Hi, everyone!
 

I was leaving the Meadowwood Mall today and saw a group of cars near Bully's. I found a SECCS card dropped into my car signed by Dean. Anyone know that guy?! :wink:

I didn't have time to join you guys tonight, but I'm looking forward to hanging with you guys next Thursday. I'm a big car fanatic and just purchased a 2005 white STi on June 30th. I've been looking for a local enthusiast's club, so I'm glad you dropped me a card, Dean!

I performed a lot of research before I decided on the STi and have owner quite a few cars that I've upgraded. I purchased the STi becauase it has great potential for upgrading and kicks butt on the corners!

I moved here from Portland, OR about 1.5 years ago. I've been in several car clubs since I started my sports car hobby in 1999. Seems like not too far back, but I've owned and upgraded (myself) the following cars: 1999 Mercedes 230SLK Sport Edition, 2001 Audi TT Quattro Coupe (selling tomorrow), 2002 Ford Lightning, and now the STi...I cannot wait to get this baby to over 500HP! I have performed a wide range of uprades, so I'm looking forward to playing with my STi. I have also had race car driver instruction and have been to track events with the SLK and TT, plus several club drives. I also used to drag race my Lightning at the Woodburn Drag Strip near Portland. What an amazing truck! I now have a 2004 Dodge Dakota because it is much more functional for me when I head into the moutains for moutain biking, hiking, and just screwing off in the desert.

Is anything going on this weekend with the club? I just got my STi to over 1100 miles! I will be giving my STi an oil change this Saturday to move to MobilOne. At least if I can get that damn oil plug out! Did a robot put that bitch in there?! Time to bust out the real leveraging tools!

Oh yeah, I've been reading about your club and I'm 32, so I'm pushing up that average age just a little! Don't worry, though! I'm really just a big kid with more money than I had when I was young. I also have a co-worker that has a WRX, I'll invite him along next week.

I look forward to see the group next week, or sooner, if possible!
-- John

thats awesome.. welcome. You want to buy me a turbo kit ... with all that money? :lol:

Welcome! I waved to you when you left plus I know Dean. That makes me special.

Anyway, I am unsure of the events going on this weekend. Anyone else? I plan on hitting up bowling or something over the weekend which everyone should go to.

welcome dude. if you are interested in taking your STi out to the track, there is a track day coming up at Reno/Fernley

more info:
http://www.seccs.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1445

Don't mind him, he gets cranky without his nap. :lol:

Welcome to the board! It actually looks like you signed up to the board before you got the card, was that the case?

500 hp is a whole lot man... if you drive this car frequently on the street, I wouldn't shoot for more than about 350-380, which you can do on the stock turbo. That's just me though. 8) And definitely, definitely join as at RFR on the 29th of next month!

welcome! by any chance is this the guy who had the STI that was parked about a 100 meters away from ours?

Hi John,
Welcome to the board.
Did you get a free SCCA membership form in your glovebox? If so, send it in. Then, if you enjoy autocross, we have several events coming up, and as an SCCA member you will generally pay $10 less than the non-member event entry fee.
Aug 7/8 - Solo Trials, Lovelock NV (must be SCCA member)
Aug 14/15 - Solo II, Reno-Stead Airport
Aug 21/22 - Solo II Divisional, Boise ID (some of our club members will caravan to this event) (must be SCCA member)

While you owned the TT, did you do any track events with the Audi Car Club? Dean is an instructor for them, and I must say they set a good foundation for learning to drive on a track.

See you next time.

Yes, his car is in the second to last Tyson picture in this thread....

http://www.seccs.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1734

Hi John, Welcome... I'm Dean, and I'm 38, so I think I one of the most ancient members, but also the fastest :twisted: :twisted:

Most of us are into to turning more than going straight, and many are into autocrossing, and controlled track days. All of us are into BSing about cars to some extent, and we get together to watch Rally, ALMs, go see movies, etc... We even have a real race driver, Gary Shehan that drops in occasionally to add his insight.

I am actually an Audi Quattro clup driving instructor, so if you ever brought your TT to one of those, you may well have met me, or worse yet, had me as an instructor.

Before you go making mods, feel free to discuss them. We have a lot of smart poeple, and/or know some... :D Depending on what you want to do, autocross, drag, track, different mods will have different pros and cons, and may impact what class you run in, possibly to your detriment if you want to be competitive.

I will be in Memphis next week, so won't get to meet you, but the rest of the crew is mostly OK... Just don't take any of their $4!+... :D Hope to see you the week after.

Maybe we will put something together for tonight or tomorrow... I Robot anyone?

What's Rotbot?

(John - we don't give anyone an inch around here; 'specially the fast ones. :wink: )

I Rotbot. ahahaha :lol:

Welcome

Sounds like you are going to fit right in.

all these STi's, so little time.

welcome

Where do I start? Hmm....
 

Hi, guys!

Lots of response! Thanks for making me feel so welcome. As for my TT, I did attend track events up in Tacoma, WA, but never here. I've been looking for a good car club since I moved here, but never found much I liked. Mostly, just some street racing wannabee punks! Please...

As for my racing tastes, I've done it all. I like road racing on those curvy roads, drag racing, and some autocrossing. I always thought autocrossing was pretty hard on the clutch, so I didn't continue doing much of that after the first few times. Not sure I'll be subjecting my STi to that abuse.

Sounds like a lot of us have stuff in common. I like to attend movies on Friday early evenings or on Sunday. I also always catch the matinee, since I need that extra $3 they charge for evenings movies for my car upgrades! :D I stay on top of the new ones that interest me. I've already seen iRobot, but I'm planning to see the Machurina Candidate on Sunday with a friend of mine; likley the 11:30 showing on Plumb Lane. Want to make it a group event? Maybe we could setup a lunch afterwards? I love spicy foods and frequent Super Burrito often! Actually, I make some really kick ass hot sauce, for those that can stand it. I'm actually getting prepared to take it to the masses as a little side business. You know, something to help support my car habit.

I read about the August 29th event and I am definitely in! I've been talking to a few other people I know about going along too. They are beginners, but I'm a big believer in track training to help you learn to be a better overall driver. I know my race training has changed my driving forever.

Now onto the STi...I've been hunting down all kinds of modification parts from many different vendors. I'm checking out who's who in the WRX tuner camp. I'm definitely going to pump my baby up to over 500HP. It's a lot of power and that's exactly why I bought this car! It has great potential! I'm checking out new turbos from APS and XS-Engineering. Anyone have any experience with either of them? I'm also looking to completely rework the intake system and intercooling, maybe a little NOS just for fun! I'm a definite an engineering type, so I do a lot of homework and carefully selected my parts. I've done a lot of upgrades to my past vehicles and have always gotten what I planned to from each upgrade.

I'll be working on my front yard tomorrow morning and hoping to complete it's transformation, but if anyway is up for hanging out tomorrow evening, I'm available for that.

See everyone soon!

P.S. - I'm going to be buying anyone but myself a new turbo kit!

Re: autocrossing is bad for clutches, I guess that might be for a Pro Solo event where you launch on a light bar. We don't have Pro Solos in the Reno Region.

Maybe I don't understand drag racing, but I would have figured That would be hard on clutches. :?:

btw, I know just the person to try your hot sauce on, he's in the Reno autocross circle. Maybe at the Lovelock Solo II event on Labor Day weekend?

Autocross around here is much less hard on clutches than any form of drag racing. We don't often have starts where a real drag race launch has a lot of value, and most everything is second gear. Relative to other regions, we also get a lot of runs... 5-7 per day is the norm, and we have a fairly active season with 17 points events, as well as a 2 day Divisional, and our new Solo 1/trials program... http://www.RenoSCCA.com

The Audi club track events mostly run in the Winter & Spring, November through April, and are at many of the local Major tracks. PIR, Laguna Seca, Sears Point/Infineon, Thunderhill... Most allow other car brands, but getting your reg in early is a prerequisite, right Matt, and Scott? :twisted: They are a good deal, and quite well run IMHO.

I encourage you to do whatever you want, but 500HP out of a 2.5l engine is probably not going to end up being a great dialy driver, or road course car. In general, front mount =lag + bigger turbos = more lag == Drag car.

Probably one of the best prepared STIs we have/had is Jim Payne's with I beleive a full Vishnu stage 2? He will likley be out at the next Solo trials out at Lovelock next weekend if you want to check it out...

I'm sure you have read about boost creap issues, so be very careful as you start allowing the engine to breath better.

Definitely come on out to our next Stead Autocross, and at least go for a ride... We allow unlimited riding, even for competitors...

Look forward to meeting you when I get back...

Drag racing can be very hard on clutches if you allow your clutch to slip as you apply tons of power. I'm looking to get a carbon/carbon clutch for the STi when I start the power upgrades. That should take anything I can throw at it!

I actually used to drag race my Ford Lightning. It had a very heavy duty automatic 4 speed in it. I completely reworked the suspension to improve my launches. It was pretty awesome! Even at just over 400HP, that thing could pull low 13s. I would have been able to slip into high 12's if I used slicks. I was planning a 750HP upgrade to it before I sold it.

Oh yeah, I forgot in my last post, that my car was the STi not far from your gathering. It was dirty white, right? I'm going to give both my car and truck a bath tomorrow! They are looking pretty crappy right now!

Thanks, Dean! I'll be sure to be at the 8/14 event in Stead. It will be fun to check out what SCCA is up to in the local area. I don't recall seeing an SCCA membership application in my STi's glovebox, but I will check again to be sure.