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.
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!
Immediately following Lincoln ProSolo is Lincoln Spring Champ Tour. Stay posted for that excitement! It's up next!
Great article! Two words, JB Weld
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