Well I finished my first Autocross. I was nervous as hell the first run, and I went off course and finished with a 52.???
But after that time I improved every time and my best time was a 47.343, so an overall good improvement.

I kept the auto in "2" and that did great. Never needed anything above that. I raced STS and out of about 15 cars I placed around the middle of the group.


There was a new 350Z (non-track model), and it ran in B-Stock --- ? Not sure what is should be running in. That car is AWESOME. Ran a best time of 41.2?? and it was the guys first time autocrossing. Also, he was running stock tires and everything else. For reference, the best time of the day was a 38.897 by a Z06 Vette with Hoosiers, whos a national contender.

That 350 Z held the course great, and it had Lots of power out of the turns. Makes me wonder what the track model with an experienced driver could do.

And - The highlight of the day. Some punk kid in Daddy's S4 slammed into the final timing light, which was about 5 feet outside of the final green cones.
Took about a half hour to get everything fixed.

 

Congratulations. And don’t feel bad about the O/C. Lots of people did the same, some folks O/C'd more than once. I didn't realize you were from the Philly vicinity until you mentioned the timing light getting nailed.

I agree about the 350Z – it will be a factor regardless of which class it ends up in. Fast even through the tighter places.

It might have been a different day had the Formula SAE car not blown its engine on its first run and oiled down part of the course. I was one of the few who got to run the original course (in the CP car), and the revised course was quite a bit easier through the hard left leading toward the hill. I’m guessing the original course was well over 1/2 second longer lap time.

See you at the Camden lot on the 6th?

Norm

 

I'll be there. What car were you driving at the event?

I was one of the guys at Station 4 in the first heat, so we had all the action. The SAE engine explosion, and the S4 timing light crash.

 

The black/silver '79 Malibu (#85 CP). You might have heard it pick up a pinhole exhaust leak near the top of the hill on my 2nd run and/or seen the wheel hop as I was coming up the hill on my 4th run (dying shocks).

You'll like Camden. It's a smooth rectangular lot big enough for lap times about like yesterday's and peak speeds that can even be a little higher (depending on the specific course design, naturally).

Norm

 

I remember you car. It's FAST, on that back straight-away you were cooking up the hill.
Exhaust leak? For a while there I thought it was a SC or Turbo spinning. What kind of HP do you have in that?

Did you stay around and see the 350Z run? I'm guessing next time they're going to put him in A Stock.

See you in Camden.

 

Never had it on a dyno. Since I don't drag race it (I'll bet that comes as a bit of a surprise), I built it specifically for a fat midrange torque curve (2500 - 5500), so I'd guess it's only high 300's net at the crank. There's nothing like having enough displacement to get the weight per liter (with driver aboard) down under 625 lbs .

The exhaust leak turned out to be a near-complete circumferential crack around the passenger side collector right at the flange. Naturally, that's the one that has my O2 sensor bung in it and is the more difficult one to replace since it's right before the pipes merge.

Yes, I did see the 350Z run. Awesome, and I wonder if SCCA National will issue some specific ruling before the Winter season.

Norm

 

I drove a Z 2 weeks ago. I can tell you it has nothing on an S2000. The car gave up after about 4000 rpm. It Understeered worse then Matt's Maxima. and it felt HUGE and heavy. The big wheel package is the only thing going for it but unless you could dial out some of that understeer in stock class (disconnet the front sway bar maybe) then it's going to be a Pig. and to be honest it didn't feel any faster then an IS300. The only class that car could be competetive in is DS. if it goes to AS or BS it will get it's *** handed to it.