qoncept's C Stock BRZ log

[qoncept]

Oh, forgot to mention:

I was grilled about what I've done to the car during registration. And then, after tech, brought back to tech for extra scrutiny. Someone thinks my car isn't legal.

[qoncept]

Event: DMVR SCCA #4 (Iowa Challenge #1), 6/1/2014, Oskaloosa Airport, Oskaloosa IA

Alright, I'm starting to kind of spit the same spit in every post here. These posts are going to start getting shorter and I'll probably only keep up to date for posterity's sake.

Good event on concrete in Oskaloosa. Beautiful day, but hot (90ish) and windy as hell. Much faster course than I expected, shifting to 3rd twice and bouncing off the rev limiter in 2nd another time. I upped the pressure in my Z214s from 25psi at Hawkeye Downs to 35psi, and then did my first bit of "tuning" at an event when I dropped the fronts to 33psi after the 3rd run.

My phone still isn't playing real nice with Solostorm so I only got a couple videos. This weekend I'm going to try using an old phone. OBD-II is working now but apparently I need to calibrate the throttle position.

Run 1:
I didn't think I got a very good feel for the course in the couple of times I walked it, but I finished my first run with a respectable 43.791. I don't pay much attention to the tach and bounce of the limiter several times at the turnaround halfway through the course. Shift next time.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NicnsB6TZY"]DMVR SCCA Autox - 6/1/2014 - Run 1 - YouTube[/ame]


Run 3:
My second run was a throwaway, a bit slower plus a cone. For my third run, I decided to try shifting a little later. I've always shifted when it was easiest - not when I hit redline, not even necessarily when I'm going straight, just when it's easiest. The first few features of this course were very tight and 1st gear definitely kept me in the stronger revs, but driving smoothly in 1st gear isn't something I can really do. In the video you can see how out of shape I got when I shifted to 2nd. Ended up with a good clean run of 42.972.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEju5dhgtns"]DMVR SCCA Autox - 6/1/2014 - Run 3 - YouTube[/ame]


The rest:
My 4th run ended up being my best at 42.229, good for a pax of 13 of 63. I left some time on the table but for my skill level I think it was a very solid run. 5th and 6th runs were both a little slower and both had a couple of cones.

[qoncept]

Event: Iowa Region SCCA #4, 6/8/2014, Hawkeye Tech, Waterloo, IA

Had a relatively hectic week leading up to this event. I finally decided to throw the camber bolts and ARP lengthened wheel studs I've had sitting around for a year on the car Wednesday. I got home from work, jacked the car up and replaced the studs on the passenger side, but when I opened up my crash bolts I realized I'd ordered 2 different ones. One was right, one was the same as the upper steering knuckle bolt I already had. I decided to go ahead and put the one in and deal with the other later. After calling every Toyota and Subaru dealership within a few hours on Thursday, I finally found one in Kansas City and they had it to the dealership in town Friday.

Saturday I went over to my dads with my stock front endlinks, cut them about an inch and a half shorter and welded them back together. My Whiteline sway bar has been clunking off and on since I installed it. I've spent a ridiculous amount of time troubleshooting and have had it quiet a few different times.

- Initially I spent hours and hours looking for interference or binding issues. Eventually adjusting the endlink lengths fix it.

- At one point I had issues with the jamb nuts on the endlinks backing off and the endlinks readjusting themselves.

- The studs on the endlinks interfered with the fender, fixed with spacers.

- The aluminum retention collars on the swaybar (near the mounts) where scraping on the mounts themselves. Ground them down to fix that.

Finally, this weekend, after having the car on jackstands 5 times throughout the week and trying different things to look for the source, I decided the Whiteline links must just be noisy, so we cut up and made the stock endlinks fit (they're too long for the Whiteline bar). When I went to install them Saturday, I found a loose nut on one of the endlinks. So that's fixed. Again.

I installed the crash bolts but didn't get an alignment. Rumor has it I've added 1/32" of toe in which I can deal with. I may turn the tie rods a thread or so but I'm going to drive another event at least before I decide that.

So.. about the event! It was a cool day in Waterloo - low 60s and overcast. The Hankooks definitely wanted more heat but I feel like I had a solid day. My best run of 39.679 was good for 13th / 68 PAX. My last run was a mythical 39.060 but 1) I hit a cone, 2) timing seems to have lost it, probably because of confusion with a rerun I had for a downed cone, and 3) Solostorm apparently thought recording 6 videos in a row successfully was too many and didn't record the last. Bummer.

I nearly spun on my first run because I forgot I finally had a little bit of camber. What a huge difference! I didn't think the crash bolts were good for enough camber to make such an improvement. I forgot to turn traction control off for a run. It slowed me down but I was driving pretty well, until I stopped to point at the cone that was down. I probably would have kept going but it forced me off my line. I also managed to run over a cone with the inside rear on one of my runs. I don't do that often.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFIP49UOTvQ"]YouTube[/ame]

[ModBargains]

Everyone loves a good track day.

[qoncept]

Event: Iowa Region SCCA 7/13/2014, Hawkeye Downs, Cedar Rapids, IA

Short and sweet: My tires were heat cycled to death, one showed cords after my 3rd run, I couldn't stop hitting cones, I couldn't stop missing gates, I was subconsciously unable to slow down, it was hot and muggy, and there were a lot of bad cone and DNF calls made. Worst I've ever driven, except maybe my first event 10 years ago. I left after the cords showed with 3 DNFs. The first run I know for a fact I didn't DNF, and even after pouring through the video I can't see where someone thinks I missed a gate on the 3rd. But that was the least of my problems.

I was pretty intent on just deleting my videos, but on a whim at least watched my 3rd run. It was a 64.something which would have put me in the 18th or so out of 89, but I hit a cone. I haven't bothered looking where that would put me. The results were pretty crazy today - a lot of people you'd never expect at the top, so it doesn't completely blow my mind that I was able to put up a decent time on my dead tires. I honestly spent most of my 3 runs thinking about how I had screwed up instead of what I was going to do next.

Video of my final run below. I only bothered uploading it because I found something to be happy with today - I was much closer to the cones than the one video I had with a side-mounted camera last year. The missed 1-2 shift and the cone I kissed remind me that I'm not all that.



[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcfNGPusqZE"]Iowa Region SCCA Autox - 7/13/14 - Run 3 - YouTube[/ame]

[qoncept]

Event: Cedar Rapids Corvette Club 7/19/2014, Hawkeye Downs, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

This was just a practice event for the Corvette club for their event next weekend. 25 cars, $15 for as many runs as you could get in on 2 different courses. It started with what I'd call somewhat wide open course in SCCA terms and after a couple hours they basically removed all the cones except a 4 or 5 cone slalom on the back straight. There were more Subarus than Vettes. Hawkeye Downs is a 1/2 and 1/4 mile, banked, asphalt oval.

After cording my race tires last week I ordered a set of RS3s and put them back on my stock wheels. And since I didn't have to worry about SCCA classing for a day, I burned through the rest of my gas and ran e85 for this event. It's nice to have some more power but I really don't think I"ll miss it when I'm back on regular pump gas next weekend.

On the first course I was probably about 4th fastest. I know an STi, Evo and S2000 were all faster than me. Corvettes weren't close. For the second course I had the fastest time, a hair quicker than the S2000 and 7 seconds faster than the closest Vette.

My dad got a video of one of the coneless runs. Not great but the only video I have from outside the car yet, and a good way to see what these crazy Corvette owners call an autox. I have a handful of videos from the Gopro I haven't gone through yet.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7DDZ5wgsc"]BRZ On the oval track. - YouTube[/ame]