Success! I almost forgoet how fun AutoCross is...

So this past weekend was the opening event for the Renegade Miata Club's AutoCross season. It was my first event in my 2008 STI and only my second event ever, so Im still learning the ins and outs. However, it was a BLAST. The car was great, the course was great the people were great... the only thing that could have been better would've been if it wasn't as windy. It got a bit chilly when I was out working the corners (pun intended). When the wind died down, the weather was gorgeous... of course Marc was 'freezing' and jumping around like Penguin trying to escape the jaws of an Orca. But, I digress... I must give him credit for even getting me into the event seeing as I do not own a Mazda.


The day started off meeting Marc and Shane at Marc place. Once Jose showed up with his Mazdaspeed 3 we then cruised up to the event, got there roughly 7:45, got registered and walked the track. The course looked fast, but not overly technical. It was definitely a good one to get my feet wet and get used to the car.


We had 2 heats, 4 runs each heat, so I did 4 morning runs and 4 afternoon runs. I started the day off with a run of 1:18 +1 cone, followed by two runs of 1:15, one clean and the other with 1 cone hit... and boy did I NAIL that cone. I finished the morning up with a 1:14 +1 cone. Cones, for reference, are a +2sec penalty. Overall, I was extremely pleased with that fact that I was steadily improving my times with each run. Then, it was time for some lunch. After hitting up Subway with Marc and Shane, we headed back for the afternoon runs.


Now we're talking. My times dropped by about 1 whole second each run in the afternoon with a final lowest run of 1:12.3. Overall, Im extremely happy with how it went and cant wait to get back out there. I need to do something about the massive amounts of body-roll in the car, though... and get some new brake pads.


Below are two videos taken of my morning runs:

Preparing for 2010 Autocross & Drag Racing Season

New England Dragway opens its doors to the general public for the first 'Street Night' of the season on Friday April 9th. I have yet to drag race my 2008 Subaru WRX STI (right) but look forward to seeing what this thing is made of. I dont know if I will make it to opening night here, because I have 2 other potential events this weekend which, to me, are much more appealing (see below).

The 2010 Autocross season starts on April 10th with the Renegade Miata Club driving school at Devens Airfield. Now, I dont own a Mazda, so I can only attend via invite from a club member. Thus, BIG thanks to Marc (See his blog) for letting me tag along. The following day (April 11th), at the same location, is the 1st Points Event for the NER Chapter of SCCA.

I dont expect to be hugely competitive, but I had a blast the one event I managed to get to last year, so Im going to try and put some focus here this season and see what I can do.

For those familiar with SCCA regulations, I will be running the STU class. So far, the only 'go-fast' modifications to the car are a 3" Turboback Exhaust and Cobb AccessPort. I have also added a set of Enkei RP03 wheels in 18x9.5 +38 wrapped in Dunlop Drezza Star Spec tires sized 245/40/18. The 245 tire is a bit stretched on the 9.5 width wheels, but in order to remain in STU and not get bumped up to SM I couldnt use a tire any wider than that.

Items Im waiting on or installing in the near future to help get ready are:
- Custom Protune - moar powa!!
- Whiteline 22mm rear sway bar
- Hawk HPS brake pads
- SettingSaver - saves my SI-Drive/DCCD/VDC settings
- Rally Decals magnetic # kit

The 1st three items likely wont be done in time for the first weekend of events, but they are on the block and will happen as soon as I have time to do them.

Lacking content... an ongoing issue

You'll notice that the title of the blog has changed...

I'm finding it hard to come up with content that I think is worthy of posting. Perhaps its because there isn't a true focal point. I may try to cover a couple different items en route to honing in on what I ultimately decide to focus on.