As many of you know my car has been down since April of 2005 and as such I haven't done any racing. Recently a few guys I know started going SCCA Solo2 racing. I knew a few guys that have been doing it for a few years, but it never really interested me. I mean the thought of going around a parking lot avoiding cones didn't seem like much fun. Well, two weeks ago Troy (yeahloh95) went with his SVO and told me about how much fun it was and talked me into going. A few things came up and he wasn't able to make it so I tagged along in my wife's Mr2 Spyder with a few of the local import power hitters. Here's the cars I went with: (Troy can add more to what they have done as he is better friends with them than I am)
-Suby STi with a front mount, full exhaust, numerous bolt-ons est 350+hp
-Evo MR with a HKS turbo kit upgrade and more. est. 400+hp
-Evo with a Gt35R turbo upgrade, numerous bolt-ons est 400+hp
-Nissan Skyline GTR est 400hp
On the way there I kept telling these guys not to laugh at me if I sucked because I'm a staight line racer, not a brake and turn one. It was all I could do to keep up with them on the way to the race, I mean I was easily 200hp down from the next closest car as mine makes 138HP at the crank. When we got there I asked them if my car's tongue was still hanging out from trying to keep up.
So I get to the line and I start trembling like a leaf, I hadn't felt like this in a long time and it made me realize how much I liked racing. I asked my buddy Mike to go with me for the first two runs to give me some pointers and show me the lay out of the track. It was nearly a mile long course and NOTHING like I had expected. The thing was HUGE! I was hitting approx 60mph on the back stretch! I thought it'd be this little parking lot race between a few cones, boy was i wrong. It was still a race between cones but it definitely wasn't small. I took the first run easy and clicked off a 81.36 second run. the second and third run I was off coarse due to missing a gate (I know I'm a newbie!). The fourth run was clean but I pushed it too hard and tried to power through the coarse and ran a 78.563. On the last run I decided to try a little easier and tighter approach and it paid off with a 74.971, which had a PAX index of 60.951.
Here's how the rest of the guys did:
Sti- 77.323 PAX time of 65.183
Skyline- 77.072 PAX time of 67.900
Evo with GT35R- 76.752 PAX time of 64.855
Evo with HKS turbo kit- 75.450 PAX time of 63.755
For more results go here, I'm car 128:
http://www.scca-cpr.org/Files/archives/2006Results/2006FallEvent4.htm
Out of 10 competitors in street tire novice (STN) I ended up taking 2nd place and the Evo with the HKS kit took 3rd. Needless to say I was shocked at how well the little go-cart went. I don't know if it was beginners luck, the MR2's power to weight ratio, or my superb driving ability (yeah right!) but I couldn't believe I did as well as I did. I was also shocked at how much I liked this, or should I say LOVED this. This is defintiely more fun than drag racing and it has me re-thinking my plans for the car now. My '95 will never be much of a contender for this type of racing due to its big weight, small brakes, and lack of handeling suspension mods, but I'm defintiely going again when I get it on the road.
Here's the only pics I was able to take. The only car not pictured is the EVO with the Gt35R turbo.
-Suby STi with a front mount, full exhaust, numerous bolt-ons est 350+hp
-Evo MR with a HKS turbo kit upgrade and more. est. 400+hp
-Evo with a Gt35R turbo upgrade, numerous bolt-ons est 400+hp
-Nissan Skyline GTR est 400hp
On the way there I kept telling these guys not to laugh at me if I sucked because I'm a staight line racer, not a brake and turn one. It was all I could do to keep up with them on the way to the race, I mean I was easily 200hp down from the next closest car as mine makes 138HP at the crank. When we got there I asked them if my car's tongue was still hanging out from trying to keep up.
So I get to the line and I start trembling like a leaf, I hadn't felt like this in a long time and it made me realize how much I liked racing. I asked my buddy Mike to go with me for the first two runs to give me some pointers and show me the lay out of the track. It was nearly a mile long course and NOTHING like I had expected. The thing was HUGE! I was hitting approx 60mph on the back stretch! I thought it'd be this little parking lot race between a few cones, boy was i wrong. It was still a race between cones but it definitely wasn't small. I took the first run easy and clicked off a 81.36 second run. the second and third run I was off coarse due to missing a gate (I know I'm a newbie!). The fourth run was clean but I pushed it too hard and tried to power through the coarse and ran a 78.563. On the last run I decided to try a little easier and tighter approach and it paid off with a 74.971, which had a PAX index of 60.951.
Here's how the rest of the guys did:
Sti- 77.323 PAX time of 65.183
Skyline- 77.072 PAX time of 67.900
Evo with GT35R- 76.752 PAX time of 64.855
Evo with HKS turbo kit- 75.450 PAX time of 63.755
For more results go here, I'm car 128:
http://www.scca-cpr.org/Files/archives/2006Results/2006FallEvent4.htm
Out of 10 competitors in street tire novice (STN) I ended up taking 2nd place and the Evo with the HKS kit took 3rd. Needless to say I was shocked at how well the little go-cart went. I don't know if it was beginners luck, the MR2's power to weight ratio, or my superb driving ability (yeah right!) but I couldn't believe I did as well as I did. I was also shocked at how much I liked this, or should I say LOVED this. This is defintiely more fun than drag racing and it has me re-thinking my plans for the car now. My '95 will never be much of a contender for this type of racing due to its big weight, small brakes, and lack of handeling suspension mods, but I'm defintiely going again when I get it on the road.
Here's the only pics I was able to take. The only car not pictured is the EVO with the Gt35R turbo.