Calgary Racing Thread
 

I think now that we have at least a couple of guys racing in here (even though ET is leaving us soon) we could start up a chat thread to discuss events, setup and maybe parts & tools loaning.

So CPat, did you want those side skirts? I have no use for them, they are just sitting in my basement collecting dust right now.

Illusive could probably give you some tips on how to do a quick and dirty paint job on them to match your car color just on your own. I have seen some of the paint work he was doing in his garage, it was pretty impressive.

Sadly my last and only "event" with the race car will be tonight in it's diminutive form.

No race suspension, full interior and a full exhaust with cat costing me loads of power and all my top end.

Even though I'm leaving I wouldn't mind giving my .02 cents once in a while.

Yeah, try to stay in touch for sure!

I am thinking about picking up some new magnetic numbers (I lost 4 out of 6 of them at the last event because of the cold).

This place seems to be on the level and very reasonably priced.
Number Panels - Magnetic - $24.00 : RaceDayVinyl.com, Affordable graphics for your motorsports addiction.

What do you think?

Sure bring them by tomorrow if you're showing up ;) Thanks SP
You'll be missed Mr ET. I was sad to here Le Belle province had lured another home. Definitely check out the Calgary section. It was reading your's, JDMish's, and Sugarphreak's race reports that got me to check out what autox was.

I remember your feedback when installing the FSB that I should expect it to push more. I've though about trying some events with none on, the stock one, and the T1R to compare. It seems like too much of a PITA though to switch them out, and I still haven't acquired much more than enough tools to change tyres and the oil.

I'm going to play around even more with the tyre pressure tomorrow (pumping up the rears even more to see when / if the car will balance more by lessening the tyre contact patches). This definately isn't optimal as it will reduce overall tractive capacity for corners.
From what I understand it's better to remove stiffness from the front than to add stiffness to the back to balance a car.
I kind of "found a review" of Tune to Win by Carroll Smith online and apparently they used to balance cars with the tyres way back in the day (uhh before the '50's...) when race cars used to have skinny tyres.

I am thinking about getting some springs - maybe the Swift ones since they're supposed to be designed to go with the stock setup and have higher spring rates in the back. Driving's been pretty expensive this year though with the Pro Solo etc.:vtec:

CA

I'm signed up for the

1) CSCC Event # 3 and # 4 this w/e at the Westerner in Red Deer. Hopefully there's more seat time than there was at Event #1.

2) WCMA regional at Namao (largest autox site in the WCMA) on June 19.

3) SASC event # 1 in July

I'd also like to check out the Lethbridge Sports Car club's venue on June 26.

I will probably come out to help setup and watch tommorow, but I won't run. I burned off a lot more of my tires than I was expecting last time, I won't be able to make it through the season if I do another 30 runs tommorow on them.

I will tote along the side skirts, I dug them out of my basement today!


I am looking forward to the event in July, I have a little something extra I am installing for that event :D

I know what you mean; after the school, I was thinking right on didn't really use too much rubber with the cold at all. Probably no more than a regular event.

Ambrose and Reijo couldn't believe it when I mentioned I could count 28 runs:rotfl:afterward.

I'm pretty sure Tire Bob's going to get some more business this year from me. My next set will be General Exclaim UHP's though (cheap, but nowhere near as sticky).

Not buying Hoosier's $US 800+ and new wheels.
Also not spending $1100-$2500 on a data logging system although I can see the value of a data logger with another car some time in the future.
Sigh if money was no object (but thanks for drawing my name twice - LOL).

Sounds like I'm going to need all the practice I can get. There's a big difference between only getting three runs to dial in a course versus 20 +.

Having all those back to back runs was sweet, I was able to iron out some of the areas I was having difficulty with.

I really hope I can make the whole season on my current tires, I was planning to part it over this upcoming winter and take it right back to stock so it would be a waste of money to throw an almost new set of tires on near the end.

Although I may still run HS next year depending on how things go, too early to tell right now.

That T&T is off now for today, we will have to make other arrangements if you want to grab those skirts.

It got cancelled? Hmm there must be an e-mail list I need to get on...
Shoot - guess I'll have to wait for the w/e to get my fix.

CA

I asked R to send you an e-mail just in case you were not checking the forum today.

From what I understand they are starting to setup big white tents there for a car auction this upcoming weekend.

Drat... the parts I ordered to put in before the next event in July have been backordered to late June now :mad:

Hmm, now the suspense is kind of getting to me...
:popc:
I've made a "rule" that nothing more is going into the car unless it's 10% of investment profits...by my count I'm likely to spend $2000 this year if I include an allowance for the RE-11's and estimate travel to Red Deer/Edmonton, fuel, and additional maintenance. :vtec:

That is a pretty good way to go,

I usually set aside about 5000$ per year for car related things... it covers a few new parts, race school/events and tires. Sadly my Truck has been soaking it up quickly with all the problems I was running into with the front bumper.

I am already over budget this year, so I am taking it really easy.

Sweet, Ambrose just hooked me up with a pair of half decent tires! I can probably swap off two of the RE-11's and then burn them a bit slower.

LOL - I thought about asking him for them, but there were only two and I'd have no way to mount them.

Figured with rotating the tyres diagonally they should all be toast about the same time.

Someone mentioned to me I should only rotate them front to back since softer tyre's wear in is side specific. I know the tread at the very end is "mushed" a little bit, but most (OK all of the courses except day 2 of the school) have been counterclockwise wearing the passenger side tyres more, and I figured diagonally rotating them would make them last longer overall. What do you do?

I kind of just wing it :D

Because I pull the tires off every event, when I go to put them back on I just put them all together and figure out which one has the best tread, that one goes on my passenger side... the second best one goes on my driver side.

Seems to work, although after running 30 sets two of them are considerably less than the others... those are my new back tires now :p

Yeah I really needed tires, I was debating if I could just get two more new tires or not.... then these kind of dropped out of the sky! Kind of nice how things just sort of work themselves out sometimes!

Well this kind of got thrown out the window after Tuesday...alignment plus a new set of wheels (which I'll re-sell once the Circuit 10 shows up and hopefully recoup my cost), and two tyres. The red mist descended as with the wet conditions I was almost keeping up to the S2k's...driver error. I think I get more aggressive when I'm doing fun runs or practice sessions because I'm more familiar with the course.

Alignment's happening tomorrow at Country Hills Toyota since they've managed to squeeze me in around their appointments. TireBob really went out of his way to help me out. I cannot say enough good things about Urban Expressions - they even stayed late to mount and install tonight.
Not the first time I've pondered why Honda used such a high offset on their OEM wheels:rolleyes:

I suppose it's a good thing I'm saving for a house and can afford to let some extra costs float for a month or two. Plus work's busy enough I can work a little OT. I don't think I'm considering Packwood for the experience any more though.

Really looking forward to the WCMA regional at Namao Saturday assuming there's nothing too wrong with the Fit. Even if there is one of my Challenge Cup team mates offered a co-drive for Saturday though I'd feel a lot more comfortable in my own car.

That is happening this upcoming Sat? Good luck man!