People...

This is priceless... I've sat in places where I could see my car and seen similar stuff...

Calendar Complete

Found the dates for Bay State Corvette Club and Track Club USA. Now my calendar page can answer the question "Who is at Devens?" for every weekend day this summer except June 10. If you know who's there on the 10th, let me know! Still haven't done squat to get ready for the season... Perhaps I will get a chance to start later this week.

Prep for Season #4

As always, the first step is to find out when the races are, so I built a google calendar to hold them all. You can see it here.

Mechanical Prep:

1. Replace the aging and loosening U joint in the steering. It's no where near dangerous, but the play is dissatisfying in a car that is so tight everywhere else. The looseness lets it wander just a bit over bumps and with camber changes on the highway. It also probably makes my steering input more abrupt while racing.
2. Bolt check
3. Oil Change
4. Check Toe on front wheels.
5. Check corner balance (need to borrow scales)
6. Check/set camber on all wheels (need tool)

Brakes, and tires should be all set till mid season.  This year the emphasis will be on set-up, and getting the most out of what I have. I've done all the easy/cheap modifications for the most part, and so now I need to optimize what I have before I consider spending big $ on an LSD, clutch and flywheel.

I'll be doing the U-Bolt install on my own, so I'll post what I did for that in the next article.

Season Wrap Up

The sun has set on my third season of racing...

So after getting back into the game, the season has now drawn to a close in only a month's time and the big winter wait is upon us. Nothing to do but look back on the season and plan for the next. So How did I do? The best answer to that question is "I improved". I definitely got faster. Technically I placed exactly the same as I did last year, Second place for the season. The Blue CRX still beats me, but this year I beat some real competitors.

The difference is last year, I more or less out attended all of my competitors except one. In 2010 There were several people who beat me head-to head, but I earned more points by showing up to more races. This year only one competitor who was faster fell behind on attendance. This year I can legitimately say I was the second fastest car, and probably the third fastest driver in the class. It's also gratifying that the class is the 5th most popular out of 35 classes. Also, one of the cars that I beat (and not just once) is a seriously modified car; A miata with a full custom suspension, and a 2.0L stroker, turbo charged engine. Also, I made second place decisively despite being 3 events short of a full season.

Here are the final standings...

Don Kuehl (Blue Supercharged CRX)	(8 events)	60 points
Gus Heck (Black N/A Lotus Elise)	(6 events)	35 points
Brian Kuehl (Blue Supercharged CRX)	(2 events)	18 points
Matt Neiman (Blue Turbo/Stroked Miata)	(4 events)	17 points
Chris Raposo (1994 Miata)	(3 events)	11 points
Bill Sallie(Blue Corvette with engine swap)	(3 events)	9 points
Gregory Walter(Blue/White turbo Miata)	(2 events)	9 points
Camron Bosnic (Flamed Turbo 240SX)	(2 events)	9 points
Gerard Mauvis (2003 Porsche 911C4S)	(1 event)	6 points
Bryan Mancuso (Red, stock MR2)	(1 events)	4 points
Gavin Williams(1978 Nissan 280z)	(1 event)	3 points
Bill Brundige (Blue Turbo/Stroked Miata)	(1 event)	2 points
Andrew Leonas (White '91 Turbo RX-7)	(1 event)	2 points

Other YOY stats:

• Number of competitors in the class 12 (up from 11)
• Number of days raced by all other competitors 29 (vs 28)
• Races attended 6 (down from 9)
• Final season pax rank 53, (up from 65)
• Pax points earned 450.28 (up from 442.86)

The number of competitors racing in the class was similar, although last year's winner went off to college, and only raced in our class twice this year (and twice in the Pro class). Given that, one could argue that the level of competition went down a bit, but not a whole lot since it was only one competitor.

Pax Points are based on the best 5 races, and are across all drivers in all classes, so improvement there is a good solid measure. Last year I attended 9 races and got to drop my 4 worst results, and I only could drop one this year, If I'd made all 9 races that one might have improved a bit more.