Autocross Dragway 42 Sun, Nov 5, 2023

[Basement Paul]

This will be my first autocross in awhile. I raced the firebird a couple time. The high temp is supposed to be only 54 degrees there, so I'm not sure how well my 100 treadwear tires will do with no real heat in them. Hopefully the sun is out at least.

Because of ridiculous SCCA rules, I'm in some race car class (DSP) again because I have 100tw tires (that are worse than the 200 spec tires designed for autocross) and I apparently made my car a race car by taking the converter off and the air pump out... This is why I don't race here much. But the driving part will be fun, and that's really why I'm going.

Here's the info if anyone is interested:

https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/as ... lub-503115

-BP

[Basement Paul]

I cleaned the Vette up Sat afternoon and installed the stickers before I left figuring it would just be easier on a clean car than a dusty one. Turned out it got real dirty as it decided to Lake Effect rain while I was in Lake Co and then once I got into Medina, the FOG rolled in. Apparently the Medina ODOT thought that since it was 39 degrees, the fog would freeze so they salted the roads. Thanks guys, for saving all our lives...

Once at the track, it was so foggy, you could only see about 1/3 of the course from the starting line. It was a little over a mile, so a track walk took a solid 20 min. If I did this regularly, I would get a scooter or something that rolls. By the time the inspections and driver's meeting was done, the fog had lifted enough to run. I was in the first of two groups. Since there were only about 50 cars total, and 60 drivers, we all got at least eight runs.
My 100 treadwear tires took a couple runs to get enough heat in them to really start to work, and to be honest, I needed ALL my runs to get myself to really get a feel for this car and what it can do. My first run was 94.454 second and I got a rerun for that one because someone spun out on track. I don't think it really slowed me down much though. My last and best run (run #9) was an 87.583. Each run I made was better than the run before, and I really think there is at least another second, second and a half in there.
On the leaderboard I finished 46 out of 61. Some of that is because of the time factor they attach to the class you're in, some is my lack of HP, and some is just my inexperience. But if I was to spend the money and get the "200" treadwear autocross tires and just practice more, I would be in a softer class and most likely be faster as my 100 treadwear tires are more geared for road racing than this short run type.

NOTES FOR NEXT TIME: I started the sessions with just over a half tank of gas and by my 5th run, started to notice that the fuel was splashing so much that I was already started to lose power on a couple parts of the track, so now when I leave home, I will make sure the tank is full.
I need to try to adjust my seat to be taller so I can see over the fenders a little better and not hang on the steering wheel as much. I think if I lowered the front tire pressure some after the 3rd or 4th runs, I would not have pushed quite as much, but either way even when the car got a little squirrely, it was super easy to gather up. And maybe a real four point harness to hold me in the seat better would be helpful.

Here's a few pictures of me and a bunch of cars I thought were interesting as I was on Cone Duty.

As this is the last competitive thing we'll be doing this year, I was really glad the weather held out so I could get a good feel of what this thing can do. I'm looking forward to next year already.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

NOTES FOR NEXT TIME: I started the sessions with just over a half tank of gas and by my 5th run, started to notice that the fuel was splashing so much that I was already started to lose power on a couple parts of the track, so now when I leave home, I will make sure the tank is full.

I remember that was one of the early rules/lessons in road racing, maybe even going back to my first-ever track day in the Cobalt in 2009 -- go out with a full tank. It's not like drag racing where we try to save a few pounds with fuel. Autocross is somewhere in the middle, but the sloshing around if too low would definitely be a problem. Full tank is a good idea.

[MostMint]

If you need to save weight, there are methods to baffle the tanks to keep the fuel at the pick up.

[Basement Paul]

I'm going to look into it. It's a big tank, and half full is ten gallons. I would prefer to be at 4-5 gallons race weight. I still can't believe the factory let this high performance car slide by like this.

-BP

[wxo]

My '96 has a baffle in the tank.

[Basement Paul]

That's very interesting. I'll have to look into interchangeability. That's good info.

-BP