Chuckwalla went as well as I could have hoped, first of five both days and took the NASA AZ and NASA SoCal CW TT5 track records. Should have won four new RC1s through contingency, but I screwed up and forgot to take the required pictures on Sunday so hopefully Maxxis accepts me submitting both days with the same pictures.
The Maxxis stickers fortunately don't look too weird on the car.
I dropped two wheels pushing too hard on Saturday morning and visibly flatspotted one of the new wheels, so that is cool. I ended up ordering the last two remaining 17x9.5 Anthracite EC7R last night and dropped off the two wheels that went off to be straightened / checked.
Front camber is maxed out with plates / eccentrics but the tire still wants more, same goes for the rear with all stock arms.
Saturday I only won by about 9 hundreths of a second so I knew I needed to make it happen during the first session of the day on Sunday, but unfortunately we got screwed by someone hopping into the wrong group and gridding first row in a SuperSpec Cup Miata.
That killed the first flying lap and bunched up like six of us who were within half a second for a couple of laps so I let everyone by and built a big gap so I could get a clean lap. What I managed was enough for first at that point, but I figured it wouldn't hold up for the win, and when I scaled I made weight by one pound. (2872lb vs 2871lb claimed)
I had to leave after the second session of the day, so I knew going into it I pretty much had one lap to make it all work. Car popped a CEL as I was rolling onto track from the grid so I kinda started freaking out a bit since it only really does that when there is actually a problem. Ran the corner before the main straight wide to build a bit of extra speed and dipped into the 58s with a 1:58:709, which was good enough for the win by about 2 tenths and the record. My initial target for the weekend was the 1:58:587 that Sonny did in Blub, so close, yet so far.
Not a very good lap, I just really get sucked into the TT pressure in my head. Can't really try new things or push TOO hard because a 4 off is a DQ, there is someone a second or two behind you that you don't want to screw up, and you need to put down a lap so once I hit my 'target' time I tend to dive into the pits before I do something stupid and throw it away. The extent of the second session was the out lap, this lap, and a cooldown right into the pits.
Track map:
What I'd like to do:
* Get off the brakes earlier at 1 and carry more speed through 2
* Figure out where I'm supposed to turn in at 4, I think I am too early
* Not lift as early at 6
* Figure out what is going on at 7
* Not brake at 8 and instead carry the speed in and brake up the hill to 9
* 10 is important, probably run it out wider to be on throttle longer
* Carry more speed into 11
* Probably enter the bowl up higher since the car pushes terribly mid corner / steering is bound up and I am getting on and off the throttle to try and get the back end moving a bit
* Off the brakes earlier at 14 and just lift for 15 like I could in my S2000
As far as the CEL, my friends the P2135 / P2165 came back for the DBW plug, I'm really glad the car didn't fault DBW and cut throttle off since I'd have lost with just my session 1 time on Sunday.
Pin 6 is VTA1, which lines up with the codes. I'm going to run a new wire for it and get a new plug housing to fix this thing.