SCCA TT 2020 (Autobahn South, Evo)

Getting a lot of seat time here in quick succession – last weekend at Road America already feels like an eternity ago. With my last timed event of the year being GLTA’s Midwest Festival at Gingerman, I decided I wanted to get a little more seat time prior to the event so that I could learn the course before trying to push on it. CGI Motorsports was hosting an event for 9/21, giving me the perfect 2 week gap before the GLTA event – but it just so happened that SCCA Chicago region was putting on their first time trials event in Chicago at Autobahn South – the perfect opportunity for me to test my new 93 octane map and new Falken RT660s.

That does include one caveat – due to a hiccup at Fedex I only received 2 of the 4 tires for this weekend. Not too big of a deal as my rear RE71Rs still looked pretty good. I swapped the fronts, trailered the Evo back up north and had my first SCCA Time Trials event. Side note – trailering with the Sequoia has been a joy. The car is so comfortable and sweet, sweet, cruise control, quiet cabin, bluetooth calling and audio that work seamlessly, and cooled seats have me wishing I started doing this a long time ago.

The only tricky part about the class I run, T3, is that it is 93 octane only. I’ve got the dual map that lets me switch, but I still do need to nearly empty the tank to do so. I got just about the right amount of fuel in, but ended up fuel starving near the end for both sessions, even after adding 5 gallons between sessions. The car starves basically around the time the light goes on in right hand corners, and the car really should be raced with a full tank anyway – but with needing E85 for the next event on Monday, I decided to run as little as possible.

Despite all that, the car performed great. We were able to get in a good order for the second session and I was able to click off a few fliers, albeit a bit of traffic in each. For the first time, I felt like the car had even more to give. My driving wasn’t perfect, but I was able to record a personal best – 1:36 flat according to Harry’s, 1:35.987 according to the transponder. There is definitely more time out there, but I’m guessing from here on out I will mostly be on E85.