Saying "no" to crack, avoiding rain and WINNING!

Mother Nature threatened, but she stayed away.

Finally a meaningful autocross. No test-and-tune. No bailing after one run like two years ago (twice). Basically I haven't completed more than one run in the Camaro at a "real" autocross since 2017.

This was with the SCCA's Washington D.C. Region, which has moved its main autocross venue to Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Maryland, because the FedEx Field lots have gotten too expensive to rent, and the surface there has gone downhill to classify it as "borderline sketchy."

The Waldorf lot isn't terrible, but it's small (in comparison to FedEx), low-grip asphalt and doesn't offer much variation for course design. 

I got to thinking on the trek down, I had not autocrossed here since ... 2014! One thing that has changed since the last time -- my reliance more on GPS directions. Instead of going through the stoplight hell that is Waldorf, Waze routed me on Route 5 north of town and over back roads.

We got five runs, and I went progressively faster as my rust diminished and my trust in the car increased. Took the win in C Prepared to boot! Although nobody else dared to show in the class. Or their car was broken. or something.

I should circle back in time. Since LS V1.0 was in the car, all the way up to the PCA test-and tune autocross last month with LS V1.1, the car hasn't felt right. Mainly the steering hasn't been as crisp. I attributed it to my rustiness and cold tires.

A few weeks ago, I took a video underneath the car sitting in my driveway as I sawed on the steering wheel, and the suspension on the driver's side had a bunch of play. Posted on a couple thirdgen F-Body Facebook groups, and the consensus was the frame was cracked where the steering box mounted.

After taking the steering box off, sure enough, the frame was cracked:

Just say "No" to crack! 

I took the car to Jason from the old F-Body Central at his new hideout in central Virginia so he could meticulously apply welds to band-aid it together.

At the same time, he swapped in new 3.23 gears. The car had 3.73s which were OK with the old 250whp TPI L98 and T10 transmission. But the car now has 130+ whp over the old engine, and an Aisin AR5 transmission with a shorter second gear. At the PCA test-and-tune, it was easily hitting the rev liter in two places on that tiny lot.

New Motive 3.23 gears from Strano's.

Fixed suspension, more usable gearing. Let's return to Saturday's autocross.

Other than the car failing to make all its runs, my biggest fear was actually going over the minimum sound requirements. Because of the stadium's proximity to houses (which weren't there in 2014 -- hey, we were here first), the site has a maximum noise allowance of 100db. Blow 97db, get a warning. Go over 100, figure out a way to fix your car's exhaust noise.

These restrictions have been in place at national SCCA events for awhile. With the old engine in the car, it rarely broke 90db and was usually in the 87-88 range. The car has the same no-name muffler now as it did then, but it is wayyyy louder.

After my first run, I casually scanned the workers to see if anybody was heading in my direction to inform me the exhaust was too loud.

Nothing.

Second run. Nothing. And on like that.

After results were posted online, the time readings followed. My car's sound reading maxed out at a whopping 85.5db. That's it.

Nothing broke. "Won" C Prepared. Made sound. 

Here is a little video synopsis with my fastest run sandwiched in:

So now the car has completed nine autocross runs since the resurrection, a few street excursions, and finally I might be at the point of not being scared of the car's old whack-a-mole issues.

Hopefully.

The rain stayed away until driving home.