Ok, this isn't nationals, and I'm no Shrddr, but it was still some good fun:
So, today we had nine or so entrants in our local open-modification street-tire class including a friend who has an '07 STI limited and myself. We're both on modified suspension, and both on Dunlop Z1 Star Specs (215/255 for me, 255 all around for him). His car puts down ~286AWHP with some ECU & exhaust fiddling. I've got a bone-stock motor and an ARK tailpipe.
6 Runs total.
Through the first 4 runs I was ahead of him in raw time by about a tenth, but I had managed to cone every run so far. He had two clean runs (course was pretty tricky), and was 1st place in class.
I finally managed a clean run on my 5th run, and was ahead by ~3 hundredths: 53.293 vs. his 53.323. I was very relieved at this point to have something on the board. I'd been up since 5:30 and standing in the sun for ~2 hours prior to our group starting our runs. Concentration was a struggle for whatever reason today, so I was ready to take what I could get. I didn't think the time would stand, but this was crucial in that it took some pressure off for the last run.
It's worth mentioning at this point that I was directly behind my friend in the run order. So I would launch when he was ~2/3 of the way through the course...no way to know times at all.
I pulled up to the start line telling myself that I had to assume that he would drop time, and I needed to push a bit. It didn't help that the timing and scoring guys were making a big deal out of it on the PA. I got a good launch, cleaned up my line a few places...enough to lay down what felt like a quick, clean run. Significantly, I managed to really get stuck in a few places were I'd had to be conservative in my previous run for fear of continuing the coneage, but didn't touch any this time. In the end I dropped over a second off of my time (a bleeding eternity for autocross). I ended with a 52.101, but I still had no idea where that put me. 1st or 2nd? I only knew as I pulled back into grid and heard "I really hate you sometimes..." from the space in front :biggrin:
He'd ended with a 52.4xx on his last run, which would have handily won the class if not for my last run.
Nothing like some good, fun, CLOSE racing (even if it's not W2W )
So, today we had nine or so entrants in our local open-modification street-tire class including a friend who has an '07 STI limited and myself. We're both on modified suspension, and both on Dunlop Z1 Star Specs (215/255 for me, 255 all around for him). His car puts down ~286AWHP with some ECU & exhaust fiddling. I've got a bone-stock motor and an ARK tailpipe.
6 Runs total.
Through the first 4 runs I was ahead of him in raw time by about a tenth, but I had managed to cone every run so far. He had two clean runs (course was pretty tricky), and was 1st place in class.
I finally managed a clean run on my 5th run, and was ahead by ~3 hundredths: 53.293 vs. his 53.323. I was very relieved at this point to have something on the board. I'd been up since 5:30 and standing in the sun for ~2 hours prior to our group starting our runs. Concentration was a struggle for whatever reason today, so I was ready to take what I could get. I didn't think the time would stand, but this was crucial in that it took some pressure off for the last run.
It's worth mentioning at this point that I was directly behind my friend in the run order. So I would launch when he was ~2/3 of the way through the course...no way to know times at all.
I pulled up to the start line telling myself that I had to assume that he would drop time, and I needed to push a bit. It didn't help that the timing and scoring guys were making a big deal out of it on the PA. I got a good launch, cleaned up my line a few places...enough to lay down what felt like a quick, clean run. Significantly, I managed to really get stuck in a few places were I'd had to be conservative in my previous run for fear of continuing the coneage, but didn't touch any this time. In the end I dropped over a second off of my time (a bleeding eternity for autocross). I ended with a 52.101, but I still had no idea where that put me. 1st or 2nd? I only knew as I pulled back into grid and heard "I really hate you sometimes..." from the space in front :biggrin:
He'd ended with a 52.4xx on his last run, which would have handily won the class if not for my last run.
Nothing like some good, fun, CLOSE racing (even if it's not W2W )
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