Failure

So, yeah, I went to the SCCA Solo Nationals last week. In fact, last Sunday at this time, I was in northeastern Ohio, contemplating how far I wanted to drive before grabbing a hotel room (or stopping at a rest area). I was in my black Camaro Z28 -- not the car of choice -- so, a rest area was a viable option since there were no tires in the back seat, and the Camaro seats are pretty comfy to sleep in.

It was weird, driving a Camaro to Nationals. I haven't done it in over five years, and even then, it was the green car, not the black one. It also made packing very odd. As most autocrossers will tell you, there is a routine to packing, and when you disrupt that routine -- such as driving a car you hadn't planned on driving -- that's when things get forgotten. It probably took me longer to pack the Camaro with less stuff than the WRX because I kept standing in the garage and mentally thinking about what else I needed from there.

Ready to roll

I ended up staying the night in Elkhart, Indiana, at a hotel I'd hit on the way out to Packwood last year. With the SCCA discount, it was a reasonable enough rate, and I got a backup alarm in the form of a wakeup call for Monday morning. I wanted to be on site early enough to register on Monday, and I figured Elkhart was the halfway point so there was another nine or so hours of driving to go.

I arrived not too long after Drew did, and hit registration on the way through the gate. He'd already told Tracy Lewis about the change in my registration, so things were pretty easy there. It was just a matter of finding him in paddock and getting the car teched at that point.

Ready for tech!

The car passed tech easily, though they were definitely a bit more anal about stickers and numbers this year. We were fine, but I saw some other people actually get turned away because their numbers didn't contrast or they didn't have their helmets with the current sticker.

We walked the Karen Babb designed West course a few times, then Drew went up to the practice course where Christy Carlson told him that she could get him into the practice. He rode his bike back to paddock to grab the car and took three of his four runs, just to see if the car needed anything serious. His first run was all over the place, but we didn't touch anything, and the next run was better.

Around then I realized it was after 7PM, so I headed over to the hotel to check in, get cleaned up a little bit, then head to Lazlo's downtown for Holly's birthday bash. When I arrived, all the seats near her were already taken, so I was relegated to the back, where Jason and Heather Burns were sitting by themselves. Sean came up and tried to harass me, but I was having none of it, and a few more people showed up later. I hadn't eaten anything all day, so the two Vanilla Porters I drank went down way too easily, and the sandwich I had was nearly inhaled, I was so hungry. This no-appetite-until-food-is-in-front-of-me bullshit is getting old. We sang happy birthday to Holly as Crissy Weaver brought around cake, and then it was back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep.

ESP had the good fortune to run third heat, and since my work assignment somehow fell through the cracks, if I wanted to, I could have slept in. I wanted to walk the course and help change tires (Drew doesn't like driving on the competition tires to-and-from the hotel), so I made sure I was there around 6:30. We walked the course twice again, then he checked in for work while I just watched first heat and talked with people. We got one more walk after the second heat was done, and I did my walk with Lane Borg (who was leading AS by a scant 0.02 seconds) while Drew walked with Paul Brown. AS and ESP have extremely close PAX indices, so it made sense for us to walk with the Corvette guys.

I'm not used to running towards the end of the group...

I still hadn't driven the car at all when it came time to take my first run. Seriously, I hadn't even driven it over to tech or to the grid. So, I carefully let the stock clutch out to get a feel for the engagement point, then pulled up to the line for my first run. My launch wasn't very good; I didn't want to do a ProSolo style launch, but I hadn't planned on bogging so badly. The very first turn resulted in me pushing out and hanging the tail out, enough that I was wondering how loose this car was going to handle. It did it again in the next turn, then calmed down for the remainder of the run. Drew has BFGoodrich tires, and they evidently don't do so well when stone cold.

You can see me in the marbles here. Photo by Perry Bennett

I wasn't sure what to think of the car at that point. My time was horrible, but I knew there was a lot out there. Drew went out and coned his run, and there wasn't a whole lot to say at that point. We weren't blaming the car for our standings, and I went out on my second run and pushed harder, dropping over a second. It still was way off the pace, but I knew I wasn't driving particularly well either. I wasn't visualizing where I needed to go, and I wasn't really looking ahead (even though the video makes it look like I was). I just kept thinking about how I would have been doing in my own car, and so I pretty much was just going through the motions.

photo by Tom Reynolds

One more chance for me to start off the week in my "usual spot," one out of trophies.

Another 0.8s improvement, but still terrible compared to trophy positions, and Drew would be another 0.5s behind me. But before Drew could take his last run, there was a bit of drama in the ESP grid.

It seems that Charles Moss's Eagle Talon had a blown turbo seal, causing it to smoke heavily all weekend. After Charles's second run on the West course, enough oil had made its way onto the exhaust that there was actually a small fire as the car came into grid. This resulted in a few fire extinguishers being used (much to Eric Thompson's dismay, since he was gridded next to, and downwind from, the Talon), and Charles not getting his last run. Sam Krauss, on the other hand, jumped into Brad Owen's WRX in order to try to get a clean run, as neither of his runs in the Talon were coneless. It didn't work. Despite his being semi-familiar with the '06 WRX from driving my car, he struggled with Brad's setup and managed to tag a cone on the run.

I wasn't happy with where I was standing -- 17th of 32 -- but there wasn't much to be done. At least the car hadn't caught on fire. So, we went back to paddock, changed tires, and walked Roger Johnson's East course -- since they had finished well ahead of us -- before going our separate ways for the evening.

For the second day in a row, I managed to not eat anything all day, and while I tried to make sure I was staying hydrated, I soon realized I hadn't hit the portajohn all day either. This was not a good sign, and surely had an effect on my driving, but it most definitely played a role in the splitting headache that was developing. I wandered over to the Atlanta Region tent and Tom Shuman encouraged me to grab a bite there. Scott Fraser and Tom Kubo came by and took me over to the CP party, where Tony Espinosa gave me a bowl of heavenly beans that he'd made. I talked with Katie Kelly and Mary Espinosa a bit, then headed back to ATL to chat with a few people before heading off to the hotel and some blessed ibuprofen. I must have had a gallon of water when I got back, and my head was just throbbing. I honestly was starting to wonder if I was just going to die, it hurt so bad. Finally, the ibuprofen kicked in, and I was able to fall asleep, just in time for the alarm to go off.

Speedy was evicted from the car during Drew's runs.

We had an 8AM start for Wednesday, so I was back on site at 6:45, with four gallons of E85 in tow. We'd gone through the fuel Drew had brought with him, and so I went to pick some more up on my way to the site in the morning. Two more course walks, and we were as ready as we were going to be.

Again, I wandered around during the first two heats, watching and talking to STX drivers and then STU drivers before getting one last course walk in between heats 2 and 3. I didn't walk with anyone on the last course walk this time, and I don't know if that hurt me. I just know that I was kind of despondent about driving; I wanted to do well, but I was so far back, that it just didn't matter. I actually did visualize the course between runs, and I knew exactly where I was screwing up, but in the end, I didn't do very well. I wasn't as dehydrated so couldn't blame that, and Drew was a second faster than me (0.5 if you count my raw time on my second run, where I coned early and so pushed the car), so I can't blame the car either.

In the end, my head and my heart just weren't in it, as I knew would be the case. I was oddly at peace with it, however. I was very disappointed, but as Drew pointed out, the car didn't need to go home on a trailer. It also did not catch on fire, and we both finished on the first page of results. I had fallen to 22nd, and he had leapfrogged me to finish 20th, but it was not a good showing for either of us. It wasn't a good showing for Subarus in general, as Brad nabbed the last trophy spot -- 9th, which was down a few spots from last year for him -- and Drew was the second fastest WRX in class. Jimmy Perrin, driving Christian Nissen's 2006, was 21st. Christian and Matt Rosazza were behind me.

It came back for day two, but was quarantined to its own area of grid.

I hung out with a couple of the NWOR guys, and managed to grab a small bite to eat with them, then eventually went back to the hotel and stared at the ceiling. I should have left for home, but figured I could do the trip on Thursday if I left around 6AM. Reality was that I left closer to 6:30AM, got hung up in the backup from an accident in Omaha, and got home around 2:30AM. It was a long ride home, and work certainly sucked on Friday, especially when people asked how things went.

I talked to JJ before I left work, and planned to pick my WRX up from IAG on Saturday so that I could have it around for some of the locals before getting the off-season makeover done. Pat and I rolled up just after noon to get the car, and he took off before I'd even gotten the keys. I started the car up, let it warm up, then rolled out onto MD140 and realized that, yes, my car does have a decent amount of "go" to it, even if it's quieter than the other WRXes that were at Nationals.

Then, I smelled it again.... coolant. I glance down at the temperature gauge and see it 2/3rds of the way up. I'm less than 10 miles away, and there isn't a shoulder on the road at this point. I watch miserably as the gauge continues to climb as I try to get to an area I can pull off.

I pop the hood, and it's immediately obvious what has happened.

Not cool. Literally.

The brand new radiator hose has come off the radiator. I've got nothing with me -- no extra coolant, no tools to use on the spring clamp -- so, I call the shop and explain what happened. They send Ian out, but somehow neglect to tell him to bring something for the spring clamp, so we end up going back to the shop for tools and a "regular" screw-type hose clamp. Once back at the car, the hose is back on and coolant in the system withing minutes. So, now it's just a matter of "burping" the air out.

I sit in the car and rev it or let it idle at Ian's direction. After 5-10 minutes, the coolant seems to be done burbling, and I try to start back to the shop with Ian in his Kia in tow. I don't make it 10 feet before the temperature gauge climbs back to the danger zone. We ditch the WRX on the side of MD 140 and head back to the shop while I call Pat to tell him to meet me there.

So, it appears at least one head gasket is definitely shot. Now, it's just a matter of figuring out what else to do while the heads are off. The car only has 120K on the odometer, so I'm not sure valve springs and all need to be refreshed. The heads can be milled to Subaru specs or 0.010", and some port matching can be done, but really, there isn't a whole lot that is Street Prepared legal. Of course, I just want the car to run properly again, so that's my primary goal.

I don't know how long it will take to fix. In the meantime, I'm desperately trying to catch up on some suspension maintenance with the Camaros.

Control arm bushings and ball joints, unite!

Looks like my season is over early.

Recovery

I'm almost recovered from the trip to Lincoln. I did drive Drew's car, and I didn't drive it particularly well. I'll elaborate on the trip later, but for now I'll say what we were both saying after we were done on Wednesday : "No matter what, at least the car is going home under its own power and it didn't catch fire."

Tough Decision

It's Saturday morning, thirty minutes into the ProSolo Finale, and I've come to the hard realization that all my work with the WRX this year has been for nothing.

At the last WDCR autocross (last one for them for the season too, due to scheduling difficulties at FedEx Field), the car threw a code for a "cooling fan rationality." I cleared it with the Cobb AP, ran the event, won my class, and finished sixth on index. The car felt great, and it was a relief to finally have the fuel system issues that were causing the random no-starts fixed.

Then I decided to drive the car around a little bit in preparation for Lincoln. I took it to work on Monday, the first day back for students, and on the way home, I smelled the nasty tang of coolant in the air while at a stoplight. While I was hoping it was the car next to me, a mile later, as I pulled into the driveway, my heart sank as I realized it was, indeed, the WRX.

The temperature gauge hadn't shifted, but the coolant reservoir was empty. I was running late to go to my hockey game (Red was playing Black for the summer league championship), so I just ditched the car and took the black Camaro to Arlington. Tuesday night being the first night of class at the community college meant I didn't have time to deal with it then either. So, it wasn't until Wednesday that I could take it up to IAG, and even then, I wanted to be home in time to get to hockey evaluations for the fall/winter league.

We checked the coolant levels in the radiator and the reservoir before leaving, and it was fine. Since it hadn't been leaking in the driveway, I thought it would be okay for the trip to Westminster. I should have known better, as twelve miles down the road, the temperature gauge started climbing, plateaued for a short time at the 3/4 mark, then began speeding towards the danger zone just as I was about to take the left exit from I95 north onto I695 west. I punched the hazards and pulled over, Pat in the black Camaro behind me.

We eventually got the car to IAG after Pat went back for the Lightning and the trailer, and, knowing how tight my schedule was since I'd planned to leave today, they graciously squeezed it into the schedule for Friday.

JJ called me yesterday with the news. The immediate and obvious problem was the upper radiator hose that failed. The less obvious and lurking issue was that a head gasket was marching towards failure. It wasn't leaking enough to manifest itself through filmy oil, white smoke in the exhaust or higher than normal engine temps. Using the leak detector, the indicator wasn't changing completely, so JJ said it wasn't critical... yet. But he also, rightly, couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't fail while in Lincoln.

If I knew how to tow, it wouldn't be an issue. Tow the car there, compete, tow home. But I've never towed before, and I know how much construction is between here and Lincoln. Even if I skipped the Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes, there are areas in Illinois and Iowa that I would be extremely uncomfortable with.

So, I'm not bringing the WRX to Lincoln. All the time, all the prep, all the work I've done with the car this season, and it was for nothing.

One of my ESP competitors, Drew Little, has offered me a ride in his WRX, and I am 95% sure I am going to take him up on it. I know his car isn't as fully prepped as mine, but I don't particularly want to change classes, and I definitely don't want to run ladies class. It'll be more of a challenge to try to back up my open class trophy in his car, but maybe I'll see something with his setup that I can apply to my car too. I know he's got an opposite spring rate set up (softer up front than in the rear, which is opposite of mine), and he's also on the new BFG R-comps versus the Hoosier A6s.

I've also been offered rides in two different STU Evos, but my STU driving has left a lot to be desired this year, so I'm not sure I would want to shame myself there.

So, now I just need to decide how to get to Lincoln. If I'm driving one of the Camaros, I need to at least change the oil as they are both due. While I'd love to take the green Camaro, it needs front hubs and spark plugs, and I don't particularly feel like changing those in the driveway today.

Maybe I'll just get a rental car. That seems to be the theme of the week.

The Big Show

The SCCA Solo Nationals registration closes today at 11:59PM, Central time. 1139 entries are recorded as I write this, just 61 shy of the 1200 entry cap. Unbelievable. 29 are registered in ESP alone, up from a mere 23 last year.

I just hope I can trophy again. :)

The Great Escape

Just got the word that I'm being allowed to take a few days off to go to the SCCA Solo Nationals (and drive my car home).

Now, to figure out this spastic hesitation and random no-start situation!

Beneath the Glass Ceiling

Saturday morning came too soon. After two full days of excitement and action, my legs were aching, and I had bruises all over from getting banged around in ill-fitting roller coaster harnesses and from the late night karting. I really just wanted to sleep in, but I needed to get to the site and change tires and walk the course and do the hardship runs.

I knew the gates opened at 6:30, and I'd told McCance I'd be there when the gates opened, so I was rolling out of the hotel at 6 to get gas and some water on the way. When I arrived, there was already a line to get in, including several others who, for better reasons than mine, didn't make the Friday portion. Eventually, I made it up to the gate, flashed my hard card and then McCance shows up, asking for a ride over to the paddock. He'd left his ride (a beautiful Harley) on site because of the rain, so I guess he just got dropped off at the gate to wait for my arrival.

We got the tires changed, the car cleared out and walked the course twice each side before learning that they were doing a "split" for the hardship runs. Half of the drivers would work while the others took their two runs, and then we'd switch. I was with the first twelve, so Greg went out to work. My first run, on the left, was ugly, a mid 31s run after I parked it to avoid a cone at the finish. The gate at the end of the course was super tight, and I'd underestimated just how much so it was. Slowing down before the finish netted me a mid 29s run on the right, which was reasonable, if not respectable for a first run and green course.

In the midst of this, I was talking with Shawn Alexander, and I discovered the real reason why McCance switched rides. Another ESP driver, Dave Heinrich, had just installed headers on his Boss 302 Mustang, but didn't have time to get the car tuned before the event. Knowing that he could drive my car, Greg had offered up his seat in Shawn's Mustang to Dave so that Dave could stay in class. Shawn found out about the change when he arrived on site on Friday. Knowing the background, I felt a lot better it.

Greg's hardship runs were barely better than mine, as he double-coned a decent run and then had a respectable showing on the opposite side. His cones made it so that he would be the second driver in the upcoming heat, which was probably to his advantage.

Junior makes notes prior to his runs : "Step 1: Destroy the WRX. Step 2: Destroy the Talon."

I was paired up with Mike "Junior" Johnson for my first set of regular runs in heat two. Sam Krauss -- NO RELATION -- was leading with Shawn in second. Charles Moss and Dave were ahead of me in the standings, but, like McCance, were second drivers.

I've never finished ahead of Junior, and I was a little annoyed by him jumping into ESP despite having the SSP Corvette on site. I know SSP didn't have a class, so I don't exactly blame him for not wanting to run in the bump class. Still, I was surprised after our four runs to only be 0.08s behind him, and outright beating him on the right side course. In fact, after my runs, I was fourth, though I figured I'd be moved down at least one position after Greg's runs. I had left a lot on the left course, as I'd driven distracted on my last run due to the oil pressure gauge reading lower than usual; at least I think it was lower than usual. It didn't work at all at the DC ProSolo, and I don't remember looking at it during Packwood.

McCance in my car for the first time since Toledo Pro 2009

Greg checked the oil level before his runs, and it was fine, so he jumped in and immediately shot up to 2nd in the standings, merely 0.032s behind Sam. He was satisfied with the car's setup, so we didn't change anything, and my single driver plan of "set the pressures 2psi low and don't mess with them" worked for both of us.

Because of the "restructuring" of the event schedule, we weren't sure if we'd have to run again in the afternoon, but it turned out that they only got through shift B (my work assignment) before calling it a day. We wouldn't be first off in the morning -- a good thing, as green as Toledo's concrete can be -- and depending on how the Challenge worked out, it could be an early end to Sunday. 

The ESP grid on Sunday morning was, as Brian Burdette put it, "a familiar sight."

AWD pwns the competition at a ProSolo

Also familiar was the fact that the Talon didn't show up until moments before grid was about to DSQ Sam's first runs. While the rest of us speculated whether the car had spontaneously combusted in paddock, Sam said they had just been running late. Pat likes to point out that the Talon did break at the Dover SuperShootout without even turning a wheel, so maybe the truth was somewhere in the middle, who knows.

Sam started off by dropping 0.3s on the left, while McCance slowed down. Knowing how Sam choked at the NJ ProSolo last year, I was kind of hoping for the same deal this time around, so I tried to give McCance some encouragement. Instead, he coned a beaut of a 28.054 that would have moved him into the lead. Fortunately, Sam was busy taking a red light on the right side. They crossed over for the final two runs, and McCance grabbed 0.3s on his right side, but Sam dropped to a 28.0 of his own, extending his lead. One run left, and if McCance could match or exceed his previous run, but clean, he still had a chance.

He backed off on the run, just enough that he couldn't catch Sam. He knew it too. Was it the cone on the previous run? Were the tires overheated? Who knows. Sam coned a wicked 27.7 on the right, leaving McCance 0.287s off the pace with second drivers, including me, to go.

I wasn't nervous, I wasn't anxious at all, and that should have been my first warning sign that I wasn't going to do what I needed to do. I had been pretty meh about the competition all weekend, despite my best attempts to get amped for it. Yeah, I walked the courses, watched the fast guys from other classes (especially Super Stock; what a battle!!), and I still just sat in the car before pulling to the line and didn't think about how to improve. Oh, I knew what I needed to do. But unlike some past events, where I'd literally sit and visualize how to do it, I just sat there and stared over the hood of the car. I just wasn't mentally in the game.

Starting off on the left -- my bad side -- I had a good launch, and immediately dropped almost 0.2 from the start. It helps not having cold tires. I swapped sides, and dropped less than a tenth. Back over to the left, and I just went into full-on stupid mode by being too tentative going through the Chicago box before the sweeper, and then got late through the offsets coming back. No improvement, and meanwhile, both Charles and Dave had gotten by me, even if I had taken advantage of Junior's inability to go faster.

One last shot on the right, with nothing to lose.

Another 0.2s improvement, enough to bump me ahead of Shawn and stay in fifth spot.

Overall, the car handled and launched great (we were launching around 5K again, like at Packwood). My 60fts were solidly 1.8s, while McCance had a few 1.7s (keep in mind that these aren't necessarily equivalent to Packwood, since the measurements to the 60ft mark may not be precise). With the higher launch RPM, I wasn't having issues off the line, and McCance adapted to the lack of launch control on my car very quickly. The Competition Clutch seemed to bear no ill effects from Packwood's miscues on the launch, and I don't believe either of us thought the car couldn't do the job.

We waited in impound for over an hour before results finally came out, showing the final breakdown. Grady told us that only Sam was being kept, so the sad procession to paddock commenced, and we changed tires and I loaded all of my crap into the car. I went to grab a BBQ sandwich before hitting the road, and while waiting in line, Howard Duncan was announcing the Super Challenge qualifiers.

Mark Daddio was the top qualifier, and Sam was merely 22nd. It's funny that with a similar margin of victory to what I had at Packwood, Sam was so far back, but we had a lot fewer classes at Packwood, where I qualified 11th. So, Howard reaches the end of the list, then says, "It sounds like Marc Pfannenschmidt's left, so that moves Greg McCance into the 32nd qualifier spot."

I must have rolled my eyes so hard they almost popped out of my head. Seriously? He was the 33rd qualifier -- and they had to have known that when results came out -- and we were released from impound. Awesome. I got my sandwich and stalked to the trailer, where I told Sandi Brown that it was a shame McCance was told he wasn't being held and so we left impound and already changed tires. She glared at me and asked, "Well, is he running?" I was incredulous. I repeated that we'd already packed the car, and I was ready to leave, and she just said, "Well, if he isn't running, let me know so I can let someone else in."

I didn't want to make the decision for him, and if I stayed in the trailer another moment, I was going to say something I'd probably regret, so I walked out, looking for McCance, and he was actually walking towards the trailer. I told him that he would be allowed to run, if he wanted. He balked -- as he is prone to do -- but ultimately decided to do it. I poked my head into the trailer to tell Sandi, then we went back to the car, and starting throwing stuff out, bolted the tires back up and put it in impound. Meanwhile, Sam drives by and says, "I told you to leave my backup car!" a reference to how he jumped into my car for the Challenge at DC.

McCance vs. Fenter, a blast from the STX past

So, in the end, the Challenge was pretty anticlimatic for my car. The pairing was versus Chris Fenter, who'd destroyed CS, and when McCance referred to him as "The Machine," I had to wonder if he'd already psyched himself out. They pull to the line, indicated their readiness, Fenter leaves and then McCance redlights with a whopping 0.375. He hadn't redlit all weekend, and in fact had pretty conservative lights during competition. Again, my car doesn't even complete a full round at a Toledo Pro Challenge in the hands of Greg McCance. But, in consolation, Chris Fenter does go all the way to the final round, where he ultimately loses to Jason Burns. And, probably more importantly, I was still able to drive my car home.

We change tires once more, put all my accessory crap back in the car again, and then it was time to head home. The car decided to start with its "random no start" stuff again on the way back, so it's currently buried in the driveway until I have time to take it to IAG for diagnosis (and for when they have time to diagnose it, considering they are swamped with work). Fred thinks it might be a fuel pump on the way out, which would be awesome (NOT), considering I've done a fuel pump in both Camaros in the past year already. I guess it could be an epidemic; is the Lightning next?

Depending on when the car gets looked at, diagnosed and fixed, I could be done for a while. It also depends on how this meeting with my principal goes on Monday and whether or not he'll let me go to Nationals. I found a good substitute (not my #1 choice, but still a very good one) yesterday, so I have my fingers crossed.

You Always Remember....

It's so cliche. "You always remember your first." But, more so than the D Stock Ladies National Championship, more so than the E Street Prepared Ladies National Championship, I will remember my first open class trophy at the SCCA Solo National Championships as being one of the most incredible times in my autocrossing career.

It was only seventh in ESP. It was the last trophy position in the class. But, to me, it finally validates my driving in a way two ladies class championships and too many times on the bubble never could. 

trophy and picture (picture from Rupert Berrington Photography)

Let's rewind to the Friday after the Packwood ProSolo. I'd left my car at IAG Performance because the timing belt was about to fail -- talk about excellent timing! -- and so my departure to the Northeast Divisional Championships was being delayed. A couple of my west coast friends, especially Kevin Dietz and Mike Lillejord, had encouraged me to at least ask my principal about taking off time for the SCCA Solo Nationals. I was skeptical, because he hadn't seemed very keen on my going out last year, but I told them I'd at least ask.

I emailed my resource teacher first, to see if she had a feel for whether he'd approve it or not. I knew she'd let me go, but she wasn't the one who had to give final approval. Her response was, "If you're going to ask, you'd better ask today, since he'll be on vacation all next week." Crap. The last day for "early" registration (ie., $150 vs. $300) was that day, and I really wasn't prepared to ask. This was worse than asking Joel Fehrman about codriving Stompy, and that took an entire six-pack. Feeling sick to my stomach with nervousness, I crafted an email (which included a link to the "Why We Go" post on SoloMatters) and sent it. About an hour later, I got a response asking me to clarify which days I was actually asking for, and I emailed back, "Just Thursday and Friday." Shortly thereafter, he said, "Then I support your time off. Good luck."

I was incredulous, and so needed to find a sub, someone to take my car out, a flight, and a rental car, ASAP. When I got to NEDivs, I mentioned the need for a driver, and both Dan Shalkowski and Jeff Hurst said they might be able to do it. In the end, Dan's the one who took the car out.

Wednesday, August 31, I left work at 2:30, got home to finish up a few domestic duties and then drove the green terror to the airport to catch my flight. As usual, I was in and through security in about 15 minutes, and so proceeded to kill time on my phone until the flight. Having the inflight WiFi was pretty cool and got me another FourSquare badge.

about 40000 feet, on the way to Milwaukee

the "mile high" badge on foursquare :)

We landed in Milwaukee ahead of schedule, and I checked in with the gate attendant to find out that the second part of my journey was on a "regional jet." This would be a plane that would test my ability to deal with confined spaces. Fortunately, it was only half full, so everyone had their seat and space next to them. I slept for about 30 minutes, and as usual, the descent woke me up. I staggered into Omaha Eppley's terminal, blinking furiously to clear off my contact lenses, and encountered Mark Davis and Brian Larose, who were fresh from Lincoln. Evidently, Mark's girlfriend was on the same flight I had been.

I grabbed my craptastic rental car (a Hyundai Accent with rock-like seats), and headed to Lincoln and blessed sleep. While Pat had tracked down where Dan paddocked the WRX and changed the tires, the car still needed to be teched, and I needed to register and walk the course. I went to sleep probably around 1AM local time (after being up at 5AM Eastern time), and the alarm went off waaaay too early at 5AM.

Got the numbers on the car, and crap cleared out and into the rental, then took it to a nearby gas station to get the fuel level up to where it needed to be. Instead of going for the 95 octane at the Harley dealer, I just went for close and cheap and, yeah, sucked it up with 91 octane. Anxiety was setting in, and I wanted to make sure I got two course walks. I was happy to see Nancy and Mari at the registration area at 6:50, so got checked in, then waited 10 minutes at tech before anyone could look at the car. I took it straight to grid and walked twice.

We were on the West Course (designed by Kevin Youngers) first, and even though I'd been in town less than 12 hours, I'd already heard unflattering things about it. Sure enough, the first half of the course was comprised of fairly tight slaloms (wall-loms) and offsets before it opened up into a "regular" course. I'd been warned by a couple of people to recognize that the start lights were pretty far from the staging line, and if I gave it up a little bit before the lights, I wouldn't push out too much into the first slalom.

I have no idea where the moth came from, but it wasn't in the car when I left it with Dan.

ESP was in the second heat, and I was the fourth car off. It was funny that after me, in quick succession, was the rest of the DC area crowd -- Adam George (codriving with "Big" Mike Snyder in Strano's Mustang) was fifth, Pat was sixth and Brian Burdette was ninth. Some people like to play the numbers game and run as close to 99 as possible, especially at Nationals, but with the exception of Adam (because he was codriving this time), we all stuck with our usual numbers (me = 34, Snyder = 41 (141), Pat = 59 and Burdette = 75).

So, my first run was less than awe-inspiring. I was literally winded after making it through the wall-loms and into the five-cone slalom that marked the beginning of the "fun" part of the course. I did exactly what Strano told me not to do in the showcase sweeper, and turned in too early because of the trick cone, but the rest of the course (the last fourth?) was okay. I knew several places I could improve, and my 71.7 was quite poor in the big scheme. Pat was sitting pretty with a run that was 3rd quickest. Lots of people had cones, though my time was slow enough that several of those with cones were still beating me.

I tried to give it up a little more through the start lights on my second run, but I was carrying more speed due to a harder launch, and I still pushed out a little bit. I tried to be tighter on the cones through the first section, because I wasn't going to gain anything significant on speed, just on minimizing real estate. I saw the trick cone in the showcase, and wasn't fooled, gave up a bit too much at the bottom of what some people called the "banana", and came in with a 1.3s improvement. Back to the bubble.

So, third runs come up, and I launch hard, and push out into the opening slalom. Gahhh! I rein it back in and try to recover. The showcase feels good; I don't get fooled this time either. I dive harder into the end part of the banana, and then I see it, like Launcelot finding the Holy Grail.

Downed cone. Corner worker backing away frantically, knowing she can't get it before I get there.

I stop briefly and yell, "Thank you!!" while pointing at the cone, then take off again at about 80-85% so that I don't give Adam a rerun. Everyone in grid knows I just got the bonus round, and as I pop the hood, Courtney Cormier (ASP National Champ!!) is bringing Pat's spray bottle over and checking my tires. He sprays the fronts as I pull a psi or two out, Jay Storm is keeping tabs on the hood, and then I get the call to go to the line.

A gotcone.com photo from the West Course.

I correct my understeer from the start, and drive a little harder into the banana, while checking up just before tagging the outside cone at the end of the element. I manage to look a little further ahead into the final two sections, and make it even smoother than before, and the final time... 69.328, another 1.1s improvement. I know I left a lot on the table, but when the results come out and show me in 7th and final trophy spot, I'm kind of happy. Madarash, of course, is leading.

"Kind of" because it's the same damned spot I seem to be in when I run open class every year. "Kind of" because less than 1 minute after I look at those results, all of a sudden, "revised" results come out, and I'm in 8th.

I'm confused, and then I see Mark Walker has moved up to fourth, because where there had been two cones on his third run, now there are none. I am not happy, since I stopped for one of those cones, and I tell him as much. He seems a little less sure that his third run was clean after I say something to him, but he doesn't talk to the chief steward to tell this, and many people in the class aren't aware of the revision, much less why there was a change. I'm hoping for integrity to prevail, since he did seem a bit less sure his run was clean after I talked to him, and I can't believe the fates would let me be behind someone who knowingly hit a cone again (after Dale Klein knowingly coned his dry run on the South Course and I finished behind him, one out of the trophies), so I don't pursue the issue.

Our nemesis, class leading car owned by Mark Madarash.

Jason Kolk and Dave Heinrich aren't so nice though. After seeing the corner logs clearly displaying two cones (one of which was the one I stopped for), and no ambiguity in who hit the cones, they track down the girl who was backing away from the cone when I had to stop, as well as the corner chief, and in the end, the cones are added back to Walker's final run, putting him back in 9th position for the start of the second day. Not everyone knew that the cones had been put back on, including me.

Thursday night festivities included beer (of course), some of Shuman's carne asada at the ATL... uh, SEDiv tent, foursquare and just chilling with friends old and new. The new divisional tent idea was kind of cool, except that the Great Lakes and Southwest tents were so far away from the Southeast tent that it was difficult to interact with multiple people. Many went over to the SWdiv area for Bigwheel ProSolo, while others were at GLDiv for a cookout there.

I was pretty tired after an extremely long day on Wednesday, and so we headed back to the hotel "early." Granted, I still didn't go to sleep until close to 1AM, and I'd only done one course walk on Andy Hollis's East Course, so I wanted to be there early to walk at least twice again, which meant another day of 4-5 hours of sleep.

Brad Owen's '06 WRX.

PJ Corrales had warned me about the "boxes" on this course, and not to be greedy with them, while Matthew Braun came over to tell me his ideas on making it through this course's showcase sweeper. I was trying to internalize all of this when the start of the second heat came, all too soon.

My first run was, again, less than awe-inspiring; a 66.3 just wasn't going to get it done. I'd launched way too softly, was way too tentative in too many places, and just left a ton on the table. It was as if I was trying to sabotage myself and my attempt to get into the trophies. I picked a couple of spots to try to maximize my improvements (including the start, which Sammy yelled at me about, transmission be damned), and set out on run #2 to get it done.

A 1.3s improvement after charging harder from the get-go. The 65.082 didn't make me happy, especially knowing I'd left time everywhere, and in fact, my Facebook status reflected that I wanted even more time on my third run. I was still on the cusp of a trophy, and I knew there was still time out there that could be mine.

The Merideth Mustang and Heinrich's Boss (codriven by Jason Kolk)

My third run, I gave it everything, and I pushed out in the showcase sweeper, almost tagged a cone in the boxes, and then everything went to hell. As I made the right hand turn toward the finish run, I heard something in the rear, and just wondered. Then, on the brakes and tossing the car into the finish "bus stop," I heard it again, and got scared. When the car stepped out on me, I didn't even fight it to keep it off the cones, as I was more worried that I had an axle that had given up the ghost, like Martin Kriz at the Atlanta Tour. In fact, I had Andrew Howe listening to the rear end as I came back to my grid spot, but he pronounced it "okay." The time wasn't there anyway, as much as it felt like it, and while some people were already congratulating me on a trophy position, there were still two people behind me that had more than enough on me after the first day, they were very likely to get by me on their last runs.

bumper covers don't like hitting four cones in quick succession at 50+ mph.

So, it was with extreme apprehension that I watched Mike Snyder (who was sitting in 6th after the first day) and Kent Kroll (who was third after the first day) take their last runs. Sean O'Gorman was standing with me, letting me know that Snyder needed a "mid 65" run to get by me, but he didn't tell me what Kent needed. Both Mike and Kent were on the course at the same time, and my eyes are scanning back and forth to watch both of them so rapidly that I probably looked like I was experiencing vertigo. Snyder crossed with a 65.7.... enough for 8th, as Heyward announced, and twenty seconds later, Kent and his broken shock crossed with a 65.9... and when Heyward said that I had won my first open class trophy and Sean congratulated me, I told him, "No. I want to see the final results. And then I'll wait another 30 minutes until they are final."

And that's what I told everyone, because I didn't believe it. And when the finals came out, and they were final -- no weird revisions moments after I saw them -- that's when the tears of happiness started to fall. Heyward wanted me to come over to the announce vehicle to talk, so I pulled myself together enough to sound coherent on the mic, and thank Burdette and Snyder and Adam and Pat for the competition to make me better all year. And then Heyward turned the mic over to Raleigh Boreen (who was happy for me, but wished I'd done it in Pat's purple Camaro), and he cried too. He knows how hard it is to get a trophy, especially when it's "expected" of you, and he was honored to be the one who got to present me with that trophy later on at the awards banquet.

Parking in between BSP Champ Corey Ridgick and SMF Champ Brian Karwan had to help, right?

Ten tries in open class, and I finally did it. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen. I still find it sort of surreal. :)

I pinched my arm, and the trophy was still there.

And now... what to do to make the car better for next year? For one... maybe I'll get new tires just before Nationals instead of "making do" with last year's tires. As for the rest... well, there are more suspension bushings, and I guess I should do a lightweight battery. And maybe get rid of the rear wing? It's a street prepared car... it's always a work in progress, right?

I'm gonna need more than a snarky magnet to stay ahead of the DC guys in the future.

Final results are up on SCCA.com.

Rockin' in the Land of Red

It's been three weeks now since I've returned from the 2010 SCCA TireRack Solo Nationals, bitterly disappointed in my tenth place finish in ESP. The car is back at IAG Performance to fix its current ills, and I contemplate what I want to do going forth.

The trek began five weeks ago when Eric Kriemelmeyer, Josh Luster and Shane Chinonn-Rhoden showed up to caravan out. Eric and Pat were trailering the BS Solstice GXP, Josh and Shane were trailering the STU STi, and I was driving the ESP WRX. Yeah, the Street Prepared car was being driven to the event, while the Street Touring and the Stock classed cars were being trailered. Since Eric needed to replace a steering stabilizer on his truck, we didn't leave until close to 2PM instead of the noon we'd originally been striving for.

Twenty-three hours later, we pulled into the paddock area for the Nationals and carved out our spaces; Pat, Eric, Josh and Shane in the WDCR paddock, and myself hanging with the ATL crowd by "the tent."

For the rest of the story, I'm just going to post what I did on NASIOC. I'm still quite bummed about the experience this year, and I will likely expand on my journey later, when I'm not quite so bitter about how I did.

from a post on NASIOC

Hard to believe that the SCCA Solo Nationals were three weeks ago, and we're now in the unofficial "off season" of autocross.

I ran ESP open this year, after winning the ESPL National Championship in 2009. I'd done well enough the week before at a local event in Toledo (8/29) and at a local DC event (8/15) that I figured I'd have a good chance at my long-sought goal of an open class trophy at Nationals. I'd hoped to have a co-driver, even though we were running fourth heat, but the stars didn't align for that. I almost ended up with Sam Krauss in my car after Charles Moss's Talon blew a turbo on the practice course on Monday, but they did a banzai run to Omaha to pick up a junkyard turbo and managed to get the car in grid just seconds before Tuesday runs started.


My first run on Tuesday was on sticker Hoosiers, and I managed to nearly miss second gear when I shifted. It ended up being my fastest run after I completely boned my second run and then got all tentative on my third.


After the first day, I'd be 0.019s out of trophies in 9th spot. Mark Madarash was leading by a good bit, over Sam Krauss in the Talon. McCance and Brooks would be in solid trophy spots, though Madarash's lead was certainly intimidating.

I was upset with myself though. I'd left a lot of time out there on my first run, only to throw it all away on the subsequent two. Hearing the hated, "You'll do it tomorrow," only made me feel worse. I always heard that when I ran FS, and I never did do it the next day.

I walked the West Course in the dark on Tuesday night. I needed to be alone to think about driving.

Tentatively hopeful on Wednesday, I started off with a moderate run to feel the course out (much like I did on the East Course). Like the day before, the car felt good, even on cold tires. I actually remembered to put the tire covers Terry Baker had lent to me on the tires right after my run (unlike the day before), and I sat in the car and thought about where to improve.


Getting ready to head out for my second run, the car decides to throw a misfire code just as the grid worker gestures to me to pull up to the staging line. I call for a mechanical time out, pull out the Cobb AP and look at the codes. Misfire on cylinders 2 and 4. :huh: I clear them, wait about 30 seconds and then start the car up again. It's running like crap, obviously misfiring. I pull codes again -- misfires on 2 and 3 this time. Billy's taken his second run at this point, so he comes over and looks at some stuff with the AP. His unofficial diagnosis is a coil pack going bad. I'm just mad at the car at this point, and I really don't have any options since most of the cars in the class are two-driver cars. I decide to go out and take my run anyway.




The motor didn't let go, and I dropped about 0.6s on the run. The car is still running terribly at this point, and pulling codes a third time gives misfires on cylinders 1 and 2.

I go and take my third run, dropping a little more (about a half second), and sitting in the eighth spot at that moment. It was short lived. Despite Drew Little also having issues with his car (starter, codes, etc.), he managed to get past me on his last run, and Jason Kolk got by us both. Kolk took the last trophy while Drew finished 0.019s back (yep, the same margin I had the day before). I was another 0.27 behind Drew, in tenth.

I was bitterly disappointed with my finish, and despite the fact that I know they mean well by it, hearing people tell me, "You'll get it next year" actually brought me to tears before I even left impound. I've heard that so many times -- just as many times as I've heard "You'll do it tomorrow" after the first day -- that I just don't believe it any more.


Of course, the car had one last little surprise for me later that day, as Pat and I headed over to the awards ceremony that neither of us really wanted to attend, but had to go to since he was one of the announcers. As I merged onto I-80 towards downtown Lincoln, the clutch slipped. By the time we were ready to head home on Friday, it was almost insufferable to drive in the higher gears. Two years of ProSolos and regular autocrosses was always the limit with the stock Camaro clutches, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

So, the car's back at the shop, getting the clutch replaced and the misfires diagnosed. Where do I go from here? Good question. If the 2011 National Championships are indeed the week before Labor Day, I don't think I can go, as it'll be the first week of school. If I do go, I'll have to fly out and likely back, and that means I need a more reliable codriver who isn't going to leave me wondering how to get the car out there. Maybe I just need to drive something else and not worry about my own car. I don't know right now. :(

It's still early in the off-season.

At least it's almost the NHL season, so I can take my mind off things.

The Good Life

Nebraska is the home of Arbor Day. Welcome to Nebraska, from the Wyoming side
And, for the foreseeable future, Nebraska is also the home to the SCCA Solo Nationals, which is where I spent most of the second week of September.

The car arrived on site on Monday, and Shawn turned it over to the capable hands of Billy Brooks and Greg McCance to figure out why there was a persistent drip from the front passenger side axle. The Mfactory front differential had been a difficult install, and I suspected that there may have been a resulting issue with the axle seal. However, the two of them could not get the axle out in order to see what was going on. Since there hadn't been enough of a loss of diff oil to register on the dipstick, it was decided to just drive the car as it was.

Wednesday morning came way too early for my liking, as I'd spent most of the previous evening getting ready. My suitcase had been packed with the car, so I didn't need to do laundry and the like, but I still had to decide what I was bringing with me as my carry-on. Ninety minutes of sleep also wasn't a good idea, but I was too anxious over the whole trip to go to sleep. I left the house around 4:20, and after some side trips, parking, the shuttle bus ride and "re"printing my boarding passes, I got to security around 5:00. I was through security around 5:02. Gotta love BWI at god-awful hours.

I spent a miserable hour or so at St. Louis waiting for the second leg of my flight. I was pretty much bored out of my skull the entire time, to the point that I paid $5 for an hour of WiFi time, just so I could at least do something. Oh, and on both flights, I found myself unable to fall asleep until the descent had begun. Major suckage, which continued with the rental car pickup -- bright yellow Aveo with a bent rim. Joy.

An hour drive to the site, and all was well through MM399. Between MM399 and MM395, it started misting, then a light rain, and by the time I'd driven down 48th to the turnoff for the site, it was a downpour. WTF? It had been sunny in Omaha! The rain stopped shortly after I arrived, even as I parked the rental near the WRX and started looking for people. It wasn't hard to find anyone; it was actually hard to walk more than five feet and not get hailed by someone asking, "Did you just get here?" Why, yes, I just arrived 3 minutes ago.

I got through registration (thanks, Connie, for the rulebook!), and said hello to John Thomas (who was driving his FP Datsun) and Steve Mieritz (who was driving, of all things, an SS Z06), the latter whom I hadn't seen in years! I puttered around for a while then was told in no uncertain terms that the car "needed to be teched." When I deigned to ask why it hadn't been teched in the 2+ days it had been on the site, I got yelled at. I grabbed the keys and took the damned thing to the tech area before they closed. Don't know why I bothered, since it was Corey Ridgick and Jon Krolewicz on the job.... I'm not sure they really looked at it. ;)photo by Danny Kao
So, once competition was done for the day on the West course, we waited (impatiently, I might add) for the abomination known as the CP parade to finish (some people didn't know to avert their eyes.... I hear their sight is just now returning! :o ), then I did a quick course walk so I had an idea of what I was going to be driving the next day. I was still too tired to really process it much, but I also needed to get over to the awards ceremony to help Rupert Berrington with photographs. I figured I was clean enough to be presentable, and jetted off to downtown Lincoln.

I was dying of hunger by the end of it all, and ended up getting to the hotel with nothing to eat until the next morning when I grabbed some disgusting roller-grill things at the local convenience store. I really wanted to walk the course at least twice in the morning, now that I had a few hours of sleep, but I was still in pseudozombie mode, and I didn't really pick up on important stuff during my walks.

Chris Cline had jumped into my car for Nationals, since his other ride offers consisted of FWD, FWD and more FWD. Considering he's been driving an STX E36 BMW the last two years, he wasn't exactly looking for a FWD Civic or CRX. He'd called me on Monday to discuss driving the WRX, and we come to an amenable agreement for the ride. He didn't get a chance to drive it besides taking it up the road for a fill-up with 100 octane, so his first real experience was the first run. Pat followed up with a decent run that would have had him deep in the trophies, except as is too normal for him, he'd coned.

The next run, Chris was a bit faster, and Pat tried to tone things down just to get a clean run in. I don't know what he did, but the resulting time was slow. It was clean though, and that was a start.

Then third runs.... Chris went a bit faster -- good. Pat started off great, then about two-thirds of the way through the course, through the showcase turn...
I just turned around and started to walk away, then I remembered I should warn Chris not to even think about going to the grid spot. Sure enough, Pat needed.... "time" to decompress. I felt bad, but I couldn't dwell on it. I needed to start thinking about my runs.

I got one walkthrough during the break between heats two and three, and then I waited through the slightly-less-than-a-billion STS first drivers before I got to run. There were merely three of us in ESPL -- me, defending ESPL champion Lorien Feighner, and Hilary Anderson in McCance's car -- which meant it was "win or go home" in terms of trophies and tire contingency. Just a tiny bit of pressure.
photo by GotCone.com
My first run was all over the place. I don't think having my last autocross attempt be an RX8 on A3S03s was a good idea. Still, it was a tick faster than Feighner's first run (less than a tenth), even if it was a lot slower than I would have liked. My second run, I pushed it a bit harder through the opening offsets, and up into the showcase. I thought I might have coned coming out of the big sweeper, but nothing was called, and I'm glad I resisted the urge to glance in the mirrors.

The run was minutely quicker than my first, and it would ultimately stand as my best, as I coned my third run in the opening offsets. Lorien slowed down on her second run, and coned her third as well. I would have a 0.295 lead going into day 2.
photo by GotCone.com
Some alcohol and foursquare with the Atlanta Region would ensue in the evening hours, and finally, I decided that sleep would be good. I think we might have made a run to Taco Bell for some kind of snackery, but OMG was I tired. I realized quickly that I had to spend pretty much all day in my grid, with Pat and Chris running first heat, me covering AS and GSL for SportsCar in the second heat, running third heat, sitting around for an hour in impound waiting for results during fourth heat, and then announcing during fifth heat. It made for a long day, but when I was done, I did get a walkthrough on the East Course before the foursquare began.

I started off the second day in a similar manner to the first, except one of my course walks was with Anthony Savini, a local who drives a supercharged Mini Cooper S in GS. He was leading GS by a scant 0.09 going into the second day, but he's also an Evolution instructor, and he went into instructor mode while we were walking. It was something I needed, with my addled sleep-deprived brain needing something to focus on during my driving.

Pat and Chris were well out of the trophies going into the second day, so they were both trying to salvage their respective prides with some decent times on the Feldpusch-designed course. Pat's third run was 0.4 behind local driver (and trophy winner) Brian Burdette, so I think he felt better about how he did. Chris didn't improve every run like he did on the first day, but he was driving the car harder, to the point that he actually coned his final run (which had his fastest raw time, unfortunately).

I got one walkthrough during the break, like before, and as Pat and I approached the start line, I asked Billy Brooks to join us. Pat decided to take offense at this, and walked away. So, even as Billy and I are walking, and Billy is telling me what he was doing in any particular area, I'm worried about how Pat is mad at me, so ultimately, I don't think my attempt at getting input from two people really helped. I would end up falling back on the advice Savini had given me during the morning walk.

My first run, I had a front row seat for Lorien's first cone of two. Seeing her cone made me relax -- probably a bit too much -- since I knew she wouldn't catch me on that run. Her time was a mid 60 second run, while mine was about 1.5 second slower, raw. It was a wake up call, but I was still hitting snooze, since with one look at the course and a driving pattern "set," I wasn't sure what I should do in order to rectify my sluggishness. photo by Aaron Boltman
It didn't help that we had a huge delay before our next runs, due to two GP cars breaking, then an STS car breaking. Yikes. Multi-car breakage when you're driving an *SP WRX is a bit unnerving.

Fortunately, Lorien slowed down on her second run -- by a lot. She went almost a second slower on raw time, while I dropped 0.7. I was still in the lead, though I wouldn't say "comfortably." If she was even 0.3 off her initial raw time, she would be beating me -- that's how slow I was running. photo by Aaron Boltman
The last run, I really don't know what I was doing to prepare. The lack of sleep and the anxiety of not having much in the way of downtime was starting to wear on me. I really couldn't think of a plan to go faster; this was the same situation I found myself in for the previous day. I knew I could go much faster, since Pat had run in the 59s. Hell, even Cline had a raw time in the mid-60s. Yet, I was sitting on a 61.2. I just was at a loss of what to do, and I felt it all slipping away when I pulled up to the line.

You can hear me cursing through the "wall-lom" about two thirds of the way through the course. I am so late on those elements, it's disgusting, and I know it. The funny thing is that in my mind, what I said was a lot louder, and a lot faster. Weird. The run was marginally faster than the second run, but either one was good enough for the win, as Lorien went even slower on her third run. More than an hour later, results were finally handed to us in impound (after having to fix an issue with Hilary's times), and I was declared the new champion.

Now for the "but" part. Pat ran 1.5 seconds faster than me on the East Course. 1.5. I can't remember the last time he legitimately drove 1.5 seconds faster than me when we were in the same car (I'm not counting the abortion called the WDCR Practice Event with me in his SE-R). Generally, we're pretty close, at least on raw time, and I was pretty flustered that he was so much quicker than me on both courses (raw time -- he had to sit on a run 0.2 slower than me on the West Course due to his conage). photo by Aaron Boltman
I'm not sure if the issue is me still driving the car like a DS car, or what. I just know it's got to stop. I drove like crap at Toledo, and I drove like crap at Nationals. I didn't feel nearly as bad about my driving at the DC Pro, but I'm sure it could have been better there too.

So, I'm the newly crowned ESPL National Champion, thanks in huge part to IAG Performance, Vorshlag Motorsports, and Billy Brooks with MODERacing. As for next year, we'll see where the WRX goes from here.

The Short Story

It was a tough battle, but me and my WRX came out on top. More when I get home from Lincoln.

Lock and Load

I picked up the WRX from IAG on Wednesday night, forgoing a Capitals season ticket holder event and another chance to skate for free at Kettler to do so. I wasn't particularly happy about having to do so, but it was either then, or wait until Friday, and I wanted the chance to put some miles on the new differentials before leaving the car with Shawn, the B-stock driver who was going to take the car out to Lincoln for me.

The Mfactory front differential is evidently not completely "plug-and-play" for the 2006 WRX. While Greg McCance had no issues with his 2002 car (which requires "axle stubs"), my car was a bit of a challenge. The guys are IAG were evidently having issues with getting the axles and the new front diff to cooperate. The rear Cusco diff was no problem at all.

Saturday morning, I dropped off Pat at BWI for his flight to Omaha, or, as he calls it, "The Homeland." His dad still lives in Omaha, and he is going to visit for a few days before heading to Lincoln. I came home, and started to clean and load the WRX for it's trip.
loading the WRX
I need a better vacuum. Between the vacuum at the local car wash and the attachments to the vacuum at home, I still couldn't get as much grime out of the car as I would like. It was a lot better than it was when I was done, in any case. I also washed the Rotas before putting them in.

I started all this around 9AM and by noon, I was grabbing a quick lunch and getting ready to head out the door. I touched base with Gabe, who would be picking me up at Potomac Mills, and with Shawn, the driver, and then I was on the road. 1:45, I was at Shawn's house, and then he took me over to the mall where I got to ride back to Gabe's apartment in the ghetto-fabulous DSP Maxima. Mary must really like him if she puts up with riding in the back of that car instead of insisting that he drive the M3!
tires in the car, and ass-kicking boots ready to be packed
Three hours later, I'd successfully navigated the Metro and Amtrak mazes, and had finished the 40 minute walk home from the BWI rental car building.

Shawn and his codriver/car owner Chike were leaving Sunday morning around 7AM, and I got a phone call about five hours into their trip. "Did you have any issues with the transmission leaking?"

I couldn't lie, especially considering how worried I am about my vehicles when others are driving them. "When I picked the car up on Wednesday, I was smelling gear oil after driving it. It didn't really leave any spots in the driveway, and I took it to a car wash to get the undercarriage cleaned off because I knew they'd had issues with the axles and there was likely gear oil spilt."

He told me that he'd looked underneath and there was a "steady drip." I clarified that it was a drip and not a flow and then told him I'd call JJ and find out what he thought. Shawn asked if he should wait for an answer, and I told him, "I didn't smell gear oil when I dropped it off, and if it's just dripping and there wasn't anything in your driveway after last night, I'm not going to worry about it. I will let you know what he says."
the larger of the spots in the driveway is visible here. it didn't seem significant until the phone call
JJ thought it might be the axle seal, possibly slightly damaged from the issues with getting the axles and the front diff to play nicely. I also called Billy Brooks, and conferred with him about what to do with the car once it got to Lincoln, as there were a couple of days before competition and even before Pat would want to drive it at the Evolution School Test-and-tune. I relayed the information to Shawn, and five-and-a-half hours after the initial call, he just checked in and said that the transmission dipstick is showing that the level is okay.

The car should be in Lincoln tomorrow morning. Billy and Greg (McCance) will look at it for me, and everything should be good to go.

In the meantime, @WDCRSoloNats is reporting via Twitter that Ian Baker won the Finale Hawk Super Challenge over Sam Strano, but Strano took the year-end Challenge win. Annie Bauer took the L2 win and therefore the L2 year-end win, as expected, despite some shifter linkage issues on the FSP car. Leslie Cohen won the Ladies Challenge for the event and for the year.

Maybe next year I'll revisit the ProSolo Finale. In the meantime, I've got some work to do in order to be prepared for the days I'll be gone.