1985 BMW 318 Stage Rally Build - 1988 Porsche 924S Street Build - Sequoia Build

bluej wrote:

eastsidemav wrote:

irish44j wrote: We are currently discussing going to the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge next month instead of our local event. WOuld be interesting to try out a surface that is totally different from our surface. Will keep you posted......

This probably goes wihtout saying, but if you do, make sure to trailer out here. Last event at that field was a bit rough...

Think it's as rough as the gravel area wdcr uses?

No idea, never run up there, but I think we had two cars retire in the first session. One of which was a WRX. A few other failures during the day that were able to be fixed. It wasn't as rough as the WOR regions home field, but it made up for it by being higher speed.

Hmm. Going to have to do some searching for terrain pics/vids.

eastsidemav wrote:

irish44j wrote: We are currently discussing going to the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge next month instead of our local event. WOuld be interesting to try out a surface that is totally different from our surface. Will keep you posted......

This probably goes wihtout saying, but if you do, make sure to trailer out here. Last event at that field was a bit rough...

I'm going to trailer regardless, because 6 hours in the e30 with no A/C, no good stereo, and loudness is not my idea of enjoyment, lol. Not too worried about roughness. If I was, I'd do autocross instead

eastsidemav wrote:

bluej wrote:

eastsidemav wrote:

irish44j wrote: We are currently discussing going to the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge next month instead of our local event. WOuld be interesting to try out a surface that is totally different from our surface. Will keep you posted......

This probably goes wihtout saying, but if you do, make sure to trailer out here. Last event at that field was a bit rough...

Think it's as rough as the gravel area wdcr uses?

No idea, never run up there, but I think we had two cars retire in the first session. One of which was a WRX. A few other failures during the day that were able to be fixed. It wasn't as rough as the WOR regions home field, but it made up for it by being higher speed.

Greg Ohlemacher and John Leonard from OVR ran at our event this weekend, so I'm sure they can comment on the comparitive roughness if we really want.

irish44j wrote:

eastsidemav wrote:

bluej wrote:

eastsidemav wrote:

irish44j wrote: We are currently discussing going to the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge next month instead of our local event. WOuld be interesting to try out a surface that is totally different from our surface. Will keep you posted......

This probably goes wihtout saying, but if you do, make sure to trailer out here. Last event at that field was a bit rough...

Think it's as rough as the gravel area wdcr uses?

No idea, never run up there, but I think we had two cars retire in the first session. One of which was a WRX. A few other failures during the day that were able to be fixed. It wasn't as rough as the WOR regions home field, but it made up for it by being higher speed.

Greg Ohlemacher and John Leonard from OVR ran at our event this weekend, so I'm sure they can comment on the comparitive roughness if we really want.

That would be helpful. I don't have means to tow other than bringing the towbar setup and would influence if I went or not.

I also don't think you and nick need to worry about me going and getting points at the wdcr event w/out you. Your lead is pretty out of reach

I'm worried about Nick not going, and getting points at WDCR with me gone. We're tied with 2 wins each. I have to drop another event later in the season due to a conflict...so this would be my first drop. He doesn't have any planned drops so far...

I mean, worst-case if one car breaks, we trailer it back on my trailer and someone drives my car back (it's street-legal and I'll bring the street wheels). Now, if two cars break, then we have an issue, lol.

But we could always "borrow" parts off whatever car is going on the trailer if needed. I can't help you guys out for engine stuff though....

Or you could see about co-driving with Nick (assuming he goes)? I think Jim is going to drive my car with me, but I haven't confirmed.

anyhow.

So some pics.....

So, here's what 60 runs on gravel will do to rally tires. My rears on the left. Fronts on the right. Fronts hardly wore at all...they were the same when I started..

Nick's e28 looking hella-stanced

the ETA boys

Jeremy Miller doing what Jeremy Miller does. He still won PA class by a mile...

Our fearless dirty leader

Into the dusty twilight

MF champ Nick Landis

my run group. lots 'o blue GCs

Miester Flick, flicking it...

Matt Peterson out with his stage rally car

Katie in the RX7 of death, coming toward me in the dust. Not even close to where the course it, but she couldn't see it...

more of Jeremy doing what he does

I saw that green and black civic this morning being towed on 22 east by pittsburgh PA.

Kinda neat that I saw it after seeing a picture of it on here just yesterday!

Rob R.

He's probably heading up to the New England Forest Rally (NEFR). A bunch of our guys are going up there either to drive, crew, or co-drive :)

So I pulled the skid to do an oil change today and found that once again its rubbing on the oil pan. It definitely took some very hard hits at the last event over 60 runs, and the rear edge got bent up a little bit.

Luckily, I have a tool that can fix that:

straight again

I'll also check out the motor mounts and other stuff this weekend to see if anything else broke from all the punishment.

In other news, I'm 99% sure now that I'm going to run at the Great Lakes Divisional Challenge in Ohio next month. It falls on the same day as one of our local points event, so I'll have to skip that one. We get 2 drop events this season (out of 9), so that'll be one, and the NEDiv Challenge at our home venue will be my other, since it doubles as a points event for WDCR, and I have to miss the first day.

The real question now is whether Nick will come to GLDiv challenge or stay home and run (and likely win) the WDCR event that weekend. If the latter, that will give him 3 wins and he can drop his 2 second-place finishes. I'll be left with 2 wins and 2 second place finishes with no drops left....so bascially I'd need to win pretty much every event from here on out, a tall order. Once again letting a top competitor use my car may come back to haunt me at the end of the season, but it's not like there's money on the line or anything, so I'm (mostly) ok with that, lol.

Given that dilemma, it's time to work on making the car better again. My driving doesn't seem to be improving much at this point, at least not enough. So time to go back to what I'm good at: making the car faster. In the near term:

1. Get my 80% fresh set of DMack rally tires from Nonack up in Jersey. Especially since 2 of my current tires are now shot. Fresh tires may not make much difference locally due to the surface, but they should help in the grass/dirt in Ohio at least.

2. Ordered some Ireland Engineering front swaybar bushings/reinforcing brackets. Not sure if these will give a tangible change in performance, but at worst I hope they give me a bit more response compared to the decades-old rubber sway bushings currently on the car. We'll see.

3. Ordered some IE rear spring spacers that give around 1/2" lift. The rear end of the car is taking a lot of hits and the diff and rear exhaust pipe spends a lot of time in the gravel. Getting the rear of the car up a bit won't hurt peace of mind, and the ground clearance could help out in the deep-gravel corners that really slow this car down. Again, we'll see.

I have a few other things in mind, but not sure what direction to go. Finances are pretty limited until the winter starts, so probably no giant changes. May play with alignment settings, a bit more weight reduction, and some other things. Will keep the thread updated, of course.....

So it's official: the car is signed up for the Great Lakes Division National Challenge next month, with me and with Nick co-driving. Josh Sennett is also bringing the turbo e30 (maybe with a co-driver), and the Golden brothers are bringing their SA GC Imprezas.

It's going to be a steep learning curve on how to run on dirt and grass again after all this gravel. And from what I can tell the OVR MR guys are one of the most competitive in the country so hopefully we can keep up or at least not embarrass ourselves, lol. Still need to get my "new" tires down here from New Jersey somehow and find some wheels to mount them on :P

I don't think you have to worry about embarrassing yourselves. Of the Ohio MR regulars; I haven't done an event since November (and will probably only do Saturday) and Pete's car will likely not be entered, leaving Evan to carry the flag.

Even last year when Scott Harvey Jr. stomped a field of 18 or so MR drivers in Paul's Porsche at the GLDiv Challenge, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It's supposed to be FUN.

bluej wrote: Hmm. Going to have to do some searching for terrain pics/vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dENDKHbGqxI

Previous event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFbZA7sJlEg

Outside view.

The breakage was really not course related. One WRX had a split inner CV boot and it was throwing grease on the turbo, which became apparent when on course (lots of foul smelling smoke). One WRX blew a coolant surge tank hose, and it was all jellied like it had been ready to go for some time. We fixed it after lunch and he drove home. One guy - get this - forgot to secure the cable to his ECU and it unplugged itself on his first run. And then Evan was driving so fast that the oil drain plug removed itself.

Knurled wrote: The breakage was really not course related.

There was a poorly routed section of the course that I think shoulders a fair portion of the blame for my bent rear control arm :) All told, though, I think that site is less punishing than most of the others I've been on.

Here's a few more from the previous event:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUCugp3HyXt3_g7P3-P-EUYbePJxDH3qj

cghstang wrote: I don't think you have to worry about embarrassing yourselves. Of the Ohio MR regulars; I haven't done an event since November (and will probably only do Saturday) and Pete's car will likely not be entered, leaving Evan to carry the flag. Even last year when Scott Harvey Jr. stomped a field of 18 or so MR drivers in Paul's Porsche at the GLDiv Challenge, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It's supposed to be FUN.

lol, yeah a bit tongue-in-cheek. While of course we all go to events with the goal of winning, I think everyone knows the reality that in an event full of good drivers and cars there will be someone who wins, and a lot of other good drivers who don't win. I think the DC crew mostly wants to be there to try out a different surface/different type of venue, meet other people, and see how we stack up. Plus it's a 2-day event whereas our local event that day is only 1 day. Will be fun either way, assuming the car doesn't get broken. It survived almost 60 runs on a punishing course last time out, so hopefully we won't have any issues.

Aw man.... Okay, so you probably get the drift from here and on DI how I can be a pretty competitive person. But I find that to be enjoyable, and while it can be frustrating to be soundly butt-kicked, especially in my own car by someone who hadn't driven it before (heh), it's also a good thing because it is enlightening and learning can be fun if you let it.

Now, let's talk about last year's national challenge held in Detroit. I had no visions of placing Well. I was merely hoping for maybe a podium finish, because Scott was running in MR. Scott has been driving on dirt/gravel since I was a fetus and was co-driving stage rally for his dad since before then. Scott and his brother are these twin pillars of driving awesomeness. (His brother is SCARY FAST with a Neon. I mean, dude, you just gotta see it) So I figure the rest of us were just running for second place. This guy shows up from out of division, I think planning on racking up some eay contingency money. I tell him that we're all really running for second place because it was a given that Scott would be first. He starts up with some puffed-chest attitude. Then competition begins, and as we used to say in the biking world, he's off the back. Maybe 10th out of 14 or 17 competitors. He's getting frustrated. He's yelling and shouting and throwing stuff, and this kind of mindset only will make your times worse because you lose your center. He stopped having fun and continued to not have fun, and IIRC he foregoed the camping experience and also the second day and just threw in the towel and left.

Me, on the other hand... I was also getting frustrated, because I thought I had these Secret Weapon Tires and I also ran pretty much the same course at that site earlier in the year and basically owned face, so I thought I'd be good to go. NOPE.

So what I did, was said screw it, there are cameras here, there's a GoPro strapped to my helmet, I'll say screw strategy and screw times and I'm going to have FUN and I'm going to throw this pig around and at least get some giggles out of the experience and do some showboating for the corner workers. Ended up in 5th place

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=975frUPuJtE

I may not be fast this year but I'll bring some alcohol.

NO RUM

Knurled wrote: Aw man.... Okay, so you probably get the drift from here and on DI how I can be a pretty competitive person. But I find that to be enjoyable, and while it can be frustrating to be soundly butt-kicked, especially in my own car by someone who hadn't driven it before (heh), it's also a good thing because it is enlightening and learning can be fun if you let it. Now, let's talk about last year's national challenge held in Detroit. I had no visions of placing Well. I was merely hoping for maybe a podium finish, because Scott was running in MR. Scott has been driving on dirt/gravel since I was a fetus and was co-driving stage rally for his dad since before then. Scott and his brother are these twin pillars of driving awesomeness. (His brother is SCARY FAST with a Neon. I mean, dude, you just gotta see it) So I figure the rest of us were just running for second place. This guy shows up from out of division, I think planning on racking up some eay contingency money. I tell him that we're all really running for second place because it was a given that Scott would be first. He starts up with some puffed-chest attitude. Then competition begins, and as we used to say in the biking world, he's off the back. Maybe 10th out of 14 or 17 competitors. He's getting frustrated. He's yelling and shouting and throwing stuff, and this kind of mindset only will make your times worse because you lose your center. He stopped having fun and continued to not have fun, and IIRC he foregoed the camping experience and also the second day and just threw in the towel and left. Me, on the other hand... I was also getting frustrated, because I thought I had these Secret Weapon Tires and I also ran pretty much the same course at that site earlier in the year and basically owned face, so I thought I'd be good to go. NOPE. So what I did, was said screw it, there are cameras here, there's a GoPro strapped to my helmet, I'll say screw strategy and screw times and I'm going to have FUN and I'm going to throw this pig around and at least get some giggles out of the experience and do some showboating for the corner workers. Ended up in 5th place http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=975frUPuJtE

At our last event, once I got over being pissed about 3 cones on my first run and sloppy driving in general, and had pretty much ceded the win to Nick.....then I started cranking Iron Maiden full-volume in the car during runs. I ran my 4-5 fastest times of the day (most of them totally clean) doing that. So I totally agree with you on the "just have fun" part.

I'm ultra-competitive in everything I do, but I don't get upset if someone's better than me at something. I get upset if I make mistakes that I don't usually make (e.g. lots of cones, when I usually am very clean). I did throw my helmet (gently) during last event (even though it turned out to be a good run), but that's not typical for me, haha....

That said, I'll probably forego the camping experience myself. If there's one thing I can't survive without, it's a good shower and bed after a day of racing. And as cheap as hotels in Hebron are, I'm definitely not going to rough it

Knurled wrote: NO RUM

I'll bring the Captain and some German Pils....

No. Rum.

I can tolerate Greg's gatorade/engine degreaser even though it makes me forgetful, like forgetting how to sit, but rum? Nope.

Knurled wrote: No. Rum. I can tolerate Greg's gatorade/engine degreaser even though it makes me forgetful, like forgetting how to sit, but rum? Nope.

I didn't say I was bringing it for you

Greg's used coolant just ruined the rum for you.

Knurled wrote: No. Rum. I can tolerate Greg's gatorade/engine degreaser even though it makes me forgetful, like forgetting how to sit, but rum? Nope.

How 'bout gin? The distillery (Green Hat) in DC makes great stuff.

Knurled wrote: This guy shows up from out of division, I think planning on racking up some eay contingency money. />

Have you checked the entry list for this years event?

EvanB wrote:

Knurled wrote: This guy shows up from out of division, I think planning on racking up some eay contingency money. />

Have you checked the entry list for this years event?

What am I see about the challenge?

Wow, also 28 people signed up for tomorrow's regional! That's like some sort of record, especially with Detroit holding a 2-day this weekend.