SS Nationals has at least 1 FD
 

So far there's at least one of us playing with the big boys at Topeka, a 93. Also a Lotus Esprit, and a Porsche, so there will be a little break in the Corvette tidal wave. It would be great if the FD could trophy, I'll be cheering him on, but at least I hope he beats the Lotus and Porsche for "best in class (not a Z06).

Got a link, so we can stay current with the events?

There's one playing in SM2 also...

Dan

Shit. I was planning to go until I needed to replace my turbos. I have to decide this week or so if I'm going to head to Topeka like I originally planned.

C'mon Damon ... you know you want to go. Besides, me and Corey need to have someone else to joke with while we're getting are arses handed to us by Erik and Ames and Salerno and Kotzian and ..... uhh, why am I going again? ;)

-Don

I may pull it off yet; it's strictly a money issue at this time. This month had a lot of unplanned expenses and if I'm going to Topeka I need fresh tires in a week or two so I can scrub them in...

Be sure to post the Geez plots from that!

Here's your link:

http://www.myautoevents.com/pls/scca...sclass_code=SS

Sandro came in 32nd last year, maybe he can move up a few dozen spots.

Good Luck Sandro!

Tomas

Unless he blows up he's not playing in SM2, he should be owning it. Its VERY well done car and he's a national champ driver from MR2 he had before this. Looks like Teresa is back too so potentially could be two podium spots for the car.

Go Mazda!

3 FDs in SM2, yeah baby!. I've raced against Alan Densmore and the black Tri-Point car a couple of times, so I'll be cheering him on. It smokes like crazy but it is fast.

That Lotus isn't an Esprit, it's a new Elise. They're planning to run it to get some data to help determine which class it should fall into. They will be DSQed, but it should be fun to watch anyway.
I'll be in ESP myself, hoping it stays dry so I don't get whooped by the EVOs and STIs.
I was working the north course during SS last year. Sandro looked good, but then when the Z06s came by, accelerating out of the tight turn, it just wasn't even close.

that is crazy how many C5's are in that class. Kind of sad.

The new Lotus has a Toyota 1.8i engine with VVTI from the Celica I believe.... however it is around 1800lbs so it must scoot along and Lotus is known for their handling.

-Mark

The Elise is actually around 2000 lbs. I believe listed curb weight is 1980 lbs. Still half a ton lighter than either an FD or a Z06. Craziness.

I'll be interested to see how Randy Chase does in the Elise at Nationals. He's a good driver and the car seems to be pretty much turn-key (except for tires).

Anything that makes the 'Vettes sweat is okay by me. Is the SCCA thinking of classing the Elise? I thought it was on the exclusion list.

It's not on the exclusion list but it's not classed either. It's in limbo...

It's being allowed to run in AP currently.

The SEB will apparently be classing it after the Nationals.

The talk is both the stock and LSS versions will be classed the same.

Russ

Judging by the times at San Diego it doesn't look like the Elise is going to be a player in SS, it was smoked pretty handily by a bunch of Z 06s, though it was the first time out for the car.

Nationals & SM2
 

Car does not smoke anymore due to new and upgraded turbos!

This year I am ready for rain. Last year some great fellow RX7 owner pulled off his new Ectsa's of his 7 and helped me put them on mine. Never meet the guy before then but it was wet and I was on Hoosiers. He was a great sportsman.

Anyway this year I have new turbos, different front tire-wheel combo. However Andee Mckee in the Tri-Point RX7 in blazingly fast.

Hope to see some of you there. Come over and say Hi.

Allan

Elise v Z06 v FD in SS class
 

I wouldn't go so far as to predict that the Elise will be a "non-player" in SS, since as you say Randy Chase & Robert Puertas (the guys who raced the Elise in San Diego and AFAIK brought the same car to the Nationals this week) haven't dialed the car in and are using the stock sport pack shocks and front sway bar. Not sure if they will be making any changes for the Nationals other than changing the alignment, but I predict the following pecking order when all the above cars are sorted out next year:

1) Z06, 2) Elise, and 3) FD.

I had hoped the Elise would be more on par with the Z06, particularly since I have money down on one to replace my wrecked FD, but it appears that may not come to pass. Once the Elise gets dialed in and the proper AX-spec shocks and front bar are fitted (maybe with a LSD as well), I'm going to speculate that they will be much closer to the Z06 and thus a "player." On the local & regional level though, it is all about the driver so I look forward to mixing thinks up in SS. Anything is better than Z06, Z06, Z06 . . . . . . . . . . in SS, even though I admire those cars' prowess & performance. However, once we start seeing how the C6 does, all the above might be out the window.

The FD should live on to do well in SM2, where I was competing before the car went bye-bye.

Just wondering if there was a rule book for the SCCA concerning FD's and different classes? I'm interested on actually building a track car.

Thanks,
Alex

autocross car is different than track car. :rlaugh:

track car you can do without interior. autocross car up to certain level requires that you have interiors. :mad:

I know they're different that's why I said that I was actually interested in building a track car. Therefore info on road racing and auto X would be appreciated in any form. I've always been a 1/4 mile type guy and now I'm trying to go to something different. I just want to get a rule book, website, hell anything so I can start to learn. Then I can decide what I'll do, that's what I asked. So could you or anyone else on here help me. So I can learn instead of being knocked down?

Alex

After 1rst day at Nationals RX-7 is leading SM2. Good... but ASP cars are faster.
http://ww2.scca.com/soloresults.php?ID=11

Looks like Spanky got Spanked. Although you did come back the 2nd day to beat his wife :)
http://ww2.scca.com/soloresults.php?ID=27
Just kidding Allan, Andy's a good driver and he's finally dialing in his car. He did take the trophy with quite a big lead, 2 secs, but lucky for him Gary Thomason decided to run in ASP. Not bad though considering Andy's running a stock mazda reman and original turbos.

He didn't do bad at the ProSolo Finale either. Took first there too.
http://www.scca.com/_Filelibrary/Fil...olo_finale.pdf

But I'm sure I'll hear a lot more about it when he gets back to work next week. See, I have the misfortune of having to work with that guy. :0 Just kidding Andy.

Steve O'blenes got 3rd in AP in his 93 RX-7

Here's another link to the SCCA site
http://ww2.scca.com/Solo.php

Looks like Andrew McKee took 1st place in SM2 at the ProSolos earlier this week. ProSolo is a lot more fun to watch, I'll have to try it next time they're in my part of town.

-s-

http://www.scca.com/_Filelibrary/Fil...olo_finale.pdf

Rain is wreaking havoc with some of the results. Again

How were there 1993 rx-7s in AP and BP?

Did it rain....again during the SM2 runs?

On the second day (Wed) it rained for the 1st and 2nd heats, and SM2 was in the 1st heat.

-Andy

Yep. Check out the SM2 times compared to SS and BS for instance. The SM2 times were in the rain so the times look bad compared to others. It's not because all the SM2 guys suck ;)

SM2 and Nationals
 

I can tell you for a fact we do not suck. Andy won both days with a great time. Andy just started racing his RX7 this year and as you can tell he has it really dialed in.

On Wednesday Rx7 1st. Andy on Hoosier Rains. Supercharged Miata on dirt stockers 2nd, Porsche GT2 Hoosier Rains 3rd, Allan RX7 on Victor Racers 4th. I believe that is how it went in the wet.

Congrats to Andy McKee the fastest RX7 autoxer in the Nation.

Also Andy won the Pro Solo in SM2 by beating Gary Thomason, a feat I did not think possible by a RX7 in SM2.

Andy is the stud.

Signed his fellow competitor

Allan Densmore

SM2 RX7

Even better: here's a blog from an SM2 driver!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=908124

Yeah I was comparing the times to SM and AS and BS and etc etc... and it just ddn't make sense. I wonder if SM2 will get rained out again next year... hmm...

Here's a question:

How are they going to correct the PAX scores for SM2? Right now the PAX for SM2 is nearly identical as ASP which we all know to be completely inaccurate. However, since the event rained on the SM2 guys, there's no way to figure out what the correction factor *should* be....
So are they going to leave the PAXes for 2005 the way they are now? If so, there's no point in my staying in ASP... :confused:

Well, seems like the most competitive car in ASP (Gary Thomason's Vette) has historically been the best car in SM2, that is before Andy got into the mix. But SM2 is still new so who knows, it could get faster than ASP, but I doubt by very much.

ASP has historically had a higher PAX than SM2. However, SM2 is still a new class and will only get faster. Scotty White's 2-time National Champ SM2 Z06 was completely ASP legal .... apparently he just didn't want to be humbled by Gary Thomason. Most SM2 cars are not even close to maxing out the rules. Once someone figures out the hot car and the right setup, the PAX numbers will start getting harder. If the Elise does not get excluded from SM2 ... watch out.

BTW, ASP ran in still wet conditions on the South course. The last runs were mostly dry, but there were still many wet spots on course that caused trouble.

WEll... the PAX index is not solely based on the results of the solo nationals but also on other national/divisional/regional events. If PAX were base solely on that.. it would be very different. There is a rough description on how they determine PAX on the PAX/RTP page

http://www.scca-chicago.com/solo/indexes/rtp2004.html


"This Index was developed by Rick Ruth and reflects study of results from over 160 nationwide Solo II events including, the Tire Rack® Solo II National Championships, National Tour, Subaru CenDiv Series, Chicago Region SCCA, Tri-State Sports Car Council, Wisconsin Autocrossers Inc., Southeast Divisional Series, San Francisco, San Diego and New England events."

Cool! Thanks!

No problemo