Faster Car, Slower Driver

Today 175 drivers showed up for the first NNJR SCCA autocross for the 2016 racing season. This is a new record for attendees at a local event for the club and they did a fantastic job getting us all 5 runs and still be out by 4pm so first and foremost, kudos to the region for being so efficient. The day started out with the 2015 awards getting handed out. Hez picked up his NNJR SCCA 2015 Pro Class Champion trophy driving Bumblestook so big congrats to Hez. I think if he had driven Bumblestook all year he might have been in the running for driver of the year.

Hezron Laluces - NNJR SCCA 2015 Pro Class Champion

Since Hez had to leave early, he ran in heat 3 instead of heat 4 with the rest of STR. This unfortunately meant I had to try and tune the suspension for him without actually driving the car. To make matters worse, I got Lupa washed after the Metro NY PCA event two weeks ago and forgot to tell them not to put tire shine on my race tires. Needless to say this made for a rather exciting first run with a massive (seemingly never ending) spin almost right out of the gate.

NNJR SCCA Autox - 3/26/2016

After a couple of runs, the tire shine had scuffed off the tread, heat was in the tires, and we were able to start to tune the suspension. Based on Hez's feedback, I ended up decreasing rear compression by 1 click, increasing rear rebound by 1 click and we settled for a final tire pressure of 29 psi front, 27 psi rear hot. This allowed better power delivery to the rear coming out of a corner and Hez put in his fast time on his last run. Unfortunately, because I was turning knobs, he really only had his last run to get a decent time in. If he had started on this setup, I think he might have easily been able to find more time out there.

NNJR SCCA Autox - 3/26/2016

When  I drove the car in heat 4, she was good to go and I made no further changes. I think we're definitely very close to where she needs to be. She has very good turn in response, transition speed was good and stable but there's still a slight bit of nervousness in high speed sweepers mid corner so I may try to dial down the rear bar next event. Overall I'm very happy with how she's responding to the off season changes but I'd be lying if I didn't say I wasn't disappointed in my driving.

To be a fast driver you have to commit to every corner without hesitation and I was truly struggling with that today. For various reasons I've been too spoiled driving Bumblestook on Hoosiers that I've become very uncomfortable with the slip angle of street tires. On top of that I find myself second guessing every brake and turn in point causing me to instinctively get off throttle and lose time left and right. I'll have to fix this ASAP if I intend to at least try to be competitive this year.

Overall, I'd say Lupa has good pace but I just can't drive her to that pace. Hopefully I can shake this lack of confidence soon. In the meantime, I'm sure Hez will be able to put up a fight at the next event.