3/7 SCNAX Practice

3/7 Practice

With the San Diego branch of the SCCA Solo National Tour only two weeks away, it was a very crowded practice. Several teams from Arizona made it out, some driving their racecar with tires in tow. This team didn't even have room for wheel chocks with two drivers and a two-seater full of racing gear, so the co-driver had to volunteer to hold the car still during tire changes.

Matt B. made his return after a hiatus due to a fibular fracture (a condition with which I am intimately familiar) and made a case for cheap tires by edging me out on Sumitomo HTR IIs.

Ian got himself red flagged by following to closely behind what appeared to be a walk-on from a Viking battle reenactment driving a Saabaru 9.2x.

Runs 1-6 for me were on the new Toyo R1R, my choice for practice tire this season.

In the afternoon I switched back to the Toyo RA1 that served me through last season. The setups are a little backwards since the RA1 is a 225 on a 6.5" wheel and the R1R is a 195 on an 8" wheel.

R1R

RA1

I felt much better on the old RA1 than the new and much-touted R1R. My suspicion is the R1R comes with a relatively high treadblock that lends itself well to shaving, and that in new unmolested form, they are quite squirmy. As a practice tire I will not shave them, going for useful life over peak performance, but I recommend cutting them down for anyone interested in competing with the new Toyo.

One highlight was watching a new contender for the "rich guy with the most undersized right foot" award. Last time saw the title taken by the Lamborghini Gallardo, but a very well constructed and race-equipped GT40 Replica threatened to take the title from him.

The usurpation was not to be however, as GT-40 managed a swift 100 second lap, from the lambo's 109.

Some may cry foul, since not all autox tracks are created equal, but I contend that any true featherfoot award should include at least a first-order coefficient for car cost and performace, and I don't think, as nice as it is , that this replica scored the 500HP and $200,000 figures put ip by the lambo. If I had to guess (and it is only a guess, since we got no hint at real capabilities) that even with an 8-Webber fed big block, this thing was only putting out middle 400 ponies, and that the whole project cost was nearer 100K than 200.

Notable cars that were driven in anger included a Japanese exotic, a race-prepped mitsubishi and an all-wheel-drive converted Mazda.

CR also showed up to take some stills, both film and digital.

One feature worth mentioning was the excellent course design, which had incredibly fun, diverse and challenging components, making it a welcome change from the last few, most of which had the same number of corners as a Nascar oval and a drag race start. This course had something on the order of 20+ turns in 60 seconds, and a fantastic 6-cone slalom.

Here's Ian getting very tight on the third cone...

And here he gets in touch with the rally-roots of the WRX with a little Scandanavian flick to help get around the sweeper.