[WRX_Mundi]

It's a week later, thought I'd go ahead and post here in case anyone is interested. It looks like there was one other STi in AS (on street tires), and two WRXes in STX. We get more Subarus at our ~70 entrant local races! You can find links to videos after my rambling.

On Thursday I did the Evolution Challenge school. Fun, but made me realize how much I have to learn (of course). I did manage to beat Andy Hollis's time in my car, though he could have likely gone faster. He took 2-3 runs and it took me about 8 to beat him, so like the slogan goes -- now I suck less. Mainly I have a tendency to overdrive slow corners, which annoys me since I know I do it! Last year at phase 1 most people were on street tires with only a couple on race tires, and my car definitely was the fastest. This year with about half the cars on race tires, I was pretty slow. I asked Andy how he though my car handled, and his comment was "Your tires suck. I can't tell -- put race tires on and then we could see." This is Wendover concrete, which eats tires alive, so I ran the stock RE070's instead of race tires just for budget reasons (most of the people running race tires expected to throw them away after the school). No photos of my group, unfortunately.

Friday was a great social event, good BBQ from the Utah folks. Highly recommended if you're able to come. I did 6 practice starts, and unlike last year, felt that the car did fairly well. I launched at about 5.5k with a fast clutch let-out while giving it gas. This is 4200' or so, and sticky concrete -- 60' times were about 1.9s for me and 1.7s for Navid's Evo. I managed to do a start against the Botkin's Camaro, where we both turned about 4.8s 200' times, but Navid's Evo was doing 4.3s. Ouch!

I had the fenders flared before coming, enabling me to run 255/40-17 Victoracers on 17x8.5 wheels with plenty of room to spare (this is a 2004, and that combination won't fit at all without at least rolling). I used 8mm spacers in the back and 3mm in the front. Looking at the other cars it seems that maybe I don't have to worry so much about getting the tires under the fender, as lots of people have them sticking out some when running stiff springs (I have 11/11 with no rear swaybar). I'm going to try to get 275/40-17 tires under the car in the future. For now I'm on a budget, which made a lot of people confused or amused. "How come you're running Victoracers?" a lot of people asked -- "because my wife said I could have two sets of tires for the whole year" was my reply. Not the best way to win at these events... Ditto with power -- my car has a stock ECU, and it was obvious I was getting reamed by the Evo (280+ whp) and Camaro (380 whp) once we got going. My car has a turboback exhaust, but stock headers and stock ECU. I did put some Sunoco 100 in to bring it up to 95 octane or so. According to my PSI3 the car never went above 12.2 psi even in the top of third (partly due to altitude).

Saturday morning was dirty for everyone and I ended up 2/5 in class even with a cone. That wasn't going to last! But it did mean I got to go up against Navid directly, which was funny, since he'd get a jump at the start then just take off like crazy once he hit second. I was happy with my left side time but never could get the right side to work right. On Sunday mornng the Botkin's Camaro broke a diff, so being autocross gentlemen, Navid and I let the Botkin's drive our cars on Sunday. Neither of them matched their previous times, but it was fun for them (Henry driving the Evo did beat my right side time though). While lots of people did get faster on Sunday, I wasn't one of them. I think the tires may have been overheated from two drivers.

Fun course, 71mph top speed before braking for the sweeper at the end. I ended up 4th in ESP, 2.2 seconds behind Navid in 1st, 1.2s behind Henry in 2nd. Better than last year when I was 3.4s off of 1st place. In ProSolo PAX index, I came out 43 / 172 overall. Hey, I beat Tunnell (2nd STX) in index time! Strangely, I would have finished 5th and with a trophy if I'd run SM.

Videos:

ESP 2004 STi, 2005 Wendover Pro Left Side (36.763)

ESP 2004 STi, 2005 Wendover Pro Right Side (37.456)

SM 1997 BMW M3, 2005 Wendover Pro Left Side (36.205)

SM2 1993 RX-7, 2005 Wendover Pro Left Side (34.488)

It was fun watching Andy's car shooting flames out the exhaust. The car goes like stink (the top two SM2 cars were the fastest things outside of shifter karts which were 1-2 seconds faster yet).

[sciolist]

Way to go, Dana! The left slalom looks good!

Just be glad you’re getting reamed by a 280whp Evo and 380whp Camaro … and not a 380whp Evo. <FURROWS brow>

[nitrowsb]

That's awsome stuff...who is hosting the videos you posted?

[WRX_Mundi]

Originally Posted by nitrowsb

That's awsome stuff...who is hosting the videos you posted?

Readyhosting is doing mine (through my domain). Sometimes they're fast, sometimes a bit slow. The other two are from their servers, which you can guess as well as me from the domain names.

[utah_gonz]

Good job Dana. i now know my limitations for a ProSolo. Hopefully next year I will have better tires and whatever else will help in A stock. Somebody there told me there is a reason that Subarus don't run in the stock class. Oh well, it was a learning experience anyway. I was also curious why you said people asked about the victoracers. I thought they were really good tires? Because they weren't hoosiers or kuhmos? Have a good one.

[WRX_Mundi]

Originally Posted by utah_gonz

Good job Dana. i now know my limitations for a ProSolo.

The ProSolo's and National Tours are real challenges. A lot of people come to their first one having dominated their region, thinking they're going to do great, then get blown away and wonder what happened. Before my first one I knew where my results would be just by looking at how the locals here do when they go to nationals. But if you're in a region like San Diego, Washington DC, or so forth then you probably have a better idea of the caliber of competition.

Now if they'd just hold the event in the rain at the E-Center... I really should pick an event that at least is on asphalt!

Hopefully next year I will have better tires and whatever else will help in A stock. Somebody there told me there is a reason that Subarus don't run in the stock class. Oh well, it was a learning experience anyway.

When I first got my STi in mid-2003, I took it up to Seattle for an Evolution school. It was the first STi most of the people had seen at an autocross (we also had a new Mini and a spanking new RX-8), and a number of the instructors drove it. Ann Hollis' comment was that it was the best Subaru she'd driven and was very nice. But when told it would be in A Stock she said "AS! It'll get eaten alive by the Corvettes!" Yeah. Rain helps hugely, and ProSolo launches help. But the Corvettes have a lower center of gravity, enough power (and N/A), and bigger tires. Tires are probably the biggest issue as 275's are not really possible on the 2004s -- not sure about the 2005s. Without Kumho V710's (used to be only available in 275), you're toast. This year you have the Boxster S and S2000 to deal with too.

Another issue is camber. It costs a lot to run competitively with a car that can only get -1.2 or so degrees of camber, given how much we lose in the corners. At least in ESP I can get decent camber and not eat up the shoulders quite so much.

I was also curious why you said people asked about the victoracers. I thought they were really good tires? Because they weren't hoosiers or kuhmos? Have a good one.

Yeah. Street tires won't cut it even at local events unless it's raining and nobody else has race rain tires. I bet a lot of those trailers at Wendover had a set of Hoosier Radial Wets or at least dirtstockers in them, ready to come out if the rain came.

The hierarchy goes something like:

Cooper / General Tire / Yin Yin Lucky Star special
All Seasons
... gap ...
140 tread wear street tires (RE070, Falken RT-215/615, Kumho MX)
... gap of 2-3s per 60s ...
Toyo RA-1
Kumho Victoracer / Ecsta
Hoosier A3S04
Hoosier A3S05
Kumho V710

The order of the last two is somewhat debatable, but the V710 seems to still be on top. The Victoracer has been a budget tire for a long time -- it's a race tire and all, and has good wear qualities, but is at least 0.3s slower than the A3S04s. Last year it was shown repeatedly that on the Wendover concrete the V710 is by far the best tire, and I got some comments from locals this year that the new A3S05's were outmatched again. They're better than the Hoosier, and presumably better than the Victoracer -- nobody competing at this level seriously runs Victos since they've been repeatedly proven to be slower than the others. Which is why I was quizzed about them -- Did I cord my proper tires? Did the V710's just not arrive in time? Was I insane?

A local person here who's been doing well in PAX said that he switched from Victoracers to V710's during an event and not only could he feel the better grip, he was immediately a full second faster. For competitive reasons he's glad I don't have them, but he does keep telling me that I really need to put some on the car. I don't think for most people and courses the difference would be that dramatic, but it's certainly nothing to ignore. Huge at the national level where everyone is so close and a half second could be the difference between 1st and 7th. The competition for top PAX spots at Idaho events are usually decided by only a few tenths, and I seem to be the only person in the top 10 not on V710s or in a ST class.