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<-- 2004-Present
2001-Beginning -->
May 20th, 2004 - 2:28pm
I'm still alive. Not racing yet this season but that'll change soon. I'll update at some point... maybe. :)
December 14th, 2003 - 3:48pm
I just added a posting forum to the site. Signups are instant with a simple email verification so give it a shot. I'm interested to hear if anyone has anything to say about the site or really anything. (Though I'm not really expecting much traffic so its pretty non-customized. :) )
November 24th, 2003 - 1:51pm
I've really neglected my sponsors on this site. Really unforgivable. Without further delay...
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November 4th, 2003 - 9:19pm
The Teins came off this last weekend. Which is a relief. I can finally drive my car wherever I want again. The handling was nice but I knew it wasn't good for it to be dumped the way it was. Turns out I was right. The struts are going to need some TLC over the winter. Nothing critical though. One of the rears slipped its perch ring, which could have been a LOT worse. So I'll need to source a new ring and maybe a perch. The rear bushings are a bit torn up too. Turns out I wasn't aware that you shouldn't tighten up the rear lower mounts until the car is on the ground. Makes perfect sense in retrospect but I didn't think of it at the time. Not the end of the world. They should be relatively easy to replace. And I have 6 months. :)
Before and after pic. The ride height has settled a fair bit since the initial installation of the JDM SiR-II struts. Which is good because it was looking like some serious 4x4 action. :) They feel great though. Definitely better than my old OEM suspension. They'll certainly do for the winter and I definitely can't complain about the price. They were MINT condition. The rears couldn't have had more than a couple of hundred KMs on them. The paper labels weren't even worn off. Nice!
October 16th, 2003 - 5:47pm
The season-ender event occurred this past monday. Looked like a really fun course. The day started off in the misery and wet but ended up burning off and drying up by the end. A bunch of new faces out, which is always good to see. Hopefully it bodes well for an even better series next year. As predicted my non-competing dropped me to 5th in DSS overall. Oh well.
I've been discussing with a fellow competitor the possibility of taking him on as a co-driver next year. He already has a very nice and suitable car but he's on the lookout for a somewhat cheaper way of running. For the cost of a new set of rims and race rubber for his vehicle we could afford to buy 3-4 sets for mine. :) If it comes together it will significantly offset the costs I was looking at shouldering for next year as well between having to get new rims (I'd like to move to 14's) and fresh R-compound rubber. We'll see where things stand when spring rolls around... 6 months from now. Ugh.
October 8th, 2003 - 7:18pm
Careful, I feel longwinded. You have been warned.
Well, my season is over prematurely unfortunately. Mostly due to my own impatience. The Teins were so pretty, and so... green. They promised so much fun and handling improvement. I hooked up with a local driver who offered to help me out and last week we installed them. First I took the car to my mechanic in order to get most of the major suspension bolts broken free. I'm extremely glad I did. Even with a torch and impact gun they were a pain. Luckily they didn't even charge me for the service. Its good having a regular shop that treats you right. The installation went through pretty much without a major hitch with all bolts yeilding without a fight and everything fitting as advertised. The end result however... well thats a bit different. :)
We did the front first (And when I say we, I mean I stood around and held things while he did almost everything) and after putting everything together (with a minor concern about a nearly-shot upper ball joint that eventually cooperated) we lowered the car back down... emphasis on the lowered. I knew the car was likely going to be pretty low in the end. The Tein NAs have 4 levels of fixed height adjustment and I was pretty sure they were set on the lowest when I received them. Lacking a spring compressor and knowing the suspension would only be on the car for about a month before winter I figured that the lowest setting for a heavier ITR would be just pretty low on my lighter EG. Well... I never want to see an ITR with these set on the lowest. It must not be able to move. What we ended up with was my tires tucking up INSIDE the wheel wells. Its drivable on the street with only minor rubbing at extremes, but pretty much useless for autocross. I'd tear my fender linings right out. D'ooh! Here's a pic.
We finished up the installation anyway, not a lot we could do with light failing and power still out from a recent hurricane (Did I forget to mention Juan?) The rear went in with no major issues, a single broken bolt turned out to be one we didn't need to get off anyway and everything bolted in quite nicely. We hopped in the car and went off for a quick test drive with the struts set on -6 Front and -8 rear, the manual-reccomended 'Standard value'. Well, ghetto dropped or not HOOOOLY CRAP the car handles well. When I'm not rubbing the tires the thing is a BLAST! Not a HINT of body roll, super direct steering reaction and probably better grip in mock-slaloms with my street Kumhos than I had before with my R-compounds. Once I get the ride height issue straightened around I can tell I'm going to looooove this setup. But right now between the barely being able to get into my driveway and the looking like I should be wearing my hat backwards on the street I'm not too pleased. I should have taken the time to set the perches before installing them if I had to put them on this year at all. Lesson learned.
Unfortunately my good intentions for doing all of this ended up costing me the reason for doing it in the first place. The last Solo events of the year were this weekend past with a Saturday event at AMP and a Sunday event at Home Depot. My mood was already soured on these events from the endless confusion and bickering over their scheduling. Because of the hurricane AMP needed to be cleaned up and a work party was scheduled. This put the possibility of the event in question. As it turned out it was eventually run but by that point I'd lost all enthusiasm for going and chances were my car wouldn't have been fit to run it anyway. From the speeds I've heard were reached (140kmh+ on some stretches) I'm not so sure it would have been a good idea for it to be my first test with a new suspension anyway. Also we were asked by Home Depot if we could postpone our event there as they had repairs/cleanup to do after the hurricane. It turned out it would have been moot anyway as the government announced stores would be allowed to open on Sunday and we would have lost the lot regardless. Turns out its been rescheduled for this upcoming Monday which is a Holiday for Thanksgiving, but family plans and continued lack of car mean I'm going to miss this event as well. Bleh. No more Solo until May.
This leaves me in 4th place currently for D-Super Stock. Had a run Saturdays event I might have been able to claw my way to third, now it looks likely I'll drop to 5th missing the next event as well. Would have been nice to finish on the podium this year, especially in a very competitive/busy class but I shot myself in the foot. Our series drops two events but I had already missed two events previously making 4 total. Can't get too far with that many 0's next to your name.
So, plans for the winter... My friend in Toronto who got me the Teins in the first place is going to pick me up a set of JDM SiR-II struts and springs from an importer there. At $40 a corner for fresh struts and springs its a deal I can't pass up, especially since it will mean an easy installation without re-attatching my old control arms. Other than that I'm going to try and keep the car in one piece against the salt and rust demons and hopefully take a more dedicated stab at the series next year.
Watch this space...
September 28th, 2003 - 6:18pm
I've been putting off updating and its starting to catch up with me. A lot to chat about.
We had anohter event on September 14th. This one was an out of towner in the town of Truro about 45 minutes away. I wasn't keen on the travelling because I'm a baby and like my sleep. :) We went up in a caravan consisting of an RSX Type S, Supercharged 2001 Miata, 2004 RX8, a very nicely tricked out Accord and... us. :)
The lot was quite nice actually, and the course laid out was definitely refreshing after the arm-twisting memory tests of the last few events. A nice and challenging slalom, some good and interesting turns and a good one-lap layout.
First run felt a little off at the start, the angle to get into the slalom the first time was off and I didn't quite do it nicely. Once I got to the second half of the course I brought it in fairly cleanly. By the time all was said and done I picked out a respectable 49.xxx which placed me quite nicely after the first round. My second time out I tried the same deal with a little less shifting and it didn't really work out. I got a 50.xxx and a 51.xxx on my third. I was all set to put a few more psi into my front tires which were getting some excessive roll and then use my first run shifting pattern for my final run when I got called out for marshalling. D'ooh.
While I was out there it all hit the fan. A pair of police officers showed up with orders from the Chief of police to give tickets to any motorist, competing or otherwise a $200 ticket for squealing tires. This caused a mini uproar and two weeks worth of fallout thats best summarized in the ARMS board thread here. Suffice to say it was messy. Looks like we've reached a quasi understanding with the Truro police though and we'll likely be back next year. Thats good, one more event we DON'T have to run in the Leons parking lot. :)
Other news.. My suspension has finally arrived! A nice new (to me) set of Tein NA dampers. Keeners amoung you (If anyone's actually reading this. :) ) may notice that the rear dampers aren't right for the Civic. The setup is for an Integra Type-R but thats okay because I've also got a set of Type-R control arms which will bolt right in. As an added benefit this will finally provide me with mounts for the GSR sway bar I bought way back in March. Everything goes in on Tuesday evening, this oughta be... interesting. :)
September 5th, 2003 - 5:05pm
I've got a secret for you. Brakes suck when improperly maintained. This isn't really news but my lack of proper greasing and lubrication has caught up to me. My co-driver for Slemon this year pissed and moaned about my brakes the entire weekend and I kind of wrote it off to his just being used to much more powerful brakes from his higher horsepower cars, but at last weekend's solo event I truly realized just how pooched they really are. There were several points in the course where deep braking was called for and the car pretty much wouldn't slow down with any sort of authority until I was locking the wheels up.
Canadian tire is the savior of the day with various remanufacturered calipers. $55 after core for the front drivers side with its stuck pin wasn't too bad, $125 for the tiny little bastard rear caliper stung though. (Torn boot, the piston moves, but it ain't pretty) As soon as it stops raining I'll throw them on and hopefully get some manner of stopping power back.
The event was pretty decent. Another appearance at Home Depot in Dartmouth, my current favorite lot. I don't know whats so different about it but I always seem to drive better there than at Leons.
This weeks course was a variation on the last confusion-fest with some of the middle redesigned. It flowed quite a bit better though with some decent speed in the middle. The central gate system that you ended up having to traverse 6 times at the last event was turned into side-by-side gates with some minor direction changes. A little better although many folks still had a problem figuring out which side to go on. I started off with a decent run but right off the bat the double gates caught me and I went through the wrong side. I knew I'd done it immediately and took it easy on my tires for the rest of the run. My second run was a bit better and I turned in a 1:12.xxx time which was a little off the median pace for the day. My third run is when my brakes really started showing their color. Coming into a hard 90 decree box I locked up solid and plowed right through the end for an off course. D'ooh. Hopefully I'll get that resolved for the next event on the 14th.
My last run was my best, both time and feeling wise and I ended up with a 1:10.xxx which was a 4/8th finish in DSS and a 25/47 finish overall. Not stupendous, but certainly better than I've been doing in a lot of previous events this year.
Daph did pretty well for her second event. She can follow the course a lot better than I ever could my first few and by her last run she was starting to push the car and her tires. I think one modification we definitely need to do for her is to get a tachometer installed. Even I have problems driving her car by feel when I don't know what the engine is really doing.
Next event in September 14th in a Supermarket parking lot in Truro. Should be interesting. New lot a long way from home.
August 13th, 2003 - 2:05pm
D'ooh. Didn't quite get the class. A pleasantly close second though. (Note these times aren't official, and I have my questions about a few of them that don't look right.)
August 11th, 2003 - 8:05pm
I've been slacking on updates again. Sue me. :)
Hmmm, news... mostly a few events taken care of. The biggest of the year being Slalom at Slemon which is also the Canadian Autoslalom Eastern Championship event. I was going to do a writeup on it but the basic blow-by-blow was covered pretty in-depth by my co-driver. It was really weird watching someone else race my car. Especially someone who really knew what they were doing. When the dust settled he had beten my best time by over 7 seconds, but thats what I was expecting. Watching the car roll through the twists really drove-home just how much my car needs a suspension ugprade. Looked like it was going to flip in some spots.
The event started off on Friday with a 'Test and Tune' day. Which was basically a short course (Slalom up, turn around, offset gate back) in the 25-30 second range that you could pretty much run as many times as you wanted to get your car set up to your liking. I left most of that to my co-driver. I eeked my times down to a reasonable-for-me level over about 15 runs. I had a pretty good time at the event proper too. The course was fun and challenging. Certainly VERY fast, which was the source of a few grumbles. At one particular point speeds were pushing 140km/h but the course overall flowed very well. Unfortunately Saturday I just wasn't in my happy place. Between some last minute changes to the car and screwups with the running order I didn't get a single run the first day that I wasn't rushing to make or had any time to slow down and relax. Ended up with a bunch of mistake-related off-courses (As in I blew through things, not navigational issues) and a final time of 104.xxx while most others at my level were getting 99s or so. I did have one pretty spectacular spin. My co-driver ended the day with a 97.xxx.
Day 2 felt a lot better. We got our routine down for starting runs, I was in a better mood/mindset. I did have one incident in my second run where I managed to hit my brake and my gas at the same time and blasted through the end of the course. Turns out my pedal cover on my brake was loose and was close to overlapping my gas. D'ooh! By the end of the day I had worked my times down to 102.3xx. Not great, and not enough to beat my nearest class competition who ended up with a 101.xxx. But oh well. It was a fun event anyway.
Yesterday was another local club event which marked our first return this year to Home Depot. Yay! No more Leons! (I have yet to run a single good event there) It also marked the first event that my wife had run. Unfortunately she probably could have had a better introduction to the sport.
We got there a little on the late side which ended up burning us a bit. Based on previous experiences at Home Depot the courses are usually fairly open and easy to follow allowing you to concentrate on the driving.. Part of what I love about the lot. By the time I got my tires swapped and the cars teched we only had minimal time to do a course walkthrough. And let me tell you this course neded a LOT of walkthroughs. It was a confusing endless sea of 90 degree turns, loops and alternate direction gates. (One of which you pass through SIX times!) We got lost several times walking, most competitors got lost several times driving. I haven't seen the official timesheets yet but I would not be surprised at all to see 50%+ of the runs resulting in off-courses. Between that and an unfortunate incident very early in the day the half-dozen first-timers had a really rough event.
My first run was delayed fairly significantly (Probably over an hour) by an incident in the first few runs which necessiated a minor course redesign. I took this chance to walk the course again and further try and ram the confusing mess into my skull. Because of the delay (We probably didn't actually get started until about 1:30) it was decided to cut the event down to 3 runs. Also because of the course redesign the folks who did get to run earlier got re-runs. Take a course that was turning in 1:30+ times and ~50 entrants and it was going to be a loooong day.
I tried watching some of the early runs to solidify my feel for the course but that actually turned out to be a mistake. Nobody ELSE knew where they were going on the course so watching them just ended up confusing me even more. I retired to my car to try and cool off and get into my happy place. When the time came I launched onto the course and promptly got lost just like everyone else. Took out one side of a gate that wasn't where I was expecting it and resulting in no time for a massive off course. Whee! The first-run off course tradition returns! :) Soon after my run I had to course-work. This is probably the best thing that could have happened for me. Working the middle of the course at the gate of many-directions forced me to learn the proper path and retain it as I called in many an off-course run. I figured out that the trick to the course was keeping count of how many times you've gone through the one gate to know where to go.
Meanwhile my wife got her first taste of autocross this weekend after doing the school in May. I think she did pretty well. Her first run was an understandable off course that she quickly figured out and the remainder of runs for the day were clean. I'm amazed I got a single clean run period. :) Once she learns the car and becomes more comfortable with picking up the pace she'll probably be outrunning me in no time. :)
My second run was a little wild and ended up with a cone, but it was on-course.
Resulted in a 1:33.xxx I believe. I was just happy to get a time recorded
for the day at that point.
Next up is another Home Depot special on August 31st.
July 8th, 2003 - 11:10pm
I'm not really sure why. But I did. :)
July 3rd, 2003 - 10:33am
I've been meaning to update for a while now but haven't gotten around to it.
Unfortunately work has been a bit crazy and it made me miss the annual
Canada Day solo.
Grr. Caught the last heat. Looked like a great course. Nice and wide open.
Very warm day. My R's would have been happy. Oh well. It would bug me less
except I have to miss the next one on July 12th as well.
This past saturday my wife and I took the annual Solo 1 and 2 school
at Atlantic Motorsport Park.
Let me tell you, this was a blast! After some hiccups anyway...
The night before (Yea yea, procrastination) I pulled my rear calipers off
to look at my brake pads that were being noisy. What I found was the passenger
side inside pad was worn right down to the backing. Uh oh. But I had a new
set of pads ready anyway so no big deal, right? Out come the old ones, in
with the new. Time to seat the piston. Well... Honda rear discs have pistons
that need to be turned into position. There's a cross hatch pattern on the
face that you're supposed to use a special tool to get into and turn. Off
to Canadian Tire. Come back with this weird little cube thing that has various
notches and slots on it designed to be turned with a ratchet. Guess what?
My damned piston is TOO SMALL. The notches on the socket wouldn't quite seat
properly in the grooves and kept slipping out. After about an hour of fiddling
both by myself and with my wife's help we had gotten the piston turned about
a single revolution. No new pads and I definitely couldn't run on the old ones.
Not good. So I sent out a few posts on the local boards asking if anyone going
to the school had any tricky tools for the job. Sure enough the call was
answered. We got there at about 7:45 and I jacked up the car. First tool to
be tried was Colin deWolfe's suggestion of a pipe wrench or vice grips.
This actually worked pretty well. They could grasp the outside of the piston
and turn that way. That was okay, but then Paul Machan showed up with the tool
of the day. (Surprise, since he owns a 92 Si) An 8" long, 1/2" thick file.
Fits perfectly in the grooves. Gives you enough leverage to turn with only
two hands. Perfect! Once I got that in my hands the pads were swapped in about
10 minutes. Time to play!
The morning consisted of pairing off with instructors who take your
car around the track for a few laps to get a feel for the capabilities and
setup. Around the course are various obstacles that you'd find on a typical
autocross course. Slaloms. Offset gates. Stop boxes, etc. Good concept in
theory, but in practice it was a little messy. There weren't enough marhsalls
to post around all the different obstacles so when a cone went down it tended
to stay down. Every time you came up on an obstacle there was a new experience
to be had. I didn't mind it so much because it was kind of fun coming up on a
jumble and trying to figure out a new/challenging way to get through them but
for the first timers I wonder how much they got out of the whole thing. My
wife seemed to enjoy herself and had positive things to say about the
experience. I feel bad because she was going to run the Solo 2 that I had to
miss on the 1st. Oh well. There's still 4 more local events this year we can
definitely make.
After lunch was the Solo 1 (Sprint/Time Trial) school. It was started off with
a brief instructional session by George Sheppard who covered a lot of the
don'ts of being on the track. Basic driving habits to have. Basic apexing to
keep yourself on the track. It was more of a safety session than truly
educational. That was fine with me though. I've found that I can read all I
want about driving lines, traction circles, weight transfer... until I'm
actually experiencing it its all meaningless.
Back to the cars again with a new instructor and a similar format to the
morning class. The instructor takes your car around the course for a few laps
to get a feel and then you get behind the wheel. This was an experience. First
off I'm just not used to being a passenger in my own car. It almost never
happens. Second of all I'm definitely not used to being a passenger in my car
when its having the living hell thashed out of it. :) Wow. Blasting around the
course full bore was a real eye-opener. Both to the driving and the
capabilities of my car. It was a very good experience to know just how much
the car is capable of in the hands of a proper driver to give me a benchmark
of where I stand in it.
After a few white-knuckle laps we swap positions and I go, slowly at first. I
can't really say where AMP rates in the pantheon of racetracks seeing as how
its the only one I've ever driven on but it was definitely fun. Even though
I had driven the track a bunch of laps in the morning it still took a few
more to get a better feel for it at full speed and to figure out problem spots.
In the end the spots I found I needed the most work on were turn #2 (Downhill,
downshift, tight ~170 degree turn) and turn #6 (Downhill hard right). Most of
my afternoon was spent trying to master these turns. But thats what its all
about. By the end of the day I was blasting into corners with full confidence
and nudging the redline in third on the back stretch. An entirely new
experience in driving. :)
Overall the course to me was invaluable. The seat time was grest. Unbeatable
for the money. The instruction pointed out a few areas where I need work. What
I found I got most out of it was a good feeling for what my car can do. I was
extremely pleased with its performance. It handled the turns very well, just a
hint of oversteer that I didn't know was there. I would have liked to have
had at least a couple of timed runs to get an idea for how I was doing overall
but the lack of timing equipment made it a much more relaxed.
All that said I look forward to giving a Solo 1 event a try. Too bad the next
one isn't until October.
June 18th, 2003 - 12:05pm
A few days to chew. See the horrid numbers posted for Sunday. Blah.
I don't know whats up. I just can't seem to drive at Leons. Thats my third
event there and the third time I've done absolutely TERRIBLY there. I suppose
the courses all have a similar layout by necessity, so if its exposing a
weakness it remains constant. Sunday was aggrivated by the wet conditions.
I just couldn't get the car to do anything I wanted to at all. The tires
wouldn't grab at all. I was overdriving the traction and couldn't seem to
make myself slow down to a reasonable speed where I wouldn't just understeer
into every turn. I guess its one thing to know standing trackside the 'slower
to go faster' rule, but when you're behind the wheel its quite a bit different.
One interesting thing about my times is they were dead consistent. I took
two seconds off for my second run and then was within .6 seconds for the rest.
So I obviously wasn't learning anything at all. :)
The Solo II school is coming up in a week. I look forward to it. Hopefully
I'll come out of it with some better habits.
June 15th, 2003 - 9:05pm
One word...
May 22nd, 2003 - 9:43pm
Spent the weekend in Toronto getting baked by the sun while beautiful cars
did crazy things all around me. Sometimes at my whim! :)
Sunday was the
Canadian Competition Corvette Club Solo II. I got there and was rather
overwhelmed at the size
of the course. It took place on a Park'n'Ride lot in Brampton. FAR different
from the tiny looping courses I'm used to running. Of course the fact that
the event was geared towards Corvettes means there were lots of straights.
Luckily I was driving a car that oculd keep up.
The MR2... interesting vehicle. Slightly upgraded turbo, AF adjustments,
straight through exhaust and full Tein coil-over suspension. I was really
unprepared for it at first. My grand total driving experience with it up to my
first run was a couple runs around a street loop and then the ~20 minute
commute to the event. Lots of straights and slow turns. No surprises. When I
get on the track... SURPRISES. :)
The course was basically a small loop, a long straight followed by a pair of
hard 180's, a slalom into another cartwheel, back to another tight loop and
then a couple of kinks into the stop box. Average times were in the high 70
second range.
My first run I blasted out of the gate. The funny thing about your first
few times in a Turbo car is you have just enough time after mashing the pedal
to think 'Hmm, not so powerfULLLLLLL!' once the turbo spools up. My first
few runs that got me into a lot of trouble. I'm quite proud of the fact I
didn't lose it completely though. But on my first run there was definitely
some entertaining tail waggling. Into the first loop I downshifted to 1st
and gave it a bit (lot?) too much pedal. Woohah! :) The other thing that
I anticipated, but not nearly enough was the lack of power steering. In a lot
of places I had to use both hands to haul the wheel around in the tight turns.
The final virdict on my first run was an 81.xx clean.
My next few runs were steady improvement. 77.xx (clean) the next time, a bit
more controlled. Still got taken surprise by the burst of torque, still
struggling with the wheel. Then a 76.xx (clean), doing okay but I nearly
missed a particularly tight gate. I made it though and it didn't cost me much
time. Fourth run was more of the same, getting comfortable but not much
faster, another 76.xx (clean) Less tail happy but my major problem is I'm not
comfortable enough to downshift. I pretty much got it into second on the
initial straight and often didn't leave it until the stop box. The few times I
did downshift I wasn't ready for the torque. I think with more seat time I
could be quite fast with this car. Though not so much with the types of events
we run here on the east coast.
Luckily there was time for a 5th run. I like the layout. As many run-throughs
as there's time for. This time things fell a bit more together. Nothing
flashy, no major tail wagging. Just a nice, controlled (For me) run. Ended
up with a 74.3x (clean). I was very pleased. All told that put me 11th out of
18 in my class (Which was extremely competitive, lots of really experienced
drivers there) and well into the better half of the overall times. Now a
good portion of that was probably the car, but I always do a lot better on
open courses. My worst events so far have been at the small lots, my best at
the larger. Maybe that tells me something. :)
Monday was the
Mazda Sportscar Owners Club Pro Solo. This was an interesting event. Take
a ~40 second solo track. Lots of slaloms. Right next to it put the mirror
image of the exact same course. (Or as close to it as possible) Stick two
cars on the tracks and sit back and enjoy. Very intense, VERY competitive
event. I went in planning to drive it but I changed my mind a bit further
into the day. The courses were fairly straight forward, with some challenging
elevation changes. I wasn't too worried about going off course. But it
definitely would have been an unfriendly course for the MR2. You're guaranteed
4 qualifying runs but at that point I'd rather keep my good mood and help
out with the organization and whatnot than frustrate myself trying to run
a tight course, which I suck at, in a car that really needs more space. Not
to mention the paranoia factor. With two cars on the course the stakes are a
bit higher, and particularly the stop box concerned me. One wrong turn and
it would have been messy.
There's lots of talk about the event on the
Solo Ontario message forum. Not eveyrone was pleased with every aspect
of the event. But all in all it was some killer driving by some very talented
drivers.
Anyway, I've rambled a lot. Its probably hard to read. Deal. :)
All in all I'm glad I went. The Corvette event restored a bit of confidence
that had flagged for me last week at the terrible (for me) ASCC season opener.
Turns out I ended up 34th out of 37 at that one. Yowch. But it was my first
event in 6 months and the smallest course we run. Yea, thats what I'll blame
it on... :)
May 14th, 2003 - 7:45pm
A nifty video that
one of the competitors made up Sunday. Alas I'm only featured jacking up my
car at the beginning, but still a nifty compilation of clips. Its about 19 megs.
May 12th, 2003 - 5:36pm
Well, it was an event. Quite an
impressive turnout for a first event of the year. I didn't get the exact count
but it was somwhere around 40 drivers. I was expecting 20's. Very cool though.
Things went pretty smoothly considering. We ended up starting about an hour
later than the posted start time, but we've moved to a stored registration
system so none of that needs to be done next time. Should make on-time starts
quite achievable.
It was COLD. And slightly wet. Really miserable time just standing around at
parts. Bleh. The course was a duplicate of the first one I ran for my first
event. Basic figure eight with a small carthweel at the 'bottom' and a large
one at the top with a couple of slaloms in between. I thought I had it down
pretty good, and I think I did, but I still O/C'ed my middle two runs. I think
there was one particular gate that was throwing me off. Turning too soon
rather than progressing through it.
My first run was a little wild, very rusty and still not used to my
R-compounds at all. I did however break my streak of O/C'ing my first run at
every event. :) Too bad I O/C'ed the next two to make up for it. :) I ended up
with a 58.xx my first run and a 56.xx the last. Though like every run I got a
bit lost in a sea of cones. Oh well. I have no idea how I did overall in my
class. In fact I don't even know who else was in my class. :) Find out when
the results are posted I guess. :)
I guess at this point I need to figure out if I have to cut time or go faster.
(No, its not the same thing. :) ) I definitely need to be smoother. I don't
feel like I'm pushing the car at the right times, I don't really have that
feel for how much more I can squeeze out of it without getting into trouble
yet. I'm always wither over the treshold or too far under it. But thats what
comes with experience.
May 8th, 2003 - 6:40pm
A few days from the first Solo 2 of the year! Woohoo! :) Its back to the first
lot I ever ran in and have never been back to since. Hopefully it'll be a bit
better perfomrance this time. :)
Updates updates, lets see... I ordered some tires. Nothing special. Just a set
of Kumho Ecsta 712's. The price was right and I've read decent things about
them. Supposedly a bit noisy, but good performance/wear. And a whole set ended
up costing <$500CDN all inclusive. I just went with 195/50/15's. I was going
to go 205/50 but that would be a 3% pitch in my speedometer and my SiR rims
are only 6" wide. I know they WILL fit, but I've heard shops sometimes make a
stink about mounting them. Since I was ordering from BC I didn't want to have
to deal with having tires I couldn't use. :)
Fixed up some odds and ends on the car last weekend. Particularly the rear
hatch glass which was really tricky to latch and as far as the closed-sensor
was concerned never did. Turns out the release cable was rusted through and
had snapped, leaving just a bit of tension on the mechanism. So it would pop
off at minor bumps. We just unhooked it from the release mechanism and now
the only way to get into the hatch is with the key outside. No big deal.
Considering the pain involved in replacing the cable I'll live with it.
Still haven't installed the sway bar. I need to source a pair of Integra
rear lower control arms with the mounting points to use them. According to
www.car-part.com there's a set in Truro
about 40 minutes from here. Might just have to road trip up and find out for
myself.
Rust is back. I'm not parituclarly happy. But I can't bring myself to
do much about it this year. I'm not spending another $1400 on body work this
year. Next year if I'm keeping the car I'll get whole new quarters. Though
I'll just be chasing it down somewhere else then. Bah.
I'm headed to Toronto next weekend to run with the 'big boys'. Got some
cheap SARS-related fares so I'm going to head up and run a couple of Solo 2
events put on by the Toronto Corvette club and another group called 'Push It
To the Limit'. Ought to be even more humbling than usual. :) I'll be driving
one of a friend of mines cars. Either a 2nd Gen MR2 Turbo which kind of scares
me or a 2000 Honda S2000 that probably should scare me more. :) Have to see.
Thats... about it. I could probabl babble forever if I tried.
April 27th, 2003 - 6:20pm
April 27th, 2003 - 1:48am
Short update. Don't feel like writing much.
Not ideal, but it'll do for now.
Brake fluid flushed and replaced with Ford Spec.
Rear hatch glass latch fixed. Broken remote release cable. Bah.
Rims on. Pics later.
First Solo II in two weeks! W00t!
March 24th, 2003 - 12:28am
March 18th, 2003 - 4:40pm
Spring draws near...
Project FrankenHonda continues. Picked up some odds and sods. A rear sway bar
from a 1996 Integra GSR (This beautiful
beast) and the associated hardware to mount it. Just need to source some
control arms that have the mount points. I'm also seriously considering a set
of delSol seats a local guy has up for sale. My main concern is the harness
and how it will work through the small headrest. I figure the timing will
work out well though since I'm driving to Toronto in July. If the seats don't
work out I'm sure I can swap them for some GSRs there.
So that makes 1997 delSol front strut tower bar, 2000 Civic SiR Rims, 1998
Integra Type-R rear upper control arms, 1996 Integra GS-R rear sway bar and
maybe a set of delSol seats. Whee. Gotta love the Honda parts bin. :)
January 10th, 2003 - 9:40pm
Been a while for an update. Typical winter slowdown. There's been a few
changes though. I picked up a Schroth
Rallye-3 3-point harness off eBay. Its an old unit, the printed manufature
date is 1990, but that won't matter for the light use I plan to give it. Just
enough to keep me in my seat for Solo 2. Mounting is going to be a bit tricky
though. I can get at the rear lower belt points fine, but thats far from
ideal. Having the rear straps angled downwards like that is asking for a
spinal compression injury. In order to get at the top mount I'll have to get
behind the trim panel that covers it. We'll see how much of a problem that'll
be when warmer weather comes. I understand you pretty much have to take out
the rear seats completely though. Ugh.
A couple of nights ago I developed a crack in my intermediate pipe right
behind my cat. D'ooh. So I took the opportunity to get 2.25" piping put on
from the cat back and a new Magnaflow muffler. The jury is still out. Its not
as loud as I was afraid of but that seems to vary based on temperature. Its
snowing like a bitch out so I haven't had much chance to drive it.
Unfortunately the only mufflers they had available had 3" or larger tips.
Uglay! But what are you gonna do. Now that the piping is there I can always
sell off the muffler later and get something better/better looking down the
line.
Tire selection is proving to be interesting. I found a new site that undercuts
most local prices even with shipping. TireTrends based out of BC. My choices are
a set of Kumho Ecsta 712's for about $550 or a set of Falken Azenis for about
$640. I know I'll probably spring for the Azenis. They'll be a better all
around tire for Solo 1 use and in a pinch they'll kick ass for Solo 2 if I
don't feel like swapping to my R's. (Or I shred them. I have no idea what kind
of life is left on them.)
So that just leaves minor things planned for summer. A set of Hawk HPs brake
pads are a definite. Quite possibly a new seat. (The headrests in the Civic
were NOT designed with harnesses in mind, if I have to mount it low they'll
slip right off the side of the seat. Nevermind that I can get a GSR interior
with better side bolsters for about $300. (Though I'm holding out for leather.
Mmmm. :) ) I really would like to throw a set of adjustable struts on there at
some point this year. But that'll be quite an investment. We'll see.
November 4th, 2002 - 4:56pm
So, theres snow on the ground. BAH, I say. Winter was always just that cold
part of the year that I had to shovel before. Now its something thats getting
in the way of my autocrossing! Booo! :)
Lets see, in the last month not a lot has happened. Some odds and ends
car-wise have come up. I've been talking to a guy from HADA about the mods he's done to his EG
Civic. Interesting stuff. Some good low-cost upgrades I might work on making
over the winter. A B18B throttle body and a D16Y8 Manifold are apparently a
worthy addition to my D16Z6 engine with a little interesting manual labor.
Port matching and whatnot. It should be an interesting exercise assuming I can
find the parts.
I sold the rims I had
bought in Ontario yesterday. Too much of a pain in the ass to get them here,
and even when they did arrive I'd still have a whole lot of cleaning and maybe
even resurfacing to do with them. I got exactly what I paid for them though so
no major loss except in time and effort from my friend who was holding them
for me. I did pick up a set of 2000 Civic SiR rims locally
though. These things are mint. I can't believe the condition they're
in. The insides are a bit grunged up, especially one where the previous owner
had a CV boot go, but the surface finish is perfect. I'm really happy. Not the
lightest wheel on earth, but I'm not going to be competing with them so all is
well. The tires on them are completely baked. I'm leaning towards picking up
a set of 195/55R15 Kumho
Ecsta Supra 712's. These tires seem to be pretty much standard in the
value ultra-high performance category. Not the best, not the worst, but half
the price of most of the competition. It'd be nice to have some real traction
on the street. Should be interesting. . . Man am I itching for Spring already.
:)
October 8th, 2002 - 2:15pm
Okay, I've had a couple of days to digest Sundays event. I think I did pretty
well considering. Pretty solidly mid-pack. Starting to outrun a few drivers
who have been at this a lot longer. I'm still a bit wild behind the wheel,
no finesse at all. But my times are improving.
First, the tires.
WOW. I don't think I can ever go back to street tires again. Holy crap. I
spent most of my runs learning how to drive the car all over again. It
actually went where I pointed it! Of course the cornering and grip
characteristics were COMPLETELY different. I was still driving as if I wasn't
going to have any grip and that hurt me. I think by my fourth run I was
starting to get it down though.
Beautiful day. I was really worried through the week about the weather. It was
supposed to rain all day. But the day before the forcast dropped to sunny and
0% P.O.P. Woohoo! Couldn't have asked for a better day. Not too cold, not too
hot (Hot would have helped my tires though. :) ) and no rain! We had a good
turnout of 53 drivers since it was a regional event. A lot of out of towners.
Good to have some new faces and new cars to watch. I got there to find Glen
setting up an absolutely
evil twister of a course. One of the guys I did a walkthrough with called
it the 'Christmas course', since you drove up and down the lot like you wre
looking for a parking spot. :) I did lots of walk throughs and think I had the
course comitted fairly well to memory. Though that didn't stop me from getting
my traditional first-run O/C. :)
When setting up for my first run I really had no idea what to expect,
from the car, from the course or the tires. By the first turn I knew it
was going to be a wild ride. The 13" rims and smaller tire diameter made it
feel like the car had a lot more power and the rubber hugged the pavement.
But right off the bat I short-cut a turn and got an o/c.
My second run was a bit more comfortable. On course and screaming through
wildly. Ended up with a 53.xx. Ended up as my best time of the day.
My third run FELT good. Though I almost missed a turn that I'm sure cost me
some time. When I hit the stop box they called out another 53.xx time. Okay,
consistency at least. I pulled off, went to spectating, chatted with some
folks, but right before my fourth run I went and checked the printouts... DNF.
D'ooh! I still to this moment have no idea where I went off. Bah!
My fourth went really well... mostly. :) I was getting a feel for the tires
and what they could do. I felt much better in the slalom, in the 90s, just
better overall. Unfortunately on the second last turn I gunned it a little
too hard and didn't quite make it, plowing through the outside of a gate.
R's really don't give you any warning when they're going to let go, they
just do it. Oh well. My time ended up being 57.xx with two cones. With 4
seconds that puts me right back to 53.xx. Consistent runs all day.
After talking with some folks afterwards I think I was running the R's with
WAY too much pressure. They don't roll like street tires. The stiffer
sidewalls let you run with much lower pressure. At someones suggestion I
started the day off with 38/35 F/R and lowered them a couple of pounds
throughout the day. Later I was being told by some experienced drivers that
I probably should have been running them more in the mid-high 20's. Yow.
I think I'll start off at 30/28 next time and drop them from there. Too bad
next time is 7 months away. *sigh* :)
Here's my class results. (Gordon Sleigh is me. :) )
October 5th, 2002 - 6:32pm
Hmm. Bought a set of BFGoodrich Comp T/A R1's and rims for the car last night.
Just in time for the last run of the year. Should be interesting.
October 1st, 2002 - 10:31pm
Did another Solo II
this weekend. More fun. More illustration of all the work I need. But
thats okay, thats what its all about. I made some stupid mistakes, but nothing
fatal. My first run out I took a wrong turn on my first lap, right in a spot
where a lot of people on their first were screwing up and I said in my head,
'Okay, don't screw up there.' Arg! There was a turn coming out of the corner
of the lot where you end up facing the first gate. But you don't take it,
you're supposed to haul right. Of course I tried to go through that gate. I
realized it at the last second and recovered... barely. But it threw me off.
Then I really screwed up on my second lap and went the wrong way in the
alternating turn. Normally not that big a deal (Other than the o/c), except
they were starting the next car as people started pulling into the home
stretch. The home stretch I didn't go down. Luckily I knew I was going the
wrong way and was planning to take the wrong way out of the course. Except I
ended up nose-to-nose with the next competitor. Aiee. :) Good thing I think
she was a first timer and not going full bore. Could have been messy. After
that they didn't start releasing the next car until people really WERE in the
final stretch. My first impromptu system change of the day. :)
After my first run it was time for my rotation at course working. I was at post B
again, which like last time was in the middle of a sweeper that nobody was
having any problems with so it was pretty boring.... until a cone got tipped
midway between B and D stations. We both kind of stared at it for a minute and
I ran off after it. Uhh, swift move, Swifty. While I'm tearing off after the
cone the car is doing the sweeper and in about 4 seconds is going to go right
through that gate again. My second impromptu system change of the day. When
cones went down in that box they stayed down. D'ooh. Yay me.
Second run of the day went okay. Lots of squealing, lots of nasty lines and
rough wheel movements. Ended up with a 60.xxx I believe.
Third run of the day started off just right. I felt better about it, I was
doing good (for me) lines and the car wasn't getting away from me too much,
but damnit, I cut a turning gate short and went o/c. Augh! I knew I did it
right away and just pounded the rest of the run for the hell of it. Turned out
to be a 56.xxx run and I don't think cutting the gate saved me THAT much time.
D'ooh, would have been my best run of the day by almost 4 seconds.
So I spectate some, eat a burger, talk to folks. I see I'm about 5 cars away
from my 4th run. Hop in the car and crank it up. BRRRRRRRRRRRR. NASTY rattle
coming from underneath. Ack! Take a look under the car and realize I've got
a heat shield dangling from a single bolt. Not good. I had images of it
catching on the pavement and driving through my exhaust/floor/ass, whatever. :) So I
run over to the trailer and tell them I've got an issue and steal a jack. (Thanks
Mike). Thankfully a couple of good pulls, yanks and bends and it broke right
off. I think thats the last heatsheild on the car. Useless things. So I get
all of this done JUST in time for my run. I wasn't in my happy place of zen
like concentration that improves my driving oh so much. That said the run was
clean with a second and a bit shaved off my previous clean lap (2d).
Not going to be a lot of waxing about whats wrong. I'm still working on it.
I know that I REALLY need to figure out the parts of the course that are going
to give me problems and KEEP THEM IN MY HEAD. Its usually the spot where you
go a different path on your second lap. Gotta watch those from here on out.
(For my own good and the good of the other cars. :) )
Anyway, certainly another fun day. We'll see what this sunday brings. Last run
of the year. Time to lose what little feeling for it I've built up over the
winter.
September 15th, 2002 - 10:54pm
Another year. Coming up on 5 years that I've owned the car. Wow. Time flies.
No major urges to ditch it yet. Except for a more competitive toy. (More
on that in a minute)
Lets see, major happenings... The car rolled over
200,000 kilometres on July 1st, 2001. Crazy. That was 70k that I put on the
car since I bought it. I've only put another 13k on it since then though. When
we moved last year it was to a place very near my office, and my wife picked
up her own car last October (A 1997 Subaru Impreza wagon) so my driving has
gone way down hill. Thats good though, cause the the car is definitely starting
to show its age.
I had some body work done this June. New metal around the rear wheel wells and
a full-body paint job. I'm fairly happy with how it turned out though I have
a couple of beefs. It remains to be seen how major they are. It makes a big
difference in how I feel about the car though. Cosmetics make the difference.
Probably the biggest car related thing that I've done in the last year is
I've started autocrossing. At the urges of my best friend who is one of the
founding operators of Wired Motorsports.
He's been racing pretty much non-stop for the last two years and I was getting
tired of his whining about my doing it. :) Actually its a frickin' blast.
The local Solo II's are run by the Atlantic
Sports Car Club about 8 or 9 times a year. I've been out to spectate at a
couple events last year but I finally got up the balls to run. :) It can be
very daunting to watch. Cars flying nearly out of control as fast as they can
maintain traction. The newer drivers smashing into pylons and sounding like
they're leaving half their tires in their wake. In reality its a whole lot of
fun and not really a whole lot of risk as long as you're not an idiot. The
most stress on the car is on your tires with a bit more than average stress on
your brakes. But the payoff in fun and learning exactly where the limits of
your car are, not to mention the great people you meet are well worth it. I
can't stress enough how much of a blast it is.
I've run two so far. One in a small lot which I
was pretty unprepared for and one in a larger lot that
went better, but I was damned slow on. :)
My impressions of my first
and second
runs can be found on the Wired Motorsports message forums.
There's two more events this year and it won't be nearly enough. Its going to
be a long winter waiting for Spring and being able to do a full season of
runs. Especially being able to run at Slemon Park. The
largest Solo II on the East coast.
Hmmm, what else... I bought some wheels that I haven't seen
yet. :) They're waiting for me in Ontario pending various schemes to get them
here to Halifax. Hopefully I'll see them in a couple of weeks though. Though
its looking like it won't be in time for the end of fall. It'd be nice to see
them for the last Solo II's then. Enough to throw them on and cook the rubber
right off 'em. Muahahaha. :)
Wow. Thats a lot of links. :)
Related links
UNDERSTEER!!!
That is all. More to follow.
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2001-Beginning -->
