Venting about auto-x this last weekend

[wheelman]

Ok, I just need to vent and figured many of you guys here would relate.

 

This last weekend my local auto-x club hosted 2 of our points events (Sat and Sun were separate events). The weather was perfect and the courses were a nice combination of tight technical and high speed elements. I was really looking forward to it and was in a very tight season points race with a guy who drives a rotary powered midget. The other guy in our class runs a 1997 Porsche Carrera 4S that he just dumped $8500.00 worth of suspension, wheels and tires into. I run EM and the club groups all Prep and Mod cars into one class. The Porsche guy is only running in our class so he can get a season trophy. He's really ASP legal but runs with an FP PAX.

 

First day I'm walking the course and notice someone who had helped with course setup the day before had dropped oil on the course in the racing line. (People who help with setup are allowed to make a run or two ). It was a small amount of oil so no-one worried about it much.

 

Turns out it wasn't much of a factor in the first run and I only mention it because it turns out the guy who dropped it was the midget driver who's engine is in the process of self destructing. He's able to make his 3 morning runs but during the 3rd his engine pukes almost all of it's oil out the dipstick tube, he puts down a good enough run to get me by 7 tenths but the midget is done for the day. Meanwhile the Porsche driver is making runs that are 4 - 5 seconds faster than they would've been before the suspension and tires. He dominates our class that day and almost sets FTD. (The car can make the difference)

 

By the end of the day Sat. I'd run my 6 runs and put down a decent clean one about 2 seconds behind the Porsche but 7 tenths behind the midget. Going into Sat. I had a 4.5 point lead in season points, at the end of the day the midget guy was ahead by 1. This was due to the Porsche who will get third in season points no matter what he does. Our club figures points based on how far your time is behind the leader of your class for each event.

 

So Sun. the midget driver shows up and I find out the Porsche owner is letting him drive the Porsche. I had a tough time with the course this day and don't get a good run all day. My one clean run as an early one and is about 2 seconds off my fastest of the day and about 3 seconds off the Porsche. The midget driver actually beat the Porsche owner in his own car this day so now I'm way behind in the season points race but there is no way the Porsche owner can take second from me unless I don't run in class at either of the remaining events.

 

What is really frustrating me is if the guy driving the Porsche would run in his own class it would have been an exciting season finish for the midget guy and myself, now he has the season points race wrapped up. Not only that but the midget guy actually ran with the FP PAX in the Porsche instead of running with the EM PAX he would have had in the midget.

Looking at the points standing right now if he'd run EM PAX it would have made the next event the deciding factor. I would have had to beat him pretty badly but at least I would've had a chance, as it is now there is no way and I only need 1 point to wrap up second.

 

Kinda makes me wonder if I want to stay in class next season or run time only. The Porsche driver intends to run in my class again so I'll have to spend some serious coin on "good" race tires to be competitive. I'm such a penny pincher I would have a tough time justifying it but then it would bug me to lose all season.

 

Any words of advice???

Feel free to tell me I'm whining and need to just suck it up if thats what you really think.

 

Editted: I re-read my rant and there were a couple statements I made that were unwarranted, unfair and needed to be removed.

[Challenger]

At least you got to go... sigh.

 

How much longer are they going on?

[JMortensen]

If he's legal all you can do is deal with coming in second or spend money to go faster. From what I know of your car I think it's not built to the extent of the rules, so you've got a lot of room for improvement. If you're just out there to have fun, just have fun. That's what I did when I ran my extremely underprepared FP car. I put used slicks on it because they were cheap and faster than the BFG R1's I was running previously, and I ignored PAX completely and satisfied myself with building a car in my garage that was faster than cars 8 or 10x more expensive.

 

You might complain about the Midget dropping oil on the course. That's usually not acceptable and cars that are that bad won't (shouldn't) make it through tech inspection.

[wheelman]

Yeah, I know Jon, I was just smarting from the trouncing I got this weekend and really shouldn't have whined about it here (or anywhere), showed poor sportsmanship on my part, doesn't reflect well on my local club or the sport. It won't happen again!!!!!

 

My car is very under prepared and has tons of room for improvement and I can either spend the money or just have some fun.

 

I ignored PAX completely and satisfied myself with building a car in my garage that was faster than cars 8 or 10x more expensive.

 

This is exactly how I looked at it last season and was thrilled to place second on the season, especially after earning the cone killer award and sliding the car into a curb. I just got caught up in the tension and excitement of the points race this season and then when I was beaten fairly didn't like it, lesson learned. It's all about the fun and when it's not fun anymore it's time to quit.

 

As for the midget and the oil, at first it appeared to be a vent tube that had popped off and was fixed but as the day progressed it became apparent it was much worse. The first 2 runs the car seemed fine but on the third he spun it and then found the entire engine bay covered in oil when he got back to the pits. Looks like the oil was coming out the dipstick tube which to me indicates bad side seals on the rotors but I'm not a expert in rotary engines so thats just a guess.

 

Derek,

The club in Spokane is hosting an event at the Deer Park airport the weekend of Sept. 20th-21st and another Oct. 4th-5th.

My club has one more event this year scheduled for Oct 11th-12th at TriCity Raceway.

I'm going to try to make it up for the weekend of the 20th-21st, if you want I can let you know so you can come out and maybe get to ride in the beast for a run or 2. It'll give you an idea of what riding in a V8 powered Z-car is like.

 

Wheelman

[johnc]

I run my under prepared Nissan 350Z locally in BSP - against Tom Berry, Marshall Grice, and Christine Berry in their all conquering Vishnu prepared Evo. I have no chance in hell, for now. You just have to get used to these kinds of situations. They won't last forever and you'll get your moment.

[260DET]

A picture tells a thousand words? Mate in the white 260Z held out the Audi but not the Evo, good thing is the Audi driver was thoroughly pissed off

[Challenger]

 

Derek,

The club in Spokane is hosting an event at the Deer Park airport the weekend of Sept. 20th-21st and another Oct. 4th-5th.

My club has one more event this year scheduled for Oct 11th-12th at TriCity Raceway.

I'm going to try to make it up for the weekend of the 20th-21st, if you want I can let you know so you can come out and maybe get to ride in the beast for a run or 2. It'll give you an idea of what riding in a V8 powered Z-car is like.

 

Wheelman

 

That would be great, Id come to just watch/take photos. Maybe I can get daniel to come out. (globerunner) Maybe If I get a maricle I can make it out in my car.

 

A picture tells a thousand words? Mate in the white 260Z held out the Audi but not the Evo, good thing is the Audi driver was thoroughly pissed off

 

Oh that must of been great to watch, 30 year old car is beating your $30k audi.

[Six_Shooter]

Sounds like racing to me.

 

Same things happen in the OSCA (Drag Racing).

[Tony D]

Could be worse, they could have whined, protested you...then not paid the protest fees and basically bump you out of competition for a year while the competition board determines if The G-Nose was a factory option for any 240Z...

 

And of course, get the determination two weeks after the last meet of the season...just as your driver gets a job with rotating shifts so there's no way in heck he can make any of the events in 2008.

 

And to add insult to injury, watch from the sidelines as the bastards that unofficially protested you, and held you up for a year, bump the record on the third meet of 2008 while you have no driver and a car that runs great...

 

It's all in the degrees... Like JohnC said, you just got to live with it. They protested us because they were upset that we had 17 records in 3.0 Liter class and then downsized our engine to run in 2.0 Liter. It was their way of bumping us out till they got their car sorted and their new killer engine built (which by that point had been 8 years...). I mean, when you are competing against a car running a DOHC COSWORTH engine (capable of over 345hp and 12K rpms), and the owner is upset a DATSUN SOHC has come into his class....c'mon!

 

You just gotta run with what ya brung. I know I have a LOT of documentation on the factory availability of the G-Nose now...Much to my wife's chagrin (more crap to store aroudn the house---what did you need that for???)