Can't wait to see your car on those nt03's. Good luck this year! :banana:

 

Over the winter I ordered some magnetic number panels. More on that later.

Also before my first event of the season I removed my rear seats, all unnecessary brackets and such in the back. I have yet to remove the 2 side seatbelt mechanisms. I have not figured out how to remove the side panels...yet.





Ok, 2010 CDC Event #1. This is what the parking lot looked like about a week before the event. That is a Audi A8 in the photo. Thats a lot of snow.

They managed to get the lot cleared, and mostly swept before we arrived the following weekend. I took a few pics at this event and you can see it was quite dusty. There were a lot of spins, and the first heat resembled a rallycross there was so much dust flying around. Here are some of the pics I took.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36845467@N05/

No one snagged a pic of me, and neither did I. lol.

I ran the 15's in the morning runs, this time trying 42psi in the front, and 32psi rear. I liked it a lot better than the higher rear psi stagger. I think this is really just a preference thing from all the people I have talked to. Afternoon runs I just decided to try the oem 16's with kumhos in the rear at 32psi. Although I netted my fastest time on the 6th and final run of the day. I attribute it to getting more comfortable with the course and car in general. I liked the way the car felt in the morning and bet I could have maybe got another tenth in the afternoon had I not changed tires. I dont think the shorter sidewalls + heavier rims helped any.

My Raw time was a 49.14.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tGB...amp;output=html

I am right on the heels of a 320+ hp tC with my raw time (he dropped a few places behind me in the Indexed times!). He has all seasons, full TRD suspension, quaife LSD i think, some one off sway bars, etcc. aka a lot of money invested. I hate to compare like that. He should be faster with some good sticky summer tires installed....but only if he can control his wheelspin. Regardless its interesting and encouraging to see that I can pick on some of the guys with deep pockets, with a mostly stock Accent.

Drag Racing is for fast cars. Autocross is for fast drivers.

 

QUOTE (omg grip @ Apr 6 2010, 08:20 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=310838

Drag Racing is for fast cars. Autocross is for fast drivers.

Love it!

 

2010 CDC Event #2

I turned off my alarm and slept in and almost got up too late to make it in time for tech inspection. This event was over an hour away from home. As a result of running out the door, I forgot my camera.
You can view some great pics by others here though, as usual.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/capitaldrivingclub/pool/

This event I stuck with the 15's all day. This is only my 2nd time at this venue. The lot eats up tires like crazy. My front tires were murdered in the afternoon and I will be getting a much needed alignment this saturday morning. I didnt really want to jack up my tire pressure before driving over an hour to the event, The gas station right at the entrance to the stadium didnt have a freakin air pump. Oops! Luckily my friend had a cigarette lighter powered air compressor that he was so gracious to let me borrow.

Morning runs i went with 42 psi front, 30 rear.
I netted my FTD (fastest time of the day) on my 3rd morning run. Here are some exclusive photos from the morning that my friend emailed me.

Holy moly. Is it really a suprise why the outside of my front tires are killed so bad? Danm MacPherson strut camber gain!

In the heat after mine I rode along with a really fast fellow in his Honda Civic. While this was great and all, and it was nice talking with him to get advice, In my afternoon runs, I spent my time focusing on trying to hit the same lines he was taking. Not a good idea I realised in retrospect....I think. I feel like that by trying to mimic the lines of his much better handling and accelerating car, I was costing myself way too much momentum in some areas of the course and it hurt my final time. I did not best my morning run.

My final Raw time was a 37.12. After watching heat 1 I figured If I broke 40 I would be doing ok. Imagine my suprise when I was in the 37-38 range all day.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tGB...6Slg&gid=22

This time I eeked out just ahead of the turbo TC. Also in the Small Bore Series, I beat the Honda Fit I was eagerly awaiting to try and compete against. Again, perhaps another unfair comparison.....I have a few years more experience autocrossing than he does....but he does have Z1 Star Specs to my DZ101s, wheels that are a few pounds lighter, and a Mugen suspension kit, all on what I believe is a base model fit, not the sport.


Check back this weekend for before, during, and after pics of the alignment at PTuning

 

I would love to get into something like this... I think I'll look into it and plan for next year. I fancy myself to be a pretty good driver, but I'd like to see how I stack up against people who really work at it.

 

Looks fun!

 

You are making me more impatience for this Sunday, shame on you!

Im getting some bushings for the trans and shift base, hopefully i'll get it by this weekend if not then i guess, i'll see whats the difference on the lot. wondering if they would make a big difference.

Today we are having a meeting before the event, hopefully i'll get my mind clear with all my questions and just focus on the event.

When is ur next event?

 

Autocross is cheap so if you want to try it find a local group!


My next autocross with CDC isnt until the early May. I may or may not try and squeeze one in with another local group between now and then. But it is a nice prospect having a few weeks off to do other things on the weekend.

Here is the aforementioned wheel refurbishing project. I was going to originally swap the oem tires and tpms to the wheels after I got them cleaned up, but now have decided against trying that. I dont want to risk breaking an expensive TPMS unit. I'll probably get another set of tires for these, save the oems for winter.

My girlfriend is looking at a new car soon, likely a new Fit sport automatic, so we will have plenty of 4x100 wheels to ***** around between us.


I think when I get my tax return in a few weeks, most will be put into savings, but a fraction will be put towards a DC Sports front strut brace. I have a K&N drop in filter on the way now courtesy of an Amazon.com gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket.

Haha, also I ordered my "OMG GRIP" license plates from the DMV. It was like $4 prorated. Nice.

 

Got my camber bolts installed and alignment done today. I used 1 Ingalls Fastcam adjuster on each front strut.

The shop was able to set my front camber to -2.1* on both wheels, and I had them set my front toe to 1/16" toe out. The car tracks straight as ****, feels good in turns but I have had hardly any time to really test it out yet. The pics speak for themselves on the difference though.



Before


After

 

well i was supposed to go to an autocross this morning but made the decision late last night to just sleep in. life's been hectic the past few weeks.

anyways i got up and thought i might as well do something car related today. i finished cleaning 1 of my project wheels and did a test fit. they are 16x7 +38. looks like i could fit some beefy tires on them!



i started cleaning wheel #2 and quickly decided to work on it later. there is so many years of crap caked onto these wheels, i am cleaning them by <strike>hand</strike> finger with meguiar's paint cleaner. its working good, but takes a long time.

hopefully my dc sports strut bar arrives soon so I can install it today.

 

the white looks so dam good on your cars color. +5 on your soon to be set up! Whered you get your camber bolts at,or what company makes them? I need more camber .

and oh yeah,if you ever want to sell them....im your man :thumbsup: haha.

 

ingalleseng.com is where i got the bolts.

i have had too much regret in the past over selling sets of wheels. i need to just start keeping them and stockpiling them as i build my collection. this fall hopefully i am buying a house with a minimum of a 2 car garage so should be able to build plenty of shelf space to hold wheels and tires. haha.

 

QUOTE (omg grip @ May 8 2010, 02:04 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=320947

ingalleseng.com is where i got the bolts.

i have had too much regret in the past over selling sets of wheels. i need to just start keeping them and stockpiling them as i build my collection. this fall hopefully i am buying a house with a minimum of a 2 car garage so should be able to build plenty of shelf space to hold wheels and tires. haha.

dude! i REALLY feel ur pain. this is my 10th set and ive only had my car a year and a half :grin: . I either bent and sold my rims,or just traded for others! I have been thinking about just keeping the ones i get too! Yeah,that should be more than enough space but i think the wheels will start to consume the garage eventually haha.

 

And I thought my tire shopping list was tall; stickies, high-mile a/s, winters...

 

QUOTE (audobon @ May 8 2010, 02:18 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=320952

dude! i REALLY feel ur pain. this is my 10th set and ive only had my car a year and a half :grin: . I either bent and sold my rims,or just traded for others! I have been thinking about just keeping the ones i get too! Yeah,that should be more than enough space but i think the wheels will start to consume the garage eventually haha.

Wow man... 19 y.o. needs to start saving that money for something worthwhile lol

 

So I have this 1 215/45R16 Kumho XS tire. Its only got a few hundred miles on it and came with my Enkei rims. I looked into getting an additional 3 a few months ago, but they were pretty expensive. I want to say at least $140 a tire but I think they were even more.

Tire Rack has them now on backorder for $96 a piece. I am going to bite the bullet and order them tonight, get them mounted to the enkei's and sell my 15's w/ tires and should come out ahead. I have a hookup on tire mounting and balancing.

So much for keeping my collection of rims built up...I guess I better get cleaning on the white ones

 

will 225 fit on 15x7? im still wondering.

 

225/45 would be a good size for 15's on our cars, I think a 7.5" or 8" would be your more commonly reccomended width though.

you can probably mount them on a 7, not sure if that would hurt the contact patch though.

 

QUOTE (bloodninja @ May 8 2010, 07:21 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=321061

Wow man... 19 y.o. needs to start saving that money for something worthwhile lol

trust me..i've learned the hard way about that haha. Im just gonna make wiser decisions about what rims i buy along with the quality. the 15x7s im running were only 200 w/ new tires. craigslist FTW!

QUOTE (omg grip @ May 10 2010, 02:57 PM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=321507

So I have this 1 215/45R16 Kumho XS tire. Its only got a few hundred miles on it and came with my Enkei rims. I looked into getting an additional 3 a few months ago, but they were pretty expensive. I want to say at least $140 a tire but I think they were even more.

Tire Rack has them now on backorder for $96 a piece. I am going to bite the bullet and order them tonight, get them mounted to the enkei's and sell my 15's w/ tires and should come out ahead. I have a hookup on tire mounting and balancing.

So much for keeping my collection of rims built up...I guess I better get cleaning on the white ones

GO FOR IT!!! I want to see those mounted so bad.

 

When is your next event? also, do they show you the course before the event or everything is shown once you get there?

 

my next one is saturday on memorial day weekend. we have no idea what the course layout will be until the morning of the event.

 

have you try the CG-Lock? wow that thing really really works. Its kinda unconfortable but it does keep you on the seat.

 

I had one on my miata and loved it.

for the time being what I do is move my seat a little closer to the wheel and more upright, so its not a arms arent stretched at all and are relaxed. then I put the oem belt on and pull it tight, and yank on it so it locks and I can't lean forward from the seatback. it works ok for now.

 

I do the same thing, put the seat belt tight, lock it and move the seat a little bit forward. but im gonna invest on the cg lock because that thing did wonders, do you still have yours?

 

I do not still have my cg lock belt, it came with my old car and I let it go with my old car.

My next autocross is this Saturday the 29th. I am pretty excited to finally put the new alignment and strut brace to the test. If anyone local is interested in coming to spectate the autocross is at C.D. Hylton Senior High School in Woodbridge, VA. If you would like to sign up, registration is still open at capitaldrivingclub.com. Just click on the schedule link