Doward's daily does it all: SCCA STX, NASA TT5, Gridlife ClubTR?

[doward]

This popped up on socials, but none of the paid photog shots were worth buying this time.

[doward]

An unfortunate series of events had me running HPDE4 at Pitt Race.
My ST5 Miata wasn't ready and TT5 was sold out due to NASA Championships coming to Pitt next month. So I had to drop my registration all the way down to DE4.

Ran it oldschool. Packed the track wheels, e85 jugs, tools, cooler, chair, etc all inside the BRZ and left the RV and trailer at home.

[doward]

My Kmiata rolled off my 2post finally so i was able to get the BRZ in and address a couple updates.

New style heim joint 949 endlinks for the Xidas, and their new velco shock covers went on during an alignment and corner balance checkup following the Pitt Race weekend. Only setup change ive made is raising the car up another 3-4 turns. It is now at roughly a 4.8" front pinch and 5" rear pinchweld.
Also finally went to an autocross on my RE71RS scrubs after theyve seen two track weekends. No longer using 2019 DOT AO52s with 100+ HCs.

Car was amazing yesterday back in STX trim. Biggest gap I've put on the local fast STX car(lightweight brakes, Giken diff, etc) and I ended up #2 Pax and #3 raw overall. Only got beat by Danny Popp's CAMS C7(raw) and an FStreet SS 1LE(raw + pax).
May have just been a great day from me and a bad day from Todd Kunze, but I've always been on junk tires and consistently close to him, winning/losing by tenths on 2-4 year old scrubs the last two seasons. So it felt good to not have any real equipment excuses anymore.

Rumors of STX changing have me kinda wanting to look at taking this to SoloNats next year, or at least a couple big Tour events. We'll see...

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by doward

Rumors of STX changing have me kinda wanting to look at taking this to SoloNats next year, or at least a couple big Tour events. We'll see...

I pray STX doesn't change. I've been in DS holding out and getting nailed by all the gen 2's and CTRs for the 3rd year now. Every year it's "well maybe I'll get suspension and wheels next year".

Those coilover covers are rad. Adding that to my list.

[LRNAD90]

You are having way too much fun, I'm Jealous..

[Lantanafrs2]

This is a fascinating thread. Good work man.

[gnarjunkie]

What are the rumored changes to STX?

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by gnarjunkie

What are the rumored changes to STX?

2nd gen twins going to STX, making the first gen's pretty much obsolete, unless you're going SSC. 2017-2020's would then be completely outclassed everywhere since they can't go to SSC.

Here's the official statement: "The STAC is considering moving the second generation twins (BRZ & GR86), NB Miata and NC Miata from STR to STX. The STAC has received a high volume of letters regarding these cars and is considering the current competitive balance in STR and STX."

I think there's the argument that STR Miata's are still well ahead of STR 2nd gens. And they just really like catering to the Miata crowd.

My take is at least give the fist gen's a neat place to play (STX) and the 2nd gens, being newer also, have DS to play in and be competitive.

If it goes through my 2017 is basically screwed and I was planning on keeping it long term.

I do think the NB and NC could go to STX and not upset anything. A better PAX for those are just fine. That makes sense at least. The ND on the other hand is just damn quick. But then you have the slight problem at "street touring roadster"... is well, for roadsters.

[e1_griego]

They already pulled that proposal.

[doward]

I'm not sure what "ideal" is, but essentially killing the current STX and making it STR.2 so the even older, more expensive and less relevant S2000 can have a place to play seems short sighted.

A new ST class STM was also floated, so that current STX doesn't get destroyed and STR can remain ND2 country.

Currently, STX and STR seem like one horse shows which isnt ideal, but i like my horse and am clearly biased.

[doward]

Welp...
New year. New autocross season. Even more peer pressure from the local buddies to do a national tour event or something bigger and "more serious" but i dunno...


I absolutely crammed in a bunch of prep on Saturday. New tires, front ARP studs, Whiteline RLCAs, Whiteline shifter bushing insert thing, Recaro SPG back in, and attempted to swap my Deka ETX9 in, but couldnt source M6 to SAE posts anywhere locally

[cmiovino]

I just saw you're in Columbus. I'm on the fence about the Cleveland Tour. 3 hours from me and I think it's only about 2 hours from you. I did Finger Lakes last year in DS and it was an adventure. Wineries, waterfalls... it was more than just taking your 6 runs over two days. Camping on site too, which a bunch of people did. Shower trailer too. But with Cleveland, I can't find anywhere to camp near the site and hotel costs for 3+ days add to the whole thing. I'd recommend doing at least one national level event though. It's interesting.

Do you think the Deka ETX9 is going to be enough power? Only 120CCA - which is the only thing you can really compare vs their other sizes. They don't list regular cranking amps for us fair weather folks. My worry is it might not hold a charge over a week or longer.

I was looking at the ETX-30L with 440CCA mainly because it looks like the height of the case would work well with just bolting it straight in at 6.8". DEKA ETX15L is around 6.5" and might work easily with a washer or two to space on the threads and get it to fit without any real modification. 220 CCA there.

How are you mounting the super small ETX9?

[autoracer86]

I always had a blast doing big events. See if you can split a room with a friend makes it all the more fun and saves on money.

It's more about hanging out than anything else. You will only get like 6 mins of run time lol

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by cmiovino

I just saw you're in Columbus. I'm on the fence about the Cleveland Tour. 3 hours from me and I think it's only about 2 hours from you. I did Finger Lakes last year in DS and it was an adventure. Wineries, waterfalls... it was more than just taking your 6 runs over two days. Camping on site too, which a bunch of people did. Shower trailer too. But with Cleveland, I can't find anywhere to camp near the site and hotel costs for 3+ days add to the whole thing. I'd recommend doing at least one national level event though. It's interesting.

Do you think the Deka ETX9 is going to be enough power? Only 120CCA - which is the only thing you can really compare vs their other sizes. They don't list regular cranking amps for us fair weather folks. My worry is it might not hold a charge over a week or longer.

I was looking at the ETX-30L with 440CCA mainly because it looks like the height of the case would work well with just bolting it straight in at 6.8". DEKA ETX15L is around 6.5" and might work easily with a washer or two to space on the threads and get it to fit without any real modification. 220 CCA there.

How are you mounting the super small ETX9?

I use the Deka ETX-30L on my daily, which sits for 3-5 days pretty frequently and outside during the winter. It's been great for a year so far. It's 20.2 lbs without posts.

I 3d printed the tray and used an OEM tie down and post (but not the BRZ set). Battery posts were from Voltphreaks.

Honestly it was a pretty fun/cheap mod to do for minus ~10-15 lbs up front. I think it ended up less money than a new "regular" battery. Just took some time, and the Deka battery is sometimes difficult to find in stock.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...&postcount=244

- Andrew