2009 Finger Lakes National Tour
Seneca Army Depot
06/13/2009 - 06/14/2009


Link to Event Page

Link to Entry List


Shawn and I are registered in BS (#190/90 respectively) and Katie is coming to run the car in BSL. Looking forward to meeting everyone else in our class.

 

The event chair posted this map on another forum which could be useful for finding the site:

 

Good luck, Chike. Seeing this post makes me really regret not signing up.

 

Thanks. You really should have signed up - STX seems to be one of the better subscribed classes.

I'm really looking forward to this event. From the below vid from last year's single course pro, the site seems pretty large with a surface that appears to be in pretty good condition!

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Hi Shawn & Chike;

I look forward to meeting both of you. I have the 09 RX8 sport.
We may have another RX8 in BS last minute things still up tin the air so I can't tell you for sure yet.

Keith

 

Hey Keith sounds good. We're most likely arriving later on Friday so I'm sure we'll all meet up in grid on Saturday morning. Definitely hope the other driver registers - the more the merrier.

 

OK the changes are in but SCCA said they will not show on the online entry list. Mike (already listed as a driver) has wisely defected from a 05 350z to my RX8. The other 350z listed driven by Liam is a 07 Nismo 350z. Liam also from CT and races with me in local events. Thats the round up as far as I know.

 

Cool. If Mike takes to the RX-8 as well as Ruggles did from his 350Z, we're all in trouble!

I actually know Liam as he used to compete in one of my local SCCA regions years ago.

 

I'm from the host region. The surface is mostly old weathered asphalt. It grips well and isn't terribly bad for wear. There is also a small section that is concrete, that has directional grooves. Also watch out for a slight pitch to both the main runway and "P" section with the center being higher for drainage. There is also a noticeable bump at the transition between the asphalt and concrete in the "P". Finally, it is a runway layout, so if you don't get there early on Friday, be prepared for being a little farther away from the action. I'm running the practice course, so I'll be there early on Friday.

George M

 

Thanks for the info George. Should be a good weekend. Weather forecast is looking good as well...

Run/Work order:

Run Heat 1: BSL,CS, DS, FSL, HS, ST, STX, STUL, ASPL, CSPL, DSP, FSP, DPL, FP, GPL, SM, SSML ,AML, DML, EML, FSAEL
Run Heat 2: BS,CSL, DSL FS, HSL, STL, STXL, STU, ASP, CSP, DSPL, FSPL, DP, FPL, GP, SML, SSM, AM, DM, EM, FSAE
Course open for walking
Run Heat 3: FJA, FJB, SS, ASL, ES, GS, STSL, BSP, ESPL, XP, CPL, EP, SMF, BML, CM, FM, F125L, IDX1
Run Heat 4: SSL, AS, ESL, GSL, STS, BSPL, ESP, XPL, CP, EPL, SMFL, BM, CML, FML, F125, IDX2

Work Heat 1: SS, DSL, ES, FS, GS, HSL, STSL, STXL, BSP, ESPL, XP, CPL, EP, SMF, CML, FM, F125L, IDX1
Work Heat 2: SSL, DS, ESL, FSL, GSL, HS, STS, STX, BSPL, ESP, XPL, CP, EPL, SMFL, CM, FML, F125, IDX2
Course open for walking
Work Heat 3: AS, BSL, CS, ST, STUL, ASPL, CSPL, DSP, FSP, DPL, FP, GPL, SM, SSML, AML, BM, DML ,EML, FSAEL
Work Heat 4: ASL, BS, CSL, STL, STU, ASP, CSP, DSPL, FSPL, DP, FPL, GP, SML, SSM, AM, BML, DM, EM, FSAE

 

Very close competition at Finer Lakes at the end of the first day

1st Shawn (06RX8) 59.113
2nd Keith (09RX8) 59.146
3rd Liam (07 Nismo 350Z) 59.222
4th Chike (06RX8) 59.447
5th Mike (09RX8) 59.767

Keith

 

Keith,

It was definitely very close today. That slow stuff by the turnaround really hurt the BS cars in terms of our times compared to the other classes. Tomorrow is anybody's game. The course is opened up some more, so the RX-8's should be able to stay in their powerband better.

Chike

 

CS has 2 seconds on BS ...

http://scca.com/documents/resultfile...eliminary7.pdf

still no RX-8s in STX either

 

AS has three seconds on BS... it seemed to be a pretty good course for the Solstice.

George M

 

my bad

 

Heck! ES beat CS/BS etc.

 

Mike, the courses were "funky" both days and definitely didn't favor the RX-8. Sunday was a better course overall, and our Sunday only times were a bit better compared to other classes. The courses were definitely good for the Solstices - notice the top cars in both CS and AS.

 

I didn't want it to sound like I was bad mouthing BS. I just saw that ES beat both CS and BS and that doesn't happen very often when the weather is ok. CS beating BS will happen sometimes but ES is more rare but it just happened at the last 2 tours???

Believe me when I say that I know that there is a story behind every event when you see "odd" stuff like that.
Course, run group etc all plays into it. ESPECIALLY course design.
Are there getting to be some weird courses out there?

FM

 

Course designs definitely seem less consistent this season.

One obvious answer to the BS times would be the lack of "current" top national caliber talent in the class. ES obviously had Kirkham, Flynn and Feinburg, while other classes like AS had the Kozlaks, Heinig, etc, and I hear Bud Collins is no slouch in a CS Solstice ZOK.

 

For those that care about PAX...

Overall: http://sccaforums.com/forums/storage...-RTP.Final.pdf

Saturday only: http://sccaforums.com/forums/storage...TP.SatOnly.pdf

Sunday only: http://sccaforums.com/forums/storage...TP-SunOnly.pdf

 

Since the RX8 is a good handling machine but has NO TORQUE, different courses are going to favor other cars. In CT local events the lots are small which causes a lot of slowdown and acceleration situations. Thats where the 350Zs give me problems. But on a good handling course (local events) I can be top pax and fastest stock time. As for top talent at Finger Lakes. I have put Daddio & GJ Dixon in my car and they will go half a second faster than me on a 40 sec. course. So yes we need more top talent to travel to the northeast. The 2007 tour I was the ONLY B Stock entry! In 2008 only four in the class, one was a novice and another was my co-driver Diane.

On Sunday BS ran 1.6 seconds behind AS.

Anyway, I will get photos of my Hoosiers (255/35-18s) up tonight. I still have to unload them from the back of the RX8. They did have a ton of rubber pickup which may have slowed my last two runs on Sunday.

 

Keith,

Thanks for the comments. Please post the pics of your tires and comments on wear in this thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...65#post3070865

 

Congrats to the 85' Champ, looks like he's still got it.

 

Jason thanks for the kind words. I had good luck against Liam in the 350z Nismo and the two drivers in Chike's RX8. Shawn matched my time on Sat. and Chike matched my time on Sun. I was lucky to be able to add the best times from both days.

 

Keith,

what kind of alignment are you running and also what bar/shocks. I ran my car this weekend(third event in the 8 so far) and had a blast. We were on shoddy kumho 285's and tried something new with the alignment. I was able to get 1.4 degrees with 6.6 degrees of caster and 1/16th out up front and 1.4 degrees with 1/16th toe in in the back we were running 36/34 for pressures and the car felt awesome. Stock redrilled bar and koni yellows up front while i wait for the rears to get modified.

Sacha