Didn’t feel like I was the season was underway without the first home points event! Decided to dual drive the Mini & the Evo this event, and in general I will be dual driving most Stl Solo points events, as I have the ability to work Heat 1 and Registration, in order to maximize seat time in both cars. The Evo will be running from the Mini as fast as it can, and the Mini will be chasing the Evo as fast as it can. I’m hoping some self-competition will push me to be faster. Before the event I set a target time differential of +2s for the Mini, which I am adjusting to +2.5s. Also trying new camera angles, which I am kind of enjoying.

Mini

Been about a month since I last autoxed the Mini, and I didn’t feel great or that comfortable about my runs by the end. I drove in the 2nd heat, working registration and Heat 1 as the corner 2 captain in order to dual drive. For my runs in the Mini to count, I had to drive the Mini first, since whatever I drive second has an unfair advantage of having driven the course before, and has to be classified in the “Fun” class. For the first event, I decided that should be the Evo. Anyway, the runs were so-so. My fastest counted turned out to be a 51.392. I ran faster than that on the two runs prior, but coned them. My fastest raw, 50.103, nicked the very beginning cone foolishly. That alone would have put me in 12th index. Just as importantly, I was handed my first raw-timing by one of the Miata owners today. He’s got a natural sense of the car, and killed it with a 50.238. This was a personal defeat for me – I’ll be back at Stl Solo 2 in the 3rd heat to get him back. Hopefully I can shake off the rust in the Mini and get quicker again.

Index: 16th, 1.922s back
Index Results here.
Final Results here.

Things to work on (Mini):

• Work on slaloms
• Better lines, unwind the wheel faster
• Turn in earlier, most corners were late
• Look ahead & focus more

Notes (Mini):

• Ran Heat 2
• Lost raw time to MS in the Miata
• Ran 39/42, about 4/9 tank in the car
• Temps in the 60s

Evo

On the flip side, very happy with how the day went in the Evo. I had originally shot for 2s faster in the Evo than the Mini, but after today I am going to shoot for 2.5s. My fastest clean was a 48.288, which is not very good, but I had two dirty runs at 48.019 & 47.930 (vid) afterwards. If my fastest clean counted as STU, I would have been 31st in index. If it my fastest was clean and counted, I would have jumped to 23rd. Very doable, and looking forward to competing against other STU drivers this year. Two very fast drivers got 6th and 7th overall today, so a lot of competition here. Also don’t anticipate anyone complaining about me running STU with fast drivers like that abound.

Right now I would say the car’s handling CAN be unpredictable. If I’m “predictable,” so too is the car’s handling. If things are getting hairy and I’m all over the place, the AWD responds in kind, and sometimes I have no idea what the car is going to do. Hopefully I can get the car reigned in. It’s probably also a good idea for me to start launching the car at autox regularly, since it makes the first corner come up so much quicker. Next StlSolo event I’ll be driving the Evo to be counted in STU, so looking forward to that!

Things to work on (Evo):

• Continue getting comfortable in the car
• Experiment with getting on the throttle very early to induce power oversteer
• Turn in earlier, most corners were late
• Brake earlier to set up the line right, focus on the line first and keep things clean, don’t try to overcompensate with the power

Notes (Evo):

• 36PSI all around seems decent
• Shock settings – Race: Front: 15 clicks from stiffest. Rear: 17 clicks from stiffest.
• Ran ACD in Gravel (Track) Mode
• Full tank of gas

2015 Run Count: 64 (+6 Mini, +6 Evo)