tomsn16

Ruggles and Marcus were edged out by a 350Z in CS. Anxious to hear what they have to say about the course.I suspect it had the same steep uphill climb at the start that our torqueless wonders do not like. The history of the DC pro at this location has favored the Z:
1st/2nd/3rd
2010.......350Z/RX8/RX8.....Barbato/Marcus/Ruggles
2009.......RX8/350Z/RX8.....Ruggles/Barbato/Fossum
2008.......350/RX8/RX8.......Ruggles/Roberts/Fossum
2007.......No class
2006.......350Z/RX8/350Z...Thompson/Buckley/Hammon

Jim Thompson

chiketkd

iTrader: (5)

Jim,

FWIW, there was a DC Pro in 2008, it just doesn't show up in the scca.com archives for some reason???

Here's a link to the results: http://www.scca.com/documents/result...ovisional1.pdf

Finishing order was as follows:

2008.......350Z/RX8/RX8.....Ruggles/Roberts/Fossum


About the 2010 courses -- I spoke to Ruggles this weekend after the event, and if I understood him correctly, not only did the courses have the uphill start, but they also had a tight "goose egg" that favored cars with torque that could power out of it on corner exit.

Keith Vail posted a video of his fastest runs in his STR S2000 on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJniRA4MtUg

6MTGirl

iTrader: (7)

Yes, we had to go up the hill twice per course and each time I wished I had the extra 100hp of the Z Times were a little closer between the 8 and the Z on the right course because there was a maneuver/kink halfway up the hill, but on the left course you couldn't have enough torque to power out of the goose egg uphill. I know I tied at least a couple of Z's on the right, but they got me by a second on the left. If you look at the BS results, the same happened between the Solstice and the S2000. The fastest S2000 came in 7th!

Other than that, the courses were very technical, fast and fun and thankfully the newly sealed portion of the lot got pretty grippy as rubber was laid down.

tomsn16

Chike...thanks for the 2008 results link...I thought Jason had won once in his "OWN CAR".

chiketkd

iTrader: (5)

I hadn't noticed that before but you're right...

Link to 2010 DC Pro results: http://www.scca.org/documents/result...ults%20DC1.pdf

costello

When did ES run again? I don't think the conditions changed that much. Looks like ES was as fast as the 350Z or faster than we were. Carpenter's MR2 and Eric's 1995 Miata put down some good times. I left a lot more time out there than I originally thought. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. Always enjoy that site.

07 MX-5 MSR

fossumja

iTrader: (4)

The courses definitely favored higher hp / torque cars with the long uphill runs. Having said that, we didn't put in the best showing. Jason was fastest after Saturday's runs while I was dirty on nearly all my left side runs. On Sunday, neither of us could improve and several others passsed us up.

fossumja

iTrader: (4)

As a side note, we had three instances of the dreaded "Pro Solo Stumble", all in the Challenge. Dave had this happen twice in a row, and Jason had it happen once. While sitting at the line ready to launch, the RPMs suddenly dropped to idle, killing the run and losing the round.

What I don't understand is that this happened after >48 launches in identical conditions. No codes were flagged by either car. Anyone have any idea what causes this? Some combination of sustained rpm, temperature, uphill grade, phase of the moon ... ?

tomsn16

That is strange for sure.Happened to both cars???? Were both running low on fuel???

QUOTE=fossumja;3612311]As a side note, we had three instances of the dreaded "Pro Solo Stumble", all in the Challenge. Dave had this happen twice in a row, and Jason had it happen once. While sitting at the line ready to launch, the RPMs suddenly dropped to idle, killing the run and losing the round.

What I don't understand is that this happened after >48 launches in identical conditions. No codes were flagged by either car. Anyone have any idea what causes this? Some combination of sustained rpm, temperature, uphill grade, phase of the moon ... ?[/QUOTE]

chiketkd

iTrader: (5)

Jim,

The same thing happened to my car when Roberts drove it at the DC Pro a couple years ago. There were high ambient temps, no codes thrown, and we definitely weren't running low on fuel.

I called Mazda about it, and they had me get the MSP16 flash which deals with a lack of power in high ambient temps. While nothing in the bulletin for this flash speaks to the symptoms my car was having that day, once I had it done by my dealer, it's never occurred again.

Here's a link: http://www.finishlineperformance.com...13-08-1925.pdf

tomsn16

Chike.....that sure looks like the fix they need. May try that on our car even though we have never had the problem and have run in many hot hot events.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Yes, you need to wait until about 7 sec or so on the shot clock before revving up for the launch. The extended revs shutdown feature is common on many vehicles and was in place from the start, but they did change some of the conditions with the flash upgrade. Once it happens all you can do is lift and let the engine idle briefly to clear the safety feature. Until it idles the engine is basically in limp mode.


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tomsn16

Thanks Mr. Mark......another "feature" I suspect most of us were not aware of....extended rev shutdown....who would have thunk-it.
I think we have avoided that by luck...... we set the launch revs as late as possible because it is so hard to hold on target....ours tends to creep up and down.
JimT

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

At one time it was described in a TSB, but this was before the MSP16 version which replaced/eliminated several of those earlier TSBs. It's based on cat temp vs rpm vs time as I recall. It is implimented to prevent excess cat/undercar temperatures.

Just rev up to 9000 rpm and hold it (engine up to operating temp first) and you'll see it firsthand ....

It's really unnerving if you end up in a manual start situation that's dragging out because you know that feature timer is clicking down

iaus10

"ProSolo stumble", I'm all too familiar with it from 2009. Neal and Katie had more problems with it... they did hold the throttle longer than I did when launching. Killed Neal in the Lincoln Challenge round, and 3 runs in Blythville last year. Thinking it was an engine overheating problem, I started popping the hood for the short drive from the finish to staging during my runs in Blythville (and I never had the issue).

Afterwards I replaced the water pump/hoses, coils/wires/plugs, and fuel pump trying to fix it.

Chatting at Mid-divs in August, TeamRX8 informed me of the rev cut "feature". When I added up the circumstances, it was always happening while using the "short" exhaust which exited near the diff and pointed at the ground. We ran our longer borla exhaust at the Finale and never had the cut happen. Of course, we all may have been more careful with the length of rev time.

FWIW, the dealer performed MSP16 when I initially bought the car in '08.

--Ivan

fossumja

iTrader: (4)

I'm pretty sure I had all the latest reflashes, but I'll check next time I'm at the dealer. The descriptions make sense with what happened, though. We never saw it during the regular rounds, but at the challenge they took a little longer starting the tree, and this may have been enough to make the difference.

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

I don't have those flashes and the only time I've ever encountered the problem is from holding rpms for extended time with the car not moving. Happened at the very first Pro event I ever ran in an RX-8 (Wendover 2005) and back then we had no idea WTF was going on.

Again, I would suggest making it happen on your own at least once as previously described so you know how to recognize and deal with it should it ever happen at an event.


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