First Tour Win in the ESP Camaro!

When I woke up this morning and it was raining, I was pretty pumped despite that driving with wet shoes sucks. I knew it would shake things up so we got to the track early and threw on our rain race tires and waited for the ESP action to start during Heat 1. I started the day 0.47s back from 1st. We only had one AWD boost buggy in the class so I was thinking maybe the RWD Muscle stood a chance. I started with a not so great DNF as I hydroplaned through the first slalom of the course. I dropped in a 59.384s 2nd lap which put me in 1st place and was good enough for the win. For the first time, I had a victory lap for my 3rd and final run, got a little drifty, and picked up about 8 tenths for a 1.9s win in ESP.

It was a great weekend. We did a lot of testing and learned a ton about the ESP Camaro and the Lincoln surface. My Dad drove great today and had the 7th quickest run out of 14 drivers and moved up several spots to 7th overall.

Here is the onboard video:

Prepping for the 2013 SCCA Spring Nationals this Weekend

Ali and I met my parents in Lincoln, Nebraska today for the 2013 SCCA Spring Nationals. This is a full four days of racing with the ProSolo Friday and Saturday and a Championship Tour Sunday and Monday. We have a solid field in ESP with 10 drivers for the ProSolo and 16 for the Tour. Rain is in the forecast, but I'm hoping for a few dry sessions so I can evaluate the suspension changes I have made to the car.

Which to choose.....................

Over the break, I went up in overall spring rate, had the dampers dynoed and did some maintenance on the front suspension. Luckily, we arrived today in time to take a few practice starts and get some time on the Evo School test n' tune course. The balance felt good with the new spring setup and the car had quicker/more linear turn-in.

Cleaned up and dynoed damper and new RF spring ready to go back on the car 

 After the dampers and new springs were in, I installed a Scroth Rallye Cross harness for the driver seat. It is a DOT 4-pt. harness that bolts into the factory seat belt mounts.

New Scroth Rallye Cross Harness

Even the toolbox got a makeover - I finally know where tools are

The racing starts tomorrow at 9AM. ESP is running in the 3rd group for the ProSolo and in Heat 4 for the Championship Tour later this weekend. I've put links to the Live Timing and Video below and a picture of big spiders in my shop. Enjoy.

Live Timing: http://sololive.scca.com/
Live Video: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/SCCASolo

Big Wolf Spider in the shop

Mineral Wells ProSolo Compilation Video

Here is a cool compilation video put together by Ben Freedman about the 2013 Mineral Wells ProSolo. The ESP Camaro with my Dad driving makes an appearance around the 2m50s mark.

Camaro Damper's Going in for a Check Up

The ESP Camaro is currently damperless. All 4 Koni's plus a set of rear twin tube Koni's are on their way to Performance SpeedTech  in Cresson, TX for some work on their shock dyno. I should have them back next week with plenty of time to get things buttoned up before the Spring Nationals over Memorial Day in Lincoln, NE.

Race Recap: 2013 Mineral Wells ProSolo

Onboard video:

I competed in my first SCCA ProSolo event on April 13th and 14th in Mineral Wells, TX. I had a blast, learned a lot, and kept myself in the hunt for the ESP National ProSolo championship. During Heat 1, I had the advantage of being the 2nd driver in our ESP Camaro and I think starting with hot tires and running my runs very quickly back to back really made a difference. I finished 3rd in Bump Class and 1st in ESP after Heat 1 and was looking to hold on for the remaining two heats. The Mineral Wells surface is not known for picking up grip or rubbering in during the weekend, so I struggled to pick up pace during Heats 2 and 3. With Heat 1 being my first ProSolo and not being able to participate in the practice starts, my starts were slow and I was giving up 0.3s per side just with reaction time....obviously this did help my cause. I ended up improving by 0.003 seconds on the left course during Heat 3. This did not affect my standing and I finished 5th in Bump Class and 2nd in ESP for the National points tally.

My next event will be the ProSolo and Championship Tour for the Spring Nationals over Memorial Day in Lincoln, NE. I have a few updates planned for the Spring Nats and will be posting up my progress over the next few weeks.

Results here: http://www.scca.com/events/results.cfm?eid=5464

Here are a few more photos from the event:

I needed this light on Day 1....or better

Coming to the finish on the right course

My Dad cutting a good light....I could learn something!

Smoky burnout by Dr. Strelnieks

PHOTO CREDIT: ALI OGBURN - Thanks!

SCCA Mineral Wells ProSolo This Weekend - Live Timing and Video

I will competing in my first SCCA ProSolo this weekend. I am racing the ESP Camaro, but will be running in the Bump class (combined indexed class for all classes with less than 5 entries) because we only had 3 entries in class.Here are links to the live timing and video:

Live Video: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/SCCASolo

Live Timing: http://sololive.scca.com/

We run 2 heats tomorrow and 1 on Sunday Morning. The head-to-head Super Challenge will run on Sunday afternoon for the top 32 qualifiers!

SCCA ProSolo Series: What is it?

I will be competing in my first SCCA ProSolo event this weekend in Mineral Wells, TX. What is ProSolo you ask? Here goes...

From SCCA.com...

Take two parts autocross and one part drag racing, mix thoroughly and you get the Tire Rack SCCA ProSolo Series. Drivers face off, side-by-side at a “Christmas Tree” start, before launching themselves down a straightaway and into mirror image autocross courses. Three rounds of class competition gives drivers 12 total runs, 6 on each course. Not only do these runs determine the class winners, it sets the overall qualifying order for the second part of the event which determines the overall winner. The top qualifiers enter into single elimination brackets and run off until only one remains; the Top Eliminator. The Ladies Challenge pits the top Ladies’ qualifiers against one another, while the Gumout Super Challenge features the top 32 Open Class competitors in a winner take all battle. There is even a Bonus Challenge where randomly selected non-qualifying drivers can compete for prizes and bragging rights.

Competitors earn Challenge points throughout the season toward the Overall Ladies and Open ProSolo Championships. In addition, ProSolo Zone Champions are crowned in each class based on points earned in the Atlantic, Mid-America and Pacific Zones. Zone Champions may then compete with other top drivers for a ProSolo National Championship. Class National Championships and the Overall ProSolo Championships are determined by combining regular season points with points earned at the ProSolo Finale in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Whether you are a seasoned Solo veteran or just starting out in National Series competition, ProSolo has something to offer. Top-level class competition, lots of seat time, awesome courses, heads up competition, the community and camaraderie of Solo, and the excitement of drag racing all combine to make ProSolo the most intense form of autocross on the planet!!

Onboard Video from the 2013 College Station Championship Tour

SCCA PR Summary from the College Station Tour

I got my first mention in an SCCA race summary press release after the College Station Championship Tour. Here is the link: http://www.scca.com/news/index.cfm?cid=51359 

For Immediate Release   Tire Rack SCCA Championship Tour, RallyCross Open In Texas   COLLEGE STATION, Texas (March 27, 2013) – The Tire Rack SCCA Solo® Championship Tour and the RallyCross® National Challenge opened last weekend just miles apart, with at least one driver – Brianne Corn, of San Marcos, Texas – taking wins in both events.   Corn split time between the Solo site at Texas A&M and the RallyCross site at Texas World Speedway, bouncing back and forth to get in her required runs at both locations. The effort paid off, with Corn taking the B Modified win in Solo in her Janco/Hoosier Le Grand Dragon as well as the Modified All Wheel Drive class win her Brianne Corn Racing/Rally Ready Driving School Subaru Brighton.   More than just wins, Corn also turned the fastest overall times at both events – a 111.278 combined time of her two best runs on the Solo pavement, and a weekend best 770.505 aggregate of all 12 runs on the RallyCross dirt.   Corn’s performance wasn’t the only notable one of a weekend that featured 157 drivers on the Solo course.   In C Stock, Kenneth Baker ran the best class time of the final day to close the first-day hole in his Autcross.com Mazda MX-5, but fell just 0.030-second shy of Daniel McCelvey’s JFA Racing/TrackTime Performance Nissan 370Z.   Like McCelvey, Mark Madarash opened up a lead in his class, then fought to keep it through Sunday’s runs. Madarash was the quickest E Street Prepared machine on Saturday, then posted a time in his Pontiac Trans-Am on Sunday that left him just 0.116-second ahead of Sunday’s quickest-in-class car, the Goodyear Eagle RS/Strano Parts Chevrolet Camaro Z28 of Dave Ogburn.   It was, however, possible to take a victory from behind on Sunday. Andy Hollis led the opening day of Street Touring R, behind the wheel of the Thanks Kyung and Michael Mazda Miata. With a prophetic team name, Jason Minehart erased that deficit in the Team Underdog Racing Mazda MX-5 to just sneak out a 0.095-second victory in the 14-car class.   On the RallyCross dirt, all 12 runs are combined for the final time. That makes the 2.963-second margin of victory that Kevin Corn’s Brianne Corn Racing/TexasRallySport.com Subaru Impreza in the Prepared All Wheel Drive class agonizingly close. Corn had consistently completed the course faster than runner-up Yohanan Harvey’s Norman’s Tire Service Subaru Impreza, but had 14 seconds in cone penalties – compared to just two for Harvey – to narrow that gap and nearly cost him the win.   The Tire Rack Championship Tour – running the traditional National Tour format – moves immediately to this weekend’s Pacific Southwest Championship at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. More information on the Tire Rack SCCA Solo Program is available atwww.scca.com/Solo. More information, including results, from the Tire Rack College Station Championship Tour event is available athttp://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5453.   Information on the RallyCross National Challenge program is available at www.scca.com/RallyCross. Details on the SouthWest Division National Challenge at Texas World Speedway, including final results, can be found at http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=5599.   Follow SCCA on Twitter @SCCAOfficial, or like the Club on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SCCAOfficial.

Close Muscle Car Battle in College Station This Past Weekend

The 2013 SCCA Solo Championship Tour opened this past weekend in College Station, TX. It also kicked off my season of National SCCA competition. The forecast called for rain showers on Saturday with the weather clearing up for Sunday’s action, but we ended up with a dry, windy weekend and “cold-for-Texas” temperatures. We had 5 competitors in E Street Prepared Class and ran in the last heat which gave us the best course conditions, especially for r-comp tires, on both days.

As with last year, Vivek Goel designed a great course for the grippy but inconsistent Texas A&M Riverside Campus concrete. All of my events this year have been on the low grip, very coarse surface at the Mineral Wells Airpark so it was nice to race on a surface more representative of the Lincoln concrete. When we took to the track on Sunday, I coned my first run, then cleaned it up on my 2^nd run trying to stay within reach of ESP pacesetter Mark Madarash. He finished with a 63.479s run, and I was able to improve by about 0.5s on my last run to trip the lights with a 63.880. This was certainly better than the College Station Tour last year where I put myself in a 2.7s hole after the first day, but was hoping to be a bit closer to the top. However, I was solidly in P2 and had nothing to lose on Day 2. 

Trying to find speed before Day 2

The higher-grip concrete in College Station changed the balance of my car vs Mineral Wells, so I made an adjustment after Day 1 to free the car up. Sunday’s runs were my best heat so far in the ESP Camaro. I drove well, the car felt good (could be better though….), and I had a nice battle with Mark for the win. My 61.933 2^nd run gave me the fastest ESP run on Sunday by 0.3s and put me 2^nd in PAX overall for Sunday. I had a chance on my 3^rd and final run to take the ESP win by dropping my lap time a tenth, but was not able to improve leaving me in P2 in class by 0.116s....so close! I finished 3^rd in the Overall PAX ranking for the weekend. My Dad and I will be racing again on April 13^th and 14^th in the Mineral Wells ProSolo event. Hopefully we can find some more speed in the meantime! 

I am working on editing the onboard video and will have it uploaded soon. The class and PAX results are below:

Final ESP Results 

Day 2 PAX Ranking - P2!

Final Combined PAX - P3 Overall