Pro Solo Finale and Solo Nationals news

[Dean]

So aparently the pro was quite a show. The interesting Subaru news is in A Stock...

From SCCA.com

The stunner of the day was Jonathan Roberts, of Richmond Hill, Ga., who started the weekend in a three-way tie for the A Stock points lead, but went on to dominate the AS class, putting together a 2.244 second margin of victory in his Barnes, Inc. Subaru STi, and earning himself class honors in 2006.

What they don't say is that according to the evolution list

The STI that won AS by such a huge margin, 2.2 seconds, was on oem
shocks! It only had 3 mm spacers up front, sway bar, alignment and 275
Hoosiers.

Way to go...

[MattR]

Damn, I wonder is the Sti will get moved to Super Stock now

Anyway, that's some damn good driving to put 2+ seconds up on 2nd place. wow.

[Dean]

Our "local" Mark Sipe unfortunately did not fare well in his STU RX-8, fighting cones, and spins, and dnfs aparently most of teh two days... STIs and Evos and a stray BMW ruled the class.

Debbie only fared a little better in L2. I wonder if the car had problems.

Well, hopefully they do better at the Solo early in the week.

[sperry]

I'm not surprised that the STI didn't need shocks. Since lowering the car really only results in poor dynamic camber, and since you can't go up on the spring rates, I don't see any real advantage in "upgrading" the already terrific stock struts.

Massive tires and a real stiff front sway to prevent camber loss in cornering and a wicked alignment is pretty much doing everything that you can to that car. The 3mm front spacers is interesting though... I wonder how much camber they were able to get out of the front alignment... if it was enough to need more backspacing, I'd be surprised!

[Dean]

Originally Posted by sperry

I'm not surprised that the STI didn't need shocks. Since lowering the car really only results in poor dynamic camber, and since you can't go up on the spring rates, I don't see any real advantage in "upgrading" the already terrific stock struts.

Massive tires and a real stiff front sway to prevent camber loss in cornering and a wicked alignment is pretty much doing everything that you can to that car. The 3mm front spacers is interesting though... I wonder how much camber they were able to get out of the front alignment... if it was enough to need more backspacing, I'd be surprised!

Spacers were likely to clear the stock struts with them mighty shoes.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

Spacers were likely to clear the stock struts with them mighty shoes.

Good point.

[Pat R.]

At the Wendover Pro I heard several comments that were skeptical of how "Stock" that car really is, boost-wise. It did seem to pull pretty hard compared to the '06 STI in the same class but the '06 still had paper tags and may not have been broken-in fully.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Pat R.

At the Wendover Pro I heard several comments that were skeptical of how "Stock" that car really is, boost-wise. It did seem to pull pretty hard compared to the '06 STI in the same class but the '06 still had paper tags and may not have been broken-in fully.

If the driver is well adept at left-foot-braking, the car would look like it's boosting quite a bit more than someone that doesn't. I'd kill to be able to LFB while autocrossing as well as I can in video games on the computer... I'd be in the boost twice as much!

[NevadaSTi]

I guess I am going to have to look into this whole LFB thingy. And some 275 hoosiers!! Got the swaybar already.

[Pat R.]

It looks like Debbie is in 2nd place after the the first day and Mark had cone issues on all of his East side runs:

 T 2   93 Debbie Kerswill      2005 Mazda RX-8 Wht      Yokohama   58.805(1) 56.969    55.876      55.876
         Reno, NV             Koni Racing Shocks/Mazda Reno Regio                                (1.556)

43  193 Mark A Sipe          2005 Mazda RX-8 Wht      Yokohama   59.693(2) 62.908(3) 62.452(3)  112.317
    [93] Reno, NV             KONI RACING SHOCKS       Texas Regi 53.441    60.045(3) 52.624     (0.204)

[Dean]

Good for Debbie, but she is 1.5 seconds out of first. that is going to be hard to make up...

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Dean

Good for Debbie, but she is 1.5 seconds out of first. that is going to be hard to make up...

That's easy to do if the 1st place car cones.

[Pat R.]

Debbie finished 3rd:

T 1   73 Amy Fair             1997 BMW M3 Slv          Yokohama   55.937    54.966    54.320     108.154
         Plano, TX            Vorshlag Motorsports     Texas Regi 53.834    54.877(1) 54.595(1) 
T 2   52 Mary E Bahr          2004 Subaru WRX-STI Blu  Hankook    58.163    56.411    58.587(1)  110.024
         West Salem, WI                                Milwaukee  54.369    54.448    53.613     (1.870)
T 3   93 Debbie Kerswill      2005 Mazda RX-8 Wht      Yokohama   58.805(1) 56.969    55.876     110.827
         Reno, NV             Koni Racing Shocks/Mazda Reno Regio  DNF      56.075    54.951     (0.803)

[Kevin M]

Nice job Deb!

[dknv]

Quick report from Topeka before we hit the road for home today. (Thanks for watching, guys.)

Besides being the most slippery asphalt I have ever run on (and I share that sentiment with what might be 90% of the other competitors), the car had handling issues the entire time. I was first one out on Friday morning at the ProSolo, and the back end of the car would not stay under me. There wasn't a turn I could take at speed or with any power so I had to slow up at every transition. Mark had many spins.

He tried everything to get the rear end to stay in place - we went through multiple spring changes, rear bar changes, (even disconnecting the rear bar for one set of ProSolo runs), lowered tire pressures, more rear toe-in; Koni was onsite, and along the way all 4 shocks got revalved. The handling got a little better by Tuesday afternoon when I ran in nationals, but it still wasn't good enough to be able to pitch the car into a turn. On my first run on Wednesday, I took a spin through a wall of cones which was next to the dividing line to the other course. I got rattled, and then I couldn't get my head back into the game to be able to put down a really fast run on the west course.
- - - - -
Interesting story to watch will be the Thu/Fri CP competitors. We heard a bunch of them were running around over the last 2 days looking for Hoosiers to run (instead of their slicks). Mark was working the course on Sunday in the test & tune event, and watched the CP cars sliding all over the place. I hope for them, they can find more grip.

Can't wait to hear how this year's results are going to factor in with 2007 pax (or not).

[MPREZIV]

Sucks about the traction issues... still looks like you did well tho! Good job!

[Kevin M]

The trophy is even more impressive considering the issues with the car Deb. Can't wait to see what happens next year when it's sorted out!

[Kevin M]

Random picture taken by Peaty, proprietor of Scoobymods.com: