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Bridgestone's reigned supreme at the NJ ProSolo taking every class except for SS and FS. There were people making parking lot deals in the paddock to get onto them for Satruday afternoon/Sunday morning.
Interestingly we saw the same thing as Burglar did where the Bridgestones seemed to have tipped the balance a little bit back towards the 350Zs which have not been particularly competitive in the class previously
I ended up 1.4 off the combined lead on the non-SS ZIIs which is frustrating only in the fact that I'm not convinced the Stones are worth 1.4 seconds but I'm not convinced they're not either.
I seem to remember Sam Strano et al doing some informal test last year to confirm R-comps being worth about *0.975 which they did seem to come to an agreement on that.
Ive already heard the Bridgestone as being referred to as "like R-comps" by lots of fast folks (including Sam) so
So if you were combined 1.4 off the front, (& I cant seem to find the results online but I want to say combined ties were around 70 seconds) than that would make them just a bit slower than R-comps assuming equal drives between you and the winner.
I think with that in mind you can be quite proud of your performance, and just bring that same pace but make sure next time youre not outgunned, maybe a parking lot transaction is in order haha
Figured I'd post my CS build in here. I just picked up the car from from another member last month
- OTS Koni Yellows
- Tri-Point Sway Bar (.095 wall thickness)
- Maxed front camber out (not much to give, -1.3), and reduced the rear to -1.0 with slight toe in.
- "Isley" exhaust built by Tri-Point
I'm probably just going to practice on the stock wheels with the Kuhmo v720, since I still have to compete in HS for points (I'm the current class leader). Before the end of the year i'll be getting 17" RPF1 - and I'll likely be getting some Koni 2812s from ProParts by the middle of the season.
I'd recommend Koni Yellows modifed to external double adjustable over the 2812s
What don't you like about the 2812s? I co-drove a BSP MSMiata at Crow's that was on a set and man do they feel good. They were off of Bill Schenker's old CSP car. The idea to use 2812s is that I could easily segue to STX after next season (plus ProParts is pretty close).
I tried a set of RE71Rs and could not believe the massive amount of grip on offer. I also tried a 255/40/17 as compared to the 245s I've been running for the last 2 years (this might be a mistake - but i just wanted to try it). I am not convinced that going wider is faster - would be great if you can please share your views.
I am by no means very knowledgeable on this topic - my first impressions - kind of feel like the wider tire does have more absolute grip, but made me scrub more speed because I did not get my steering angle right - whereas with the 245/Z2 - the punishment would have been great enough for me to notice. Again any thoughts or comments will be very much appreciated. I guess I have to run my experiment now that I started it - but is there potential merit in going wider?
Ahem - now is the tricky part - I ran about 2.5s behind the fastest guy in SoCal - so obviously I have miles to go. I have a video from my best run - any feedback will be awesome.
I tried a set of RE71Rs and could not believe the massive amount of grip on offer. I also tried a 255/40/17 as compared to the 245s I've been running for the last 2 years (this might be a mistake - but i just wanted to try it). I am not convinced that going wider is faster - would be great if you can please share your views.
I am by no means very knowledgeable on this topic - my first impressions - kind of feel like the wider tire does have more absolute grip, but made me scrub more speed because I did not get my steering angle right - whereas with the 245/Z2 - the punishment would have been great enough for me to notice. Again any thoughts or comments will be very much appreciated. I guess I have to run my experiment now that I started it - but is there potential merit in going wider?
Ahem - now is the tricky part - I ran about 2.5s behind the fastest guy in SoCal - so obviously I have miles to go. I have a video from my best run - any feedback will be awesome.
Don't feel so bad about being behind 2.5s behind him - he is quickly achieving Alien status, he was a fart away from STX times in his X runs yesterday.
"AYERS, Mass. (June 15, 2015) – This past weekend, the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Championship Tour had two stops on the schedule. One of those events took place at the Devens Airfield, a site with a long history of hosting National Solo meets.
...
Fierce competition was the name of the game this past weekend. There was no better representation of that than in the Street Touring R class. Joseph Ottofaro (Autosportlabs.com/Hamfist Racing Mazda MX-5), of Merrick, New York, was the class leader following the first day of competition. On Sunday William Koscielny (PROJECT Devens Honda S2000) threatened Ottofaro’s lead by setting the fastest lap on the course, but ended up 0.039-second short.
The winner of C Street took home the title with an identical margin of victory. Brent Vander Werf (Mazda MX-5), of Lowell, Massachusetts, went into the overnight break in second, a whole second off the pace of then leader Brian Doherty (Mazda Motorsports, Mazda RX-8). On his final run, Werf hit a homerun. He completed that run just over one second faster than Doherty. When the final tabulations were made, the win went to Werf by 0.039-second..."
Hey guys, I've registered for Nationals :-) I've never even done a national level tour event or anything so it will be something of a baptism by fire. My old STX buddy Alex Reddick will be co-driving with me.
If any of the more experienced of you have any advice for a first timer please share, I'm looking forward to competing with you guys! I have reasonable expectations of myself and honestly would be thrilled with a solid midpack finish! (maybe that's a tall order on the first time out!)
Hey guys, I've registered for Nationals :-) I've never even done a national level tour event or anything so it will be something of a baptism by fire. My old STX buddy Alex Reddick will be co-driving with me.
If any of the more experienced of you have any advice for a first timer please share, I'm looking forward to competing with you guys! I have reasonable expectations of myself and honestly would be thrilled with a solid midpack finish! (maybe that's a tall order on the first time out!)
Everything is done on time - get there early, walk course A LOT, hang out, have fun. Park in the right grid spot, DON'T forget numbers (if you have the wrong numbers when you go for a run, that's a DNF).
Still getting a feel for the RX-8. It's strange to have a car that turns... very different from my H-Street car, waiting for it to turn, anticipating push, no power, etc. I get 3 more events driving the car before Nationals...
That course looked pretty fun, and thanks for the tips, I didn't know the thing about the numbers but yeah i guess that makes sense.
Unfortunately I wont be able to afford to get new rubber this season so I'm going to peel off my ~60 run RivalS and reinstall my old Z2 for my Autox school and the two events before Nats, then reinstall the RivalS to use there, hopefully I dont get spanked too bad ;-)
Having fun is top priority, I'm looking forward to meeting some of you.
Here's one of my recent ones from a local event on the RivalS:
As of Friday I am the owner of a C-Street RX-8. Mainly purchased as a DD that can auto-x if needed. I will be running the car at the Toledo match tour this weekend to see how it compares to the FR-S I have been running all season.
I have one question.... how low on fuel can these be ran?
Well I learned the hard way how low it can go on fuel. 2nd run of the super shootout the car died in a left hand sweeper. needle was between 1/4 and 1/8. Lesson learned.
Other then that is was a great first event in the RX8. 1st in CS and I really love the way the car handles.
But now it is torn apart in the garage getting a new radiator. Next event will be wilmington tour then nationals.
My clutch pedal bracket broke last week, so I drove by buddy Chris' CS FRS at an event sunday on the RE71R and found that as long as you were on the near side of the friction peak they had TONS of grip, but as soon as they started sliding you had to scrub seemingly more speed to recover from it. So I think they in general will reward a more conservative style.
Chris and I were the only ones on the RE71R in CS at the event and we gapped the CS field by 1.3 seconds and Paxxed 5th and 8th overall.
I went ahead and splurged for a set of Bridgestones for my car as well, in 245/40/17 with plans to use them for one or two events before nationals. Just waiting on my clutch bracket to arrive now.
How many people are in for nationals? I am registered in an FRS (187) and can not figure out how to change it with the new system. I will have a co driver as well. CS has 66 right now! I think that makes it the largest class.
sign in and click on your name at the top bar and click "event registrations" from the drop down menu
Click on "2015 Tire Rack Solo National Championship"
Click on the Gray "Edit" button to change your numbers/codriver etc.
Totally pumped about the big field :-) My CSL driver seems pretty confident she can take on the favorite. I'm still in it for the experience being my first time but I would like to place well. Of course I'm on Bilsteins so conventional wisdom says I'll be far far away from the top of the time sheet. Guess we'll have to wait and see, that just means if I place well I did it with a handicap, although watch it turn into some kind of 'advantage' if I do haha
It wants me to switch numbers if I switch may car. New system is so cumbersome to use. O well they can fix it on site.
I would not ever say Bilsteins are bad. If valved decent they are probably better then a OTS koni just because they a monotube. I ran adjustable bilsteins last year on my ES miata and liked them a lot. My RX-8 came with Koni doubles so I am on them by default.
05-11-2015, 01:32 PM
