Start here!
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Purchase Day!!! |
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Work to get the car inspected & test drive on the road. |
Modifications!
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First upgrade - brakes! |
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Racecar preparation - weight loss program. |
Race Time
Well the car was bought to race...so let's go racing!19-Feb-2004 - VIR Full Course
I took the NASA super-comp school. This is an intense one day program
to get your NASA only license. Their program doesn't transfer to SCCA,
but I could use the extra experience...and I wanted to race that
weekend!! The NASA school is only 1 day and you get your license, so
some of the SCCA groups kinda bash NASA in that way. Note, however,
that NASA requires you to have already advanced through their normal
driver's ed schools before taking the comp school. With SCCA, your
first time on track - EVER - may be the race school!
Mods to Clunkie at the time were...well, see above. It was even
running a stock exhaust and cat! At least the tire situation was
much improved. I sourced a set of Buddy Club P1 wheels (15x7, +17
offset) off ebay for under $500! The offset makes the car look mean!
The wheels are really pushed out, and when shod with 225x50x15 Kuhmos
seems to handle very well.
The only problems the car gave was with a slipping clutch. Crap - we
had just repaced that. Some adjustment to the M/C bar seemed to fix
the problem - but it is something that will bother the car throughout
the year...
VIDEO TO COME OF SOME OF THE SCHOOL
- more of a reminder to myself20-Feb-2004 - VIR Full Course
I passed my license requirements, and was now a novice. The rest of
the weekend was a normal NASA event, so I signed up for the racing.
Practice, qualifying, and a sprint race. As a newbie racer, I was
still pretty overwhelmed with the amount of traffic to deal with.
My practice and qualify times were not great. Low 2:30's for practice,
2:29.x for qual. But far off the pace of even my own other 240SX.
The race was a blast, though. I ran just about every lap trying to
pass an ITA Integra (yes, my ITS car is slower in a straight line than
upper-mid-pack ITA cars!). Anyway, I played with that guy the whole
race, but never got past. It was a great run, and the best I felt
about driving in a while. My times got more reasonable, too. In the
race I ran a lap comparable to my S14 240SX - 2.27.x. Still way slow
for an ITS car, but the car is just about stock with suspension on
it! So there's plenty of room to improve.
VIDEO TO COME OF THE RACE
- more of a reminder to myself21-Feb-2004 - VIR Full Course
Some stupid guy (John Walsh, who we have crewed for in many enduros)
talked me into running my second race as a 3.5 hour enduro. Alone.
Ugh! But hey, it DID sound like fun! I had paid my dues, and I was
psyching myself up to run. Clunkie, on the other hand, had enough for
the weekend. Even though I had just replaced the upper timing belt
tensioner, there was a LOT of chain slap in the top end. I couldn't
risk blowing it up (or having the chain eat through a water passage).
So Clunkie went home, having at least accomplished what we came for...
our race license!
