Peru Champ Tour

Event: SCCA Peru Championship Tour
Location: Grissom Air Force Base- Peru, IN
Results: 4/7 (in ESP open- not Ladies) & 16/275 overall, Clint was 1/7 & 3/275.
Best beer of the weekend: Great Divide Mexican Chocolate Yeti





The next National Champ Tour event of the year was at Grissom Air Force Base in Peru, Indiana. It was such a cool experience to see an already awesome and competitive region put on a very well organized and successful national event. Having friends from all over the States join us on our home turf was spectacular! Even if we were in excessive heat warnings the entire weekend...

Leading up to this event, I had been fighting a few battles between my two daily drivers. My Mazdaspeed3 threw its A/C compressor clutch a few weeks prior on our way up to the event in Lincoln. I had been living with it, since I have a mere 7 minute drive to work. But now I had a new motivation to get it back together, and I couldn't find exactly the right part for it, so the war waged on. The Mini had functional AC, but I had previously made the decision to finally replace the leaky radiator, so it was still sitting on jack stands. Determined to have AC for the weekend, I honed my focus in on the Mini, and got it finished up after two late nights leading right up to my departure date. And it worked! AC and all! So after work on Friday, off to Peru I went!

I got in that night with just enough time to get a single course walk in before they closed the site. Not ideal, since one of my biggest goals for the year is to get to know my courses better than the back of my hand. To make the most of it, I stopped 3 or 4 times throughout my walk to visualize the course up to where I was at so I could “see it” again while it was still fresh in my mind. I found this was very helpful in remembering the course for mental runs throughout the evening.

That evening, we had a great time at a brewpub with some autocross friends we’ve known for years, and some new friends as well. I finally got to meet another Wendi Allen Scholarship recipient who I’d already been talking to for months- Lexie Murray! It was a great start to the weekend.

The next morning we got up and on-site early enough to walk the course 4 times before the driver’s meeting. After losing as a result of cones at the last event in Romulus (and all the time), I had clean runs at the top of my goals list for this event. And still not being entirely used to all the grip of 335mm of racing compound tire on all 4 corners, I was also focusing on both turning in and braking later.

Unfortunately, I didn’t drive like I was in the mindset for meeting goals. By the time I was heading out for my 3rd and final run, I didn’t have a clean run in the books. Meanwhile, Clint was killin’ it! He finished day 1 in first place and I was left unhappy with my performance. I had no choice but to reign in my last run in order to assure I stayed off the cones. So even though I managed to pull off a clean run, I drove conservatively enough that it wasn’t a whole lot of help. Reflecting on my runs later with the Indy Region Novice Chief (Matt Adams, who I also got great advice from at the TNT event in my first post), he noted that it sounded like Clint was getting on the gas sooner everywhere out on course- and probably picking up speed faster than I was as a result. OK. So that should be easy enough to add to my (constantly growing) list! Thanks again to him for the pointers!





After a scorching day out in the sun, we cooled off with some ice cream from a local shop on the way back to our hotel.

That night- and I know this is going to come as a surprise- Lexie, her teammate AJ, Clint, and I shared beers that we all brought. We carried some food back from the little diner next to the hotel and cracked into a few bottles and cans. She really enjoyed the Hopfentea (fruited berlinerweisse) and Suburban Beverage (margarita-inspired gose) I brought from work (I’m the Total Quality Manager at Perennial Artisan Ales, in case you didn’t know), and I thoroughly enjoyed the Mexican Chocolate Yeti Stout she brought for me from Great Divide! It was a much needed distraction from the negativity I was bringing on myself for my poor driving performance.

As day 2 came upon us, my goals from day 1 hadn’t really changed much, except now “gas sooner” was added. The course for day 2 had a HUGE straight section. Everyone was debating a shift into 3rd gear- an event rarely seen at an autocross event, ha. We top out 2nd gear at 69mph and 7800rpm, for reference. At the end of the day, shifting to 3rd probably would’ve been beneficial for us, but the daunting shift back down to 2nd might have ended up screwing us over anyway, since it’s not something we ever get to practice. Who knows…


I DID manage to keep all 3 of my runs clean on day 2! Unfortunately, that was pretty much the best thing about them. They weren’t particularly well-driven, other than avoiding cones. I was really struggling to stick to the best line through some major turns and I lost a LOT of time through them. I do think I got on the gas a bit sooner, but who really knows. I finished all the way back in 4th in our class. Of course, the three men that beat me were also in the top 10 for the event, and I was 16th (out of 275, and first of the ladies by nearly 60 places), so I’m trying not to beat myself up over it too bad. But I still wasn’t real happy with my driving overall, regardless of placement.


Listening to an “Autocross Talk” podcast on my way out to the event, and then reviewing our data from our runs reminded me- tightest line is almost always the fastest. Less distance = less time. It’s hard to get in your head, even when swinging a little wider might let you carry a little more speed into a turn, often at that point, you’re also sacrificing your car placement for the next element. This could add distance, or put you in a position where you can't accelerate as quickly because you're still turning in or correcting your car. My driving this weekend was a harsh, but necessary reminder that your driving line and car placement is always priority number one. Get that right, press the pedals down harder (but not faster), and you’re gold.



Starting on my way home with Zara on Sunday afternoon in a somber, reflective mood, I flipped on the AC in the Mini to cool off from another long day out in the sun. Hot air. Nothing but hot. Air. For all 5 hours of our journey. I still haven't identified the cause, but the Mini had lost AC too. It's possible that I've never been so happy to get home in my life...




Fair to say, I've had better weekends, but all I can do is learn from this, make the best of it.

Here's looking forward to the next event!

Finger Lakes, NY

Event: SCCA Finger Lakes Championship Tour
Location: Seneca Army Depot- Romulus, NY
Results: 4/7 (in ESP open- not Ladies), Clint was 1/7
Best beer of the weekend: Non-Stop Hop Onslaught: Good Nature Brewing

 

And now, back to my irregularly scheduled, six week old Championship tour updates! We left off with a dead car at Lincoln, and a last minute fix, just in time for this event! Huge props to Clint for spending all of two weeks digging through the car to find that it needed new fuel injectors and a fuel pressure relief valve, rather than a full motor rebuild! What a relief!

My journey to The Finger Lakes Champ Tour began on Thursday afternoon in St Louis, with a bus, to a train, to a plane to Detroit, where Clint picked me up from the airport to begin our real adventure! We decided to get on the road at 11pm after picking up the trailer from his house, rather than getting 3-4 hours of sleep before embarking. We continued on through Ontario Canada (our first international travel together), and passed through Niagara Falls just in time to see the sunrise together! Another two hours into New York from there, and we found ourselves setting up at the site by 9am.

After negotiating for a brief nap on an air mattress in the trailer, We started this weekend out on the test and tune course. After suspecting the motor needed to be rebuilt two weekends ago at Lincoln, we were super nervous to see if it would hold. Clint had spent two solid weeks of diagnosing and digging around to identify the potential culprit as faulty fuel injectors, rather than damaged ringlands.

Clint took it on its first run... The car worked!!! It was a very tight course, and on asphalt nonetheless (typically asphalt is more "slippery" than concrete), so it was difficult to get a great feel for it. But we verified the car was ready for the event, and I focused on looking ahead using the techniques taught to me in my Phase 2 Evolution Driving School a few weeks prior. (I'll post about that soon!)

I was also determined to get back on my launch control game, after dropping the clutch and nearly blowing the transfer case on my last attempt at Lincoln. I again (like at the Test and Tune event earlier this year), found that giving the pedal a quick stab, before planting it on the floor settled it at the 3500 rpm launch control setting. Once assuring it caught that (I've had problems with it bumping all the way up to 5500 RPMs!, I just needed to be very actively aware of slipping the clutch slowly once it starts to catch. This increases clutch wear quite a bit, but it's a racecar, after all! Clint will probably want to try a different clutch before this one needs to be replaced anyway. LOL!


Settling in before my runs on day 1, I decided I needed to change my outlook to settle my nerves. Number one priority should be to have fun! And conveniently, fast is fun. It's just another autocross, after all! Except... with one big difference from local events. You only get 3 runs each, on two different courses, on two different days, and your fastest time from each day is added together to determine final standings. So the fastest of your 3 runs on day 1 (including 2-second cone penalties), added to the fastest of your 3 runs on day 2 on a different course (also with those cone penalties, if applicable), equals your total time for the event.

We finished our night off with a MUCH needed dinner at a wonderful little lakeside restaurant. From there, it was straight to the campsite, where we set up our tent, showered, and crashed HARD after over 40 hours without any meaningful sleep. That was the best night of sleep either of us had ever had in a tent, lol. In fact, we slept through two alarms the next morning! Thankfully, the third one got us up so we could head to the site for some last minute course walks before the event got started. I've assigned myself more course walks as a general goal for the year. You can never be too familiar with a course, especially when you only get 3 runs!


When it came time to drive, I kept a clean run with a good line on my first run. And in fact, I was 0.2 seconds ahead of Clint for a brief while! However, when I returned to our grid spot, we were told that the car read at 100.5dB on the sound meter during my run. That's 0.5dB over the 100.0dB limit, and we had to make a modification to alleviate some of that. Clint had a little exhaust baffle that he bolted into the end of the exhaust pipe (which is cut off and turned down just behind the driver's seat- the shortest it's allowed to be per the class rules). Hopefully that fixes the issue, or I wouldn't be allowed to make any more runs for the event. My second run I focused on looking ahead and using less brakes. It felt great and I kept it clean, but apparently I also used less gas, and it ended up being 1 second slower. So for my last run, I decided to just go for it! I drove HARD. Reminded myself to be confident, but not cocky. I was using the brakes harder and later, I used more gas, I modulated where I needed to throttle back a bit, and I kept the car wide while carrying good speed. In trying to get a better feel for braking zones, Clint had suggested turning in earlier and cutting distance if I found myself going too slow too soon, so I can get back on the gas sooner. Well, I did just that in one place on that last run- but, as expected, I turned in too early and ran right over a cone. If not for that cone penalty, I would have been 0.5 seconds ahead of Clint!

Overall, I was feeling good! I finished day one off just 0.25 seconds behind 2nd, and 1 second behind Clint. It was an interesting site and fun course, making great use of the strange layout.




On day two, we ran the same course backwards. It was still just as fun and maybe just a hair faster! With all that the car was capable of on day one, my main goal for day to was to push the car harder on all 3 runs in braking and acceleration, but still drive wide, and conservatively on the first run to assure I get a clean run in the books.

My first run, driven conservatively, was 0.2 seconds ahead of clint's first, with a really clean line. Unfortunately, I later found out that I barely nudged a cone and got a penalty in the first, giant slalom. Oh, and also that I blew off a hunk of the exhaust pipe at the starting line, and the rear differential was cutting power intermittently throughout the run (aka... the car became front wheel drive, rather than all wheel drive). Upon further inspection, we found that the exhaust ripped out the wires for the rear differential as it blew off the car, which proceeded to melt together and short out.

It's like the car is inventing new, exciting, and spectacular ways to break now.



We took a 15 minute mechanical delay before our next run and frantically worked at rewiring the melty mess, and re-securing the exhaust. It was to no avail. I channeled my inner front wheel drive skills and took my last two runs, pretending like I was just driving my Mazdaspeed3 on Hoosiers. I did manage to make a 0.6 second improvement from my first run (since it had that +2 second cone penalty), but that wasn't quite enough to defend my 2nd place position. My third run was wild and I ended up driving "off-course" (I cut a corner short because I just wasn't looking ahead), so that wasn't any help. Clint didn't bother taking his last run, since he laid down a competitive time on his first run while we still had all wheel drive, and likely wouldn't have improved on it with the car in front wheel drive mode.


At the end of the day, Clint managed to keep his lead and took 1st in our class, and 21st overall! Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to make up enough time to keep my trophy position, and was pushed back to forth in our class (of seven). I would've snagged second with that first run, had I not hit the cone. I'm really disappointed by that, but I feel like I drove well, and would've easily had 2nd, if only the car had stayed together. Plus, if I would've just stopped hitting a cone on each of my best runs, I was running faster times than Clint, both days (aka, I had a faster "scratch time")! That's a huge improvement for me, regardless!







Next event's goal: Don't hit cones (especially ones that I don't need to be near anyway)!!! Remember how quickly the car turns in- especially at slower speeds, and stay aware of the cones around me while I'm looking ahead. This last tip for not hitting cones is key, since this has been a recurring problem for me.

An Engaging Weekend of Racing

Event: Indianapolis Region Points Event #2, #3
Location: Peru, IN
Results: 2/113, 1/108
Best beer of the weekend: Gamma Deluxe from Jolly Pumpkin

So when I started this blog, I told myself I was only going to write posts about National events, but this particular weekend at Grissom Air Force Base in Peru, Indiana is getting an honorable mention. It's also posted out of order, because I think it needs to be shared with the world!

It was a Friday afternoon and I was leaving work early to make the 5 hour drive. I always get frustrated when we stay so close to this site because I already lose an hour due to a time change on my way up, so it's hard for me to get there before 8 or 8:30 p.m. This particular Friday was no different. I kept hitting traffic and slow downs, and was passing my frustrations along to Clint. He reminded me that we'd see each other in only a few short hours, but that was only mildly soothing because I still had a few "short hours" of driving to do.

I ended up making it to the hotel right around 8pm- nearly an hour after he arrived. It was really too late for us to go out and do anything, and we both had brought beers anyway, so we flipped on the TV and started sharing some beers that he brought. The first was tangerine IPA from New Holland brewery- "Tangerine Space Machine." It was pretty good, but the tangerine was a bit overwhelming. We finished that and he asked if I was ready for the next beer. I replied with something like, "do you know me? I'm always ready for another beer!"

So I was laying on the bed, watching The Simpsons and thinking about getting my Mazdaspeed3 ready for the event my friend was driving it in at Bristol Tennessee the following week, when he brought out the next beer, poured from the bomber (750mL bottle) into the little clear plastic cups provided in the hotel room. It was "Gamma Deluxe" from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, a sour farmhouse IPA. He carried both glasses over, one in each hand, and standing at the side of the bed asked which one I wanted. I struggled with this question- one of them was filled with about half head and the other one was a perfect pour. I started to go to the Perfect Pour, and then fumbled, deciding to take the one with more head so that he could enjoy the other sooner.

He stopped me, and told me to take the other one. Well okay, I guess. When I pulled the cup with the Perfect Pour out of his hand, behind it, he was holding my mom's engagement ring (which had been decommissioned when she passed in 1996). My heart fell to my stomach and my eyes started to well up. I don't exactly remember what happened next... I don't think I said it, but I at least thought "are you serious?!"  But like, for real?!? I looked at him and look at the ring, and looked at him and smiled and laughed. "Will you marry me?" He asked in a stately sort of way. "Of course I will!" I replied, as I leaned in and squeezed him tight.

He did it! Just a week after our 5 year anniversary, we are finally engaged! Better yet, he managed to catch me completely off-guard, and bring me a ring that I know he must've spent an entire day-his only free weekend day year to date- to retrieve from my father. It was all I've ever wanted, and he (finally) did it. I'm sure at that moment, and still, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life.

The next hour or two was spent trying to take a good picture, texting and calling family, and soaking it all in. By the time we finally got to sleep we only had 5 hours before we had to be up again for the next day's autocross. Thankfully, it was a local event, so there weren't any big contingencies or awards on the line.

Funny how much less stressful local events are, once you start competing nationally. The next day came, and I was really feeling it. Our good friend Johnathan and his girlfriend came down from Chicago to spend the day with us and race his Mazdaspeed6 alongside ours. 

We were also testing out a new front splitter that Clint had fabricated. We swapped the front bumper (one had a splitter mounted and one did not) halfway through our runs to see if we could feel a difference. For me, it was immediate. All of a sudden I had a new found confidence in the car's ability to rotate and point where I wanted it to, when I wanted it to. It was all about balancing the aerodynamics. Clint added the (rear) spoiler at that first test and tune event out at Grissom a month ago, and the car hasn't been quite as eager to rotate ever since. Adding the splitter below the front bumper of the car prevents air from flowing under the car as much, thus decreasing lift under the front end of the car, and shifting the traction bias back towards the front tires. That means the front tires end up having more grip and balancing out the rear spoiler (which effectively reduces lift over the rear of the car, meaning more downforce over the back tires, resulting in more traction). If you're wondering what I mean by "rotate," I'm referring to how "tail-happy" the car is. You certainly don't want your car to be unpredictable and spin out every time you let your guard down, but when properly balanced, rotation of the rear end around corners can help a car corner much more efficiently and transition from left to right in slaloms better.


Fast forward to the end of the day, and I finished 0.012 seconds behind Clint, and we were first and second place out of the 112 drivers, overall! Maybe tomorrow will finally be my chance to beat him...

That evening, with Johnathan and his girlfriend in town, we went back to the brewery I mentioned several posts ago- Tin Man Brewing. We had some beers, ordered some Mexican food for delivery, and played some bags before heading back for the night, us to our hotel, and Johnathan to Chicago. It was great to have a night out with friends in this busy season. Plus, he took that awesome engagement photo (up top) for us!

On day two of the local event, my sister stopped by with her kids to watch and congratulate us.

I found my comfort and familiarity with the car in its newest form continued to grow. On my third run, I made my way around the first corner and came across a cone that had been knocked over and not reset. I stopped and pointed it out, and earned myself a re-run! Re-runs are usually nice, as you get an extra look at the course. I let the car sit for the assigned 5 minute cool-down between the two runs, and then took it back out, laying down a time that dropped me into first place!

Shortly after returning from that run, I was spraying the front passenger tire with water to cool it off between our runs, and noticed it was unbearably hot near that wheel well. Clint checked it out and realized the cooling fan on that side wasn't running, and our coolant was boiling over! We shut off the car and started spraying the radiator, rather than the tires, to cool it. We weren't certain if we'd get to finish the day out, on only one fan...

But by the time it came back to Clint's turn, he decided to give it a try. He knocked his time down to 0.14 seconds behind me. We kept the car cool, and I took my last victory lap (even though I had already secured my win). I managed to drop another 0.3 seconds, but hit a cone early on, so I didn't end up making an improvement. It didn't matter, I had done it! I beat my fiance, and took first at the event, after losing by only a very narrow margin the previous day!

I'm putting this one down as one of the best weekends of my life.

Lincoln Chump Tour

I had been in Lincoln for a few days on my own (well, with Zara), taking a driver's school and competing in Prosolo, before Clint joined me. After driving my front wheel drive Mazdaspeed3 in the school and a rear wheel drive Miata in the Prosolo, I had never been so happy to see the all wheel drive Mazdaspeed6 come off the trailer! I actually think I probably ran up and gave it hug... right after Clint, of course...

We took it over to the test course to check in on everything shortly after lunch. I think I took it out for a run on the test course first. It was so nice to be back in my game, after a mediocre performance at Prosolo in a car I was unfamiliar with. I flew off the line, around there first few tight turns and headed through the long straight into the back slalom. But in the long straight, it didn't feel quite right. It was having some power (actually fuel) cuts at full throttle. Strange, but, not something we're unfamiliar with. So after my run, we switched seats, and Clint drove it. It did the same thing for him. Not good... so we pulled the car back over to our paddock spot to investigate.

First thing to check for: boost leaks. Any coupler on the air piping that's loose, could cause unexpected air loss and result in fuel cut by the ECU. We investigated every coupler and checked for any defects in the piping itself. Heck, I think we even took it all off the car to investigate! Not noticing anything out of the ordinary, we resecured it and took it for another test run.

Same thing.

Next on the list, was spark plugs. Those are easy enough to swap, and Clint had an extra set with him. So we replace all 4 spark plugs and hit the test course again. Still breaking up at Full Throttle.

So now, we move down the list of diagnostics to wondering if it's fuel-related. We pull it back over to the trailer and swap in our extra fuel pump.

Did I mention that our extra fuel pump was the one that was installed on my car? At least we know it works!

At this point, this was essentially our last idea of what could cause the problem and still be fixed easily on site, so we were really hoping for the best this time. We had run the car low on fuel at the last event, so we were wondering if we may have damaged the fuel pump at that time.We finished the swap and headed back out to the test course. Huge bummer- it's still running poorly.

With most hope now lost, we head back to our Paddock spot and pull the spark plugs again to check in on them. Typically, if there's a problem with combustion, you can see different signs of that from looking at your spark plugs. What we found on our spark plugs, was fluid. Probably oil. That's not good. I mean, that's not "we're not running this event," bad... That's more like "we're not running this season," bad. If indeed there is oil in the cylinders where the spark plugs sit, that means our motor is damaged and will need to be pulled out, disassembled, and fully serviced (rebuilt).

I don't even have words for how big of a let-down that was. This was supposed to be my year. I got the scholarship, and I'm sure I'll never have the chance to do this many events again. And now, we don't have our car to drive, and we are at a loss for what to do. This was just the first event for the car out of 7 on the books.

As far as the Lincoln champ tour goes, that was that. After that discovery, we just didn't have it in us to try and find co-drives for the weekend (though I'm sure we could have). Plus, I was looking for the confidence boost in driving a car that I'm familiar with, after driving the Miata the days prior. We stuck around for the first day of competition to hang out with, and cheer on our local competitors that were there. We left early on their day two to get started home. Clint had driven the truck and trailer almost 14 hours from Detroit, just to find out the car was broken.

We tried to make the best of it anyway, but it really was quite disappointing.

Following this event, two things happened.

First, I made the decision to move forward with de-modifying my Mazdaspeed3 to align it with a class where it will be competitive (STH). I bought it with a larger, aftermarket turbo installed. It made good power and it was certainly fun, but not ideal for autocross- my motorsport of choice. Bigger turbos such as that, take longer to spool up and provide extra boost and power to your motor. At autocross, you typically want that power available as soon as possible, having a smaller turbo is actually advantageous. Also, it put me in a ridiculous class that I would never be fully prepared for in it.

Second, 10 days later, after copious amounts of diagnostics, Clint eventually identified the fluid sitting on the pistons in the cylinders as fuel, and diagnosed the problem as leaky fuel injectors. He ordered new injectors, installed them, and had a fully functional race car ready again and, still two days before our next scheduled national event at that!

Next up will be Finger Lakes, NY. Regardless of how we and the car perform there, that trip should be full of Adventure. I'm flying up to Detroit so that Clint and I can drive together through Canada to get there. It will be our first international travel together! And, a lot more fun than driving to these events on our own.

I have one goal for the next event. Don't. Break. And if I can sneak driving well in there too, that would be even better!

Prosolo in a Borrowed Car

Event: SCCA ProSolo

Location: Lincoln, NE

Results: 10/14 (combined Ladies' class)

Best beer of the weekend: Emperian Cucumber Wit

Just one event, and one Test 'N Tune into the season, it's already time for our first national event! Did I feel ready? Not in the least. So, I made a fairly last minute decision to take a few extra days off work, and head out for a driving school and the Prosolo event, prior to the regular Championship Tour event at the same site. Clint couldn't make it out with the Mazdaspeed6 until the Champ tour, so I decided to take the school in my own car and found an offer for a car to drive at the Prosolo.

Photo credit: SCCA

In case you're unfamiliar with Prosolo, it's just a play off of autocross. Essentially, it's an autocross course with a drag race start. Instead of driving through a light beam to start your lap time at your leisure, it starts as soon as the green light on the tree is illuminated, so your reaction time at the start of your run is pivotal to your overall run time. One other difference between Prosolo and Autocross: you line up next to another car at the drag start (because what run would it be to drag race alone?), and you both drive mirror images of the same course simultaneously. As soon as you finish the side you're driving on, you line right back up for the mirrored course on the other side, against the same competitor. It's a really neat concept, and I'd say it tests a driver's endurance and a car's versatility far more than a standard autocross, lol.

I feel obligated to provide a fun background story about the only other Prosolo event we've competed in, back in 2016 (also at Lincoln, NE). Buckle your seatbelts, because this is one of my favorite autocross stories!

In those days, Clint was still using the Mazdaspeed6 as his daily driver. So, he drove that out to Lincoln for the event, and I followed him in my Mazdaspeed3, so we could have a "support vehicle" once we swapped the race tires on. We unloaded and prepped the Speed6 and headed straight over to practice our drag starts, since I hadn't ever driven a drag race start. Clint pulls up to the line to demonstrate, and launches the car like he always does (have I mentioned how much I love launching in that thing?). Except this time, it was followed by a series of foreboding thuds, clunks, and clatters, and an awful lot of lurching and binding in the drive train. First launch out at Lincoln, before the event had even started, and we had already blown up a transfer case. (In case you don't know, the transfer case is the part that transfers movement from the transmission/front wheels to the rear wheels, for All Wheel Drive vehicles.)



Thankfully, we had some autocross friends that had moved out to that area very graciously trailer us to their home and help us swap in the spare transfer case we had brought with us in their garage, rather than in the semi-flooded, un-lit cement pad that we had settled on. We got that done around 1am and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. I was slated to run the car first thing the next morning, still never having gotten to practice the drag start.

The next morning rolled around, I headed up to the line, and I launched it. I had a fairly despicable >1.000 reaction time, aaaaannnnndddd then I DNFed that run (I went off course somewhere, so it's counted as a "Did Not Finish"). Not a good start. I pulled up for my second run, and it went similarly. Except, with noises...

As I pull up to the line for my third run, Clint flags me off course, having finally heard those noises I described to him. We pull the car out of competition for that heat (set of runs), and head back to investigate. About an hour, and one light-colored t-shirt shirt later, we found a hairline crack in the, drum roll please... transfer case.



The problem now, was we only brought one spare. Because who blows TWO transfer cases in less than 24 hours?!? We ended up sourcing a new/used tcase from a CX7 at a local junkyard, and had a few seals overnight-ed from Mazda to make it compatible with the Speed6. We would get the car back together in time for the Championship tour, immediately following the Prosolo, but we weren't going to get to finish out the prosolo.

Meanwhile, Clint had missed his first 2 out of 3 heats of Prosolo (they run 2 heats on day 1, and 1 heat on day 2) and I wasn't any better off without a clean run on the books. On day 2 of Prosolo, I convinced Clint that while we can't have the speed6 ready for competition, we should at least have fun in the support vehicle, so he can experience some of it! At least my MazdaSpeed3 survived! We both finished one place out of last in our respective classes, and had determined that it would be some time before/if ever trying it with the MazdaSpeed6 again.

Ok. So that's my history with ProSolo. And here I am, two years later, trying a prosolo in a car I'd never driven. I took up an offer on a codrive from a St. Louis region local in "Oscar," a CSP Miata (in case you haven't read my post about autoX rules, the "SP" designation means this miata is allowed all the same modifications and racing tires that we have on our speed6). Similar, yes. But Miatas are Rear Wheel Drive, which behave somewhat differently than All Wheel Drive and Front Wheel Drive, which is what I am used to and had most recently raced in.

As you might imagine, I was looking for a few practice runs on the test and tune course the day before ProSolo began. When I found Oscar and his owner Matt that afternoon, I found them finishing up a rear differential (diff) swap (that's the part that sends power to the rear wheels) in the paddock. Oscar had already blown up a diff on the practice course, and the event hadn't even started. Deja vu? Yes. Yes, indeed.

We got the wheels back on and headed back to the test and tune course so I could get a few practice runs. I hopped in and launched it off the line out onto course. It was about half the power of what I'm used to driving, but even still, this little thing was quick! I'm sure the Hoosier racing tires were my saving grace, nearly teleporting the car around cones in the slalom. Even still, I spun the car coming around to the finish my first run out. Maybe my second too...

The next morning arrived without much confidence in myself, but I was reassured knowing I had 2 more chances with 4 runs each, to lay down a good time (Prosolo has 3 heats with 4 runs each). Surely by the end of them I'd be comfortable with Oscar and get some good times! Out on my first run, I was feeling surprisingly good about the car and myself- at least until I slid sideways through the finish, taking the giant finish cones with me, and maybe even doing a bit of damage to the front bumper :(. I may have been a little too spirited at the end there... so I backed off a little and got some clean runs on the books following that, though of course they weren't as quick as I'd have liked. 

A few hours later Matt pulled Oscar up for his first session. His first run went alright. His second launch resulted in... would you believe it, if I told you it was another blown diff? We towed the car back to our paddock spot and got to work. I had to forfeit my afternoon runs, but we got the 2nd diff swap done in time for his second heat. I was so glad for that- I feel especially bad when I'm co-driving a car and get to drive the car before it breaks on the owner.

With only one set of runs left, it was going to take some sort of miracle to fight my way up the standings in a car I wasn't familiar with, anyway. Unfortunately, I was all out of miracles, and finished 10/14 in my class. I didn't feel great about that, but I was trying to give myself a pass, both for being in an unfamiliar car, and for only getting to complete 8/12 runs (having missed the afternoon session on day 1). 

The class I was running in was a big combined ladies' class, with final times being compared by each car's respective PAX index (as described in Post #2). It's a really fun class to run in- the camaraderie between women competitors is spectacular! Overall, it was a fun experience (because I secretly enjoy frantic drivetrain swaps). I don't think I drove too poorly for being in a new car. At least I had some very fast reaction times at the drag start! With 0.500 being perfect, my fastest from each side were 0.522 and 0.525, respectively. Hopefully we'll get the Mazdaspeed6 back out to a ProSolo later this season, since we think we fixed the issue that was causing all the transfer case failures. I'd love to see what that car can do!

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Immediately following Lincoln ProSolo is Lincoln Spring Champ Tour. Stay posted for that excitement! It's up next!