JustRacing SCCA Forum

Spec Miata Bilstein Shock Service

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:28:31 GMT

Author: stewartdevelopment

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:28 pm

Don't let a defective or "out of spec" shock ruin your efforts. Professional racers won't run a lap with shocks that have not been "verified" on a dyno.

Under approval of Spec Miata, Stewart Development is now providing repair and dyno service for all Bilstein Spec Miata shocks. Standard service includes seal and suspension fluid replacement along with dyno testing. A graph of the damping values will be provided for each shock to document that they are performing properly and within spec.

Utilizing the most advanced equipment in the industry, Stewart Development is able to remanufacture your shocks to factory specs, and within the rules of your sanctioning body. The shocks are reassembled the same as at the Bilstein factory with no external modifications.

With years of experience in all forms of racing from NASCAR to IHRA, Stewart Development has the expertise to help you make sure your suspension is performing correctly.

Stewart Development
6006-B Ball Park Road
Thomasville, North Carolina 27360
www.StewartDevelopment.com

ITR a new class for the future of IT

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:01:39 GMT

Author: bnewhouse

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:01 am

these are old posts--any progress on this class? I'm interested in building a mid-power sedan racer--Acura, Mazda or BMW.
Thanks

D- Production

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:12:14 GMT

Author: jonstautberg

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 2:12 pm

d prepared is your class

Team Members Wanted

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:39:39 GMT

Author: F2motorsports.com

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:39 am

F2 Motorsports is looking for drivers who just want to race and have fun with those that have the same thing in mind. We will be organizing racing events in the future and need racers to participate. If we have enough drivers in the same area, we may coordinate informal meets to recruit new members on our team. If you are an interested participant, please go to F2motorsports.com
and join our newsletter to get information on dates and addresses for our events.You can also e-mail us at info@f2motorsports.com

A Cool Race Site I found

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 02:11:12 GMT

Author: bikerboy79

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:11 am

Has anyone seen this new site called pitcrewlive.net? It's like a social network for all types of racing fans...I'm into bimmers, ( I have a 93' IS) so I thought it was pretty kickass that they covered all types of racing and it was free...I guess the guy who started it was a race team owner or something, but nevertheless, I thought it was cool...It's kind of like myspace for race fans.

corner weight/ balancing

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 02:16:38 GMT

Author: asianrice02

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:16 am

making room for more improvement. i think this is the last thing i want to do. right after itb's

Kudo's to SFR SM Racers at the Runoffs

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:01:08 GMT

Author: justinhall

Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:01 pm

Well, back from Topeka, I definitely feel hung over even though I didn't drink last nightmust be sheer exhaustion.

A few things to share, call them pro's and con's or general observations:

Have to start by throwing out huge congrats to the podium guys. Brad is a great friend and awesome teammate, Matt has been a fierce competitor and friend for a couple years now, and also very proud that Andrew hails from our division and seems to be just one hell of a good kid. Congrats west coast champs! I really hope to see Andrew win that MX-5 cup car.
The folks in tech did a wonderful job HATS OFF TO TECH. Approximately 13 cars per qualifying day, and 5 on race day. Springs, sway bars, shocks, restrictors, computers, seam welding, bump stops, alternators, water pumps, subframes, cage thickness / hidden ballast, wheel weight, stall tests, diff's and tranny's were cracked for proper gear / final drive and coating checks, cams, cranks, rods, pistons, bore and stroke, evidence of porting, lifters, intake and exhaust valves, cc, exhaust systems, etcI am POSITIVE there are things I am forgetting but in other threads folks have asked for a list so there it is.
I have mixed emotions about the choice our club has made regarding the location of these championships. On the positive, HRP is centrally located in the country, there is a large paddock with plenty of room for everyone, an International Airport is within 1.5 hours, and the tech shed is quite nice. All this said, honestly I think the track sucks. There is really no huge pucker factor turn, nothing that challenges setup or would clearly differentiate driver ability. Frankly it feels like a big kart track. Hardly the type of track that I would hope a national championship would be settled at, and a big step back from Mid-Ohio, Road Atlanta, Infineon, or other more technical tracks around the country. I have to wonder with all the money we are pouring into that place and local economy if improvements (i.e. wholesale changes) might be in order?
Bummer that the SM tent meeting was so poorly attended. The tent meeting is a good opportunity for SM competitors to voice their opinions regarding the class to CRB and committee members directly. I wonder if the lack of attendance was a statement that there aren't too many issues facing the class today, or if people didn't necessarily understand the opportunity given this was our first runoffs?
The SM guys know how to party, and party with each other. The overall camaraderie within this class is as good as any I have ever seen.
The silly season has begun.the lobbying for "the 1.8 needs X, the 99 needs Y" is in swing. Because proper strategy is such a huge part of racing, from the competitors perspective I am glad the weather threw a wrench in the machine (maybe I sing a different tune had it begun to rain ?) but from an advisory committee perspective I would have liked to have seen which of our three flavors of cars would have won, and what the finishing ratio's were measured against cars per type entered, without the weather variable.

There is probably more, but that's all off the top of my head. Great seeing old friends I haven't seen since Atlanta, and making new ones as well.

Cheers!

Class Differences

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 15:50:00 GMT

Author: EdvaRacing

Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:50 pm

I think it just Car cost different and more expesive to run Touring then SS class.

Regional weekend @ Thunderhill

Wed, 24 May 2006 05:16:24 GMT

Author: kouye

Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:16 am

I was one that had a blown up diff. Hoover replaced it just before qual, thanks Jason. One year old Hartzel installed new diff had ring bolts backed out...no evidence of loctite!

I also played bumper cars in T4 when I spun on the start and got wacked on the passenger fender in front of the wheel. Dropped to about 52nd and drove back up to 33rd. Unfortunately I ended up with a bent frame and a broken driver side motor mount...

I also did my annual visit to the T2 corner worker in the rain on Friday....helped them move a bit of that dirt mound in front of the tower....

Honda Cup: Buttonwillow 5/6 & 5/7 - My Race Report

Tue, 09 May 2006 18:15:10 GMT

Author: krazik

Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 6:15 pm

Yet another great weekend of SCCA Honda-Cup racing. We ran config #27 CW which was very short and was very demanding because you're always doing something, and almost no time to rest.

I arrived at Buttonwillow at about 8:15pm Friday night and found my spot in the paddock and unhooked the trailer. I got back at 7:00am on Saturday to register. Having my Annual Tech makes registration go quickly.

I go out for my 15 minute practice at about 8:20. I'm on my old tires and just go out to make sure everything is sorted. Car feels fine and I come in and take off my wheels to get new tires mounted. When I get the tires back from the BW shop they're not shaved to the requested 4/32nds and are probably closer to 6/32nds. Not what I wanted but I can make due. SCCA is having timing problems and they inform us that we're responsible for our own qualifying times. I've got my hotlap so I use it. We go out to qualify at 10:25 and I go out early but find the car is sliding everywhere. I blame it on the tread on the tires. I also have trouble finding clear track on the short track. I manage a 1:15.51. Derek claims a 1:13.0 from his AIM (tho I should point out he never turned a 1:13 once the amb system started working :LOL: teasing Derek :stick:). Richard claims a 1:15:57 for his best lap time but that was with start/finish in the wrong spot on his DL1. If you put S/F in the right spot he ran a mid 1:16. But he claims the 1:15.57 to the steward so that there aren't cars between us (cheating bastard :LOL:) Also Derek, Kiwi and I agree to forgo the bonus points for Saturday's race because we would have no way to know who turned the fastest lap during the race. This also means that Derek doesn't get the extra 1pt for the Pole.

I forget to bring my tire gauge and they keep us in impound for at least 15 minutes after qual, so when I get back to my trailer my tires are all cool but I notice my right front is a few psi lower than the others. Nothing thinking much of it I adjust the others to match. We have lunch and get ready for the race which is at 1:50. The weather is pretty warm (mid 80s) and I know my black hardtop and black race suit are gonna make things interesting. I keep the car parked in the trailer so that it doesn't bake in the sun. Waiting on grid before the race in a the hot car, covered in a fire-suit, gloves, balaclava and helmet isn't much fun. I think I really need a cool suit. When we grid up for the race I spot an issue, which is that there were 2 v8 cars between Richard and I and Derek. Derek starts inside row 2 and Richard and I were on row 4.

We finally get to roll out for our 1.5 laps (usually behind a pace car but it was missing this event). Because we're running the short course the green flag is shown at the flag station before the "sweeper" (see map above) and the checkered flag is shown at the corner station before sunset. So after our first lap under yellow before the start we line up 2 wide as we come over the lost hill. The green flag drops and we're off. Richard gets a little bit of a run on me (maybe .5 car lengths) but because I have the inside line going into star mazda and I maintain my position. The #3 Camaro of Bill S is in front of me (same car that cause me grief at the season opener - he qualified better than me this time vs last time where he just got by on the start). And I have Richard on my tail. This track config isn't the best for passing but I see that I can out brake him into lost hills and star mazda so I have to follow and wait for him to mess up so I can get a run on him. We're pushing hard w/ Richard right behind me when after about 3-5 laps the Camaro goes two wheels off at the exit of Star Mazda and I fear he's gonna shoot back across the track so I almost come to a stop to make sure I don't get collected by him. He doesn't come back across the track but because I slowed so much he's able to continue ahead of me. I expect to see Richard come shooting by both of us but when I look in my mirrors I see him sideways sliding off the track. I guess he was caught off-guard by the 2 of us slowing so much. The Camaro and I take off with me right on his bumper. Derek is checking out and there isn't much I can do about it. After another 4-5 laps I notice the Camaro misses the apex coming out of Riverside and is wide in the marbles so I pounce and get a run on him. I out brake him into Lost Hills and pass him on the inside. He puts up a fight into Star Mazda but defend and keep him behind me. After that I start to check out. I continue the next ~10 laps by myself passing lapped traffic. Derek is probably a half a lap a head of me and my car is developing a really bad understeer on all the right hand corners. Coming out of Riverside I have to fight the car to get it to hit the apex and not understeer off the outside. Always interesting at 100-110 mph . A couple laps before the end I'm coming into star mazda, not trying to go to fast because my competitors are far enuf behind me and Derek is too far ahead. I brake at my usual spot but the car doesn't slow nearly enuf and I go off into the dirt at the exit. I don't spin but lose a lot of time and the #3 Camaro gets back by me. I continue back onto the track and try again to get back past the #3. But the car is understeering so bad I just can't do it. But I do get close a couple of times. A few more laps and we see the Checkered. I finish 2nd, Derek in 1st, Richard 3rd and Kiwi in DNF'd, there's a black Civic (Brand August) hatch that finishes 4th. We all go to impound to hang out in the baking sun and after about 30 minutes we get our trophies. While I understand the need to keep us all around in case of on track contact or to check that some of the cars are legal, scca seems to like to leave us in impound for an eternity. Which sucks in the heat.

After the race & impound I head back to trailer to check out the car. When checking tire pressures I find the left front tire is at 19psi where the others are all in the 28-30 range. Damn no wonder I was understeering so bad. I fill the tire back up before leaving to see how much air is gone in the morning. I head back to the hotel. Also the car wasn't handling the esses' as well as it had in the past so I give Tony C. a call to get some input. He makes some suggestions to change on the suspension.

I get back to the track at 7:00am on Sunday because our Practice/Qual session is it at 8:15am and the night before the stewards had said they might be running 15 minutes early if the timing system isn't fixed. Luckily they are able to fix the timing overnight and they're on schedule. I make the suspension changes that tony suggests except for the N2 pressure in the shocks because I didn't have enuf time. I check the left front tire and it seem only lost 1psi over night so I put 1 psi in since I only need to run a couple laps for qualifying. I grid early for qual so I can try to find some clean laps. I'm able to find a couple clean laps and run a 1:14. When I check the printout after qual, I see that I out qualified Derek by .002 seconds and take the Pole for Sunday's race. Derek is in 2nd and Richard is 3rd. This time I bring my pressure gauge with me so I can check my pressures while the tires are still hot. I find the left front is 5psi lower than the other 3 so after impound I take it to the tire shop and get their soapy water to try to find the leak. Turns out its the valve in the stem is leaking so I replace it and fill the tire back up. I also check the N2 pressure in my shocks and find the rears are low, Derek has a N2 tank and I fill them up.

Today is hotter than yesterday and the race is at 11:25am. Derek and I should have been side-by-side on the 2nd row with me on the inside, but the guy who qualified 2nd overall in the group doesn't show up to grid and I start on the outside of the front row which isn't really what I want. I'd rather have had Derek on the outside of me to make it harder to get around me at the start. He's got -at least- 30 more hp than me and weighs 300lbs less. He usually kills me on the start. We do our 1.5 pace laps and again go 2 wide before cresting lost hills. The green flag drops and we take off. I'm able to hold Derek off thru star mazda and I put the hammer down to try to get some space. I get a few seconds lead on Derek as he and Richard are battling behind me. After about 3-4 laps in Derek is clear of Richard and is starting to reel me in. After grabbing 6th gear instead of 4th going into lost hill then struggling to find the right gear costs me a bunch of time and Derek is now right behind me. I have to push really hard and I hold Derek off for another ~8 laps but my car starts understeering again on all the right hand corners. Derek is getting a good run on me from lost hills to star mazda but I'm able to block him/defend the inside for a couple laps. I try to go to fast over lost hills and get a big slide coming down the back side of the hill. This allows him to get a good run on me and me gets the inside line going into star mazda and I get passed. Dammit. I try to keep up but my car is sliding so much I just can't maintain his pace and he builds a couple seconds gap on me. A couple laps later we're going into star mazda and there is a huge cloud of dirt. It's Richard going off and I'm wonder how we were able to lap him especially so early, later to find out he had gone off and stalled trying to keep up w/ Derek and me. Derek and I circulate the track navigating thru the lapped traffic when with about 4 laps to go Derek blows his motor in a huge cloud of white smoke coming out of star mazda. I pass him as he's off track in the dirt for the lead and hold on to the lead for the next 4 laps to take the checkered for my 2nd win of the season. Kiwi finishes 2nd and Richard 3rd. The black Civic finishes 4th and because Derek did more than half the laps he finishes 5th in class. Derek also gets the fast lap of the race (1:14.0 vs my 1:14.2) so he gets the bonus point (I get the bonus point for pole).

When I come into impound I find my left front now has too much pressure in it and was 4 psi too high. Dammit. I probably should have kept Derek at bay and beat him on my own if not for that. As I said to Derek, it sucks to win when it was just handed to you, I'd much rather beat him on the track with us both finishing. But I need the points and will take them where I can get them.

In all it was another great weekend of great racing. Tho we all wanted to know what happened to Alex Chen? He was registered, but never showed up.

The current points standings by my math:

1st: Derek Stevens - 96 pts - Only has used 1 drop *
2nd: Rylan Hazelton - 75 pts - Has used both drops
3rd: Richard Laifatt - 62 pts - Has used both drops
4th: Brandon August - 45 pts - Has used both drops?
5th: Jeff Owen (kiwi) - 44 pts - Has used both drops +1 DNF
6th: Alex Chen - 28 pts - Has used both drops + 2 DNS's
....

Thanks for reading,
-Ry

*: Will be required to drop atleast 1 more race because the scoring is based on best 12 of 14 races, this weekend was race 5 & 6.

2006 World Challenge Tracks

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 23:15:59 GMT

Author: Terrance

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:15 pm

Justin,

I have Mid Ohio for GTR. Going to try it out sometime this week.

I do know that there is a BMW 3 series "car pack" that you can download somewhere, I just need to find it. It's probably the closest to what you drive in TC.

in what class....

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:16:07 GMT

Author: erik@edge

Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:16 am

Engine and drivetrain are not terribly limited, save for the requirement that the engine be from the same manufacturer. You can convert front drive to rear drive, but you have to stay clean on the rules about suspension pickups and such. The rulebook is available online at www.scca.com.

Just checking in...

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 19:43:27 GMT

Author: erik@edge

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 7:43 pm

Building out my M3 for Emod. Mostly because I have a screw loose...

470 Wheel HP. Slicks. 2000# or so.

Should be interesting, stay tuned.

SCCA Honda Cup Round #1&2 - Buttonwillow #1A CCW

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 21:23:54 GMT

Author: krazik

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:23 pm

Yet another great race weekend. Racing w/ SCCA is great.

I left early on Friday to beat the paddock rush, only to learn that the cal club (socal) scca events aren't nearly as packed so good paddock space isn't has hard to come by. I get to the track, sign in and unhook and head off to dinner.

I get to the track at 7am because I need to get my car teched. I finally get photos in my log book and now have my annual tech and no longer need to deal w/ that in the am. It's poured all night and the track is very green for practice, but it is dry. I go out on my full tread RA1s on stock wheels to scrub the mold release compound off of them in case I need to use them for qual or the race. There are lots of dark clouds in the sky.

We go out for qual before lunch for 15 minutes. It was pretty dry and uneventful. I get a couple good laps and come in at the end of the session. Check the times. I'm 2nd place behind derek (both 2:10.x?), over all in our run group derek is P2 and I'm P3 with Andy Porterfield (of portfield brakes) in P1 by over 5sec in a "stock car" looking car. Not sure what exactly it is. I'm not sure on everyone else was, lepper was way down because of a missing diff plug. Alex is 3rd? We had a fair number of cars for the weekend in our class for the weekend.

We grid for the race and Porterfield is MIA so derek starts overall P1 and I'm along side on P2. Behind us are 2 big V8 "stock car"s. The sky is dark but I spend 15 minutes before gridding watching the clouds and I gamble the thunderstorm on the horizon is gonna miss us. I guess right but it probably comes within .5 miles of the track. We do get a light misting mid race, but nothing much.
On the start derek and I get swamped by the 2 v8's behind us. One gets in front of derek and the other gets between derek and I. Shit We get held up by the stock cars for the first couple laps. I can't get around the guy in front of me tho I try. I follow his mistakes with some of my own and fail to capitalize on them. Derek gets by his "pace car" going into cotton corners and starts to open a gap. On the next lap derek's stock car (in P2 in group) goes off huge and gets stuck in the mud in star mazda. After passing the guy in the mud, my pacecar lets me by. Derek has about an 8 second lead and I put the hammer down to try to real him in. Unfortunately because of traffic and the fact that our cars were so similar in pace the gap stays about the same till we go full course caution because the guy that was holding me up decided he wanted join his friend in the mud at star mazda. We do 3 laps under yellow and take a checkered under yellow. The starter pulled in the double yellow and then waved the checkered. I end up finishing P2, Derek in P1. Tom Lepper being crafty notices the yellow is gone and punches it and passes Alex before the finish line to try to snag 3rd. Tho after the race and award ceremony they determine that while Tom didn't break any rules they can't encourage the behavior and give Alex back his 3rd place. I get the fastest lap of the race (by .02 over derek) and I get the bonus point for fast lap (derek got a point for pole). Derek is now in 1st place for the 06 championship.

Sunday the weather is sunny and beautiful. We go out for qual but because I get to the track a little late I'm rushing and get out a few minutes late. I only find 1 clean lap and I do a 2:11.x. Derek on brand new RA1s does a 2:07.x (fresh RA1s are wicked fast for first couple laps). Lepper is in 2nd w/ a 2:10.x. Alex is 4th. There is one of the v8s and a gen 3 rx7 behind me. Alex is behind them. We all agree to make sure the v8s stay behind us thru T1. I make sure to block them good in T1 and never see them again. Tom and I immediately start battling and derek is starting to check out. On lap 2 I get a run on tom out of Sunrise and am able to out brake him into Sunset. He swings wide and we drag race to the esses. At the first S I shut the door on tom to keep him behind me since he's only at about my door. As we come into star mazda I see derek shooting off into the mud handing me the lead. He gets stuck and can't continue. I put the hammer down and open up a manageable lead but tom is pushing hard so I can't relax and have to continue to push. We lap lots of cars and I try my best to manage the traffic tho tom gets close a couple times. Also my tires are going off and I'm doing some huge slides exiting corners. Every time I pass by start finish I keep hoping for the 1 lap to go sign because I'm sure my tires aren't gonna last much longer. I have to slow down some to not go off. At one point towards the end I get balked by a slower car coming out of the bus stop and can't get past. Tom is able to get a run and gets really close. Knowing I've been beating him out of cotton corners I make an agressive pass to put the lapped car between us then park my car slowing both of them up thru the first 2 parts of cotton corners. I then take off knowing tom will have a hard time getting to speed on the bumper of the lapped car. That gives me enuf gap to finish the last 2? laps without much incident and come around to take the checkered for my first win of 06. I end up taking fast lap again this time a 2:09.x. Tom finished 2nd and Alex finishes 3rd again.

I finish the weekend in the lead of the championship (not sure on the exact points spreads) but Tom and Alex should be tied? for 2nd.

-Ry

http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=370902

Racing nationals?

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 04:46:26 GMT

Author: kouye

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 4:46 am

I will, but only as a second race to the regional rather than run ITA.