Bringing the heat! WDCR autocross #4 recap

Once again (knock on wood), the Camaro made it back on the trailer under its own power.

Every autocross this season I have had a coulda-woulda-shoulda run where I made a mistake on my fastest run which I thought cost me at least half a second. Sunday, there were a couple tiny botches on my fastest run, but overall, I was satisfied with my performance.

We have results! I was ninth in raw time (first time inside the top 10 this season) and 20th in PAX. There was another CP car, but it looked like a "stock car" set up for roadcourse time trials, i.e. not something built for meandering around a little autocross course.

It was miserably hot and humid. This was especially hindering to me after flying in Friday night after a week's vacation out west where 90-degree temperatures felt comfortable. 

Shooting from the hip, I made changes to shock settings before the last autocross, and the car felt great. Don't ask me what I did to the Koni single adjustables. Softened fronts and stiffened rears? Or maybe vice versa. I should write this stuff down.

In grid, another CP car! It looked like a "stock car" prepped for roadcourse duty.

Then before Sunday's event, the car got very minor upgrades with Gorilla Tape in the front grill hoping to streamline the radiator's airflow. Coolant temps seemed to max around 210 until my final run when temps mysteriously climbed to 230 after crossing the finish.

The course was straightforward, without super-tight sections as in a couple earlier autocrosses this year. 

My times went progressively down from 36.3 to 34.5. The only blemish was a DNF on my fourth run where I lost track of the final cone -- slightly hidden by an elevation change -- before the finish.

No sound issues this time, either. If you are one of the 12 viewers of my last blog post, the exhaust noise hit the limit of 100dbs at the July WDCR autocross. It had not registered over 95dbs at any previous autocrosses, so I found that odd. This time, the course was set up so the sound meter would be on the driver's side of vehicles, and my exhaust exit points on the passenger side. While I thought the July readings were an anomaly, sound probably wasn't going to be an issue with the positioning of the meter compared to the muffler output.

Mmmm, which flavor of LS-powered car do you want? Lining up is an LS1 S14 Nissan 240SX, C7 Corvette, fifth generation Camaro, and (my favorite) an LS1 FD Mazda RX-7.

See the video of my fastest run:

Next up? I don't know. There isn't another WDCR autocross until October. Maybe try a Susquehanna SCCA autocross next month? Or [shudder] a PCA event at the Baysox Stadium. I'm toying around with aero ideas, so if that comes to fruition, I probably won't wait until October.

As always, don't forget to check the companion blog about fishing for smallmouth bass (and sometimes walleye)!