October 28, 2011

Great Videos

I came across some really good videos recently that I thought I would share with everyone.

The first video is the new 2011 SCCA Solo Nationals music video by Speedway Motors. Every year they come out with a new music video with great footage of Solo Nationals. This year's was interesting, as it had some neat effects and two decent songs mashed together, but last year's video still sits on top in my mind. I definitely liked the buildup aspect of the music in the video though, as it sort of gave me the "fight for the title" feeling near the end. I also really liked how they included the announcer saying "Hold on to that top spot because it is easier to chase then it is to lead!"



October 23, 2011

Ruby's Big Debut!

Well, seeing as it was the last Renegade Miata event and I had taken first place for the year already via points, I wanted to focus on having fun this event. That being said, I decided to co-drive my STS Roadster (Ruby) with my girlfriend, Kristyn. I haven't had the chance to autocross the car yet, so what better opportunity to get a feel for how the setup is than this?

October 22, 2011

SCCA NER's Team Challenge

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography
The event everyone has been waiting for since the beginning of the year; SCCA NER's Team Challenge! A fun event in where you form a team and battle it out for the top. The rules are as follows:
  • Pick a team of 4
  • Choose a team name
  • Only 2 Moss Event competitors per team
  • The winning team from last year cannot form again
  • If there is not at least 3 cars per class, then your car gets bumped to the next class, just like at ProSolo events
  •  Which ever team has the most points collectively, wins!

    October 15, 2011

    Renegade Miata's 6th Points Event

    Renegade Miata Club's 6th points event was today. As usual, it featured a great technical course with a lot of good elements for practicing. Unfortunately,  the weather was spotty, ruining the afternoon for the most part. I decided to skip my afternoon runs in favor of changing tires in the dry before the big storm came.

    October 9, 2011

    SCCA NER Finale & Stirling Moss Runoff

    Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography
    I won! I did it! I took 1st place for the year in B Street Prepared! Today was the season finale for SCCA NER, which is also the Stirling Moss Runoff. At the end of each year, each class winner battles it out for this special trophy.
    Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography
    The way the Stirling Moss event works is like this:
    1. The normal points event is over after the first 3 morning runs (meaning if you are tied for 1st place for the year, you have only the first 3 morning runs to win)
    2. If you are a class winner or in the top 10 PAX points after those 3 runs, you are in the Moss. If you are not a class winner, you continue running your afternoon runs normally
    3. The fastest of your 3 morning runs is your dial-in time
    4. You now have to try to make your 3 afternoon runs as close to your dial-in time as possible
    The winner is then decided at the end of the event by whoever accumulated the most points. Points are given as follows:
    1. Half of your points come from your PAX (Leader's PAX time divided by your PAX time)
    2. The other half of your points come from the standard deviation between your fastest morning run and afternoon runs 1, 2, and 3

    October 5, 2011

    Dyno At Kaizen

    I had decided last week that I'd like to finally get a dyno chart of what the heck my car is doing and outputting. I never got the chance to get my last RX-8 to the dyno, nor did I get a baseline of Serenity before I began to modify her. That being said, it also made sense to get a dyno chart of my car before I install my header over the winter so I can compare the two. That's when I had Jeff (MazdaManiac) give my current tune another look-over, and then gave Scott at Kaizen Tuning a ring to schedule a dyno appointment with their tuner, Rob Baker.

    October 1, 2011

    Engine Issues Resolved

    I was chasing down a "gurgling/fluttering" noise at 8,000RPM for a little over a month recently. The noise was very noticeable and had gotten me very concerned, so I could simply not ignore it. After a lot of digging around and countless times of ripping things apart, I figured out what I was faced with. The interesting part of this however is that not only did I figure out the problem, I learned that I was chasing 3 separate problems. I thought I would share my findings with everyone, just incase someone should run into a similar issue.