Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Best Finish of the Year - Equipe Rapide #4 Mirror Cross

In a couple of weeks time we will have the annual running of the SCCA Pro Solo here in Texas, hosted at Mineral Wells airport.  It's always a good feeling to go into that event on a high, and we put ourselves in a great feeling position after this past weekend's Tune-up event with Equipe Rapide.  Each year a week or two leading up to the Pro Solo, Equipe Rapide hosts a practice event in the same formation and configuration as the real Pro Solo. 

For this year's running I brought out the E-Street Miata, with newly mounted and freshly heat cycled BFG Rival S 1.5 tires.  This time in the 225, 45, 15 size that we had previously tested fitment on.  The tires worked great on the car, and Phil Elmore and reunited this weekend to drive the car.  Our results would be very quick in a solid field of a lot of National level drivers doing tune up.  We managed to put the car 3rd overall in PAX and 9th as well.  So, two spots in the top 10 was certainly the best finish for the car this year and a great preview of what's hopefully to come for us in a couple of weeks at the Pro. 

We do have some tweaks to make on the setup as we ran slightly lower pressure than we think will be optimal, and experienced a little bit of rollover on this wider tire.  Grip was still fantastic, but we should be able to improve the contact patch and get better wear results with some advancement. 

Here are a few pictures of the results and the car with Phil and I both behind the wheel.  Enjoy!



Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Just returned from a great weekend of racing at the 2018 Tirerack SCCA Championship Tour in Mineral Wells Texas where I was competing in E-Street against a very competitive field of Miatas and Toyota MR2 entries.  There were 11 total in the class, and while I did not drive the way I wanted, and ended up in 7th of 11, I still had a great time, learned a lot and have many positives to build upon.  Here is a video from my best run on Sunday, this run was pretty fun and I got some pretty big opposite lock as I was flying through the sweepers in sector 2.  That probably cost a little time on the run, but still good to feel the car handle this challenging course well. 


Our next National Event will be the SCCA Pro Solo in June (1st-3rd) at the same site Mineral Wells.  So this was a great warmup for that and always fun driving the Miata!

Monday, March 26, 2018

Another early season Autocross Report as we continue to ramp up our preparations for two Texas National Events in the coming months.  The first of which will be April 13-15 at Mineral Wells for the SCCA Solo Championship Tour.

This week was more progress with the car and driving as I managed to take down the win at Texas SCCA 2018 Regional Event #2.  We were at Lonestar Park.  Very tricky and challenging course, and a strong field in E-Street of 17 drivers.  Here is the best run from the weekend. 

Feedback always welcomed, and a huge thanks to my friends and teammates Grant Watkins, Phil Elmore and Phil Osborne for all their continued support as we push onward. 


Saturday, March 24, 2018

Another Cool Action Shot in the 2001 Miata

Here is another pretty cool action shot of me from early this year in an event, driving my 2001 Miata.  This event was in late February at Lonestar Park and we took first of seven or so for the day.  The car felt great on this particular course!  Love the action shot here.  



Thursday, March 22, 2018

Pretty amazing picture of me in my 2001 Miata at Mineral Wells Race Site participating in a March 2018 Equipe Rapide Autocross Event.  The car is running 225 BFG Rival 1.5s tires.  This was my first time out on the larger size tire for the car.  They felt really good, no rubbing and definitely something to play with as we explore further.  I am doing my best to be tight on the cones here pushing for a time out on course.  



Wednesday, March 14, 2018

After a long break, I have decided I need to get back in my iRacing Simulator.  Trying to make a commitment to run as many races as I can in the Advanced Mazda Cup Series for Season 2, 2018.  Did my first race today and was able to bring home 8th out of 27 at Watkins Glen, so not a bad start.

Here is my livery doing a little testing at Donnington National.  It's amazing how accurate iRacing is with these cars.  

Monday, February 26, 2018

My First Autocross of 2018 on the BFG Rival 1.5s Tire


It's late February, but it's Texas so that's early enough to start racing season, and this past weekend was my first time out for the year in Autocross Format.  I would be racing with Equipe Rapide Sportscar Club, at Lonestar Park.

This year my focus in Autocross is to improve the driver as much as possible while focused on my 2001 Miata.  This weekend was a nice first start to the year.  I was able to take down first place in the event, and it was also my first time to try the new BF Goodrich Rival 1.5s tire.  I started at a pressure of 27 all around on the tire and bled back to that.  Didn't seem to roll over on that pressure but will definitely have some work to do in order to find the actual sweet spot for this tire.  The car is E-Street on stock springs, with Koni Yellow Suspension and a large Racing Beat Front Sway Bar.

Here is a video of the run.  Might have been able to gain a little more time here by going to 3rd gear at the top of the course. But, it was so close that I left it in 2nd.

The course was really fast, and the video doesn't do it complete justice.  Great design by Mike Dusold.

Here are the results!  Whoop, nice start to the year, let's build on it.


Best Finish of the Year - Equipe Rapide #4 Mirror Cross

In a couple of weeks time we will have the annual running of the SCCA Pro Solo here in Texas, hosted at Mineral Wells airport.  It's alw...