POC Short Track (Streets of Willow) today was my last event of the year; possibly until Feb 1. For whatever reason, there were only 40 cars there today which made for an extremely uncrowded track. I think I was only passed twice; once was by a new GT3, the other was by a prepped RS America, so I don't feel bad at all.

My big lesson of the day was CORNER BALANCE IS -IMPORTANT-.

On my first session, 3rd lap or so -- after a little heat was in the tires and we were picking up the pace -- I did a rather seat-staining full 360° spin at approx 85mph, maybe more. This was in the turn 1-2 transition area, which is a fast uphill sweeper going into a pretty hard right. The car felt really sketchy going into the braking zone there, and a few other spots.

Come to find out that the car's right height and corner weights were completely farked, most likely from my recent rear spring change even though I tried hard to set the rear height to exactly what it was before. (It had been corner balanced and set up nicely earlier this year.) The car was visibly askew and basically was weight-jacked like a circle track sprint car; but in the wrong direction! Lo and behold, I lowered the front right and raised the left rear a tad apiece (prolly 1/8"), and the car was about 3X better instantly. No more spins all day. Off to the alignment rig in a few weeks, though.

It was a very mellow day overall. My car is definitely a bit tired from all the events this year; the engine is not running too great and is dripping a bit now. It will need some attention in coming months. The car is handling nice and neutral but of course both of my sets of tires are completely cooked. I made it through the year on one set of Kumhos and one set of Hoosiers. I did at least 13-15 days on the track this year so these tires are more than done, they're BURNT.

Looking forward to running some different tracks and different groups next year. I have no idea what, but something different. Now I have about 6 weeks to get some projects done before next season kicks off.

Oh yeah -- just to piss off the POC 911 weenies, Otto (JW) ran TTOD in an exhibition class highly modified Toyota Supra (belonging to his student). We think it was the first time ever that a POC STS/TT event has been won by a non-Porsche.

Sounds like fun Chris.

No pics?

I have been on kind of a "no pictures" bent lately. Not sure why. I will try to at least roll the car out of the garage and get a current shot of it tomorrow, if it's not raining.

I was there for a while. Saw your car but you weren't anywhere in sight. Drew365 was on the track as I was leaving. I also saw the run group with the '65 Mustang dusting all the p-cars on the front straight...that looked like fun. It was interesting to learn (I didn't know) that POC also has "X" class cars. I'm working on a historic rally car project and I think that I'll use the STS to help sort out the car next year.

I spent some time talking to Glen (STS guy from POC). I'm gonna go ahead and prep the S2 for the first driver's school and STS event Jan 30-31.

Have fun,
Kevin

I am planning on running most of next season with . They will be at California Speedway, Buttonwillow, Willow Springs and Las Vegas. I may do a few events with HSR West. They will add PIR and Thunderhill to my list of possible venues. I would like a chance to get on the new track in Phoenix. (I don't much care for Firebird) I don't know if anybody has any events planned for Spring Mountain Motorsports Park in Pahrump. I have probably done more laps there than on any other track. Is POC or PCA going to be at Laguna Seca? I'll have to wait to see what my schedule (and budget) will allow me to do.

Sounds great Kevin - I'll watch for you next year. There are only 8 POC STS events scheduled, so I will probably do most/all of those. Then I will try to do at least 10 other events, depending what my time & budget allows.

All of the orgs are just now finalizing their 2004 schedules, so I will try to aggregate and post them all on my web site calendar page as in previous years. This time I will pick up more of the race/track orgs.

Chris; I ran 10 or 12 laps attached to the rear bumper of Bob Rodriquez today. It was totally bitchin. All the laps were in the 13's, the best being 1:13.4. At the timed runs he, being Mr. Consistancy ran a 1:13.4 for TTOD. I turned a 1:14.1 for second fastest. It was a great ending to a good year of racing. It was cold at the end of the day. We were finished up about 3:45 because no one wanted to go out for another session.
Brad might be interested that Blake Rosser showed up and was doing every job he could because he needed points to win his championship. He ran a dark blue tubo car and was real friendly to everyone. Stange things happen sometimes. I never thought I'd be able to say I beat his time.

Holy crap Andy, 13's are flying, now you're into "Z" class territory! Congrats on a great season wrap up, and congrats to Bob for the TTOD. I spent a wonderful day with my son and can't complain about a thing. He even helped me take the "teen car trailer" back to the storage yard