Had a nearly flawless day today at the Streets of Willow with POC. Started off with my son (Logan, 17 mos) waking up coincidentally at 4:20am with a cough...my alarm was set for 4:30. Here ya go Mommy...I was on duty last Sunday...fire up the coffee pot, quick shower, and I hit the road.

I froze my gonads off on the way to the track. It was around 35F in the high desert, and of course I have no heat, no interior, and no radio to take my mind off it. Once the sun came up, it turned out to be a spectacular SoCal day. Probably 75-80'ish and extremely clear; no wind. My face is sunburned and I was wearing SPF30 sunscreen and a hat all day. What weather for early January. Gotta love this place...

Anyhoo, all day long the car was nearly flawless. I think we have a winner here (the car, not me . I put the car in V4 class, which is where the significantly modified factory -6's and early 911's (small motors) run. Had I gone into V5, which is the modified 4-banger class (944's and 914's mainly), I would have won, and in a bigger group too. I turned two 1:21.7 -ish laps, one of which was during timed runs. I averaged around 1:24 throughout the day, which included a significant amount of traffic/passing as well as numerous spins and offs (yellow flags).

My best time ever in the Ravenna car on this course layout was around 1:27, and I would have been very happy after my 15 month hiatus and brand new car doing a 1:25 or 1:26 -- so the 1:22-25 times all day were bitchen

Only things that flaked out somewhat are that my seat moved a litle bit. I don't like that...bad @#$%. Also the sub belt loosened up a couple times, and I figure the two things are related somehow. The engine, trans, suspension, brakes, and whatever else there is...all worked great.

At least one more event with the 4-banger. Willow big-track on Jan 15th, just a test/fun day. Then it comes apart again in February for the six conversion and remaining safety equipment, assuming the budget holds together.

There are at least 2 "hot shoes" in my POC class, running the Streets in the 1:16 range. So my work is cut out for me. I'm sure I could break 1:20 with my current car setup and enough seat time. There is way more car than driver, which is a good thing when you're learning. So hopefully with the 2.2S - spec sixer (180-200HP) and a switch to Hoosiers from the Kumho Ecsta V700's, we can find about 4 seconds.

Got to meet some cool new folks, including Drew365 from the web boards as well as another Chris with a nice blue 73 2.0, and see a few familiar faces too. John Williamson ("Otto") took TTOD by the way...around 1:11 and that was on some severely flat-spotted/blistered tires. They were screwing with brake bias all day, but he kept locking up one end or the other. This is the "Rudy" car (3.8RSR Motec engine, cut roof & ginther screen, around 1800lbs).

Sorry for the rambling report. Pics to follow - right now it's time for beer, food and sleep.

Hey Chris,

Way to go!
Good to hear the car did so well
Post pics asap, will ya?

Cheers,

Jeroen

Chris; I meant to tell you at the track that your car sounds really strong coming up the front straight. It has a much deeper solid sound to it than any of the other 4's out there. Good showing on your first outing!

yeah....

can't wait to see the pictures
congrats...

I'm very jealous...

post pictures when you can

brant

sounds like a lot of fun. so since I know nothing at all about racing, can you tell me how you got everything setup to do this? do you have to be a member of a club? have your car inspected? some experience behind the wheel? what does it cost? how many laps do you get? are there people out there, like me, newbies? where can I see the car classification rules? besides a car and helmet is there anything else needed to get started? is there a schedule of events like this somewhere?

Chris,
How much massaging did it take to get the 7" wheels to clear. What wheels are you using Fuchs, Cookie cutters or ?
Thanks
Van

OK, here are some pics. I didn't shoot a whole lot, cuz I kinda had my hands full just trying to remember how to drive.

http://www.nosubstitute.org/events/SOW5Jan03

Pretty significant rolling and pulling. I keep meaning to take a close-up pic but I haven't yet. We did it so there's extra room to fit Hoosiers, which run wide. Right now I'm running the Kumho Ecsta V700's, 205/50's on 15x7 Cookies (they're cheap and I think they look decent). I will be picking up a set of 16x7 Fuchs with Hoosier R3S03's within the next couple months.

I suggest opening up a new thread on this one. It's a fairly involved topic and you'll get a lot of good advice here on this board.

The "usual" starting point is stock-class autocross, which requires minimal special equipment, is low cost, and provides car control training in a non-intimidating (relatively slow and obstacle-free) environment.

You are in PCA Zone7 territory, I think, and there are tons of events near you. PCA, SCCA, POC, and other groups all run up there.

I actually do maintain an "aggregated" event calendar on my web site, but I have not loaded up the 2003 schedules yet. I mainly focus on SoCal stuff, but will also list NorCal and NV/AZ events sometimes.

Great pics. Lets see, there its 80 out and you're racing. Here, in OH, I'm looking at more salt on the roads after yet more snow! Do a lap for me.

Hey Chris,

Thx for taking the time to write this up. For those of us currently distracted by other things, we get a chance to enjoy some of the details of the development of both your car and your driving. The pics were great too. Good luck!

kim.