Sam Strano's FR-S, and upcoming road trip.

[blkwrxwag]

The most startling thing about this thread is that I now know that you are dating Shelly! Congrats

Have a great trip - I'm totally jealous.

And thanks for your bar which I installed this morning. I've had a lot of bars in my time, and it's nice to put on an aftermarket bar that doesn't squeak, rattle or clunk!

-Max.

[Jedi1]

I went on a three month almost 14,000 mile cross country and back trip last year. Ticked off a TON of bucket list items and met some amazing folks along the way. You are going to have a blast!

I've already done the Birmingham to Orlando run in our FRS and it is comfortable on the long runs. Couple that with 35mpg average for the entire run and that's not a bad deal!

Not sure if you can back track a bit and make it to Daytona for the 24, but if you can we have some pretty nice accomodations on the beach and you would be mor ethan welcome for a night or two.

[Sccabrz192]

Originally Posted by Sam Strano

And off we go: Leaving @ 6pm on 1-19... 9956 miles on the car. Full tank. First stop Pittsburgh to pick up my other half.

I'll do my best with updates and a few photos!

Eventually, sometime next week, California here I come!

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half pack of cigarettes, it's dark... And we're wearing sunglasses.

Hit it.


Enjoy the trip Sam!

[Sam Strano]

Grabbed up Shelly @ Pittsburgh, and headed south. About 300 miles tonight, sitting in Summersville WV. Up early tomorrow to head to Asheville, NC and see Biltmore Estate. We didn't have time last spring when we headed to Dixie, seeing as we both wanted to get to the Tail of the Dragon (and let me tell ya driving that in a C6 Z06 on Hoosiers didn't suck).

Plan is to then crash and hit the Dragon and the Skyway on Monday on the way over to I-75.

Car is doing great, mileage sucked between the WV mountains and a nice headwind out of the south at something that seems like 85 mph (probably 20 sustained). Only got 30mpg on this tank. It'll be better... After I refill, after hooning around on those twisty roads.

[Sam Strano]

Originally Posted by Jedi1

Not sure if you can back track a bit and make it to Daytona for the 24, but if you can we have some pretty nice accomodations on the beach and you would be mor ethan welcome for a night or two.

I wish... I might take you up on that next year. I've never done the 24, and I'm a road-racing kinda guy. I just miss GTP cars.

[Jedi1]

If you need a place to crash on the way to NOLA, we are about 20 miles south of Birmingham and have plenty of room. Two FRS at the house wouldn't be a horrible thing. I'm not leaving for Daytona until the middle of the week. Let me know.

[Gixxersixxerman]

If you swing by Barstow, defiantly have to meet up in Lynwood and grab some In and Out burgers... My treat..

[Sam Strano]

Today's update, if anyone cares.... After stopping around Midnight last night, we were on the road by 8am headed for Asheville and Biltmore Estate. But I wanted to stop at the New River Bridge on US 19 in WV. I've been there, Shelly was once but was crappy and foggy. I'm sure you can look it up, but if you don't want to, here's the basics. About 3000 feet across. It's the worlds longest single arch bridge, and from the New River to the top of the arch (not the road deck) it's 876 feet. The sign says it's the Washington Monument and two Statues of Liberty (minus their bases) stacked up would be 20 feet short of getting to the arch. So onto a little car stuff (this is about the trip and the car both). I've seen this little road that left the visitor's center, and I can see the old bridge at the bottom of the gorge, so I looked at the map and it appeared if I tried it'd dump be back on 19 further south, so down we went. Switchbacks, single lanes and rock overhangs on they way down. To the bottom and the New River is raging. Lots of snow and rain and them some warm temps have all the rivers going. We cross the bridge (which is wood decked and one lane). I got a neat shot of the FR-S (and it's badge) on the old bridge looking up at the big brother 900 feet up. Away we go and bingo, a sign that says "One way 3 miles". I knew what I just came down, so I got out the cell phone and took a video. The best way for me to post it is on Facebook, not sure if you have to be a member but I'm going to try and post it, and link it. If you do, please "like" Strano Performance Parts - Sam Strano and you'll be able to see it.

I don't know this road, have never seen it before. But I as said on Facebook, it was like the a Stage @ Rally Monte Carlo. One lane all that jazz. And you get a sense for how big the New River Bridge is as you see me climbing toward it and under it a few times. It's not Rally footage, I even say something like "let's not die in the New River". Car was is loaded down with two folks and all our crap (pretty well stuffed). Here's a link to the video:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4111490147053

You can see that the road is paved. A few good smacks but those Strano setup KW's took it all in stride. Didn't even hurt. In fact my cell phone holder is a long flexibe neck mount and you can see it's not even shaking that much 98% of the time. You can see the road surface isn't perfect in the video.

Onto Biltmore.... HOLY CRAP, that place is *BIG*. I live in a very small, house (with a nice garage!), I call it my stand alone apartment. Biltmore is 175 times the size. I about feel out of my seat when I heard the stats. For those of you who've been there, sorry. Those that haven't. Yeah. I've seen 175,000-178,000 Square feet. 4 *ACRES* of floorspace. 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces. But only 3 kitchens. The ceiling of the formal dining room is 7 stories. Pretty amazing, even it's a pretty gratuitous display of the "have's".

Took off and gassed up. Still fighting a nasty headwind... up to 30mpg hand calculated that time. Then off to Pigeon Forge TN. A little out of the way for New Orleans where I have to be on Tuesday night, but looking at the map I can drop down to the Tail of the Dragon via a neat road (Little River Road I think). The we're going to take the Cherohala Skyway west to Tellico Plains, Chattanooga and run big roads down to New Orleans.

Backing up one step. Put about 100 miles on this tank from Asheville to current location. In car display is now showing 34 and change average MPG across I-40 (which is pretty crazy twisty for any interstate, and I drive the mountainous section of the PA Turnpike all the time!). I'm sure the first couple hours will shoot that average all to hell though.

[Sam Strano]

Originally Posted by Gixxersixxerman

If you swing by Barstow, defiantly have to meet up in Lynwood and grab some In and Out burgers... My treat..

If I get near there and have any time at all, I'll take you up on that!!!! I've only had In-N-Out once. I demanded we go there back in the summer when I was in CA then. Thanks!

[Sam Strano]

Well, up to 1295 miles from PA....

Good news, I'm not in the least sore. The seats are very good for long hauls. I only put a very small pad in at my lower back (actually a seat pad from a Sparco Evo 2) for some additional lumbar support. More good news, mileage on the last two tanks over 33 mpg. And that's not bad considering I'm running 245/40-17's on 8" wheels and also have a lighter crank pulley which takes a little inertia from the engine.

Bad news. Got completely screwed on fun roads today. Seems North Carolina either can't plow roads or won't. US441 through Great Smokey Mountain National Park, closed. So we took Little River Road (which is a hoot, but was very busy today). It's super scenic too. The plan was to run that to Foothills Parkway and down to the top of the Dragon. 10 miles down Foothill.... Closed. No warning signs, nothing just a locked gate. Back we go and ran down US 411. By then we were too far west to do anything but backtrack, and on the way by the TN end of the Cherohala Skyway, there was a sign announcing it was closed at the NC border. Nuts. So we just beat tracks SW.

I was hoping to make New Orleans tonight, but the friends we are staying with in the French Quarter said the parking is a mess tonight, more than usual. So we're holed up in Hattiesburg, MS and I'm staying here until 11am check out.

So far about 1/3 of the way to the ultimate destination in Saratoga CA (excluding other detours and closed roads). The FR-S is running great, not hurting out backs, and twice walloped huge holes in the road that didn't even hurt (but sounded bad). The more I drive the KW's the more impressed I am. I did make a little damping adjustment this morning which definitely made a difference with the extra weight over normal in the car. That's a perk of having adjustable dampers!

Pic of the car when I got some salt and crap washed off, just into Alabama....
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by Sam Strano

Well, up to 1295 miles from PA....

Good news, I'm not in the least sore. The seats are very good for long hauls. I only put a very small pad in at my lower back (actually a seat pad from a Sparco Evo 2) for some additional lumbar support.

Sounds like you're having fun!

A little bit more lumbar support is ALL I want from the stock seats; they are nearly perfect otherwise.

[raul]

Originally Posted by Sam Strano

I can tell you learned something today. If I have my cell phone charging, and lay in on the passenger seat... it thinks there is someone there. The seatbelt chime goes off, the airbag turns on. Unplug the phone, it all stops.

I typically put my phone in the slot provided by the cupholders, but sometimes the USB wire lays on the passenger seat and triggers the chime. As soon as lift the wire from the seat, it turns off. I just tuck the wire between the seat and the center console now.

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

A little bit more lumbar support is ALL I want from the stock seats; they are nearly perfect otherwise.

Quoted for truth.

[Sam Strano]

Quick update since it's been a few days. I've come and gone from New Orleans, and the roll-out event for the BFG G-force Rival tire. My thoughts have been posted on that, but if you haven't seen them, here they are:

"Ok, my take on the BFG G-force Rival tire event, and compared to the other tires and on other cars. Remember this is subjective, and many factors come into play when it comes into things people like and don't like. Driving style, car types, stability controls, etc, etc, etc.

First, it was a first class event. Very well run, super nice folks. And it was greatly appreciated that we weren't told to drive the car to any less hard than we felt was right.

We started with the Mustangs, FR500's, on the road course. This was clearly a better tire than the Falken RT-615K, not that I'm surprised by that. Better at.... well, everything. More stable, more grip, better under braking and power down. I'm very familiar with the S197 Chassis Mustang having won 9 of 14 of my National Championships (4 National, 5 Pro Solo) titles in them.

Then moved to the "big" autocross and the E46 M3's. This was vs. Hankook R-S3's which I own a set of for my FR-S. Overall as a pacakge, I give the nod to BFG here. It has more power down than the R-S3 on that car, but it wasn't like they sucked. Braking I found to be about the same. Never blew a zone in either, and was running as hard as I could. Now, to be honest I could point the car better with Hankooks and use the throttle to better point the car. This is my hardcore competitor coming out, and I'm also going to say that getting is right is not as easy as it is on the BFG either. So it depends on your motivation for buying tires, AND how you drive. M3's are more similar to what I drive with some power and RWD. Without times to compare directly it's hard to say which was faster. That said, I know that myself and another 4 time Champion felt the R-S3 might have been every so slightly better.. but again without times.....I think for most folks, the BFG is the easier tire to drive quickly with a bit bigger sweet spot and it more forgiving. Add colder and/or damper conditions and I think the BFG is better for a lot of folks.

Skidpad... eh, is anyone shocked the R1-S is the stickiest? But hey it's a skidpad that was off camber both ways. So...

STi's 'small autocross': Forget the Toyo, I think most of us with knowledge of Solo knew what would happen with a bigger front heavy, more than a little front wheel drive car on full tread R1R's. So, yeah. Also not sure if it was an oversight or not, but the stability control was full on in those cars (full off in the M3's). Maybe there was some confusion about the Intelligent, Sport, Sport Plus knob doing things with stability, but it doesn't turn it off. Consequently, anytime we got near the limit and the car was wiggling, the fun ended. So it's hard to get a true read of what's what on that car between the R-S3 and the Rival. But, overall I find the dry speed to be very slightly better for how I drive, but who knows what, if anything might have been different had the stability control been off.

To summarize: I think the tire is really cool addition to the RT/ST ranks. It certainly wears amazingly well. I feel it's a more capable all around tire than the R-S3 (which IMHO was the main competitor there for my world). I think the BFG trades a touch of speed for a bigger sweet spot. Faster tires do tend to be more edgy. The Rival is probably the least edgy tire I'd actually be happy to own. Once again, I don't run these tires. I don't own a car these tires fit (well I do, and I might well buy a set of these as think they are a perfect summer tire for how I drive my FR-S and for how I like to drive). Is it better than the other RT/ST tires? Hard to say, there were not times, all the other competitors weren't there (not realistic after all) and no cars setup for actual competition except the Mustangs kind of .... but they typically run R1-S's and a 245 on a 9.5" wheel isn't typical of what an autocrosser would run anyway.

I can say this. BFG certainly put a lot of work in. I certainly appreciate the opportunity to join in and experience the newest in the trick street tires (make no mistake any tire molded at 7/32" is not a general use street tire for the average bear). I'm glad BFG is coming back. I'm glad "one of us", an autocrosser, is involved.

And what I REALLY think? You guys running street tires now have even more testing to do. Sorry, if it sucked I'd say so. If I thought it was way faster, I'd say so. I think it's a great new competitor to the market, as the ZII likely will be, and the upcoming RE-11A's too.

Once again, props to Peter Calhoun, and BFG for stepping up. Considering this is their first go around after a long time away, seriously anyway, from Solo it's a great opening salvo."

We hung around New Orleans another day so Shelly had more time with her family.... and ended up going to Antoine's, which come to find out is not only the oldest continually run, and family run restaurant in America, but the owner is friends with Shelly's cousin. We were treated like stars. Private Tour, saw Napolean's personal coffee cups too (and lots of other things).

Then we took for for Houston and then San Antonio to see friends of mine. Great catching up with fellow SCCA racer's, and I'm in SA right now with Brian who just moved from Maryland. Quite a nice place too. Enjoying the 73 degree weather a lot. Car is knocking down 31-32 pretty steady now even at 75-80 mph. And the ride is sucking up all the nasty stuff. I-10 in Louisiana isn't so nice. It's in fact worse than most PA interstates. Not one painful jolt in now about 1700 miles!

Off for a long, long day tomorrow for New Mexico to see another racing friend (and BRZ owner).

[-max-]

Louisiana roads, on the whole, are aweful. On I-10 you can tell when you get out of MS and into TX just by the quality of the roads.
Enjoy the trip!