Sunday, August 7, 2016

NNJR SCCA - FTD and Top PAX

The last event we did with Bumblestook was at the Toledo ProSolo about 6 weeks ago. In the meantime, I got her on the dyno to fix the burbling/power issue when holding certain RPMs and was mostly just taking a nice mental break from racing. Hez did a few events in Rad's STR car to stay fresh. With only 4 weeks left before we head out to Nationals, it was time to let Bumblestook get some exercise and finish up our testing. It's almost showtime.

NNJR SCCA - 8/6/2016
My main goals this weekend were:
  • Mentally get my head back into autocross
  • Verify if the tune indeed fixed the random burbles we'd feel at certain RPMs
  • Make sure she continues to feel ready for battle
  • As a driver, I wanted to focus on early aggression and making fast runs right out of the gate
In Grid - NNJR SCCA - 8/6/2016
With a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, the NNJR SCCA opted to switch from the usual 3 heat layout to a 2 run group, 4 heat layout. This meant we'd get 4 runs in the morning and 4 runs in the afternoon. Our first runs were basically throw away since the tires had lots of little rocks on them from storage and the course was still very dirty. We then kicked up the speed and Bumblestook responded. I instantly felt comfortable driving her again and the early aggression paid off as I found myself outpacing Hez for the first time in quite a while after morning runs were done. 

Morning results - 8/6/2016
In the afternoon, Hez, after having his coffee and donuts turned into a driver possessed and started knocking out blazing times working his way up the ladder. In his last run he sealed the deal and took fastest time of the day (FTD) and top PAX out of all drivers despite a few bobbles. This is encouraging as it means she had even more pace left in her. We ended up 1st and 3rd in RAW and 1st and 11th in PAX and thankfully the rain stayed away until we had packed up and left the venue.

Final RAW time results - 8/6/2016
Final PAX results - 8/6/2016
Bumblestook once again proved she's battle ready and the tune did in fact work perfectly. We were able to lay down power without issue and her balance continues to be spot on.

NNJR SCCA - 8/6/2016

Overall I think we achieved the goals for today's test. Despite a slew of heavy hitters not holding back, Hez was able to continue to be fighting at the top. Bumblestook felt absolutely incredible. I was able to find pace early. As far as things to work on before nats:

  • I have to continue to work on finding more pace and close the gap to Hez
  • Hez has the pace but needs to work on getting to that pace in fewer runs

We'll continue our testing in 2 weeks but for now it's time to get her back to SJF Performance for her final alignment before Nats. 

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