SFR SCCA Solo2 - Round1 results

[cfbjr]

The San Francisco Region SCCA Solo2(autocross) Round 1 for the 2002 season took place on January 27th, 2002 at Network Associates Colesium in Oakland CA.
It was a great day of racing with nearly 300 cars in attendance including yours truly and wheelguru(Sean) from this board. It was really cool to see another MP3 guy out there and also nice to meet Sean. Sean ran in the STS(Street Tourning S) class and I ran in the G Stock class. We each got three runs. Sean will probably post his times here or in another post. The top time of the day was a 47.something done by a race prepped Toyota Starlet. Ugly, but really fast!
Here are my times for my three runs:
Run 1: 56.291
Run 2: 55.177 +1cone
Run 3: 54.055

I beleive I came in third in my class out of at least 6 cars and I was less than a second off the top time in my class. The results are not official yet and when they are I will update my post

 

[cfbjr]

Here's a pic someone took of sean's ride at the autocross. I'll try to post some pics from my video camera(maybe a short movie of the action?).
G Racing STS MP3

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Carson Black ]

 

[norman]

Carson, I read what classes you guys are in, but what would a stock MP3 be in? What other cars were in each class that you two ran in? I run here in Western PA but am new to the import classes. I have to wait for the snow to quit to race though...only 2 more months!

 

[cfbjr]

OK, I race in G Stock, which IS the stock class for MP3's. Sean runs in STS because of all his mods. I removed my MHP intake and put the stock intake back on so I could pass tech for GS(Yes, the intake is for sale, I'll post it in the for sale section soon and probably run it through an eBay auction). When I say I run stock, I mean stock, I even run the stock Dunlop tires that came with our car. That will soon change as the D's are getting very tired at this point and the stock class is allowed to use any DOT rated tire as long as it is on the stock sized wheel. So you can use a real sticky compound tire like a Kumho V700 or a Hoosier A3S03(?). It's one of the only luxuries afforded the stock people and can be a real advantage. I'm going to get another set of rims to mount the autocross tires on and just get some Kumho Ecsta 712's for everyday driving. The guys that beat me this weekend all had the sticky tires, and I was right on their tails so th Dunlops are pretty good for auto-x. It was probably just my driving that cost me the time.
It's great you are going to bring out your MP3 to auto-cross it's a great car for it, and I think it has a distinct advantage in the GS class because of all the from the factory mods. Some of the other cars in my class are the Toyota Celica GT, Acura Integra, Dodge Neon, Honda Civic Si. Remember, these are all in their unmodified, stock form. Sean goes up against similar vehicles in STS only they have lot's of suspension, exhaust, intake and wheel mods. Sean runs 18" rims and a host of other mods on his MP3.
BTW, some of the other MP3's in the Bay Area should come out and represent at the SFR SCCA meets. I guarantee you have more chances of breaking your car on the sh*tty freeways there than you do on the autocross course. I drove down from Sacramento!

 

[311Mazda]

Hey Carson, I saw you run at the SCCA, I came with some friends that are signed up to watch and was there all day. You did great, it was obvious that the MP3 is underpowered compared to many cars there but there was praticly NO body roll what so ever even when you pushed the car hard. It was great to see. I hope to eventualy get my licnece and see what my MP5 can do.

Oh and by the way, for those who don't know, the times that Carson got was eaqual to or better than what alot of stock WRX's got that day. Impressive.

 

[wheelguruuu]

What's going on Carson!! It was great to see another MP3 out there and great meeting you too! Did you get to meet the other couple from Antioch? they brought their MP3 also!! yes there was 3 MP3's in one location and there is two others that werent there! we need to represent guys (APEXI)
my times were decent with my s*** street tires Pirelli P7000SS but that will be in another post don't get me wrong they are excellent street tires but for auto-X they suck!
Run 1: 56.6 +1
Run 2: 56.4
Run 3: 55.5

but I'll be moving to the FSP Class next round because of my MODS and future mods!

Check out my other post in a few minutes

 

[cfbjr]

Wow, I didn't see the other MP3 or the P5, bummer. Next time see if you can hunt me down, I like to meet new people. It'll be cool to see all of you out there running some time. After Round 2 of SFR SOLO2 I will probably be focusing on the Sacramento chapter autocrosses and American Autocross series since they are about 10 mins. away from my house but when I have an open weekend I will try to roll down to the Bay to compete. They run a very smooth event considering how many cars were there(292). I proved that the MP3 is not underpowered at all by coming in third in G Stock! I was approximately 1/2 a second off of the winning time set by a Celica GT which definitely has more HP and extremely close to the Dodge Neon ACR(American Club Racer - set up for autocross in stock form by Dodge), maybe only 10 more hp! But look at the cars I beat; 98 Integra GSR, 98 Integra, 96 Integra GSR, 87 BMW 325, 97 Camaro! Horsepower makes no difference when compared to other cars that are matched by perormance potential and power-to-weight ratio. Not to rub it in but I also beat Sean who has comparitively more horsepower in the exact same car as mine! Do tires make a difference? Yes. Although, I used my stock Dunlops. Does excellent suspension make a difference? you bet, especially in GS where you have those integras with all kinds of body roll. Does driving ability make a difference? No question. Does luck play a part? unfortunately!
Sean, FSP... YIKES!
I have posted some pics from the autocross. There are a lot of pics of Celicas because I am friends with some people from Praxis Racing(a very active Celica club from the Bay) but there are pics of Sean and I in action. Check out the Lotus Elise 190!
Pics from SFR SCCA SOLO2 Round 1

 

[cfbjr]

Here's a link to the official results:

SFR SCCA SOLO2 Results

I am in GS and Sean is in STS

 

[cfbjr]

Sorry peeps,
For some reason they decided to rebuild my server this morning so it will be down until 10:30am PST.

 

[APEXistud]

Hehe, sorry give me a head up as to when you guys will be going to the next event and if I'm available (2 jobs here) I'll roll though. I'm not a big autocrosser, but I'll still come down to watch.

 

[cfbjr]

You don't have to be a "big autocrosser" to participate. That's what's so much fun! Autocross is Feb 17, 2002 at 3Com Park (Candlestick). See you there!