Whoo Hoo!!! what a weekend!
Last weekend (Jan 24-25) was the
SCCA Solo 2 National Tour Season Opener at Firebird Iternational Raceway. And what a weekend it was, First there was a Venue change, it was originally suppose to be at Arizona Motorsports Park (AMP), But due to some unfortunat instances AMP has been shut down. So instead of a Huge Lot at AMP we got a Postage stamp at FIR.
On top of that, It decides to Rain both mornings, wich ended up being helpfull for my Sadly under preped STS car.
Heres how Saturday went.....
we got 4 runs wich at a national event is VERY rare (Ushually you get only 3) The course was Fast smooth and sadly short, after the timing lights there was a Loop to the Right, after going around the loop once, you made a Left out of the loop in to a short straightaway where you made an other left in to a 3 cone solom which ended at the Stop lights.
1st run out, Very wet. And its my first time running in the rain, Stop the lights at 42.28 not bad, the current STS national champ ran a 42.09.... only .18 off pace!!!
2nd run out, Little dryer but still mostly wet. Stop the lights at 40.68 not bad little less then a 2 second improvement..... National champ : 38.62....... well now I'm 2.06 seconds off
3rd run, mostly dry and I screwd a corner...... 43.44... damn! national champ: 39.33
4th run, the racing line is totally dry at this point....
I stop the lights with a 40.55. National champ: 37.83
So at the end of Day 1 I'm 2.72 seconds back
Sunday, Wake up Praying for rain...(its the only chance I got!
) Damn its Dry
Go take a shower, look out the window....... RAIN!!!!!! Yippie!!!!!
Get to the track and walk the course... in the rain.... Simmilar to Saturdays coruse but reversed, the loop now goes Left, and exits going right, to a short straight then right again to a quick chicane ending at the stop lights.
Today we only get 3 runs. and the rain eases to a light sprinkle for our first runs.....
1 st run, Very wet with lots of standing water. Went great, the car was very stable and tossable, triped the lights with a 35.59!!! this track is much quicker!! national champ:34.74, damn still off, but not by much .85 sec.
2nd run (Still wet but getting dryer), screwed a turn again!!!! and trip the lights with a 35.84
National champ.....34.47. Now I'm 1.12 seconds back.
3rd run(the course is still wet with a few dry spots), Best run yet 34.76! Wheeeee.... National champ..... 33.68
End day 2 back 1.08 seconds (much better then the first day, see I told you My car is better in the rain) Unfortunatly because of the frist day I end the event 3.8 Seconds of the leader...
wich puts me in 15th place out of 17 cars. not bad for my first national event and my first race in the rain.
maybe if it had kept raining on saturday I would have placed better....
My co driver didnt do to much better, he ended up in 14th for the event. Looks like 7th gen civics arnt going to be challanging the top cars in STS any time soon
Luckily there are still local events, and we recently found an 89 Si!!! arguably the best car for the class (about 8 of the 17 cars that ran STS were 89 Sis.....) So with aquiring the Si, my 01 EX will be regulated to Local events, where you can win with just about any thing, BUt at least I tried. (oh ya, and I was sick the whole weekend, I was glad i didnt cough or sneez mid course......
The next national Level event I will be attending will be the San Bernardino Pro Solo in March, I'll be co-Driving my friends New 89 Si, so it should be fun! Oh ya, A pro solo could be described as a Drag race with an autocross attached to it....... Think about the fun!!!
Results for the Phoenix national tour can be found here
See ya at the races and keep the shiny side up!!!
