IndySCCA points event 5 today, my fourth run in CS for the season in Tom’s ’99 Miata Sport. Unfortunately Tom was feeling a bit under the weather today so I had to lead the charge against 3 other drivers in the class. Was able to best both drivers in the NC Miata, but lost out to the Pontiac Solstice by a considerable margin. The 2nd place result now puts me in 1pt behind 2nd place in the Indy region C-Stock season standings, though 12 points behind 1st place.
Not a class win, but a decent drive for 2nd place today
I’m starting to find my rhythm running on the Hoosier A6s, setting the car up with significantly stiffer settings on the rear shocks and the fronts on full soft. At least I am starting to extract some of the potential that the tires have to offer, even though there is still a lot to learn about them.
Another $20 to the season entry costs, putting the total up to $755. Will be heading up to run another Test’n'tune Tuesday evening in my own car, can’t wait…
Quick update on the progress for the 2010 season. Ran another auto-x in Tom’s CS ’99 Miata and came in 3rd place, losing out to the RX-8 in 2nd by 0.022 seconds. Still not happy with my driving on the Hoosier A6 tires but I’ve at least picked up on a few things to work on in the next events. Season entry costs now up to $675.
As for the ProjectTrackday Miata, the cost of an oil change ($30) plus some other various bits (power steering depower plug, $20) was offset by the sale of the power steering pump and belt, so the season total still stands at $685.
Gingerman Raceway Track Map
Up next is a test’n'tune at Gingerman Raceway (South Haven, MI) tomorrow evening. Its another new track for me so I’ll be reviewing youtube videos to try and learn the track in the meantime. Video + writeup to come after the test’n'tune…
A busy test’n'tune at Grissom Aeroplex yesterday. Got the car set up nicely for next weekend’s trackday with the rear sway bar set to soft, rear shocks to full stiff and front shocks 1/2 turn from full stiff. The car is very neutral and the new sway bars definitely helps significantly with transitions. I could attack the slaloms at a higher speed as the steering responsiveness was much better. The de-powered steering felt great and provided a good amount of feedback, and was definitely a benefit to have early on in the day when the course was wet.
Started out the morning with a couple of runs (which I realized after reviewing video footage thatI was DNFing as I was going around a gate instead of between it, losing some time in the process). After getting about 17 runs in for the day I switched over to Tom’s car to take a swing at the course in his NB running the Hoosier A6s. Definitely much more grip than street tires, however the increased tire width and smaller rear bar meant the car needed to be wrestled into the slaloms. After that we switched out the Hoosiers for a set of old (2 years old!) Kuhmo V710s to test them out. Surprisingly high grip in the tires that felt as hard as hockey pucks! Finished the day off with 3 more back-to-back runs in my car. After getting in 20 runs in my car + 3 runs in Tom’s car I was pretty damn tired, so decided to call it a day.
This test’n'tune cost $50, bringing the entry cost total for the season to $90.
Forgot to post after last weekend’s auto-x. I co-drove Tom’s ’99 Miata Sport in CS to get a feel for where I stand in a competitive (at least locally) car. The car is running on 225-50R14 Hoosier A6 tires, my first attempt at driving a car on DOT-R tires. The class had 10 drivers in a whole array of NB Miatas, one NC and a Pontiac Solstice. It was also a bit wet…
...more than 'a bit' wet in certain places.
Having some competition to run against makes auto-x much more fun, though having to stand out in 50F weather with rain falling sideways during the work session was pretty miserable. In the end of the day I finished 3rd out of 10, losing out to the NC and one of the drivers of the Solstice. Not a bad start, though we’ll have to wait till some dry running to see how well I can stack up against the competition. Hopefully there are more glasses (trophies) to come this season…
Third place, not a terrible start...
Final results here. Thanks to Kyle Roland for taking some awesome pics of the event. A very special thanks to Tom for letting me co-drive his car!
The next few weeks will be quite busy… Test’n'tune at Grissom Aeroplex this Sunday, Putnam Park next Saturday and then back to Grissom the following Sunday for points event #2 of the IndySCCA Solo season.
Another $20 towards the entry fee. Season total so far: $40
Finally got in the new sway bars in the mail today and got them onto the car. The stock front bar is 19mm in diameter, whereas the new front bar is a 28.575mm tubular bar. I drove the car up on ramps to install the car so I wouldn’t have to pre-load the corners when torquing the bolts to spec.
Comparison of front bar thickness
First thing to do is to remove the old bar from the end links (14mm socket and wrench):
Endlink, 14mm bolt and 14mm wrench required
Then with the bar disconnected from the endlinks the mounting brackets need to be removed (12mm socket):
Front sway bar mounting bracket, 12mm
Then carefully maneuver the bar out. With the A/C pipes in the way I found the only way to get the bar out was out the passenger side. Maneuvering the new bar in was also a bit tricky, but I found it easiest to start by feeding the bar through the driver side. The bushings were lubed using the provided grease from Racing Beat and then the bar was bolted onto the frame to hold it in place (but not tightened to spec).
New front bar in place, not yet torqued to spec
Then with the bar in place, attach the endlinks to the bar:
Reattached the endlink to the new bar
With everything in place, torque the mounting bracket bolts to spec, then the endlinks. With that done the front bar install is complete! Next to the rear bar… The same process follows, start with disconnecting the endlinks from the sway bar (14mm socket + wrench):
Rear end link detatched from old bar
Then remove the mounting brackets to remove the bar from the car (14mm socket):
Rear mounting bracket bolts are 14mm, not the 12mm bolts used in the front
The stock 12mm rear bar was in bad shape...
Comparison of stock 12mm bar and RB 15.875mm bar
Installation is the same process as the front. Mounting bracket first, then endlinks.
Rear bar installed, set on soft setting for now...
I will get a chance to test out the new sway bar setup this weekend at the IndySCCA Test’n'Tune at Grissom Aeroplex. I will have more comments on the effectiveness of the bars once I get to test them out… I need to get a good setup ready for the upcoming trackday at Putnam Park on 5/8/10.
The damage for these parts? $250, putting the season total up to $685. I’m going to need to sell off some extra parts to make sure I make the season budget limit of $1000…
