last one...
Long story short, I drove like crap and wasn't well prepared for this event. Our 8 time ESP National Champion, Mark Madarash, was there in his flyweight Firebird and he schooled the entire ESP class, taking the win and setting Top PAX for the event as well, using only four of his allotted five runs. I fumbled my way through all five runs - getting lost, blowing corners, late into slaloms, DNF'd, double-apexing turns, and generally driving like a total ass hat. On my fifth run I
almost put one together, but still lost the brake booster into two turns and blew my lines. Would I have caught Madarash with a miracle hero run? Probably wasn't going to happen, even with a better driver. Our Mustang is still 400 pounds too heavy and needs a lot more to keep up with that proven ESP winner.
The issues we had were also too numerous to count. The brake booster assist failure cropped up for me on all five runs, so that lovely problem has returned. We have yet another replacement vacuum check valve coming from Ford (and another as a spare!) as this seemed to fix the problem after the Optima event in June, where it was a big hindrance.
In-car from my 5th and fastest run is linked above. It is still terrible.
Might not seem like a big deal - losing the vacuum assist - but in this car when the booster goes away, suddenly it really throws you for a loop and blows your concentration. The pedal works fine, but after a long straight with high rpm usage it would intermittently lose assist and you felt like you were stepping on a brick, the pedal doesn't move, and the car won't stop. It wasn't consistent, but it did happen to me on every run.
Looks like much less lean here than at Nationals thanks to the new, stiffer spring rates.
When this happened at the Optima Challenge I luckily had a dozen autocross runs to put one together, and many laps on track to adjust my braking zones. You have to press the brake pedal with both feet and PULL on the steering wheel to get enough pedal movement to stop. It was exhausting at ECR back in June, but after we replaced the check valve in the booster it went away completely at the next ECR event in late June. So... just like the
S197 front wheel hubs (we're on the third set in two years), the vacuum booster check valve has become a wear item, with spares to be kept in the race trailer. Live and learn.
Amy's 5th and fastest run is linked above.
Amy had a pretty good day, finishing third in class and 25th out of 126 in PAX, but she was a solid 1.4 seconds back from me. Just not driving aggressively enough? She got caught out by the slick spots and slalom timing on her best run also, but as always she still looks a lot smoother and cleaner than my hack driving runs. She is adjusting from street tire to R compound grip, slowly but surely. We need to keep getting her more and more seat time - when we all ran in STU for years she would regularly be on the same half second as Brian and I.
I think I need to avoid racing on three consecutive 100 degree days. I never do well in that type of prolonged heat. By Sunday I was sporting a massive headache and muscle aches, which meant I was low on water and salts. Stupid mistakes were abundant. As well as I felt that I drove on Friday and Saturday, I more than made up for it on Sunday with terrible driving. I really wanted to run GTA and this SCCA event, but probably shouldn't have done both.
What's Next?
This weekend, October 6th-7th, is the annual NASA race weekend at Eagles Canyon Raceway - which is what I consider my "home track". We had planned on running the red 2011 GT in TTS and the blue BMW E46 330Ci in TTD, but alas, the painter was delayed and the E46 will not be ready in time. Sucks, because we had run times 3+ seconds quicker than the old record (set by Costas in this same BMW in 2010, on street tires) with the 285 Hoosier R6s we can run in that class. Oh well, we will run the black 2013 GT in TTB (and get slaughtered) and the red 2011 GT in TTS and just have fun. I could get lucky and beat the existing TTS record at ECR (1:58.2), as I ran almost that quick back in June on the old Kumho's with the steering shudder and the old clanking PHB, but who knows? If fast Corvettes show up or the existing 350Z record holder are there, I'm sure they will be shooting to beat that record, too.
After the NASA weekend is a SCCA Club Race and PDX event on October 13th-14th. We had entered both Mustangs for that HPDE-like event, but will likely run the 2011 and the blue BMW there instead. Once the blue BMW gets back from its fresh paint job and gets some on-track laps/video/data, we will put it up for sale. We never drive this car and with seven cars and only room for six at our home garage, we need to "reduce the fleet".
I also have to get caught up on some pictures and text for the initial 2013 GT "ESP" thread. We have already done a lot of weighing and planning, parts are some coming, we have 18x10s on the car, and camber plates are going on today.
More soon!
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