NNJR SCCA Test and Tune

It was finally time for the first event of the season for Bumblestook. The forecast for the day was sunny and low 60s but that would be in the afternoon. In the early morning hours before the sun went up, the temps were just above freezing and with that no grip.

NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - 4/6/2014

NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - 4/6/2014
Photo Credit: Jose Lozano

On my first run I got through one corner before she spun. I also noticed a bit of rubbing on the over fender so I went back to paddock and tried adding more rear negative camber and stiffening the shocks. I went out again and the car immediately spun. JDV luckily had some foresight that I might need to remove my overfenders for a variety of reasons so I simply unbolted them and I was able to take runs without any rubbing.

NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - 4/6/2014
Photo Credit: Jose Lozano

No Overfenders - NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - 4/6/2014
Photo Credit: Jose Lozano

Now that I could attack the corners I was slowly building heat in the tires and making the Hoosiers work. Since I didn't get a chance to get an alignment in the off season, I had no idea what the alignment was and it was clear that the balance was very off. I made drastic changes to the rear, softening the Ankeny blade rear sway to full soft (super easy to do thankfully), lowered rear pressures and after some more shock adjustments all around, she was drivable but still very loose. At this point, I wasn't going to make any further adjustments since without a baseline alignment set, these were all settings that I'd have to throw out anyway. Instead I wanted to focus on pushing the car to stress test the engine and get the cobwebs out from my driving. By noon, the temps had gone up enough to get the tires fully working and I was able to put in respectable times. Surprisingly, despite these issues, I had managed to put in the 4th fastest raw time overall.

NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - Meadowlands, NJ

4/6/2014

NNJR SCCA Test and Tune - 4/6/2014
Photo Credit: Jose Lozano

Overall findings:

Pros (things that are working):

• When she pulls, she pulls hard
• The plenum for the ITBs are working great, experienced no heat soak despite letting the car idle and running for almost 4 hours straight
• I remembered how to drive
• She's putting down fast times despite being a bit wonky
• This is a much better starting point than last year

Cons (things that need fixin'/adjusting)

• I need an alignment badly!
• Rear tires are rubbing. I need to trim the rear over fenders.
• There's still a bit of part throttle stuttering going on especially in slaloms, need to talk to Jeff about this.
• There are only 3 weeks left and only 1 event left (for me) to fix and test and adjust the car before the DC ProSolo :(