My Chariot to Qualify for the Runoffs

I've been busy the past two months figuring out a plan to qualify for and make it to the Runoffs this year after the engine issues I've had with the RX8.

This was the solution - the price was right and it is reliable:

Right now, it is in Showroom Stock C trim. More details to follow as I prep it for T4 and make progress with the setup.

Runoffs Updates

The schedule for the 2016 SCCA Runoffs has been released. I will have four qualifying sessions on Monday (9/19) through Thursday (9/22) at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The Touring 4 race is scheduled for 5:10pm on Friday (9/23) and will be 40 minutes or 23 laps - whichever comes first.

I will post live timing info as we get closer to the event. I need one more race weekend on the SCCA US Majors Tour to qualify for the Runoffs. More details on that later!

Also released is the paddock map which shows just how many parking spots is needed to house the SCCA's biggest club racing event. I've heard rumors that this may be the biggest entry count in the history of the Runoffs....we shall see. When the reservation system opens up later this month, I will hopefully be getting a paved spot - need to be quick on the mouse click I think. Grass is fine until it rains...

The draft test day schedule has also been released by the SCCA. Damn, the first two days are expensive! I don't have nearly enough vacation/dough to make that happen but will likely run the Sunday session to get dialed in before the quali session on Monday the 19th.

New Yaw Moment Racing Logo!

My very talented and creative wife drafted me up a new logo as you can see above in the blog title. We've been talking about this for a long time and I'm stoked to see it come out this way. I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks on some t-shirts and in vinyl. Thanks Ali!

I will be making some changes to my blog (and actually posting....) and social media over the next few weeks so stay tuned for some updates.

Onboard Video from the Mineral Wells ProSolo

Here is onboard video from my quickest runs on each side of the 2016 Mineral Wells ProSolo event a few weeks ago. Cliffnotes - fun weekend with the family, finished 2nd in a 15 car C-Street field, NDs may be tough to beat at Pros or maybe I need to run Bridgestones or maybe just find some more speed.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8jqL_qCV6w&feature=youtu.be

Results:

Onboard Video - T4 RX-8 NOLA Pole Lap 1:58.4

A full recap of the my first Majors race weekend is on the way (spoiler alert....broken engine), but here is onboard video from Sunday's qualifying session.

Speedway Motors 2015 Solo Nationals Music Video

Speedway Motors released their always anticipated music video highlights of the Solo Nationals. Thee 2015 version did not disappoint. I made the video for the first time with a quick cameo at 1:32 getting a fist bump from D Whitener. Some cool footage and definitely shows the variety of cars we see on the Lincoln concrete each year. Thanks Speedway!

In NOLA This Weekend for the SCCA Majors Tour

 We are in Nawlins this weekend for the first round of the Mid-States Conference US Majors Tour. The car is back together and running well. Yesterday I picked up my first pole, led every lap and took home the win in Touring 4 class. I run in Group 5 which has a large mixed field (40+cars) with 9 different classes including some cars on DOT race tires and some casrs on full slicks.

 

 Saturday's race was 25min and today's race is 18 laps or 35min (whichever comes first). Right now, Jim Drago has pipped me for Sunday's pole with a faster race lap yesterday (1:59.2) but I have a chance to re-claim the pole in qualifying today. A 35min race will actually be the longest stint/race of my career and certainly a bit different than autocross!

Qualifying today is 10:10am and the race is at 3:10pm. 

You can follow along here: www.scca.com/live

Search for a Champion Contest 2016 Update

The voting round to select the 15 finalist from the Advanced entries has come to a close. Thanks to everybody who has voted! The finalists will be announced on February 16th at Champion's website.

Over the past month, I posted a few promo clips to my various social media accounts. Here they are:

T4 RX8 Update - Car is in pieces now

It's been radio silence here for the past few weeks. I've been busy in the shop since my first race weekend at MSR Cresson three weeks ago. Despite the frigid weather that weekend, it started reasonably on Saturday morning. I was the only T4 car there (small field overall, non-points early season race) and there is no data/times for T4 cars on this Cresson configuration to go on so I didn't really know where the car's pace should be. My goal was to push, feel how it performed over a race distance, and generally "get used to" club racing on a practice weekend. The RX8 felt great under braking and had a good balance. I'm till having an issue with the trans popping out of 3rd with any throttle lift, so I was mostly driving one-handed. Not ideal but I can work around it. I bought a spare 2009 transmission which will be going in the car, and I will rebuild the current trans.

It all went to hell in qualifying though.....I ran 3 flyers and got my lap time in a range I thought was decent and then had a slight miss in 4th gear on the double apex left. I ran around 2 more laps trying to diagnose the problem (intermittent anywhere on track vs. only in corners vs. only in that corner, etc.) when the motor took a dump. Darin George at MER (Mazda Enterprises Racing) was nice and towed me over to their shop. He did a compression test which showed great compression on Rotor #2 and zero compression on Rotor #1. Basically, something broke and I needed a rebuild.

I got my motor to MER the following Friday and they tore it down. The side seals on Rotor #1 had burned up. Rotor # 1 needed to be replaced, but luckily the rotor housing was OK. The engine failure was actually a blessing in disguise because we found several "potential rules issues" with the engine that was in the car. In the end, MER brokered a deal with Texas Autosports to purchase my original engine and I purchased a freshly rebuilt, fully factory spec RX-8 engine. I will be able to pick the motor up next Thursday the 11th and then I can get started on getting the car back driveable. I will take the car back to MER on the 20th for engine tuning prior to my first race.

My next race on the schedule was supposed February 13th-14th at TWS. TWS regional is out now, so my next race will be the first Mid-States Conference Major at NOLA Motorsports Park. I was really hoping to have the regional races to practice before NOLA, but I will go ahead and throw myself into the deep end with a Majors weekend. No time like the present to find out if I'll be competitive or not this year.

Registered for my first race in the T4 RX-8

The entry is small (only 27 cars total) given that it's an early season non-points race, but I wanted to get some practice in before the US Majors season starts. This will basically be a practice session and a weekend to get comfortable running SCCA weekends as this will actually be my first SCCA Club Race ever! Right now, I will be running with 7 cars in the "Closed Wheel" race group which will be myself, STL, STU, SM, SRX7 - and a GT1 car which should be ridiculous. Hopefully a few more cars register....