Stirling Moss Finale

Photo by Michael Siergiej - Michael Siergiej Photography

This was it, the finale for the New England Region. Same as every year, it is also the Stirling Moss run offs. Now, as much as I wanted to compete for the Moss trophy, as mentioned in my previous post, my fuel pump was having issues. That being said, I unfortunately was not able to run my car in the Moss. I was willing to even risk the replacement pump as well and see if I could even manage a run or two, but the fuel pump ring wouldn't even stay on oddly enough. I still had a seat for the Moss though, as Mickle Motorsports came to the rescue and let me run in their ASP Subaru STi.

Aero Testing @ Renegade

Can't help but feel like the car looks more aggressive with the aero

It was one of those days that I could have lived without the other half of it. Yep. John and I had planned out to use this event to test out the new aero from Joefis Racing and to see how everything turned out. In return, we got to do that, as well as deal with a failing fuel pump. I was pretty upset when this happened, as I really wanted to focus on feeling out and learning the overall new characteristics of the car, but John and I only got a limited number of runs. Enough ranting about the broken fuel pump though, onto the data points!

New Aero From Joefis Racing

Ever heard of Joefis Racing? I hadn't until about a year ago when I saw his fabrication work on a few Street Prepared cars at the Ayer National Tour, and even more of his work this year at the New Jersey ProSolo. I'll tell ya, pictures on the internet do NOT give justice to his amazing work I've seen in person.

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S2000 Codrive @ NER

Photo by Michael Siergiej - Michael Siergiej Photography

Back from Nationals, and feeling better than ever! This is the last points event of the year for NER SCCA before the finale, and I wanted to have some fun this time around. It would be good for me, as I needed to clear my head of some negativity I still had from Nationals, and my car is still in Pennsylvania getting aero anyways. Nick Barbato was kind enough to offer me a seat in his B Stock Honda S2000 CR, so a huge thanks to Nick for the opportunity!

My First Solo Nationals

Photo by Rupert Berrington - Rupert Berrington Action Photography

I survived my first SCCA Solo Nationals, and it was almost as good as when I went to Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan! People talk about Nationals and give you all sorts of stories or ideas of what it would be like, but none of them really capture what it is all about. I'll start with the non racing related stuff first, just to get it out of the way.

The Road To Lincoln

Loaded up and on the road!

Here we are, on the way to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Solo National Championships! So far we've hit a lot of rain, minor tow vehicle trouble, but nothing has stopped us yet. Thanks to everyone for the support and good luck to us on our journey! As I post this, we're about 13 hours away. We'll be meeting up with Charles and Jennifer from Black Halo Racing at the site, unload the trailer, and then rest up at the hotel for Monday. I wanted to give a quick post about what you can do if you would like to follow along during race time.

Prepping For National Championships

Only a few more days before I saddle up and am off to the "Mother Land"... The "Holy Grail" for autocrossers. The great, week-long "Summer Camp"; The 41st TireRack Solo National Championship in Lincoln, Nebraska! The car and I have both come a long way, and I can't wait to see how far we can take it at Nationals. Thanks to Charles at Black Halo Racing that I'm able to even go to Nationals this year, and I can't thank him enough for his efforts and support this year. John unfortunately will not be able to make it out there with me, but I will be going with long-time racer Brian Levesque; the good friend that taught me how to autocross long ago. I think it will be fitting so that the teacher can see the student come around full circle, don't you?

STX Battle: RX-8 vs. BRZ

Hurst RX-8

I got to catch up with a fellow RX-8 racer from New York, Jeff Hurst. I was checking in with him to see how his racing season has been going. He did a post recently that I wanted to share on the blog, as it's been a hot topic as of late. A Street Touring Xtreme (STX) built RX-8 vs. a STX built BRZ. Jeff and Eric Simmons got to compare their two cars back to back at an event. Jeff had this to say about the test.

Last Race Before Nats @ NER!

Photo by Michael Siergiej - Michael Siergiej Photography

This is it. After this event, I have a weekend off, and then off to Lincoln Nebraska. John was unable to make it to the event, so I took this opportunity to really focus on getting more intuned with the car. Seeing how far I could push it through different elements, at what point I needed to dial it back, played with a few minor settings, etc.

John Takes Top PAX @ NHMS!

Photo by Michael Siergiej - Michael Siergiej Photography

Race Against Leukemia weekend over at New Hampshire Motor Speedway! We didn't have a lot of people this event, only having about  54 registered to run. If there was a time to shine and get that PAX glass, it was now. Fortunately for John, he had figured out the secret to the course where I had struggled, and went for the goal!

Battle For The Top @ Renegade Miata

Ready for battle!

While everyone is in Toledo for the ProSolo, I stayed back at good ol' Devens for some more practice.

Ayer Match Tour 2013

Black Halo Racing in the house!

This weekend there was a Match Tour over in Ayer! It wasn't only great because it was a national level event, but I even got a visit to give some support by my good friends and sponsor, Black Halo Racing (BHR)! Charles and his wife helped me keep my head in the game, and got to hang out with everyone afterwards. Can't say the weekend could have gone any better. If you're unsure of the difference between a normal National Tour, and a Match Tour, check out the rules here on SCCA's official website.

Practice For The Match Tour

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

Nothing like a good ol' practice race the weekend before a big one! Not only was this practice however, I had to test out the new helper spring guides, and it was a good excuse to kill the left-over Hoosiers I had on the race wheels currently.

Spring Guide Problem

Snapped in half spring guides, passenger side

After some constant clunking, and random snap oversteer, I was starting to wonder exactly what was going on with the car. It was when John had said at the last race, "It just doesn't feel right." that it made me begin to worry. After some inspecting of everything in the rear, low and behold, I found the culprit!

Pro Class Mix-up

Photo by Michael Siergiej - Michael Siergiej Photography

This event was a little bit of a different story for me. Today, I decided to run in Don Kuehl's STR Miata and have some fun, while Ben and John run my RX-8 together. I guess that's one of the beauty's of Pro class is that you can hop into any other car and still compete for points!

Practice That Throttle Control!

Back up to my usual antics at the Renegade Miata Club; running on street tires and trying to see how far I can push the car even though it is definitely not setup for street tires! ah blah

Pro Class Comeback!

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

Close battle, lots of fun, but I was pretty upset I kept messing up the last section of the course for whatever reason. Couldn't stay focused on the prize!

First BMW CCA Event!

Rachel's hot 135i with some fresh tires!

Today I got to not only try out the BMWCCA club, but I also got to co-drive Rachel's BMW 135i! Definitely a change of pace for me, but it was something I was looking forward to driving. Rachel was also sporting some fresh BFGoodrich Rivals for tires, so I got to try them out and see what the fuss was about (which they're pretty good!).

NER Pro Class Flop

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

Cinco de Mayo! No better way to celebrate it than by racing, right? This was my second attempt at Pro class at NER. This attempt however, wasn't a very encouraging one for me. At least on the upside, the camera worked for the whole event finally, so hopefully no more of that!

Renegade Miata's Starting Up!

Lots of Mazdas, ready to race!

Perfect day to start off Renegade Miata's season over at Devens! Great weather and a good turn out. I figure that since it's the first event, I was going to use a set of used Hoosiers I picked up back in New Jersey. I need more seat time with the Hoosiers, no more excuses this year.

New Jersey ProSolo

Photo by Perry Aidelbaum - AutoX4U

John and I's first National level event for the season! It has been two years since my last ProSolo in New Jersey, but I wasn't as nervous as I was back in 2011. I was here to meet the competitors in S2, hopefully make some new friends, and show 'em what I've got. S2 is a new thing this year, in where it is a combination of BSP and DSP classes, and you race against each other using PAX times. Guess I still get to race in BSP after all! Technically anyways...

First Race Of The Season

Photo by Ed Savage - NoWin Photography

First race back, and damn it feels good to be doing what I love again! This was the first event for SCCA NER, and the only practice event before the upcoming ProSolo in New Jersey!

RX-8 BSP To DSP Thoughts

For those that are unaware, the Street Prepared Advisory Committee (SPAC) has moved the RX-8 from B Street Prepared (BSP), to D Street Prepared (DSP). For a lot of people, especially RX-8 owners, they are pretty excited to see this change go through. Then again, there are a few that disagree with the decision to move the RX-8 to DSP. I've been relatively quiet about the move except for with a select few, but I figure now is the time to lay my thoughts out.

Time Is Running Out!

On the stands getting worked on

I know it's been awhile since I've posted (I'm saying that a lot lately these days!) but it's been crunch time with a lot of things going on in my life, racing included. I figured I would give some pictures and post a status update of where everything stands at least.

Black Halo Racing's Motor Mounts

Picture direct from Black Halo Racing's website

There is something to be said about a car part that you can look at, and seriously consider it a work of art. The team over at Black Halo Racing never fail to produce top notch results, as they focus heavily on the quality and usability aspects of their products. They have recently released these beautiful replacement motor mounts for the RX-8. These mounts will last a LOT longer than the OEM mounts that are prone to failing quickly (even the revised mounts are not lasting as long as most would like). Let’s have a closer look.

Official SCCA Tour Dates + New Type Of Tour!

Whoohoo! Not just preliminary anymore... I have the official dates for 2013. But what's this? A new type of tour, that also takes contingencies? More racing never hurt anyone... Right? So it looks like this year we have a total of 27 events across the country!

Upcoming Projects For 2013

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays as much as I did. A lot of changes and projects at work for me, met up with Charles from BHR for a bit, along with working to get my Miata working again, and a LOT of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 for Playstation 3. I've also acquired http://re-zelse.com/ and it forwards straight to the blog! Now that we're getting closer to the race season, that means it's time to start getting ready for it and wrenching!