YAW MOMENT RACING: Equipe Rapide Challenge Cup # 2 Race Recap

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Equipe Rapide Challenge Cup # 2 Race Recap

ESP Battle with the Drag Start

This past weekend was my 3rd trip to the Mineral Wells Airport in the last four weekends. That's not something I would normally be happy with, but I continue to learn more and more about my live axle 2001 Camaro. For this event, Equipe Rapide Sports Car Club setup to separate timing systems and did a "practice" ProSolo style event. The Texas ProSolo event is in April in Mineral Wells so it was a good chance to drag-start the Camaro and practice my reaction time. We did not have a Christmas Tree starting light for the event so it wasn't truly a ProSolo style event, but it was close enough and I really enjoyed it. The courses were a bit short, but 12 quick runs gave us good practice for the drag start and mirrored courses.

Lined up at the Start on the Right Course

I finished 3rd in X(Pro) class behind Mark Madarash's ESP Trans Am and Jeremy Foley's ASP Evo. This also put me 3rd overall in PAX out of 54 drivers.

Results here: http://www.autocross.com/er/equiperapide/modules/content/index.php?id=119

Here is onboard video from my fastest two runs (each side):

I did a bit of work in the shop getting ready for the event. I modified my 3-piece CCW wheels with different wheel outers. It allowed me to test different wheels widths for this event....which was a bit difficult given the short courses and back to back runs. It was hard to keep tire temp consistent and read how the wheel width was affecting grip/response. I think I was able to get a basic feel for how the tire responds to different wheel width, but this will surely be a continuing development item. After getting the new wheels sorted, it was time for new brake calipers and rotors in the front. The front calipers were the original units and the right front was dragging so it was definitely time for a change!

Here are some pics of modifying the CCW wheels. It was my first time disassembling and reassembling 3-piece wheels, but it was fairly easy and CCW has good instructional videos on their website.