So with hi hopes we have returned from the PRO SOLO with a lot more info then we bargained for. Mostly in the way of finding out how we measure up against the fast guys in the nation. As for me I feel that as every event we compete in I try to take away as much as possible to be faster and better for the the next event that this was no different. I found out about how fast you need to bring ur driving together and get the car going to get the dirty times out of the way and the confusion that is involved with being at a national event. I felt that the first day I was in such aw of the whole process that I was a bit distracted beacuse everything was so new, but by the secod day i felt like a season vetern with my goals set and ready to get behind the wheel and prove myself. I did learn alot at the event and I feel that there is much more the car can do and much more that I can do with it. So as we continue our journey of learning I feel that we will be a force to be reckon' with
Here is a video my fastest times of the weekend:
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
ProSolo was both a success and a failure
Jason and I attended our first ProSolo this past weekend. I'm disappointed with how some things turned out. Apparently, there was a novice class for those that have never attended a ProSolo. I asked what time this class was and never got a response, so I planned to arrive at around 3PM on Friday for the practice session and attend the class.
With Friday afternoon traffic, I finally arrive at 3:30 PM and find out that the novice class was already over. It was scheduled for 2:30 PM. With not knowing the routine or what to do, I get the car ready and buy some practice tickets and get to try 4 practice starts. I've never done any kind of tree starts before and the advice I had been given was to start on the 3rd yellow. On my first start, I launch on the 3rd yellow turning on. The reaction time is 0.7xx, so on the next launch, I decide to try launching on the 2nd yellow coming on. That results in a red light and a 0.3xx launch time. After watching and trying the remaining two starts, I don't have the right timing down, but I calculate that it is somewhere between the 2nd yellow going off and the 3rd yellow coming on, so that is what we go with for the actual event.
The team is supposed to get together for a team dinner on Friday night and that ends up fizzling out and only a few attend dinner. Jason and I go back to his place and prepare our required stickers for the next morning.
There are supposed to be 2 sessions, a morning session and and afternoon session. Somehow, lots of things didn't go quite right and our morning session didn't end until somewhere around 3 PM. Talk about a really long day. At least it wasn't too hot. The event staff decided to bump the F125's to run the following morning and the rest of the cars finished out the day. We were very tired when we left the event site at around 7:30 PM.
As for the runs, it was a disappointing day. Jason ran first in the morning session. In the afternoon, the faster driver runs first and Jason was faster overall, so he ran first in the afternoon. I had some good runs on the left side, breaking into the 46's, but they were all dirty. I was steadily improving on the right side. By the end of the morning session, I was in 12th place out of 15. The afternoon was funny. I kept improving on the right side, but not on the left and still managed to move up into 8th spot. We packed up at the end of the day and went for a quick dinner before going back to the house to review videos for the day and see if there was something we could do to go faster the next day. I also placed a call to Dale to see if we were missing something and to get some ideas. One suggestion was to run the tighter line instead of trying to carry more speed. We'll try that on Sunday.
Sunday morning comes and we are off to El Toro in time for the morning course walk and to inspect the line to see what has changed. For the most part, it's the same with just one or two corners where we have to adjust the line a little because of the marble accumulation on the outside.
The novice talk mentioned that it is not unusual to go faster on Sunday because of the amount of rubber that gets laid down on the course. Unfortunately, we don't go significantly faster. In fact, I'm not even able to match my Saturday times (clean or dirty). Kevin McCormick is also not able to go any faster. It's funny (and sad) because on the left side, my best time was from Saturday morning.
By the end of the event, I remain in 8th spot and I'm not sure if Jason held on to his position or slipped one.
During the challenge event, Jason and I were out working on course and we had a chance to watch Julie Avard driving Steve Ekstrand's Civic and it is very clear that their car is able to carry speed and turn in places where our Civic would be understeering. Are our tires going away? Do the 615's have more ultimate grip than the 215's? Is our car not set up properly or is there something wrong with our car? Lot's of questions and no answers yet.
Various thoughts:
1. Not a bad outing for the level of readiness of the car, but not a good outing either.
2. This course was also a power course if a stock WRX on street tires can post a faster raw time than we can - or we really sucked.
3. Having a suspect clutch didn't help. Launching at 2000 RPM meant giving up 0.1-0.2 seconds in the first 60 feet.
4. Needing to shift into 3rd gear while others were able to stay in second may have hurt too. ECU reflash?
5. Engine with 232,000 miles vs blueprinted engines. Hm. You do the math.
6. Not driving my best didn't help either.
7. I'd love another shot at a ProSolo once the car is fully set up (mechanically).
No excuses. Lots more to do with the car and to my own head. Next event...
With Friday afternoon traffic, I finally arrive at 3:30 PM and find out that the novice class was already over. It was scheduled for 2:30 PM. With not knowing the routine or what to do, I get the car ready and buy some practice tickets and get to try 4 practice starts. I've never done any kind of tree starts before and the advice I had been given was to start on the 3rd yellow. On my first start, I launch on the 3rd yellow turning on. The reaction time is 0.7xx, so on the next launch, I decide to try launching on the 2nd yellow coming on. That results in a red light and a 0.3xx launch time. After watching and trying the remaining two starts, I don't have the right timing down, but I calculate that it is somewhere between the 2nd yellow going off and the 3rd yellow coming on, so that is what we go with for the actual event.
The team is supposed to get together for a team dinner on Friday night and that ends up fizzling out and only a few attend dinner. Jason and I go back to his place and prepare our required stickers for the next morning.
There are supposed to be 2 sessions, a morning session and and afternoon session. Somehow, lots of things didn't go quite right and our morning session didn't end until somewhere around 3 PM. Talk about a really long day. At least it wasn't too hot. The event staff decided to bump the F125's to run the following morning and the rest of the cars finished out the day. We were very tired when we left the event site at around 7:30 PM.
As for the runs, it was a disappointing day. Jason ran first in the morning session. In the afternoon, the faster driver runs first and Jason was faster overall, so he ran first in the afternoon. I had some good runs on the left side, breaking into the 46's, but they were all dirty. I was steadily improving on the right side. By the end of the morning session, I was in 12th place out of 15. The afternoon was funny. I kept improving on the right side, but not on the left and still managed to move up into 8th spot. We packed up at the end of the day and went for a quick dinner before going back to the house to review videos for the day and see if there was something we could do to go faster the next day. I also placed a call to Dale to see if we were missing something and to get some ideas. One suggestion was to run the tighter line instead of trying to carry more speed. We'll try that on Sunday.
Sunday morning comes and we are off to El Toro in time for the morning course walk and to inspect the line to see what has changed. For the most part, it's the same with just one or two corners where we have to adjust the line a little because of the marble accumulation on the outside.
The novice talk mentioned that it is not unusual to go faster on Sunday because of the amount of rubber that gets laid down on the course. Unfortunately, we don't go significantly faster. In fact, I'm not even able to match my Saturday times (clean or dirty). Kevin McCormick is also not able to go any faster. It's funny (and sad) because on the left side, my best time was from Saturday morning.
By the end of the event, I remain in 8th spot and I'm not sure if Jason held on to his position or slipped one.
During the challenge event, Jason and I were out working on course and we had a chance to watch Julie Avard driving Steve Ekstrand's Civic and it is very clear that their car is able to carry speed and turn in places where our Civic would be understeering. Are our tires going away? Do the 615's have more ultimate grip than the 215's? Is our car not set up properly or is there something wrong with our car? Lot's of questions and no answers yet.
Various thoughts:
1. Not a bad outing for the level of readiness of the car, but not a good outing either.
2. This course was also a power course if a stock WRX on street tires can post a faster raw time than we can - or we really sucked.
3. Having a suspect clutch didn't help. Launching at 2000 RPM meant giving up 0.1-0.2 seconds in the first 60 feet.
4. Needing to shift into 3rd gear while others were able to stay in second may have hurt too. ECU reflash?
5. Engine with 232,000 miles vs blueprinted engines. Hm. You do the math.
6. Not driving my best didn't help either.
7. I'd love another shot at a ProSolo once the car is fully set up (mechanically).
No excuses. Lots more to do with the car and to my own head. Next event...
Monday, March 19, 2007
I'm sore
I've never been to a ProSolo before and I've never tried drag racing before either, so I'm planning to attend the Friday practice to experience the tree and how to stage (you did read the ProSolo articles Jason posted here didn't you?).
Given that we have finally reached the point where enough work has been done with the Civic that we are going to leave the car as is to get used to it's characteristics in preparation for the ProSolo, it made sense for me to take the car home from the PCA event to avoid taking the long way to pick the car up from Jason's house for the practice.
Jason warned me that the seat would feel thin on a longer drive, so I sat on my jacket as padding. He's right. My butt was sore after being in the car for about 30 minutes, even sitting on the jacket. We must buy cushions or something to make the ride easier.
The trip home is some 90 miles from El Toro. The drive itself was loud, but not unpleasant. It was also an uneventful drive, staying with the other traffic to avoid drawing unwanted attention to us.
However, the next morning was a different story. I woke up feeling sore all over, upper body, butt, legs. It's my first time driving any kind of vehicle with a 'race' suspension on a trip. Spending an extended amount of time in this car is painful! Haha. I'll take it. I wanted a race car and viola, we have a race car. We'll buy extra cushions instead.
Given that we have finally reached the point where enough work has been done with the Civic that we are going to leave the car as is to get used to it's characteristics in preparation for the ProSolo, it made sense for me to take the car home from the PCA event to avoid taking the long way to pick the car up from Jason's house for the practice.
Jason warned me that the seat would feel thin on a longer drive, so I sat on my jacket as padding. He's right. My butt was sore after being in the car for about 30 minutes, even sitting on the jacket. We must buy cushions or something to make the ride easier.
The trip home is some 90 miles from El Toro. The drive itself was loud, but not unpleasant. It was also an uneventful drive, staying with the other traffic to avoid drawing unwanted attention to us.
However, the next morning was a different story. I woke up feeling sore all over, upper body, butt, legs. It's my first time driving any kind of vehicle with a 'race' suspension on a trip. Spending an extended amount of time in this car is painful! Haha. I'll take it. I wanted a race car and viola, we have a race car. We'll buy extra cushions instead.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
PCA event was a success
More changes have been done to the car in preparation for this event and the upcoming ProSolo. Nothing major, some suspension adjustments and an insert into the exhaust to reduce the volume of the exhaust noise. The original sound check told us that the Civic with the original Red Shift exhaust was not going to be legal. Chris provided us with an insert that Jason can describe, that we tested at El Toro with our own sound meter. We are peaking now at 80 dB. Hooray. One major concern out of the way.
Today, we are playing with the Porsche Club at El Toro. We are just one of maybe 5 cars that are not Porsches running. The course is about 1 mile in length with some fast sweepers and offsets, 3 slaloms, a slow tight one, a fast one on the crossover and an even faster one coming in to the finish. There was one critical very slow right and then left turn that we had to get right in order to do well. My best run was the one where I did this turn the best - not right, but better than the other runs.
The times both of us were running were pretty good overall. I'm not sure that there was any other car on street tires that beat our time. The results are not up yet, so I'm not positive on that. I didn't see anybody on street tires go faster, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.
In the timed runs at the end of the day, I ran first, right at the beginning of the timed sessions and ran a 70.3, which held up as the fastest time of the day for quite a while - until Steve Eguina and sons ran in their race tired ESP winning Camaro and some other race tired Porsches ran. Jason followed up with a very nice 71.0 at the end of the day. We were getting some looks from some of the other drivers. Hehe.
The weather was cool, somewhere in the mid 60's and cloudy. I was concerned about the tires heating up with such a long course, but after the first two runs, I figured out that we wouldn't even need the water to cool the tires down. Amazing.
Jason tried a couple of drag style launches to simulate the ProSolo. The clutch ended up slipping until almost half way down the course. It turns out that our clutch won't take those launches given it's age, so I guess we'll just take it easy at the ProSolo (sshh, don't tell anybody).
We have video for today too. The end result is some interesting video that has been very interesting to watch (at least for me). I seem to be reasonably close to the apex cone in slaloms, but missing the other apex cones in sweepers and other places. Watch the videos and see for yourself
http://www.yeohbaby.com/g2/main.php/v/Autocross/PCA_El_Toro_March2007/
Today, we are playing with the Porsche Club at El Toro. We are just one of maybe 5 cars that are not Porsches running. The course is about 1 mile in length with some fast sweepers and offsets, 3 slaloms, a slow tight one, a fast one on the crossover and an even faster one coming in to the finish. There was one critical very slow right and then left turn that we had to get right in order to do well. My best run was the one where I did this turn the best - not right, but better than the other runs.
The times both of us were running were pretty good overall. I'm not sure that there was any other car on street tires that beat our time. The results are not up yet, so I'm not positive on that. I didn't see anybody on street tires go faster, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.
In the timed runs at the end of the day, I ran first, right at the beginning of the timed sessions and ran a 70.3, which held up as the fastest time of the day for quite a while - until Steve Eguina and sons ran in their race tired ESP winning Camaro and some other race tired Porsches ran. Jason followed up with a very nice 71.0 at the end of the day. We were getting some looks from some of the other drivers. Hehe.
The weather was cool, somewhere in the mid 60's and cloudy. I was concerned about the tires heating up with such a long course, but after the first two runs, I figured out that we wouldn't even need the water to cool the tires down. Amazing.
Jason tried a couple of drag style launches to simulate the ProSolo. The clutch ended up slipping until almost half way down the course. It turns out that our clutch won't take those launches given it's age, so I guess we'll just take it easy at the ProSolo (sshh, don't tell anybody).
We have video for today too. The end result is some interesting video that has been very interesting to watch (at least for me). I seem to be reasonably close to the apex cone in slaloms, but missing the other apex cones in sweepers and other places. Watch the videos and see for yourself
http://www.yeohbaby.com/g2/main.php/v/Autocross/PCA_El_Toro_March2007/
Getting ready for Prosolo
So in preparation for ProSolo we had to get a few things done in the maintenance department.
We got the Radiator fluid and hoses changed, the Tranny Fluid changed and also sent a can of Seafoam through the system one more time before we changed the oil.
Last thing we did was we finally got the fix we needed to get to tame out LCA Exhaust from Red Shift Motorsports. Chris was kind enough to send us an insert that would go into the "axelback" portion of the exhaust. Pre-insert we were clocking low 100's, high 90's and your have to watch the video for the post-insert results. Without giving the spoiler out we have made it under the cut and should not be a problem, we gave it the static test as well as the dynamic test so it falls at the same level both ways...now onto the pictures
DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....
We got the Radiator fluid and hoses changed, the Tranny Fluid changed and also sent a can of Seafoam through the system one more time before we changed the oil.
Last thing we did was we finally got the fix we needed to get to tame out LCA Exhaust from Red Shift Motorsports. Chris was kind enough to send us an insert that would go into the "axelback" portion of the exhaust. Pre-insert we were clocking low 100's, high 90's and your have to watch the video for the post-insert results. Without giving the spoiler out we have made it under the cut and should not be a problem, we gave it the static test as well as the dynamic test so it falls at the same level both ways...now onto the pictures
DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
We are going to PROSOLO in 2 weeks
Here is a little background from SCCA.com..
The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo® combines the excitement of drag racing and the skill of Solo on side-by-side, mirror-image autocross courses. Lining up at the familiar “Christmas Tree” start, drivers compete heads-up in various classes by combining their fastest times from each course. After class competition is completed, all ProSolo events feature the top drivers from each class, competing head-to-head in a variety of single- elimination, handicapped Challenges. The Hawk Super Challenge determines the Top Eliminator for the event, the Ladies Challenge draws from the two Ladies classes, the Honda Street Challenge draws from the six "Street" classes, and the Bonus Challenge is for those who have not qualified for one of the other challenges.
The ProSolo NationalSeries provides national-level competition in a series structure using all of the regular national Solo classes. While entrants must be SCCA members, a ProSolo license is not required until their second ProSolo event of the season, when they officially become part of the ProSolo NationalSeries Championship series.
There are two championships up for grabs in the ProSolo National-Series, the Class Cup, where series points are scored based on the best two finishes of the first three events in class plus the Championship Finale, and the Challenge Cup, which counts the best two challenge finishes of the first three events in challenge competition.
The ProSolo NationalSeries Championship provides opportunities and excitement for every level of Solo competitor. From the casual competitor that wants the thrill of "racing" against their buddy from a drag start, to the national level competitor wanting to run a limited series, to the accomplished competitor looking for the ultimate "challenge", the ProSolo NationalSeries Championship has something for every Soloist. Check the schedule for the event closest to you!
What an exciting day its going to be I cant wait here is anice write up on how the weekend usually goes and how it is different from our normal races from solo2.com
My First ProSolo (or: Hook, Line and Sinker)
By Elizabeth Bacon
Advance Prep.
I pre-register for the ProSolo event in San Bernardino on March 13-14, 2004, and class my stock ‘00 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT with its Falken Azeni Sport tires into Ladies 1 (L1). I’m a newcomer to autocross, having participated in four regional SoloII competitions before signing up for the ProSolo. Nervous and excited about the novelties of the ProSolo format, I solicit online message board advice and get the usual bounty of friendly tips. Randy Chase provides reams of good reading material, and Mike Simanyi advises me how to stage deep – pull forward until the stage light goes out, then reverse until it lights up again. I practice this technique in my driveway beforehand, my husband acting the role of staging light. It feels weird, but manageable.
Saturday Morning.
Arriving at the Norton AFB grounds Saturday morning and seeing the paddock full of trailers and people prepping their cars gets my adrenaline going as usual. There are ProSolo stickers galore to apply to my car, which gets all tarted-up with racing signage. Thanks to Randy for the special tip about bringing magnetic sheets and scissors! Despite feeling like a rolling advertisement, I rather think my black Eclipse looks pretty cool.
I try to remember all the staging info and advice as I approach the courses for a walk. I study the staging areas, and think that it was really too bad I couldn’t get some practice starts in on Friday. I sketch the courses on the back of the supplemental rules sheet as I walk, and keep this close to hand for the weekend. I try to remind myself that I should have no expectations except to have fun out there, but my competitive spirit is already humming away in high gear.
Watching and Waiting.
As cars start competing, rubber burns and delirious sounds of engines revving and tires squealing fill the air. Reports float in about that difficult back carousel and the need to really settle down to nail the entry. The left side is slower than the right, by about 0.3 sec. As I watch the racing, I become mesmerized by the staging and starting lights. “Yellow-yellow-yellow-GO!” I imprint the rhythm on my mind. A constant crowd of onlookers hugs the shady spots while the morning runs play out. In the grid, people laugh and mingle, but in the staging area, it’s all business as cars zoom from the left side to the right side and back.
Time to Run.
Soon I’m in pregrid with L1, and quickly the grid. Suddenly, it’s staging time! Good grief, what is it I’m supposed to do here? That timing clock is counting down way too fast! Forward, then reverse. Which staging light is supposed to go unlit and then lit again? OK, OK, now remember to rev the engine, now go! And while half my brain is still wondering how the start went, I must face the fact that it’s one tight, tough course. Then, WHEEEE! It’s my first-ever spinout, going into that back carousel! Right on, I’ve been waiting for this moment! I’m grinning like a maniac as I finish up the course. And then I go to stage on the right side…and, oh no, my car is rolling! My car is rolling forward - what am I supposed to do with this? With no time to finesse the situation, I take one crappy start. And then two more runs are over just like that, dominated by the unhappy excitement of over-revving, rolling at the start, and losing track of what gear I’m in. I get nothing clean on the left side, and poor times on the right.
Watching, Waiting and Working.
For my work assignment in the afternoon, I go to the back end of the left side course to watch people handle that carousel. In between chasing down cones, analysis with my fellow course-worker reveals the best approach. Later, I chase down advice on my rolling problem. As always, I find people dedicated and helpful, working hard on improving their own game but never loath to share their advice and perspective. For starters, I learn that I should set and release the parking brake, and turn the wheel from side to side. I’m now reeling from the sheer number of things to think about in this wild, wacky ProSolo.
Time to Run, Take 2.
In the blink of an eye, my afternoon runs are suddenly staging. Left side: dirty, yuck! Right side, I set my parking brake, turn the wheel…and I’m still rolling! With no time to recover, I red-light before I can even touch the accelerator. Shaken and angry, I pull right off and go back into pre-stage, which I thought I’d read one should do after red-lighting. Later, I recognize that pulling off was not actually the typical or smart thing to do…I should have just gone ahead and taken the run, even if only for my own personal benefit. My next left side run comes out dirty, then the right side isn’t much better. But I’m pleased to find that after Ken Motonishi tells me that the starting lights are really saying “Yellow-yellow-GO!”, I pull off a .506 start time. He also gently reminds me to look ahead, and I kick myself for neglecting such a basic principle of autocross.
Sunday, the Make it All Better Day?
The next day, Sunday, lots of people are banking on their morning performances to get them into the Challenge rounds. I watch my friends race with pretty impressive results, and catch a nice sunburn while working the course at 9:30 am. It’s neat to watch two of my Evo Phase I instructors racing this weekend – Tom Kotzian and Kevin Dietz are both tearing up Super Stock. Tom’s mantra, “smooth and flowing, smooth and flowing,” echoes through my mind, hopefully to good effect.
When L1 comes up to grid and staging, I decide to abandon all efforts to use reverse to stage deep, and so I simply creep up to the staging line. I’m rewarded by a much calmer start, plus nice reaction times including a .508. The car rolling forward on the right continues to plague me, though. As for my actual runs, the story is better left untold. In summary: not exactly smooth and flowing. I do little well, except maybe better looking ahead and settling the car down to enter those back carousels tightly.
Loser’s Luck.
I end up placing 11/11 in the L1 group. I tell myself there’s no excuse for such a performance, and place a despondent call home telling my husband it’s a good thing he wasn’t there. Ann Donahue, though, helps me remember that I do have a great excuse: it’s my first ProSolo! I tell several people that I prefer the SoloII format because there’s more emphasis on simply driving the course. Despite my disappointment, I decide to keep the air in my tires…just in case I get into the Bonus Challenge, jokingly sometimes referred to as the Losers’ Challenge (especially by those who get into it).
As the Bonus Challenge names are drawn, I recognize a bunch of the people announced, including Rita Wilsey, one of the acknowledged goddesses of autocross. Then, whoa - my name gets drawn! Laughing, I realize that I’ll have a pretty terrific index since I stank it up so badly all weekend. People throw me great advice: “Just keep centered in yourself” and “Finish the course, no matter what.” And like manna from heaven, Terri Mayo says to me: “If you’re rolling at the line, then pull up into a different spot!”
Bonus Challenge!
And shortly, we’re off. Up first against a fellow L1 racer in a ’93 Toyota MR2, she red-lights on the first run. Good advice ringing in my ears, I go ahead and finish the course. Up next on the right side, running against a ’91 Honda CRX, I pull up into a different spot and…I’m not rolling! Joy to the world, and thank you, Terri! We both get clean starts, and race each other neck-and-neck. I come out 0.3 sec ahead – and hear the announcer reminding us, “That’s exactly the time difference between these two courses!” We flip sides, and then my erstwhile competitor red-lights. I go ahead and finish the course.
I can hardly believe that I’m now in the final – up against Rita Wilsey! A volunteer pit crew swarms my car, and Ken checks my tire pressures. (He is rather appalled to find that I still keep the caps on my tire valves!) Then, boom, we’re both at the line. I’m on the right, but I’ve got my new lucky starting spot and I’m not rolling forward. We start cleanly, and race all-out. At the finish, I end up being 0.7 sec ahead. The announcer is shouting that I’ve broken out at just the right time, which I don’t entirely understand but it sounds like a good thing. We line up on the opposite side, and…and…Rita red-lights!? I don’t realize what’s happened until the back end, when I hear Ann screaming in joy for my win. And I go ahead and finish the course.
Onwards and Forwards…
Winning the Bonus Challenge at my first ProSolo was a miraculous feeling! I might well wish that Rita and I had had a square run against each other in the final go-around, despite receiving excellent advice from Glenn Duensing about not looking a gift horse in the mouth. All tortured thinking aside, though, it was an astonishing, delightful conclusion to a difficult and challenging weekend of ProSolo. People couldn’t have been happier for me, and I realized yet again what a splendid crew of people participate in this sport, competing seriously but just plain having a great time. I was honored to shake everybody’s hand when the final results were read and trophies awarded. And then…since I won a ProSolo license and free entry to another ProSolo, I daresay you’ll be seeing me at Atwater in April. Maybe I’ll see you there, too!
The Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo® combines the excitement of drag racing and the skill of Solo on side-by-side, mirror-image autocross courses. Lining up at the familiar “Christmas Tree” start, drivers compete heads-up in various classes by combining their fastest times from each course. After class competition is completed, all ProSolo events feature the top drivers from each class, competing head-to-head in a variety of single- elimination, handicapped Challenges. The Hawk Super Challenge determines the Top Eliminator for the event, the Ladies Challenge draws from the two Ladies classes, the Honda Street Challenge draws from the six "Street" classes, and the Bonus Challenge is for those who have not qualified for one of the other challenges.
The ProSolo NationalSeries provides national-level competition in a series structure using all of the regular national Solo classes. While entrants must be SCCA members, a ProSolo license is not required until their second ProSolo event of the season, when they officially become part of the ProSolo NationalSeries Championship series.
There are two championships up for grabs in the ProSolo National-Series, the Class Cup, where series points are scored based on the best two finishes of the first three events in class plus the Championship Finale, and the Challenge Cup, which counts the best two challenge finishes of the first three events in challenge competition.
The ProSolo NationalSeries Championship provides opportunities and excitement for every level of Solo competitor. From the casual competitor that wants the thrill of "racing" against their buddy from a drag start, to the national level competitor wanting to run a limited series, to the accomplished competitor looking for the ultimate "challenge", the ProSolo NationalSeries Championship has something for every Soloist. Check the schedule for the event closest to you!
What an exciting day its going to be I cant wait here is anice write up on how the weekend usually goes and how it is different from our normal races from solo2.com
My First ProSolo (or: Hook, Line and Sinker)
By Elizabeth Bacon
Advance Prep.
I pre-register for the ProSolo event in San Bernardino on March 13-14, 2004, and class my stock ‘00 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT with its Falken Azeni Sport tires into Ladies 1 (L1). I’m a newcomer to autocross, having participated in four regional SoloII competitions before signing up for the ProSolo. Nervous and excited about the novelties of the ProSolo format, I solicit online message board advice and get the usual bounty of friendly tips. Randy Chase provides reams of good reading material, and Mike Simanyi advises me how to stage deep – pull forward until the stage light goes out, then reverse until it lights up again. I practice this technique in my driveway beforehand, my husband acting the role of staging light. It feels weird, but manageable.
Saturday Morning.
Arriving at the Norton AFB grounds Saturday morning and seeing the paddock full of trailers and people prepping their cars gets my adrenaline going as usual. There are ProSolo stickers galore to apply to my car, which gets all tarted-up with racing signage. Thanks to Randy for the special tip about bringing magnetic sheets and scissors! Despite feeling like a rolling advertisement, I rather think my black Eclipse looks pretty cool.
I try to remember all the staging info and advice as I approach the courses for a walk. I study the staging areas, and think that it was really too bad I couldn’t get some practice starts in on Friday. I sketch the courses on the back of the supplemental rules sheet as I walk, and keep this close to hand for the weekend. I try to remind myself that I should have no expectations except to have fun out there, but my competitive spirit is already humming away in high gear.
Watching and Waiting.
As cars start competing, rubber burns and delirious sounds of engines revving and tires squealing fill the air. Reports float in about that difficult back carousel and the need to really settle down to nail the entry. The left side is slower than the right, by about 0.3 sec. As I watch the racing, I become mesmerized by the staging and starting lights. “Yellow-yellow-yellow-GO!” I imprint the rhythm on my mind. A constant crowd of onlookers hugs the shady spots while the morning runs play out. In the grid, people laugh and mingle, but in the staging area, it’s all business as cars zoom from the left side to the right side and back.
Time to Run.
Soon I’m in pregrid with L1, and quickly the grid. Suddenly, it’s staging time! Good grief, what is it I’m supposed to do here? That timing clock is counting down way too fast! Forward, then reverse. Which staging light is supposed to go unlit and then lit again? OK, OK, now remember to rev the engine, now go! And while half my brain is still wondering how the start went, I must face the fact that it’s one tight, tough course. Then, WHEEEE! It’s my first-ever spinout, going into that back carousel! Right on, I’ve been waiting for this moment! I’m grinning like a maniac as I finish up the course. And then I go to stage on the right side…and, oh no, my car is rolling! My car is rolling forward - what am I supposed to do with this? With no time to finesse the situation, I take one crappy start. And then two more runs are over just like that, dominated by the unhappy excitement of over-revving, rolling at the start, and losing track of what gear I’m in. I get nothing clean on the left side, and poor times on the right.
Watching, Waiting and Working.
For my work assignment in the afternoon, I go to the back end of the left side course to watch people handle that carousel. In between chasing down cones, analysis with my fellow course-worker reveals the best approach. Later, I chase down advice on my rolling problem. As always, I find people dedicated and helpful, working hard on improving their own game but never loath to share their advice and perspective. For starters, I learn that I should set and release the parking brake, and turn the wheel from side to side. I’m now reeling from the sheer number of things to think about in this wild, wacky ProSolo.
Time to Run, Take 2.
In the blink of an eye, my afternoon runs are suddenly staging. Left side: dirty, yuck! Right side, I set my parking brake, turn the wheel…and I’m still rolling! With no time to recover, I red-light before I can even touch the accelerator. Shaken and angry, I pull right off and go back into pre-stage, which I thought I’d read one should do after red-lighting. Later, I recognize that pulling off was not actually the typical or smart thing to do…I should have just gone ahead and taken the run, even if only for my own personal benefit. My next left side run comes out dirty, then the right side isn’t much better. But I’m pleased to find that after Ken Motonishi tells me that the starting lights are really saying “Yellow-yellow-GO!”, I pull off a .506 start time. He also gently reminds me to look ahead, and I kick myself for neglecting such a basic principle of autocross.
Sunday, the Make it All Better Day?
The next day, Sunday, lots of people are banking on their morning performances to get them into the Challenge rounds. I watch my friends race with pretty impressive results, and catch a nice sunburn while working the course at 9:30 am. It’s neat to watch two of my Evo Phase I instructors racing this weekend – Tom Kotzian and Kevin Dietz are both tearing up Super Stock. Tom’s mantra, “smooth and flowing, smooth and flowing,” echoes through my mind, hopefully to good effect.
When L1 comes up to grid and staging, I decide to abandon all efforts to use reverse to stage deep, and so I simply creep up to the staging line. I’m rewarded by a much calmer start, plus nice reaction times including a .508. The car rolling forward on the right continues to plague me, though. As for my actual runs, the story is better left untold. In summary: not exactly smooth and flowing. I do little well, except maybe better looking ahead and settling the car down to enter those back carousels tightly.
Loser’s Luck.
I end up placing 11/11 in the L1 group. I tell myself there’s no excuse for such a performance, and place a despondent call home telling my husband it’s a good thing he wasn’t there. Ann Donahue, though, helps me remember that I do have a great excuse: it’s my first ProSolo! I tell several people that I prefer the SoloII format because there’s more emphasis on simply driving the course. Despite my disappointment, I decide to keep the air in my tires…just in case I get into the Bonus Challenge, jokingly sometimes referred to as the Losers’ Challenge (especially by those who get into it).
As the Bonus Challenge names are drawn, I recognize a bunch of the people announced, including Rita Wilsey, one of the acknowledged goddesses of autocross. Then, whoa - my name gets drawn! Laughing, I realize that I’ll have a pretty terrific index since I stank it up so badly all weekend. People throw me great advice: “Just keep centered in yourself” and “Finish the course, no matter what.” And like manna from heaven, Terri Mayo says to me: “If you’re rolling at the line, then pull up into a different spot!”
Bonus Challenge!
And shortly, we’re off. Up first against a fellow L1 racer in a ’93 Toyota MR2, she red-lights on the first run. Good advice ringing in my ears, I go ahead and finish the course. Up next on the right side, running against a ’91 Honda CRX, I pull up into a different spot and…I’m not rolling! Joy to the world, and thank you, Terri! We both get clean starts, and race each other neck-and-neck. I come out 0.3 sec ahead – and hear the announcer reminding us, “That’s exactly the time difference between these two courses!” We flip sides, and then my erstwhile competitor red-lights. I go ahead and finish the course.
I can hardly believe that I’m now in the final – up against Rita Wilsey! A volunteer pit crew swarms my car, and Ken checks my tire pressures. (He is rather appalled to find that I still keep the caps on my tire valves!) Then, boom, we’re both at the line. I’m on the right, but I’ve got my new lucky starting spot and I’m not rolling forward. We start cleanly, and race all-out. At the finish, I end up being 0.7 sec ahead. The announcer is shouting that I’ve broken out at just the right time, which I don’t entirely understand but it sounds like a good thing. We line up on the opposite side, and…and…Rita red-lights!? I don’t realize what’s happened until the back end, when I hear Ann screaming in joy for my win. And I go ahead and finish the course.
Onwards and Forwards…
Winning the Bonus Challenge at my first ProSolo was a miraculous feeling! I might well wish that Rita and I had had a square run against each other in the final go-around, despite receiving excellent advice from Glenn Duensing about not looking a gift horse in the mouth. All tortured thinking aside, though, it was an astonishing, delightful conclusion to a difficult and challenging weekend of ProSolo. People couldn’t have been happier for me, and I realized yet again what a splendid crew of people participate in this sport, competing seriously but just plain having a great time. I was honored to shake everybody’s hand when the final results were read and trophies awarded. And then…since I won a ProSolo license and free entry to another ProSolo, I daresay you’ll be seeing me at Atwater in April. Maybe I’ll see you there, too!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Second event - finally
It's been a long time coming for the second event. The last event was in January and the February event was cancelled (don't ask). I've been very impatient to get out there and try out the Civic. Jason has continued to work on the car and has been teasing me with all the changes that were made to the car since the last event and last testing session.
This event turned out to be held on a very windy but otherwise beautiful day. I suspect the temperature was somewhere into the 90's during the day because it was still 88 degrees when we left at 6:30 PM.
Since we were scheduled to run last, this was an exercise in patience since we experienced multiple delays for a variety of reasons. The bushings on the car have been done and i was looking forward to driving the car to see if it was much different (Jason said it was) - and only 3 runs to figure things out. Hm, should be interesting.
The course design was a fast course with a few technical spots in it. Not too many transitional elements though they had a decent high speed decreasing radius turn that was tricky trying to get into without the tail hanging way out there.
We get to take our runs while Steve let's Stacy take her runs first. Jason is up first and takes the first spot and I cone away the first run. Jason goes after the same cone in his second run and I run a slow feeling 65.888, which jumps me to 1st place. I wonder how long that will last. No sign of Steve yet. Jason doesn't go any faster on his third run and stands on his first run. I don't go any faster on my last run either, so I watch while Steve makes his last run. He goes in to a turn way too hot and it's all over. He can't catch us. By now, the grid is pretty empty and I notice that a familiar FSP Escort happens to be in the grid with STS on it. Holy cow, we've been running against Will Kalman also. He had sticker tires and ended up slower than us today, so I'm sure he'll be faster the next time out.
We ended up winning STS in only the second outing for the car. I knew the changes that Jason and Daniel had made would have improved the car, but not to the extent that we would actually be able to win. Maybe Steve was sandbagging to lull us into a false sense of security??? Maybe we just got lucky? Time will tell. Jason did well too, ending up only a half a second behind Steve in the final results.
All in all, a very very cool (and hot) weekend. More changes are planned before the next event, so I get to see what else will change the next time out. It was very cool being able to turn in and actually hit cones on the inside instead of missing them by a foot or more.
Until next time...
This event turned out to be held on a very windy but otherwise beautiful day. I suspect the temperature was somewhere into the 90's during the day because it was still 88 degrees when we left at 6:30 PM.
Since we were scheduled to run last, this was an exercise in patience since we experienced multiple delays for a variety of reasons. The bushings on the car have been done and i was looking forward to driving the car to see if it was much different (Jason said it was) - and only 3 runs to figure things out. Hm, should be interesting.
The course design was a fast course with a few technical spots in it. Not too many transitional elements though they had a decent high speed decreasing radius turn that was tricky trying to get into without the tail hanging way out there.
We get to take our runs while Steve let's Stacy take her runs first. Jason is up first and takes the first spot and I cone away the first run. Jason goes after the same cone in his second run and I run a slow feeling 65.888, which jumps me to 1st place. I wonder how long that will last. No sign of Steve yet. Jason doesn't go any faster on his third run and stands on his first run. I don't go any faster on my last run either, so I watch while Steve makes his last run. He goes in to a turn way too hot and it's all over. He can't catch us. By now, the grid is pretty empty and I notice that a familiar FSP Escort happens to be in the grid with STS on it. Holy cow, we've been running against Will Kalman also. He had sticker tires and ended up slower than us today, so I'm sure he'll be faster the next time out.
We ended up winning STS in only the second outing for the car. I knew the changes that Jason and Daniel had made would have improved the car, but not to the extent that we would actually be able to win. Maybe Steve was sandbagging to lull us into a false sense of security??? Maybe we just got lucky? Time will tell. Jason did well too, ending up only a half a second behind Steve in the final results.
All in all, a very very cool (and hot) weekend. More changes are planned before the next event, so I get to see what else will change the next time out. It was very cool being able to turn in and actually hit cones on the inside instead of missing them by a foot or more.
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
I just realized how much RUBBER we have in the garage
Well I was looking around the garage and I realized that i think we have more Falken 215's then the Falken factory...
We have 2 on the car
...and we woke up one day and we found 4 more in the corner, can u believe it?
O and we have two 615's to top it all off
Sometimes it just makes Stephen and I giggle when we see our stuff....
heheheheheh...as stephen would say
We have 2 on the car
...and we woke up one day and we found 4 more in the corner, can u believe it?
O and we have two 615's to top it all off
Sometimes it just makes Stephen and I giggle when we see our stuff....
heheheheheh...as stephen would say
New Sponsor Stickers Go On...
So with the LCA's on we finally got the chance to redo the graphics for this weekend events...
I'm a bit anal with trying to make sure its all straight and looks perfect so I used a level to make sure that all the graphics were parallel to the ground
It was a bit cold in the garage so i wasn't able to take the transfer paper off so I'm going to wait till morning to take it off
I'm a bit anal with trying to make sure its all straight and looks perfect so I used a level to make sure that all the graphics were parallel to the ground
It was a bit cold in the garage so i wasn't able to take the transfer paper off so I'm going to wait till morning to take it off
Friday, March 2, 2007
Long time NOTHING new? NO way!!!
Here's the thing, On the schedule our next task was replacement of the LCA bushings in the front, and boy did we have our work cut out for us....
It all started a WEEK ago when we began dimantling the LCA from the car and of course we were re-introduced to our not so friendly nemesis "RUST". So all the bolts on the knuckle came off with ease (since we had "broke" them all off before) and the one last bolt that attaches the LCA to the lower cross member was seized to the metal sleeve. We PB blasted for our standard 2 day before and still to no avail to we brought out our friend "Craftsman Grinder" and grinded the head of the bolt and way and pryed the LCA out of its position. This was all over te course of 2 days.
Next was trying to find a way to get the bushing, and the METAL sleeve out. So reseach began and the team came up with all kinds of answers.
-Burn the rubber out
-Cut the rubber out
-Press with a home vise
-Press with a 25-50 ton hydraulic vertical press (IDEAL)
We couldnt find anyone with in a 30 mile radius to press the bushing so we had to resort to some old SUBARU friend that have always been there. So we planned a trip there to get the bushings pressed out. One word of warning is that people have broken presses by doing this so we kept that on the "down low" when Garage Tuning in Anaheim CA was nice enough to let us use thier press. Theirs was a 17 ton and the frame started to bend as we pressed the bushing. But to much of our enjoyment we were able to get all the center sleeves, leasving only a bit of the rubber and of course the dreaded metal sleeve in the LCA. So this now puts us 4 days into the project, much slower then the progress that we are used to but any movement forward is in the right direction.
So on the 6th day we all re-group after a day off for leisure and purchased a few new toys to help us with removing the metal sleeves in the LCA's
"Let me introduce u to my little friend" (insert italian accent, here)
So these are the necessary tools to make the metal sleeve beg for mercy. What we did was use the cut a slit in the metal so that there would be some room for them to become smaller when pryed and also to get us a lip to put our new 3000 hits/min AIR HAMMER...so 2.5 hours later we opened the garage in VICTORY and we have the sleeves out and the new bushings pressed in...
..TO BE CONTINUED/INSTALLED ON THE CAR
DISCLAIMER: We might have made it look easy, but this has got to be the hardest thing we have done
It all started a WEEK ago when we began dimantling the LCA from the car and of course we were re-introduced to our not so friendly nemesis "RUST". So all the bolts on the knuckle came off with ease (since we had "broke" them all off before) and the one last bolt that attaches the LCA to the lower cross member was seized to the metal sleeve. We PB blasted for our standard 2 day before and still to no avail to we brought out our friend "Craftsman Grinder" and grinded the head of the bolt and way and pryed the LCA out of its position. This was all over te course of 2 days.
Next was trying to find a way to get the bushing, and the METAL sleeve out. So reseach began and the team came up with all kinds of answers.
-Burn the rubber out
-Cut the rubber out
-Press with a home vise
-Press with a 25-50 ton hydraulic vertical press (IDEAL)
We couldnt find anyone with in a 30 mile radius to press the bushing so we had to resort to some old SUBARU friend that have always been there. So we planned a trip there to get the bushings pressed out. One word of warning is that people have broken presses by doing this so we kept that on the "down low" when Garage Tuning in Anaheim CA was nice enough to let us use thier press. Theirs was a 17 ton and the frame started to bend as we pressed the bushing. But to much of our enjoyment we were able to get all the center sleeves, leasving only a bit of the rubber and of course the dreaded metal sleeve in the LCA. So this now puts us 4 days into the project, much slower then the progress that we are used to but any movement forward is in the right direction.
So on the 6th day we all re-group after a day off for leisure and purchased a few new toys to help us with removing the metal sleeves in the LCA's
"Let me introduce u to my little friend" (insert italian accent, here)
So these are the necessary tools to make the metal sleeve beg for mercy. What we did was use the cut a slit in the metal so that there would be some room for them to become smaller when pryed and also to get us a lip to put our new 3000 hits/min AIR HAMMER...so 2.5 hours later we opened the garage in VICTORY and we have the sleeves out and the new bushings pressed in...
..TO BE CONTINUED/INSTALLED ON THE CAR
DISCLAIMER: We might have made it look easy, but this has got to be the hardest thing we have done
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