Good fight with an STI today (autocross).

R13

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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 ;) )
 
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good hooked... and come play on the bigger stages too :)
 
good hooked... and come play on the bigger stages too :)

If I end up at a national event it will probably be in my C-Stock MR2 Turbo.

With the drivability mods (ABS update, various small aftermarket bits) I've done to the NSX, I would fall into ASP, only without the $10,000+ or so I'd probably need to sink into the car to fully prep for that class.

Right now, even my MR2 would probably get protested though (assuming I was fast enough to worry anyone).
 
Keep it going- STi's can be a handful. Right now, my nemesis is a Porsche Cayman in BS. However, the driver of an S2000 decided to start driving his wife's STi in the STU class (the club I run with uses PAX modifiers for rankings), which absolutely rocks in his hands. I was holding off his S2000, but the lightly modded STi is just blazingly fast- about 2 raw seconds worth.

I have Star Specs in the same sizes too. I think I might have to bump up the widths or go to some R-compounds...
 
Yeah, I have little doubt that a national-level driver in that same STI would probably be able to beat me. This fellow is certainly competent, but a little conservative with his driving. Then again, I've nearly had FTD in a region full of former champs at an event where the course matched the gearing. I've been pleasantly surprised with the cars capabilities where I thought it might struggle on account of the US-spec gear ratios.
 
In the spirit of this thread, I had a very close battle in a Solo 1 type of event on our local road course last weekend.
It came down to me in our LoveFab NSX versus a 2009 Shelby GT500 (factory supercharged) Mustang.
We were a few tenths apart after each of the 5 runs, but like R13 I was able to nab FTD on the last lap.
The shorter (JDM) 2nd gear in our NSX really helped me out on that 2nd & 3rd gear course, and I was at 8,000 rpm in 3rd at the braking zone at the end of the back straight (perfect ;^)

Man, that was FUN!
Brian
 

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Nice. I imagine those mustangs are probably pretty quick on a road course (hp and wide tires if nothing else).


I'll re-contribute a little, although this wasn't quite so close or heroic.

At a very lightly attended PCA track day at Talladega GP the organizer set up what they referred to as an autocross of the track. Basically it was a top-gear style standing lap from pit lane around to the finish line on the track. I didn't win, but I was "only" 2 seconds off of a 2011 GTR (I had the rest of the field covered by another 2 seconds :) ). He did a standing lap of a 1:12, I managed a 1:14.

That 1 lap thing is tricky because I was having to deal with cold tires and brakes while still trying to push.
 
That 1 lap thing is tricky because I was having to deal with cold tires and brakes while still trying to push.
Yep, that's exactly the same format we had (Top-Gear style, as you say :cool:)

Brian
 
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