After only two days of testing this year it was time to head
off to FedEx Field in Maryland for the first big race of the season, the SCCA
DC ProSolo. With such limited testing
and only getting the car mostly driving the way I wanted last week, I wasn’t
really sure what to expect. My goal this year was to win a big event but the DC
Pro was not likely to be it because I’ve always done poorly down there. I could
never figure out how to deal with the huge grip discrepancy on the surface and
the severe off camber turns the lot naturally created due to its sloped
location. At best this would be a time to take her through the paces and see
what we needed to improve on for the SCCA NJ National Tour next week.
Arrived at DC ProSolo - FedEx Field, MD - 4/25/2014 |
In ProSolo, Bumblestook competes in Street Prepared Index A
(SPA) that is a combined class of Super Street Prepared (SSP), A Street
Prepared (ASP) and B Street Prepared (BSP) competing on PAX index. Although the
index was favorable for BSP, it would still prove to be a very difficult task
to go up against the much high powered cars of SSP and ASP. Mike “Junior”
Johnson was favored to win this event in his SSP Corvette that does super mean
burnouts. Lee Piccione, the course designer and DC region member was also
highly favored. Bumblestook makes the least torque of all the cars in the class
but it also a fair amount lighter with a lot of tire under so what I’d lose in
straight line speed I was hoping to make up for in sheer cornering ability.
1.25" ID Aluminum sway bar collars installed - 4/25/2014 |
We got there just after 3pm on Friday with adequate time for
me to add the split collars for the front sway bar so it wouldn’t shift under
load, get through tech and do some practice starts. I got through the first two
but after tech, and driving around paddock I noticed my brake was feeling a bit
strange so I did a relatively abrupt stop from about 7mph and the front driver
wheel locked up. We looked at the wheel and notice the caliper was hitting the
inside. Upon further inspection, we discovered that the bolt holding the
caliper to the bracket was completely missing. Somehow between the last event
and getting to DC, it must’ve backed off and fallen off the car. I thought my weekend was over but within
minutes the word had spread that I was having a problem and without me even
asking PJ Corrales was already there seeing if he could help. He looked through
his box of bolts and lucked out that we found a bolt that would work (7/8”-20
Grade 8). It wasn’t as long as we wanted but it would work for now.
Unfortunately this meant that I missed practice starts which ended up being
fine because we got with torrential downpour that late afternoon so the
practice starts wouldn’t be useful anyway. I slapped on the fresh tires and
tried to get some sleep. Lots of tree pollen in the area, woke up at 2am and
couldn’t sleep anymore. Saturday wasn’t going to go well I thought.
Bottom bolt holding caliper to the bracket was missing. Temporary bolt just barely clears rotor - 4/25/2014 |
Day 1 competition started and after getting the first 2 runs
and jitters out of the way, my confidence in her grew as everything just felt
perfect. I wasn’t driving a good line but she was doing everything I wanted and
the brakes were holding just fine. I wasn’t even looking at the times but after
morning session I found myself in 2nd place, half a second behind
Lee in his BSP E36 M3. That was surprising! This was only morning session of
day 1 and anything can happen so it was too early to tell. It was supposed to
warm up in the afternoon so I knew times would start to drop. There was also a
chance of rain that luckily didn’t happen until after the event was done. In
the afternoon runs, I pushed a bit harder and was surprised to see that I was
still holding 2nd place and now only 0.1 seconds behind Lee. I didn’t
think he had much more pace in him but after reviewing my own video, I knew I
easily had time on both courses in Bumblestook. I got some sleep early and
focused. I had to at least find 0.1 seconds the next day and I knew she had it
in her.
Day 1 morning SPA grid - FedEx Field, MD - 4/26/2014 |
Day 1 results - Just 0.1 seconds off first - 4/26/2014 |
ProSolo Action - FedEx Field - 4/26/2014 Photo Cred: Perry Bennett |
Street Prepared Index A Class Winner - DC ProSolo 2014 - 4/27/2014 |
DC ProSolo SPA Class Winning Runs - Fedex Field, MD
4/27/2014
Street Prepared is as much a car/builder race as it is a
driver’s race and I wanted to thank all those that have contributed to putting
into reality, the vision of a BSP car made of the best pieces of every generation S2000 at its core. Jeff DeVos (formerly JDV
Motorsports, now at Evans Tuning) for countless hours spent working on her over
the years, Jeff Evans (Evans Tuning) for all the custom fabrication and tuning
and making this crazy ITB setup work, Steve Farkas (SJF Performance) for never
settling on “good enough” and making sure my alignments and suspension pieces
are all in order, Dave Corsaro for the meticulous job corner balancing her last
week, JoeFis racing for the terrific aero work with the spoiler, Brian Karwan (Karcepts)
for putting my diff together, ANZE Engineering for the great job rebuilding and
revalving my Moton tripples over the winter, Hoosier for making the most incredible
R-comp tire (never gonna give you up!), Honda for producing one of the most
incredible roadsters ever made. PJ for saving my weekend. Lastly, I’m thanking
all my friends of the NorthEast STR group for their support and being the most
fun group of people I’ve had the privilege of knowing. You guys push me harder
than anyone else. Farting unicorns
unite!
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