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| OEM hood painted - 10/12/2012 |
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| OEM lip spoiler added - 10/12/2012 |
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| Evans Tuning Meet - 10/14/2012 |
Evans Tuning Meet - Phillipsburg, NJ
10/14/2012
Monday, March 31, 2014
Hood, spoiler and Evans Tuning meet
Next up was replacing my vented hood with a standard OEM one and a little lip spoiler on the back (purely for aesthetics). I was set on moving ahead with the Bumblestook black and yellow theme so I opted to have the hood painted black at D&G Auto Body in Mineola.
Just in time too since a few days later, I was off to the Evans Tuning fall meet where I ended up making an impromptu video of the convoy down there. And so ended 2012 for Bumblestook and the end to another chapter in my life!
Starting on the slippery slope of Street Prepared
Almost as soon as I got back from Lincoln, I wanted to get started on the BSP build. The goal at the time wasn't necessarily to make a super competitive BSP car but instead make Bumblestook a track car that was BSP legal. This would mean removing all the aero, putting back my soft top and getting Hoosiers. I thought, what is BSP other than STR on Hoosiers right? Haha....wrong!
The next day I was off to Nassau Coliseum to get some more late season autox and try my new wingless configuration.
The following week I went to see Ray to start cutting my fenders. 275s all around is all I need for BSP right?
And then it was of to the Meadowlands again for another Autox with MSNE on a glorious, sunny day in the fall. This was shortly followed by the my last event of the season with NNJR SCCA.
The next day, Tony helped me take the last of the aero off my car (spoiler and side strakes).
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| New wingless trunk put in - 9/15/2012 |
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| NYR SCCA Autox - Nassau Coliseum - 9/16/2012 |
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| Wingless look growing on me - NYR SCCA Autox - 9/16/2012 |
NYR SCCA Autox - Nassau Colisem - With Novice Ride-along
9/16/2012
The following week I went to see Ray to start cutting my fenders. 275s all around is all I need for BSP right?
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| Fender cutting - 9/22/2012 |
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| Fender cutting - 9/22/2012 |
MSNE Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
9/23/2012
NNJR SCCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
9/29/2012
The next day, Tony helped me take the last of the aero off my car (spoiler and side strakes).
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| Good-bye Aero - 9/30/2012 |
Sunday, March 30, 2014
SCCA Solo Nationals 2012
Ok, well first off, this is about me and not Bumblestook since Bumblestook didn't make it to the Solo Nationals of 2012. Instead, I flew out to codrive Jon and Tory's S2000 in STR but I guess this was such a pivotal point in my life that it belongs here. Being a rookie at Nationals, I was immediately overwhelmed by the scale of the place and the magnitude of the event. It's all a bit of a blur for me even to this day. All I know is I was lucky enough to also have Mark and Lisa offer to share their room with me since this was a bit of a last minute decision. I was having pretty serious weight related health issues at the time though and had a really tough time walking but still managed to get in probably 20 course walks on each side even though it meant confining myself to the bed every evening. I wanted to do well...at the very least, I wanted to at least make mid-pack. That was a tall order for my first nationals and in a car I had never driven before especially since I'm not one to adapt to cars quickly.
It was a complete blast! The car was very tough to drive but I did somehow magically end up mid-pack out of 50 or so drivers in STR that year and I do even get to say I even beat one of the course designers that year hehe. I made the decision right then and there that I would be back every year from here on out and in my own car! It was there I saw Jason Uyeda's car (BSP class champion 2012) for the first time. It looked so menacing and I knew that's the direction I wanted Bumblestook to go.
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| SCCA Solo Nationals #93 STR - Lincoln, Nebraska - 9/4/2012 |
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| SCCA Solo Nationals #93 STR - Lincoln, Nebraska - 9/4/2012 |
SCCA Solo Nationals #93 STR - Lincoln, Nebraska
9/4/2012
It was a complete blast! The car was very tough to drive but I did somehow magically end up mid-pack out of 50 or so drivers in STR that year and I do even get to say I even beat one of the course designers that year hehe. I made the decision right then and there that I would be back every year from here on out and in my own car! It was there I saw Jason Uyeda's car (BSP class champion 2012) for the first time. It looked so menacing and I knew that's the direction I wanted Bumblestook to go.
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| Uyeda's BSP S2000 - Lincoln, Nebraska - 9/4/2012 |
Finishing off the summer
Took a break from racing for a month with family visiting then I was back at it again in July. Started off with a trip back to the Meadowlands with MSNE. Not bad for being rusty. 2nd place finish out of 18 cars in the class losing 1st place by 0.2 seconds.
With the softer springs on the car, I was possessed to try going back to Nassau Coliseum again and so I did...this time with the NYR SCCA. The softer springs worked and I was able to take home FTD.
The following weekend I invited Aaron along for a codrive. Things were going well until we got slammed with torrential downpour. We'd codrive again in the future though under better circumstances ;)
Luckily for me, a codrive seat was offered to me by Jon and Tory so I could attend my first ever Solo Nationals in Lincoln, NE so I took the opportunity to do 3 more events before the summer was over. Seat time, seat time, seat time!
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| MSNE Autox - 7/15/2012 |
MSNE Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
7/15/2012
With the softer springs on the car, I was possessed to try going back to Nassau Coliseum again and so I did...this time with the NYR SCCA. The softer springs worked and I was able to take home FTD.
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| NYR SCCA Autox - Nassau Coliseum - 7/22/2012 |
NYR SCCA Autox - FTD Run - Nassau Coliseum
7/22/2012
The following weekend I invited Aaron along for a codrive. Things were going well until we got slammed with torrential downpour. We'd codrive again in the future though under better circumstances ;)
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| NNJR SCCA Autox - Meadowlands - 7/28/2012 |
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| NNJR SCCA Autox - Aaron getting the hang of it - 7/28/2012 |
NNJR SCCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
7/28/2012
Luckily for me, a codrive seat was offered to me by Jon and Tory so I could attend my first ever Solo Nationals in Lincoln, NE so I took the opportunity to do 3 more events before the summer was over. Seat time, seat time, seat time!
MSNE Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
8/12/2012
NNJR PCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
8/19/2012
NY BMWCCA Autox - Nassau Coliseum, NY - Non-BMW FTD
8/26/2012
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| NY BMW CCA Autox - Nassau Coliseum - 8/26/2012 |
More summer cone dodging
It was time to get my mind back on autocrossing since the NorthEast divisional was coming up and Rad was kind enough to lend me his car to run in STR since Bumblestook is bumped to SSM due to the aero. No biggy though, I was still going to use her on street tires for practice so I went to autox with the NNJR to get some valuable seat time.
Later that month, I was running out of events to go to so I sucked it up and went to Nassau Coliseum with the Metro NY PCA. Bad idea! That lot is killer on 1000lb springs.
However, between this event and driving Rad's car the previous week. I had decided to ditch the 1000lb springs. They were just too much for street tires so I got a set of 800/700lb springs instead.
The next day, I was back autoxing at the Meadowlands with the NNJR PCA. Austin was having lug nuts issues on his S2000 so I offered him a codrive. He sure is one fast driver and killed my times by a good 1 second. Good times!
NNJR PCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
5/6/2012
Later that month, I was running out of events to go to so I sucked it up and went to Nassau Coliseum with the Metro NY PCA. Bad idea! That lot is killer on 1000lb springs.
Metro NY PCA Autox - Nassau Coliseum
5/20/2012
However, between this event and driving Rad's car the previous week. I had decided to ditch the 1000lb springs. They were just too much for street tires so I got a set of 800/700lb springs instead.
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| 800/700lb springs - 5/25/2012 |
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| New springs getting installed - 6/9/2012 |
NNJR PCA Autox - Meadowlands, NJ
6/10/2012
Back to the Glen
A week later I was off to The Glen. I usually go in the fall but in 2012, NASA held a HPDE only event in the spring so we were guaranteed tons of track time. It was a no brainer to go! Day 1 was dry and we got some really good track time but we got rain on day 2 that made it interesting as usual with all the guard rails constantly begging for fresh fodder. Luckily I was able to keep my car yellow!
Since I had a fair bit of downtime between sessions, I also decided to dabble in a little "track video" project I'd been wanting to do for some time.
On the last session, the track was almost completely dry and with lots of people heading out early, we got plenty of wide open track to go full tilt. I usually try to dial back on my last session but really...would you if you saw this much open track in such an awesome car!?
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| NASA HPDE with NASA @ Watkins Glen - 4/30/2012 |
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| NASA HPDE with NASA @ Watkins Glen - 4/30/2012 |
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| NASA HPDE with NASA @ Watkins Glen - 4/30/2012 |
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| Another succesful track day in the books @ Watkins Glen - 5/1/2012 |
"Track Day" - Watkins Glen International
5/1/2012
On the last session, the track was almost completely dry and with lots of people heading out early, we got plenty of wide open track to go full tilt. I usually try to dial back on my last session but really...would you if you saw this much open track in such an awesome car!?
NASA HPDE3/4 Final Session - Watkins Glen International
5/1/2012
NJMP Lightning
After codriving Rad's AP2 at the DC ProSolo and NorthEast Divisionals, it was time for me to take Bumblestook out to have some fun too. First track event of the year with NASA running HPDE3 at NJMP Lightning. This was the first track day after the new diff and final drive, tune and the switch the 255/40/17 NT-01s all around. I wasn't driving her 100% yet since I wanted to get a feel for the new setup but she sure felt good and I got a fair bit of feedback from the guys in my run group that they enjoyed watching me flog her around the track.
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| NASA HPDE3 - NJMP Lightning - 4/21/2012 |
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| NASA HPDE3 - NJMP Lightning - 4/21/2012 |
NASA HPDE3 - NJMP Lightning
4/21/2012
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