Saturday Race: MSR-Houston Counterclockwise
I was in a battle for 3rd for most of the race with the Neon in E-Production and the Miata running in GT-L. both are MUCH higher-prepped classes than my car and both were running Goodyear slicks. I'm on used R888s.

Finished 3rd overall and 1st in STU. Set new PB of 1:51.4, which is a new track record for STU!!








Sunday Race. Same deal, different day, running the track "backwards" today.
The yellow Miata was behind me and never caught up. about the time he'd get close, we'd get in some traffic and he would drop back.

The first 10-12 laps of the race, I was keeping up with the RX7 and the Caterham in a race for 2nd. They would trade places every lap or so and I was right behind them the whole time. We got into some traffic and I was in 2nd for about 3 turns and then they both got back around when we hit more traffic. I started making some mistakes and overdrove the tires. tires got greasy and they both got away from me. I never caught up after that. Still finished a solid 4th and everyone else in the top 6 were EP or GTL cars running slicks.

Considering they had me in power, grip, and weight, I think I did pretty good.
Finished 4th overall and 1st in STU. Set new PB of 1:51.8 this direction. 2 sec off track record, but that was set in August by a guy that runs the same car in World Challenge Touring car. to be 2 sec of his fastest ever lap I think I'm doing okay.

 

Nice pics. That looks like alot of fun. Wish there were tracks by me.

 

There are a ton of tracks near you, albeit near is a relative term. The track those photos came from was only 10 miles from the house. The place I raced last month was 250 miles away. Within a 5 hr drive of home, I have about 6 or 7 tracks to play at. you have just as many, if not more in NY, NJ, PA, CT.....

 

holy crap its a Miata party and everyones invited

were those Neons stock or what?

 

Helllz naw they weren't stock. the red one that was following me was in Production. i.e. built engine, built suspension, weighs not a lot.
The ones in the back of the pack were Improved Touring. basically rip the carpet out, bolt on coilovers, and balance/blueprint the engine- ,aybe a mild cam.. don't remember the rules. otherwise they're mostly stock..

 

y0 dawg you hav 240 why you n0T driftin and goin slidewayz

 

this.

we want some sideways rev limiter blaring action

 

Looks nice Matt and you did a nice job keeping up from the sounds of it.

Is this one of those events where you can pass in the corners or no?

 

Yeah.. like the thread title states, this is REAL road racing. not full-contact NASCAR stuff, but door to door all the way around the track racing.

No drifting here. tires are expensive enough as is. They already cost me $400 a weekend when I'm not sliding around! plus sideways is slower.
there's a lot of rev limiter action going on, but it's cause my shock settings were wrong and I was lifting my inside rear tire and spinning all the way out of the corner.

 

i'll hotwire Cutlers Miata and pwn everyone

 

Watkins Glen, NY
Monticello, NY
Limerock, CT
New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville, NJ)

All excellent tracks to run on that are close to LI. There is a guy I know from your area with a blue C6 Z06 and he runs all those tracks. I've been to Limerock and NJMP. Next year looking to run on Watkins Glen and hopefully at Monticello if they still will allow HPDEs.

 

Great results for yourself and your car considering you are rocking the R888s in racing slick country.

You going to keep using the R888s or going with something more sticky in the future?

And yes this is real racing. I get sick of trying to explain to my friends that I am not "racing" but driving in high performance drivers events.

 

What is done to your 240? Is it the stock KA? Nice pics and good job!

 

Very nice and Congrats.

moAr picZ!

 

Thanks for the props, guys

Engine is pretty much stock 110k mile KA. I put some S13 exhaust cams in it, aluminum flywheel & crank pulley, then typical I,H,E. still on stock internals and ECU. (waiting for rules to update and hopefully allow the SR20DET in this class.. if not, then I'll do an NA build on my spare KA in the garage)

moar pics are in the directory above- should be an open directory...

and now for video of the Saturday race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYJvJ..._order&list=UL
it's 25 min long, so it's in 3 sections.

 

To be expected at MER's home. Heck, they fielded like 14 Miata's at Chicago's Autobahn last summer. Glad you did well Matt. So which WC driver holds that record? Now to watch that corner passing...

 

 

I kinda realized that after I posted that. I'll have to look into that when I get a lil more discretionary income. One guys I work with brought his M5 to Monticello a couple times (he auto-x his z4 too) and another friend I work with brought his 'vette to NJ motorsports. I'll have to see what sissy classes they have for me to start in, lol.

 

Don Istook in a World Challenge TDI VW is the current record holder going CW. He usually brings up the back of the pack in WC races, but managed a 4th place finish in STU at Runoffs this year.. Just makes it that much more obvious the difference in amateur and pro racing.

 

Ricer math...

I have to run a stock intake manifold, and ITBs aren't really a good idea at a track where you have all kinds of dust and chunks of tire rubber flying through the air. first time you suck one of those in or get a chunk stuck in the throttle linkage (has happened before in Goughary's 350Z), your day changes for the worse...

 

Obviously you put filters over them, but **** happens on the track not much u can do except hope for the best.

 

Man that looks like fun! The KA can be a fun little motor...I still enjoy my '93 Altima (I/H/E/P) for daily driving even though it's just the backup beater. FYI, over at Nissanclub, a member swapped in a VQ30 and is now running a newer IM w/videos...looks real fun

 

That looks like fun, and an interesting group of cars to run with. At least you're RWD!

I should try to get some videos of a local guy who runs his track max at road courses. Keeps up with top guys in spec Miata and S2000 classes. Those are full race cars, and he's chasing them in a 4th gen!

 

That guy wouldn't be Mike Kent or Brian Won, would it?

 

No, but I think Brian Won used to be around a long time ago, but not with a very modded max. The guy is Andy with a white 4g purpose built for road racing. Has roll cage, carbon body panels, race seat, custom suspension, custom racing brakes, built NA de-k motor, customized 5 speed, etc.
Used to post here a long time ago, but still runs a shop building race cars and parts. Will try to get pics next time they do a meet at the shop.

 

I still talk to Brian every day. He did a 3.5 swap and a bunch other stuff to the car. didn't think he'd been to the track any time recently though, so I figured it wasn't him.

Mike Kent has a pretty nice turbo VG and is out on the left coast somewhere, but I haven't talked to him in a couple years.

 

rubbin's racing...


good to see you out there mixing it up. i started taking the V out to events and its a blast.

 

I just went to a NASA event yesterday. Makes me want to build a spec miata!

 

cool stuff, I LeMons race a Gen 4 Maxima

 

$400/weekend? Really? I was going to start dragging my 1st gen Rx-7 this year, but I still haven't fixed the fuel pump, it's sitting in my office just to remind me. Do the 1st gen guys blow through a set a tires each weekend?

 

If you don't lock up tires and flatspot them, then they last a looot longer!
I also drive the car a bit more aggressive than most and have it set up fairly loose. thus I slide around a bit and it wears the tires more. but it's faster.

If you go out and drive the car conservatively, you can still run competitive and a set of DOT-Rs will last you most of a season.

 

Played in the rain this weekend.

Started 12th, finished 6th overall in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkT3QbD_r7s

Next day in a full-out downpour I started 6th, finished 3rd overall.

 

looks good i would love to do stuff like that.

 

Sounds fun. do you know anything about those lotus 7 type cars?

I am thinking about building a Locost (lotus 7 type car from plans available on the net)

They are from what I've heard some of the fastest street/strip cars you can build. I am actually thinking about building one from scratch or use a super stalker kit to put my Ls1 in one of them, as long as I can find a reasonable dry sump solution.

 

Good times Matt....wish I had a track car to play with. Can't risk it while I'm still paying off the DD

 

Sciff, what you want to know about them? The ones in the videos above are "real" Caterhams, owned by a friend. He rents them out to people for the races. Red one is almost stock engine. ~100hp, 1400lbs. Yellow one is built engine and way faster. no idea on power though.

A Locost looks similar, but that's where it ends. Completely different parts. grab an engine and drivetrain, build a tiny open wheel frame, scab on a suspension that works, and voila.

Irish.. That's why I bought a used G with cash at 1/3 the price of new. 6 mo later, I bought a used trailer at 1/2 price of new- with cash- to tow the car to the track. 6 mo after that, I bought a used F250 at 1/5 the price of new- again with cash- to upgrade from my free 1/2 ton Chevy that couldn't pull my trailer over 55mph.
If you're willing to settle for something that's not brand spanking new (and pay cash for it) you can go a lot farther.

For the price of a new 2009 WRX, I got a modded G35 with 50k miles, a trailer with 2500 miles, and an F250 powerstroke with 100k miles.

And while I'm not making payments on any of that stuff, my $500/month "car payment" goes into the bank so I have liquid cash next time I want to buy a vehicle.

 

wish? What's the GT6 for? Car shows for cars with rattle can paint jobs?

 

I just could never get the big boss to go for that kind of expenditure every time I went out, plus I didn't wreck the max's tires when I was out on pocono, but they weren't R's

 

lol....my wife has rules about too many cars. I already have two. The subie is in heavy autocross action these days. Paid off in a year, then will do some track days. Still keeping eyes open for something cheap, small, and cheap that I can do a light build on and have some fun.

Big DC-area mortgage payments leave limited cash available for real racing though

 

The GT6 is turning into a frustration. Extremely limited parts availability, limited fabrication skills by myself, and things constantly breaking in true British style....and the fact that the WRX is about twice as fast in all respects. It may go into the shed for another year until I get some more motivation to really deal with it, honestly.

It's much more fun as a weekend driver. I don't think I'd even want to be on a track with it. Not safe at all. Not half as fast as a Miata. Hot as hell inside.

for me though, I think the next order of business is going to be rallycross rather than road course. Maybe pick up an old forester or something and spec it out for modified SCCA RX....

money....time.....money.

that's all I need!