I entered my first national event this past weekend in Houston. Every big Super Stock driver in the country was there; I recognized everyone as past/present national champs or as instructors I have learned from. There were 12 of us entered: 10 Z06's, a brand new M3 and myself. I finished dead last; blew my last run on Sunday trying to make up lost ground. Anyway, those guys were awesome to watch. I have yet a loooooong way to go.

Only good news was this pic; best corner I did the entire weekend.

Yes, Hedwig, the box was still installed!

 

Great Pic! It great to see someone still running a FD at the national level. Hope you do better next time.

 

Nice action photo. Kinda looks funny with the passenger wheel off the ground...LOL

 

Way to go, D! Looks like your smoke screen trick didn't work as planned though? Haha...

I was thinking of trying the Seattle National Tour this year. I'll be in the ostricized and ricey class of SM2. I think a coupla other NorthWest forum members may try their hand too.

 

SM2 is catching on; there were a couple C5's there and here locally we have some MR2 turbos as well.

I don't remember locking the right front into the corner or any wheelspin coming out. I think what looks like tire smoke is actually flour from the marking lines. You can see the pointer at the apex just behind the front wheel. Where ever the smoke came from it made the pic look cool!

 

]

Was Tom Kotizan there in his black Z06? How'd he do?

Jeff

 

What class? I know we had no black Z06's in SS. I remember one in BP and another in ASP I believe.

 

Great shot, Damon! Excellent job anyway!

 

Were you running R-compound tires? Those help a lot.

 

thatguy,

were you really running 180 mph in your avatar, or is that photoshop?

 

great photo!! Thanks for reminding me why I love the stock look. good luck in the future

 

nice pic, DamonB. man, i was gonna go too, but i got mixed up with some female ****. gave up an auto-x weekend for a chick ... learned my lesson. were erik & beth strelnieks there in the yellow Z06? they retired the black FD that they had been running in SS ... waah.

and, what tires were you running? i've been thinking about another set of Kumho V700's. erik ran with Hoosiers on his FD last year ... but, i ain't coughing up that much dough for race tires.

 

My education with race tires started just a few months ago. I bought an ancient used set of Yokohama RS008II's. Everybody points and says "Where did you find those? They have been gone for YEARS!" So yes, I am giving up a lot in the rubber department. The Yoks are almost dead and I have a set of Victoracers as well as a set of Hoosiers waiting in the garage. Can't wait. I expect to have the Kumhos in within the next few events. For me, that won't be long

 

Erik ran in SS with me and Beth ran in ASP. I took my Evo Phase I with Erik and did some shake down runs with Beth last year before Topeka; both nice people.

 

Definitely ... Erik and Beth are both super cool people to be around. So, Beth ran in ASP ... I'm guessing they took the ReX down after all, huh? Last time I talked to her, she was thinking about a 20B conversion ... since Solo II SP rules are kinda vague about engine swaps.

 

No, Beth drove the same Z06 in ASP. Since it's a SS car, there's nothing on it to prevent running in ASP. She and Su Brude (from our region) were head to head; Su beat her.

 

Not surprised there. At the last auto-x in March, both Erik and Beth struggled a bit with the Z06. They had both cars there and both of them posted better times in the FD. In fact, Beth pushed it too far on the last sweeper and took out the timing lights along with about a dozen cones.

 

The finish in Houston was very quick with a switchback just before the lights. I spun it through the lights on my second run Saturday. I was pushing hard and when the rear stepped out I was already close to the finish, so rather than lift and save it I kept my food planted, passed through the lights completely sideways and looped it without hitting anything on the other side. I remember looking out the window behind my left shoulder as it came around ready to whip the front the opposite direction if I was too near the cones. I backed it right between a pair of them past the finish, pulled back in and no DNF!

 

In my defense I didn't take out the timing lights:-) As for the Z06, well, those tires already had over 50 runs on them so they were pretty much toast:-)
It was great to autocross the Rx7 again...and it's currently in the planning stages for modification. I figure it'll be back out in national level competition in 2 years tops


Beth