I had to work on Sat, so I only had three runs. I was feeling confident, being able to place well with other people's cars last season and such. But God had different plans. I went out there, ready to throw down some good times, and I sucked. I've done this enough to know that I should have kept the tire pressure the same from side to side, but it was my first event on my G-force Rivals, so I wanted to see how it would handle. The mismatch was from the sun heating up one side of the car. The course was also unusual, because it had a section with two laps, even though the course was an airstrip. The turnaround was a figure 8, which was also unusual for our normal setups. Much of my bad driving came from being used to the Direzza DZ102 tires I ran once last season. They aren't soft enough for competitive autocross, so my throttle and steering inputs could be abrupt, and the car would still be balanced. With the Rivals, I stomped on the gas, and the engine would get into the vanos and increase power delivery, while the tires would claw into the tarmac like an angry, snarling dog. The car would surge forward and the rear end of the car's balance would get upset. It felt exciting and like the car gained 20-30 horsepower. Also, with the tire pressure being unbalanced for two of my three runs, the car would go from plowing forward, to suddenly oversteering. It was fun catching it, but it killed my times for those two runs. On the last run, my driving was just wayyy too sloppy, and left me disappointed with myself.
I still had the next day to race. I had one of the hotshoes, Brandon, with me on my first run. He said that he wasn't good at coaching people, but he still obliged. He did give me a tip to sit a little closer to the steering wheel so I didn't have to reach as far when I'm cranking the steering wheel. I actually drove smooth, especially with my throttle inputs. He said that my driving was good, I was looking ahead and close to key cones. There were a few spots that I hesitated, but that was expected since it was the first run. I felt relieved that I could race again, and felt much better. I drove a little better and ran almost two seconds off my first run. Then I asked our fast B Stock driver, Dave, his time, and he got 47. something seconds when I had got 50.2. He told me to use the brakes less. I tried that on my third run, and I got really sideways near the end of the course and got a 51.4. He also spun out in front of me on his third run. I talked to him for a while, and his car is a '10 or an '11 STi that he bought brand new, with a special rally suspension package that is a little stiffer than the stock STi suspension. He said that it's not soft out on course at all, so his platform is much better than mine. I mentioned this in another thread, but our local region changed the trophy system so all the Stock classes are grouped together, all Street Touring classes together, Street Prepared and Street Modified are together, and Modified and kart mod are together. They did it to reduce trophy awards and time announcing them. They also did it to encourage regulars in similar categories to compete directly so people don't get discouraged or bored from no direct competitors and quit. In the afternoon, for some reason, I quit looking ahead at one part of the fast section of the course, and completely ruined my good driving technique, and my times. I managed to get a 48.8, but that was plowing over a cone, so it wasn't my fastest time. I did see that the unofficial times showed that they didn't call it out, which isn't that great. Some of the fast STR drivers were getting in the 46s, and one guy from my next closest auto-x region got a 44, so I need to get him to coach me when I race at one of their events. I want to be a national champ someday, so I do try to chase down everybody, no matter what car or class they are in.