El Toro is premier venue in So Cal. 70 to 80 second courses at 65 mph. Nice weather 10 months out of the year. Im convinced its why so many fast drivers come from that region.

I think us West Coast drivers might think differently about allowing your 3 cars into all trophies. where's that Southern hospitality? Can't y all share a couple trophies with us?

Hint. If you want into the trophies build an FP Boxster.

Honestly I'm more interested in margarita parties than winning a trophy. Lol!

That was a Berry course, and yes, it was awesome! My second favorite of the year, next to Mike Simanyi's course a couple months earlier.
I believe (don't quote me on this) that this video was taken pre-new motor, but during/after some extensive tire and suspension tuning. Toby's been working really hard on the car this year and the results are showing. He managed third in overall PAX last weekend between Buetzer and Simanyi. Don't let your guard down, guys.
Mark D.

One would be foolish to overlook the Larson team.They are fast.

It takes a really fast ,clean lap .....on each day,to trophy at nats!

Can't imagine running a boxter Grant-I've always run 914s-

JJackson

Yeah I don't blame you. Bigger bloated Boxster is a handfull compared to the more agile 914. 914 offers much more raw race car feel and is much smaller. I have never driven a dedicated 914 ax car but suspect they are a hoot. My 914/6was more of a road racer with low torque peaky 2.5 it really never could pull 2nd gear out of turns like the Boxster can. However boxster still isnt making power of the BMW or Z. Even Erik admits the car needs more motor but this is a good test before motor upgrade next year.

Less than a week before I leave. I'm finally ready. Getting a bit nervous, now. Good luck, everybody!
Mark D.

Getting close. Three of my friends are heading out tomorrow and a few are heading out in a couple days. Good luck to you all

I fly out of SFO Sunday Morning. Will be staying downtown in Marriot. Then head out for test day early Monday morning. Man I havent driven the Boxster in about half a year. Hope I can remeber how to drive the thing.

At nats. Met Britt today. Super nice guy. Super cool car. Can't wait for tomorrow in the SSM miata. Supercharged, 240 whp, 200 tq from about 2k rpm to red line. Should be fuuuuunnnnnn. Don't expect to rule the world, but looking to rule the other miatas in the grid.

Good luck Y'all I'll be watching and listening as much as I can. About an hour to go. I wish I was walking the course right now with ya.

It is a real special moment when you can smell the race gas from the cars warming up. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/SCCASolo


Also look at SCCA Solo live.

Tough day for 914s. Britain is 5 seconds off 1st in XP and Leeds Gullick is 2 seconds of 1st in FP.

Looks like Grant's codriver is 1.3 seconds off 1st in FP in the Boxster.

Jay is sitting 3.3 seconds back of 1st in FP in his 914.

Good job out there guys. Thanks for representing the 914 community. I hope tomorrow goes better for you all.

Yup what Jon said.

I am sitting here thinking WTF is going on. Need to have a good day tomorrow.

BTW Grant the gas is on the right, it goes to the floor.

I am guessing something happened with two DNFs

I have to admit I am a little surprised how far off Britain is from the leader.

Lol! My first run I found throttle a little too much at the end and did a major tank slapper across the line backwards at 66 flat. That run was likely low 65 .not fast but mid pack. More embarrassing was when I came to a stop my hot tires stuck to timing cables and yanked all the timing gear in the trailer causing a 15 minute delay. All 2wd guys should be thanking me as it gave track a chance to completly dry out. My next two runs I got lost and went slow route with times not worth mentioning. Overall one of my worst ax days.

...however It does appear Boxster was fastest FP class Porsche. Like I have said don't judge Boxster by my times at SCCA events as it takes me a minimum of 5 runs before I start moving fast. However my co driver is national level driver. Clearly platform is good it just needs more power. The car is virtually unchanged from where I left off. If anything it has less lateral grip than when it was on slicks. But car still feels rock solid.

So guess there might be something to modern chassis in prepared class?

Met JJ and like him. Good guy. Talked with Leeds too. He is having a Boxster done and was very intersted in the FP Boxster. The Boxster with 250 hp 2.7 will be a car to watch next year. All the FP guys are great talked to a lot of them today and it's great learning more about cars etc.

Brad is here too! Feels a little like old times!

Tomorrows course for FP should be even more Boxster friendly. The slow sections of today's course put us at a disadvantage against the more powerful cars. Tomorrow has more slaloms. Pretty much slalom till you puke!

Grant same thing happened to me 1st day @ Nats last year.
Kart died on 1st run = DNF Jumped in a loaner kart and spun it on my 2nd run. 3rd run was keep it clean and between the cones. I was sunk with no hope. My goal quikly became Don't be last.

Good Luck to all you guy's on Day 2....Nice showing on the Boxster, Grant!

Well, I would think it is safe to say the XP and FP are not good for a 914

To be fair for the 914s in FP I really don't know how good of a bench mark Leeds car is anymore with as little as he has done to it and his inconsistent driving. Greg very well have been able to get up there if the car was running well and set up a little better had he been in the seat.

But even so, the 914s were not even close

Looks like the Boxster did very well for its first time there. Grant must be proud.

It will be interesting to hear what Jay thinks

Thank you to all the 914 guys that went and gave it a shot. I hope I will be able to do so next year. It's great to have a presence even if the outcome isn't perfect

I am pretty much speachless JJ and I were talking about this 2 months ago sitting by the pool.
All hail the new king of the hill.

Class standings for FP [25 Cars] (8/31/2011 1:31:43 PM)

---------------------------------------------------------
T 1 193 Toby Larsson 1998 BMW 328is Orange Hoosier
63.146 64.747(1) 61.341 125.923
72.651(4) 64.582 65.397
---------------------------------------------------------
T 2 123 John Thomas 1971 Nissan 240 Z Blue Hoosier
65.186(1) 62.074 61.387 126.439
69.340(2) 65.803 65.052 (0.516)
---------------------------------------------------------
T 3 111 Vivek Goel 1999 Porsche Boxster Bl Hoosier
65.127(1) 63.246 62.657 126.892
64.394 66.296(1) 64.235 (0.453)

Not bad for a chick car...hey? Fast FP car of the day was my co driver. I actually put in a clean run today but could not salvage yesterdays diaster. Vivek is awesome driver. He beat the best today. He had overall after first runs but Toby got him run two and John got him run 3. But Boxster was fastest car by 1/2 second today. So Boxster has officially served notice. It's the car to beat. It's only going to get faster it's still on stock rubber shock tops and built 2.7 will add 70 hp over the stock 2.5. We weighed in at 2100 lbs so bigger motor is almost free.

I'm not happy with my driving but had a blast! Fun seeing national level prepared cars all together.

So what were the configurations of the FP and XP cars? Any ideas on RWHP?

FP = Porsche 6 cylinder prolly close to 300 HP Maybe JJ will tell once he gets home.

XP = WRX STI 4 Banger What wa Britt saying about HP Near 300 ish. but lighter than FP

thanks... how about the cars that finished at the top of those classes?

Toby's FP BMW is right around 280hp and 2150lb with suspension more akin to a DTM car as all of the pickup points have been moved with expensive shocks etc.

The XP Lotus is somewhere in the 400+HP range and quite light and has spent big money on aero.

Dp and GP ran close together today so I thought I would look and see what I will have to do. Looks like GP is about 1.5 seconds off our local DP drivers. That's limited prep?

I just think I may actually be able to do this

Then again, this is likely a pipe dream but I am going to give it a shot.

In talking with Toby and John they are likely around 275 WHP. Third place FP car makes about 180 WHP ...less when its hot. LOL! I was talking with Leeds but didnt ask about HP but it must make at least 250 WHP. It scoots when he hits the go pedal. The Honda S2000 had very nice motor with big intake horns. He was fast but on technical course I was even keeping pace with him. Most of the cars are around 2000 to 2300 lbs with 2.4 to 2.8 naturally aspirated motors or 2.0 to 2.5 turbos with restrictors. The EVO is around 2500 lbs and I'd guess they are 320 WHP? Like Evan said both Toby and Johns cars are works of art. no detail left untouched. Pretty much like fully on lightweight touring race cars. John said he has squeezed all potential he can out of the Z platform I dont doubt him after looking at the car. Canister shocks, plexi windows, etc. Similar to prep in the Beast just more!

I'm pretty sure my car (ex car) was only stock powered FP car. It suffered on the more open East course but you could just see how much better the boxster handled. It looked glued to the pavement compared to all the other cars in the class. We also showed you can get it done on DOT R's which was kind of cool. I had my doubts but after running them I'm really a huge A6 fan.

Here are pictures of a few cars FP class. The Blue car is the 6 time FP title holder the Boxster snuck by on Sunday's course

I just looked all West course times and even my slow butt finished 7th in the Boxster yesterday with a 66.2. Boxster with the fast driver even beat certain 914 in XP that ran same heats just on different course by 7 seconds overall? JP I'll be nice as I know all the 914 guys are licking their wounds.

I will say it aint that 914's are going slow. The Boxster has just raised the bar. We know Toby worked hard on improving the BMW from last year and we still beat him on Sundays course. Boxster with the fast dude would have trophied in 5th in XP with its overall times as well. Not bad for a car with a little stock 2.5 liter motor!

Im pretty sure the Boxster is coming back to next years event with a bigger built 2.7 that makes 75 more HP and actually makes power over 5900 RPM all the way to 7500. I think we would have seen FP national championship if the Boxster had power to weight ratio of the cars in podium spots with us. It will weigh the same with bigger motor as we were 140 lbs over weight at 2100 lbs.

Sounds like a great time back at Nationals. Always fun to compete at a national event.

Also glad to see that your Boxster did so well. Pretty impressive considering it's running a stock motor. All the development tricks you built in worked well.

So I see that Brad Roberts was back there as well. He said something about running a Boxster??? Tell us more.

I wish Leeds would either finish his Boxster or do something with his 914. His Boxster has a Cup car engine in it but they have had some issues with fuel delivery or something to that degree. I think Greg just hasn't had the time to do anything on it. Leeds 914 hasn't really had anything done on it since I started autocrossing

You drove well the second day Grant. If you had done that the first day who knows what would have happened. You may have even trophied.

JJ's car sure looks good

Just got back guys-MISERABLE handling week.Missed the setup, never found the handling with the adjustments we made.
Modern suspension designs dominated the class this year.Except for JT.
Grants Boxster did fantastic on the West course-all transitions and slaloms-no place to use power.Congrats Grant! It was a pleasure to meet you.
Going to unload car now and find what we missed.
JJackson

Thanks Randal! Brad was apparently there to support Brit? No prepped or mod Boxsters there other than mine. Brad has supported a SSM Boxster in Texas but the owner didnt make it out to Nationals.

On another note: Carl V set fastest AS run yesterday in a Cayman S! Steve and Monty are running this afternoon with Carl on East course. I have been working with headset since yesterday! Fun listening to action live.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/solo-nationals-east

There is always next time

So after this year what changes do you feel would benefit you in FP?

For Boxster its bigger displacement and race built motor time. The car looks sad when that little 2480cc motor accelerates but you can see it holds speed through turns better than anything. It looks like a slot car on that grippy flat surface in Lincoln. I think we had data logger that captured G's. It will be intersting to see what I hit in a few places.

For 914's I'd say focus everything on suspension. Suspension dynamics of the stockish rear arms just dont hold tires to pavement like more modern suspensions. I was talking with J and said that ideal would be a narrow 914 with Boxster suspension! But you cant practically do that in FP.

Okay, looking today at the times I see one of our local guys won STU. On the same course the GP cars are runing the same times as he is.

This is making me rethink things here

Oh well, I am too far into this to stop now

When I was at the Cascade Lakes Hill Climb they put me in SPU.

Wonder what modifications you can make and still be legal in SPU?

STU is an AX class with street tires. Little differnt than Hill Climb specific SPU class.

Power cars had a definite advantage on East course. Couple of drag race straights and some slow sections that benifited more powerful cars. Seeing GP cars at Nats they are really narrow compared to 914. However I still think a very well perpared 914 could give those cars a run for their money.

I called it last week and now I just went and looked. Yes the Boxster was fast with fast driver.

Props to Beth for a 132 total
compared to our pirate's 138.

Around here we call that getting skirted.

I know I know I choked on Tuesday and had to carry a time with 3 cones that included a spin! Scratch for that run was 66.1 You figure out how much a hundred foot tank slapping spin was worth that had me crawl across the line backwards. but I did beat her time on Wed. when I was clean by over a second. So looks like I was faster when I was clean but slower when you add in my 6 second penalty for 3 cones. Honestly I thought I DNF'd that run too. Video will tell. I shouldnt have had any time for Tuesday.

I recall you saying 2 seconds a day? With me carrying a six second penalty lots of Mens, Ladies, Girls and Boys beat my overall time. I know what I did wrong first day and will learn from that expereince.

Joe, You'd be wearing lots of skirts in Cali if you drove here but I hear thats how you roll in the South too with all that cross dressing you do

Pretty funny. You know I just had to take a shot at you since JP ain't been around for a few days.

I read on other forum that Leeds rig rolled on the way home due to winds. Is he OK?

Word is he is okay. The 914 looks a little beat up but not too bad. His Suburban and tailor don't look good.

So turns out Leeds didn't get a scratch on him . Looks like the trailer lost a wheel and with the wind it made the trailer fish tail all over and took him for a ride .

Wow! scary. Glad he is ok and from picture in good spirits.

Tons o picks! Including one damn sexy Boxster

http://www.gotcone.com/pgallery/2011_scca_...solo_nationals/

I agree that suspension is the key, but unless I haven't been keeping up on my Solo rules, there's really nothing that can't be done in FP to the suspension of the 914. My understanding is that the car has to retain independent suspension, but that's it. So why not build an SLA front and rear suspension for the car? Wenzel's champion EP rabbit had SLA suspension, and it sure didn't come from the factory that way.

-Josh

Wow! Glad Leeds is okay. That had to be a "Depends" moment for sure.

-Josh2

I just dont know how you get a FP 914 to compete with this?


Boxster just holds tires down very well compared to 914's and in FP where Boxster runs at the same weight there isnt much a 914 has in the way of an advantage other than being a little more narrow.

I was looking at results and the Boxster was the fastest Porsche at Nationals both PAX and raw time. Scary thing is the suspension on my car isnt all that great. It still has stock shock top with rubber bushings with cheap $1700 KW Variant 2 shocks. Nothing nice like a JRZ or Moton that top cars use. With monoball on top with a good shock the car would handle even better.

Somone needs to be thinking about what can be done to improve 914 suspension so they can compete in these Prepared classes again.

I think my next car build will be XP Boxster to go after the Zust car. The 175 WHP FP boxster wasnt too far off his times. With a 450 HP 2.5 liter subi motor in a Boxster he might be in for some trouble with the right driver at the wheel. Actually 3rd place FP Boxster times would have have been 5th in XP! How about shattering myth that you need expensive HP win trophy in XP?

There is a huge difference in times. what might not be obvious to some is Jason Collett had a faster scratch time than Zust.

Not given the huge power and weight differntial between the FP Boxster and the Zust car. Drop a few more pounds out of the boxster with Subi motor and add 250 HP and that gap would close up real quick. Trust me.

I have been watching the Zust car for a while and I see its vunrabilities and the S200o isnt anything special just has a better driver.

Glad Leeds came out of that one OK.

Wonder how fast he was going when that fishtailing started?

Seeing that carnage I think I'm going to be checking my trailer and trailer brakes before the trip up to Medford.

We are always working on our cars, but it seems the trailers take a back seat.