2015: Yaw Moment Racing Year in Review

February 2015: First visit to JerryWorld, first Supercross race

February 2015: Kicked off the season with teaching an EVO School in Tucson and driving this SM beast at a local autocross the next day 

March 2015: Visited Hendrick's NASCAR Shop and Museum

March 2015: Finished basic prep on the FR-S for C-Street

March 2015: Was about to leave for Arkansas for the Blytheville when snowstorm THOR forced it's postponement

April 2015: Won our first event in the FR-S at the College Station Championship Tour

May 2015: Won C-Street at the Blytheville ProSolo 

May 2015: Finished 3rd at the Spring Nats ProSolo and 2nd at the Spring Nats Champ Tour

June 2015: Won C-Street at the Mineral Wells ProSolo

June 2015: We parted ways with the ESP Camaro

June 2015: Won C-Street at the Colorado Championship Tour and drove up Pikes Peak in the F150

August 2015: Did some engineering...

August 2015: Made a burner trip to Phoenix over one weekend to buy the T4 RX-8

September 2015: Finished 2nd at the ProSolo Finale and 2nd in C-Street class point for the year

September 2015: Won the C-Street National Championship

September 2015: Won the Solo Triad for wins in C-Street through the 2015 Season

September 2015: Another Trip to the Nürburgring and Mireval, France. I got to spectate at some cool racing on the Nordschleife and the GP-Strecke when not working in Germany.

October 2015: Got to visit the Stewart-HAAS Racing shop

Nov 2015: Started pit bike racing in the backyard

Dec 2015: Something special shows up in the mail....

Dec 2015: Received my Full SCCA Competition License

Dec 2015: Got the T4 RX-8 on track for the first time in preparation for my Runoffs campaign in 2016

Entered the 2016 Search for a Champion Contest!

LINK TO MY PROFILE

My video and Search for a Champion profile are live on Champion's website. The public voting starts on January 5th to decide the 15 finalists for the "Advanced" category. I made the video in October at Mineral Wells on a practice day and have been working on this for the past few months. I'm excited to see it live and look forward to the selection process. Wish me luck!

My Profile on Champion's website

FAQs on voting and the finalist selection process:

Take a girl to the track with a camera and her dog....

and you get mostly dog photos.....

and many many more!

Taking the RX-8 to the Track - finally

I did my first shakedown test in the T4 RX-8 last weekend at Harris Hill Road in San Marcos, TX. The goal was to get seat time, work on driving, and then assess any issues that I need to get taken care of before the season. The weather was great and I ran five total sessions in the car. 

The main issues I discovered were the transmission popping out of gear in 3rd and 4th at high rpm with a slight throttle lift or right before you go to shift and a fuel starve in right-hand corners below 3/8 of a tank of fuel. Looking at the data, the trans issue hurts straight-line speed as the shift has a much bigger delay and it also can spike the engine RPM (not good for longevity....). Some quick googling at the track showed this to be a common issue with racing the 2009 RX-8 transmissions which is common to the NC MX-5. It has to do with the shifter stroke in 3rd and 4th and can be externally adjusted without dropping the transmission. For the fuel issue, I will need to dig into that more. I am under my class min weight (3,150lbs for T4) so starting with a full tank is not an issue. For longer races like the Runoffs, I will need to improve the fuel starve to stay in the race at the end.

Overall, it was a fun day. Despite the small issues, the car handled well and had good grip on old tires, the motor pulled, the brakes worked and didn't fade, and the diff put power down. All of those are positives!

Here is onboard footage from my fastest lap. I got down to a 1:27.4 on the Clockwise course.

Photos from the test day:

Ready to load up Saturday AM

Track Dog 

End of a fun day at the track

First Hurdle for Runoffs 2016

My first hurdle for my goal of the Runoffs in 2016 has been passed - Full SCCA Competition License.....Check. I am planning my first race to be MSR Cresson in January.

Spending lots of time/money to try and win red jackets.....

After a quick typo correction by SCCA Gear, the new jacket just came back in the mail. Thanks to SCCA Gear for being easy to work with and for the quick turn-around. It looks great. Now to work hard over the off-season and add to the collection next year!

Steward-HAAS Racing Facility

I had the chance to make a quick stop in the Stewart-HAAS Racing shop Kannapolis, North Carolina a few months ago. They had a nice lobby setup with a few cars on display as well as a view into one of their machine shops. Unfortunately, the HAAS F1 compound was off-limits. Maybe there would be just a nose-cone in there like USF1...

Here are some photos:

Presented by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to the 2011 Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart 

HAAS F1