Dixie National Rallycross Challenge Report
Where to start this story.... What a crazy weekend!
I haven't driven the rallycar since Halloween, and since then I've installed camber plates and done some other suspension work. I had hoped to get things corner weighted, aligned and test driven, but since my truck broke down, I haven't had the ability or the time to do all that work.
I rented a super nice truck to tow to Shag Bark Rally Park in Harpersville, AL (just outside Birmingham) and was all loaded and ready to go on Friday night. I got there in time for tech and there were no problems with the car.
I made a pretty good run initially, but the battery was starting get a little weak and when the car stalled on course (too much left foot brake) it wouldn't restart! I got about a 23 sec penalty on that run! I got the battery changed and was back on course, shooting to make up time! By lunch I had made up about 10 seconds! We changed the course and then restarted after lunch, getting another 5 runs in for a total of 10 on Saturday. I had hit some cones, and the other M2 car that was fast was clean, so the gap was back to 20 seconds at the end of Saturday.
On Sunday we had 5 more runs and an all new course. I set some really quick times, but was overdriving and hit some cones. The camber plates had come loose and the front toe was all out of whack! I went back to my paddock area and reset the camber to something better, but didn't have time to reset toe. The car was much better, but as I started back to grid, the car was overheating massively! No fans!! Argh!!!
I got my one 10 minute technical time to cool off the car and we hot wired a fan to cool things down. Once the car was stabilized, I got down to business! I set a blistering time, but later found out they said I hit 3 cones! I didn't have any video of that run as the cooling situation had me flustered. That last bit of cone time really set me back, but overall, I was still 2nd in class. I looked through the scores and if I hadn't had the battery issue and the cone penalties ( a total of 43 secs) I would have been 1st in class and 2nd overall!
Oh well...I know the cones are not a big thing in my mind as the rear of the car seems to have a mind of its own, but they do hurt my chances of winning! I also don't drive all that often, so getting this close was pretty good in my mind. I was pleased to see the car make it through the weekend. There were 5 other cars that dropped out due to damage and technical issues, so running it flat out for this long without any testing was pretty cool!
I now have a long list of stuff to check out, but I'm pretty happy with 2nd in this case!
Here are some pictures and vids linked from the ALSCCA website. I'll be the only SER in any of the pics!
http://s364.photobucket.com/albums/oo82/slowautoxr/RallyCross/2011%20ALSCCA%20Southern%20States%20Challenge/
http://s719.photobucket.com/albums/ww192/TouringBubble/2011%20Dixie%20National%20Rally-X/
I haven't driven the rallycar since Halloween, and since then I've installed camber plates and done some other suspension work. I had hoped to get things corner weighted, aligned and test driven, but since my truck broke down, I haven't had the ability or the time to do all that work.
I rented a super nice truck to tow to Shag Bark Rally Park in Harpersville, AL (just outside Birmingham) and was all loaded and ready to go on Friday night. I got there in time for tech and there were no problems with the car.
I made a pretty good run initially, but the battery was starting get a little weak and when the car stalled on course (too much left foot brake) it wouldn't restart! I got about a 23 sec penalty on that run! I got the battery changed and was back on course, shooting to make up time! By lunch I had made up about 10 seconds! We changed the course and then restarted after lunch, getting another 5 runs in for a total of 10 on Saturday. I had hit some cones, and the other M2 car that was fast was clean, so the gap was back to 20 seconds at the end of Saturday.
On Sunday we had 5 more runs and an all new course. I set some really quick times, but was overdriving and hit some cones. The camber plates had come loose and the front toe was all out of whack! I went back to my paddock area and reset the camber to something better, but didn't have time to reset toe. The car was much better, but as I started back to grid, the car was overheating massively! No fans!! Argh!!!
I got my one 10 minute technical time to cool off the car and we hot wired a fan to cool things down. Once the car was stabilized, I got down to business! I set a blistering time, but later found out they said I hit 3 cones! I didn't have any video of that run as the cooling situation had me flustered. That last bit of cone time really set me back, but overall, I was still 2nd in class. I looked through the scores and if I hadn't had the battery issue and the cone penalties ( a total of 43 secs) I would have been 1st in class and 2nd overall!
Oh well...I know the cones are not a big thing in my mind as the rear of the car seems to have a mind of its own, but they do hurt my chances of winning! I also don't drive all that often, so getting this close was pretty good in my mind. I was pleased to see the car make it through the weekend. There were 5 other cars that dropped out due to damage and technical issues, so running it flat out for this long without any testing was pretty cool!
I now have a long list of stuff to check out, but I'm pretty happy with 2nd in this case!
Here are some pictures and vids linked from the ALSCCA website. I'll be the only SER in any of the pics!
http://s364.photobucket.com/albums/oo82/slowautoxr/RallyCross/2011%20ALSCCA%20Southern%20States%20Challenge/
http://s719.photobucket.com/albums/ww192/TouringBubble/2011%20Dixie%20National%20Rally-X/
Last edited by rallyser
on 2011-04-06
at 17-21-34.
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