'm going to have put on before this weekend's event if possible. I'd really like it to be no louder than 90-92 dBA.

 

Congrats John on the 4th place in PAX on Saturday