SCCA Solo C Street Discussion

[DocWalt]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Congrats to John Wolfe for a very impressive C-Street victory. By far and away the largest and toughest C-Street field this year. I'd love to hear some feedback from John.

My season has unfortunately come to a crashing halt. Beer league (no-contact) hockey saw me win a race to a loose puck last night, at full speed in the corner, my opponent thought it was appropriate to kick my feet out from under me, slewfoot style, and guide me straight into the board. My feet folded underneath me, and I broke my leg. I won't be able to make solo nationals.

This may be more appropriate for elsewhere... but I hope karma gets his ass. I love hockey and racing, people that play dirty like that at either need a swift kick in the nuts.

[renfield90]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Congrats to John Wolfe for a very impressive C-Street victory. By far and away the largest and toughest C-Street field this year. I'd love to hear some feedback from John.

My season has unfortunately come to a crashing halt. Beer league (no-contact) hockey saw me win a race to a loose puck last night, at full speed in the corner, my opponent thought it was appropriate to kick my feet out from under me, slewfoot style, and guide me straight into the board. My feet folded underneath me, and I broke my leg. I won't be able to make solo nationals.

Rotten luck Sean. Hope you heal quickly.

[YawMomentRacing]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Congrats to John Wolfe for a very impressive C-Street victory. By far and away the largest and toughest C-Street field this year. I'd love to hear some feedback from John.

My season has unfortunately come to a crashing halt. Beer league (no-contact) hockey saw me win a race to a loose puck last night, at full speed in the corner, my opponent thought it was appropriate to kick my feet out from under me, slewfoot style, and guide me straight into the board. My feet folded underneath me, and I broke my leg. I won't be able to make solo nationals.

We'll miss you in Wilmington and at Nats man. Huge bummer. Good luck with the recovery.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[em99sport]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Congrats to John Wolfe for a very impressive C-Street victory. By far and away the largest and toughest C-Street field this year. I'd love to hear some feedback from John.

Thanks, it was a fun weekend. For those who haven't yet seen video from Wilmington, the courses were... unique. The lack of defined elements in multiple sections resulted in high straight line speeds and reduced emphasis on car placement, so my co-driver and I expected the twins to have a difficult time keeping up.

Maximizing exit speed was vital in all sections leading to extended acceleration zones, even at the expense of adding distance. One had to take full advantage of available runoff room to carry speed through the 90s. We were seeing 66 mph on Sunday; I'm not sure about Saturday, as this was our first time using SoloStorm and the day one logs were kind of jacked up. Saturday's course required three shifts into third, while Sunday took four.

Fortunately for the two of us, our plan of attack was solid and we executed well enough to pull the 1-2 finish. The weekend's results were especially satisfying for us after having a similarly sound plan at Spring Nats, but failing to execute as well on day two. (Big props to Dan McCelvey for applying the pressure early with great driving on the second day in Lincoln). C Street is a great class with impressive diversity, so it's cool to see us in position to break the Nationals class entry record.

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

My feet folded underneath me, and I broke my leg. I won't be able to make solo nationals.

Sorry to hear that.

[86_Freak]

Had a pretty good time in Blytheville. I feel like I made McCelvey work for his win. After the morning session on Saturday, I was leading by about 0.5 seconds. We both coned our fast runs in the afternoon session and he was leading by about 0.3 seconds going into Sunday. I couldn't put together a good clean run on the right side on Sunday and he ended up winning by 0.460 seconds. I was just happy being this close to McCelvey after the show he put on in Lincoln at Spring Nats in a RX-8.

The course possibly favored the FR-S a little better, since on the way out we were both on the rev-limiter and thus I had a few more mph on the way out. Here is a video:

[Prmspen]

Has anyone tried running 18" wheels in C Street? If so, is there any advantage?

Rules allow wheel diameter 1" larger than stock. I'm getting ready to replace my stock rims, and I'm wondering whether to go for 17s or 18s. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Cueman]

Originally Posted by Prmspen

Has anyone tried running 18" wheels in C Street? If so, is there any advantage?

Rules allow wheel diameter 1" larger than stock. I'm getting ready to replace my stock rims, and I'm wondering whether to go for 17s or 18s. Any feedback would be appreciated.

I would try... but haven't found any 7J 18's that I think are likeable enough to buy. You have?

[TMF]

Originally Posted by Prmspen

Has anyone tried running 18" wheels in C Street? If so, is there any advantage?

Rules allow wheel diameter 1" larger than stock. I'm getting ready to replace my stock rims, and I'm wondering whether to go for 17s or 18s. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Usually the advantage of jumping to a larger diameter rim is being able to run a smaller sidewall with the same overall diameter. This gives the tire a more responsive feel and crisper turn-in. The disadvantage however, is the increased weight of the larger wheel.

I don't have any data to backup my thoughts, but crisper handling doesn't necessary equate to quicker lap times, especially when the 17's with stiff walled tires like the Bridgestones are already crisp. The increased wheel weight will definitely slow down acceleration.

So my short answer is no, and I don't think it's even worth testing.

Some here have done testing the opposite direction (@seanrtr) and dropped down to a 16" wheel to save wheel weight. I don't think his tests were entire conclusive (you'll have to search back a few posts), but they didn't seem to yield a huge advantage.

Speaking of Sean, sorry to hear about the injury, that sucks man! Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by TMF

Usually the advantage of jumping to a larger diameter rim is being able to run a smaller sidewall with the same overall diameter. This gives the tire a more responsive feel and crisper turn-in. The disadvantage however, is the increased weight of the larger wheel.

I don't have any data to backup my thoughts, but crisper handling doesn't necessary equate to quicker lap times, especially when the 17's with stiff walled tires like the Bridgestones are already crisp. The increased wheel weight will definitely slow down acceleration.

So my short answer is no, and I don't think it's even worth testing.

Some here have done testing the opposite direction (@seanrtr) and dropped down to a 16" wheel to save wheel weight. I don't think his tests were entire conclusive (you'll have to search back a few posts), but they didn't seem to yield a huge advantage.

Speaking of Sean, sorry to hear about the injury, that sucks man! Hope you have a speedy recovery.

Thanks. I think if I could get an ultra lightweight wheel, with the correct offset, the 16's may actually be the correct setup. The 225/50/16 Bridgestone is wider, and shorter than the 225/45/17. To me, the RE71R has a stiff enough sidewall, that actually adding more sidewall seemed to make my car easier to 'feel' and drive at the limit. I won't know the true potential of this setup until my tires have more runs, which sounds like it won't be this year.


I don't see how 18's would be of any benefit.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by 86_Freak

Had a pretty good time in Blytheville. I feel like I made McCelvey work for his win. After the morning session on Saturday, I was leading by about 0.5 seconds. We both coned our fast runs in the afternoon session and he was leading by about 0.3 seconds going into Sunday. I couldn't put together a good clean run on the right side on Sunday and he ended up winning by 0.460 seconds. I was just happy being this close to McCelvey after the show he put on in Lincoln at Spring Nats in a RX-8.

The course possibly favored the FR-S a little better, since on the way out we were both on the rev-limiter and thus I had a few more mph on the way out. Here is a video:

Question, is McCelvey actually going to try and run those stupid BFG tires @ Lincoln? I assume he was running those because he preferred their superior contingency, and figured he could cover the field? I'd be very surprised if a big player like him choses to run BFG over Bridestone on that surface, that has proved all compounds of BFG to be completely inferior to Bridgestones for a CS car.

[86_Freak]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

Question, is McCelvey actually going to try and run those stupid BFG tires @ Lincoln? I assume he was running those because he preferred their superior contingency, and figured he could cover the field? I'd be very surprised if a big player like him choses to run BFG over Bridestone on that surface, that has proved all compounds of BFG to be completely inferior to Bridgestones for a CS car.

He told me he ordered a set of the BFG's because he was worried the RE-71R's would be sold out again before Nationals and now that he has a set, he might as well use them and keep runs of the RE-71R's that he'll be using at Nationals. FWIW, he did say they grip really well, they are just vague and hard to extract the grip.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by 86_Freak

use them and keep runs of the RE-71R's.

I can't even believe people are still doing this, the tires are definitely faster with runs on them, as much as people don't want to believe it.

[AlanLGuy]

Originally Posted by SeanRTR

I can't even believe people are still doing this, the tires are definitely faster with runs on them, as much as people don't want to believe it.

Until they aren't anymore. My 100+ run set is significantly slower than a friends ~40 run set.

[SeanRTR]

Originally Posted by AlanLGuy

Until they aren't anymore. My 100+ run set is significantly slower than a friends ~40 run set.

Interesting. How much tread is left, and how many street miles?