A Quickie...

I've got an 11PM game tonight and I want to take a nap, and I don't have time to give a full report about the autocross... just yet.

However, I continue to be amazed with how the WRX is handling. The only suspension change I've done since Nationals is the replacement of the rearward control arm bushings. Sometimes, when you do something that, in the big scheme of things, is relatively minor, it's hard to say what is real and what is conjecture. Did the car feel different on the way home from IAG when I picked it up after the install? Or was I hoping it felt different? With the street prepared setup, it's not easy to say.

However, I also let Pat Griffith take the car out for some fun runs. Okay, really, I cajoled him, taunting him with the fact that the keys were in it. Then he took it out.

I'd run a best of a 41.5 in competition, during the 45-50 degree first heat. Pat had run a 41.2, but coned it, and settled for a clean 41.8. Of the ESP drivers in the first heat, I finished second by less than 0.05 to Rod McGeorge, who now has a Mustang Boss that he's setting up for ESP. Mike Snyder ran Rod's car in the second heat, and got down to a 41.2 or 41.1.

So, after the third heat, I decided I'd take a few fun runs. Adam George wanted to ride with me too (since his other ride along was in the pouring rain at FedEx). So, I take two runs in quick succession. The first, I was just warming up the tires, and the second felt spot on. But the timer was out of sync, and I knew I hadn't just run a 67. So, one more time, still with Adam in the passenger seat, and while it didn't feel quite as "on" as the previous run, it was still a 40.8. I was happy, and of course gloated to Pat, who had already loaded his car up and was sitting in the Lightning as I jogged out to work course for a little bit.

"I just ran a 40.8. You know the keys are still in it...."

So, he goes and takes the car out, and on his first run, plows through the 90 degree at the end of the fast straight. This doesn't surprise me, since the WRX doesn't brake as well as the Camaro (even as well as my green Camaro). So, he goes back out and I can hear cones thumping on the far end of the course, and he hits another as he goes through the final turn into the finish chute. I guess he wasn't happy with that run, so he goes for a third, and it looks great. I yell across to him, "What was it?"

"What?"

"What did you run?"

"What?" He is grinning stupidly. I just scowl. "A 39.9."

"Damn it. Get out of the car."

I asked him what he thought, since he hasn't driven it since the rainy event in mid-August, and again, the only difference between then and now would be the bushings. He said it was certainly improved.

So, more on that later. Here are my first two runs from competition, since that's all that fit on the card (I forgot to delete some other videos).