The Road to Topeka - Chike's official 2008 Autocross Blog Thread (B-stock Mazda RX-8)

[svxfiles]

Thanks, Chi ke!

[Chiketkd]

My co-driver Shawn and I competed in the 2008 DC Pro Solo hosted by the WDCR at Fedex Stadium. The course design was by Lee Piccione and it was made even trickier, due to the elevation changes on the Fedex lot:



The weather was great both days -- about mid 80's and sunny.

Thoughts -- Not my greatest driving by a long shot. Saturday morning, I was able to put down some seemingly respectable times and sat 3rd in class after the 1st session. Still had several areas to improve on, but felt comfortable in the car. During the Saturday afternoon session, I found myself not looking ahead enough and I failed to improve my times on either course. I now sat in the 6th and final spot. Sunday's morning session, was no different and I only improved my time on one side by ~1/10th of a second.

I ended up finshing 5th in class, as the winning Porsche 968 was protested for removal of his a/c system, as well as other missing items on his car.

On the up side, my co-driver stepped up his driving when he needed to and finished 2nd in class.

Results: http://www.scca.com/documents/result...ovisional1.pdf

B Stock Drivers: 6 Trophies: 2
T 1 97 Jason Ruggles 2007 Nissan 350z Slv Kumho 31.968 33.619(1) 31.652 31.308 33.665(1) 31.157 61.303
Margate, FL 30.146 31.967 30.255
20
Officer Dix Racing 33.279(1) 30.546 30.741
T 2 170 Shawn Roberts 2006 Mazda RX8 Gry Kumho 31.900 DNF 31.536 DNF 32.055 31.322 61.450
[70] Woodbridge, VA 31.054 30.875 30.128 (0.147)
16
The web browser on my cell phone. 31.454 31.332 30.735
3 51 Jim Fossum 2007 Mazda RX-8 Slv Kumho 32.720 31.362 RL 33.230(1) 31.910 31.365 61.589
Greer, SC 30.338 30.279 32.111(1) (0.139)
13
Mazdaspeed/Kumho RL 30.227 30.427
4 42 Tom Deady 2005 Mazda RX-8 Gry Kumho 31.825 31.322 31.604 31.781 31.490 31.430 62.166
Hickory, NC 30.914 30.997 30.844 (0.577)
11
EnhancedWriting.com 33.731(1) 32.029 31.035
6/22/2008 1:10:26PM respro.rpt version 2.0 Page 2 of 13
5 70 Chike Dellimore 2006 Mazda RX-8 Gry Kumho 33.763(1) 31.860 33.012 32.429 32.550 31.770 62.667
[170] Crozet, VA 31.676 31.836 DNF (0.501)
9
Team Exit Strategy! 31.850 30.897 31.294
8 Travis Hill 1994 porsche 968 Red Hoosier DNF RL DNF DNF DNF DNF No Time
Irwin, PA DNF DNF DNF
7

Ruggles:


Roberts:


Hill:


Myself:

[Chiketkd]

[SVXRide]

Chike,
congrats! looks like you're going to need to take a look at that front sway bar (lifting the inside wheel)
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Chike,
congrats! looks like you're going to need to take a look at that front sway bar (lifting the inside wheel)
-Bill

Thanks Bill. The RX-8 is a 'funky' car in that it can lift an inside front-wheel on street tires! The car is working the way we like currently, and no more changes will be made from now through Nats.

[Chiketkd]

My co-driver and I attended the Toledo Pro Solo held at the Toledo Express Airport on a concrete surface. Due to the grain of the concrete varying from section to section, I quickly learned that in some corners you had grip, while in others you had even more grip!

The weather was mid 80's and sunny on both days. B-stock had 6 drivers in class, including the protested Porsche 968 from DC who re-installed his A/C system as well as rear wiper and rear wiper motor prior to this event. Chris Harvey who finished 4th in BS at Nats last year was in attendance along with his co-driver John Rogers (finished just out of the trophies).

My goal going in was to improve my times with each run group and I was able to accomplish this. I flet I drove better than DC but I was still off the pace of the top 3 finishers in the class. I finished 5th while my co-driver finished 4th -- this gives us 18 and 27 pro solo points respectively and we should both get invites to the Pro Finale.

B Stock Drivers: 6 Trophies: 2
T 1 8 Travis Hill 1994 porsche 968 Red Hoosier 32.038 31.737 30.839 31.137 32.427 30.808 61.908
Irwin, PA HRE RACING Steel Citi RL 31.351 31.340 31.100 32.827(1) RL 20

T 2 89 John Rogers 2006 Mazda RX-8 Red Hoosier 31.909 31.861 31.650 31.627 31.253 30.935 61.938
[189] Granger, IN The Tire Rack South Bend 31.991 31.481 31.643 RL 33.572(1) 31.003 (0.030) 16

3 189 Chris Harvey 2006 Mazda RX-8 Red Hoosier 31.575 RL 31.453 31.460 RL DNF 62.401
[89] Osceola, IN The Tire Rack South Bend 31.451 31.336 31.053 31.072 31.308 30.948 (0.463) 13

4 170 Shawn Roberts 2006 Mazda RX8 Gry Kumho DSQ RL 32.075 32.110 31.908 31.630 63.449
[70] Woodbridge, VA Washington 32.624 RL 32.043 32.403 31.870 31.819 (1.048) 11

5 70 Chike Dellimore 2006 Mazda RX-8 Gry Kumho 33.579 33.081 34.902(1) 32.582 32.145 32.030 64.333
[170] Crozet, VA Team Exit Strategy! Blue Ridge RL RL 32.755 32.508 RL 32.303 (0.884) 9

6 88 Jonathan Paine 2004 Nissan 350Z Org Hankook 34.285 32.496 32.384 32.237 RL 32.207 64.688
Middleburg Heights, NORA/ASCC Neohio/GL RL RL 33.225 32.606 33.310 32.481 (0.355) 7

Final results: http://www.scca.com/documents/result...20Sunday.4.pdf

All in all, the event was a blast and my autocross buddy Dave O'Maley scored his first big national win taking Super Stock over multi-time national champions Matt Braun & Pat Salerno!


Pics of B-stock drivers:

Hill


Rogers


Harvey


Roberts


Dellimore


Paine

[SVXRide]

Come on, Chike...post up on the weekend's results (you trophy winning kinda guy, you!)
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Come on, Chike...post up on the weekend's results (you trophy winning kinda guy, you!)
-Bill

LOL. In due time Bill... I know Alex T. of Team WTF?! was there and I want to see if he took any pics of the action. My driving Sunday was decent, but my co-driver and I need to pick our pace up some more. I'd like to find another 1 second on a 60 second course between now and Nats - I tend to do the fast sections faster than Shawn, but lose time by not carrying enough speed throughout the slow sections. I PAX'd 36th and I'd like a Top 20 PAX before Nats.

[Chiketkd]

My co-driver and I competed in Event #4 with the WDCR this past Sunday. Temps were in the upper 80's/low 90's and it was scorching out there!

We competed on the A Lot which has a flatter surface than the E/F but isn't as favorable to spectators as the entire course cannot be viewed from one vantage point. Course deisgn was by S. Salisbury and G. Olsen:



I drove okay on Sunday. On my first run I collected 4 cones, but I was able to steadily whittle my time down on my next 2 runs. On my 4th run, I gave up to much speed during the first 25% of the course, and even though I drove the next 75% even faster than my 3rd run, I ended up with a similar 58.7 second time. Shawn took the win with a 58.1 while I finished 3rd in class.

Summary:
3rd of 8 in class
36th of 236 in PAX

'B Stock'
Pos. # Driver Car Run1 Run2 Run3 Run4 Total Diff
1T 170 Roberts, Shawn 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Grey 59.333+1 58.197 58.509 58.482 58.197 0
2T 88 Wade, Dave 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Gray 58.715 59.005 58.402 58.464 58.402 0.205
3T 70 Dellimore, Chike 2006 Mazda Rx-8 Galaxy Grey 59.768+4 59.058 58.733 58.785 58.733 0.331
4 99 Weichold, Frank 2005 Mazda Rx8 Grey 60.206+1 58.844 72.089+DNF 58.990 58.844 0.111
5 98 Barber, Steve 2004 Mazda Rx-8 Green 59.605+1 60.133 59.209 59.580 59.209 0.365
6 11 Correa, Aaron 2003 Nissan 350Z Silver 68.592 65.776 64.174+1 63.065 63.065 3.856
7 77 Wise, John 2004 Mazda RX-8 67.176 65.355 63.663 63.788 63.663 0.598
8 111 Correa, Mike 2003 Nissan 350Z Silver 68.096 67.112 65.198 63.848 63.848 0.185

No Team WTF?! have been posted yet (unsure if they'll be very many on account of the high temps). However, another photographer took pics of some of the other classes in action -- pics of some top drivers are shown below:

John V.


Greg O.


Jason B.


Brian B.



My next event will be the two-day 2008 Coventry CommonWealth Games to be held at the Danville Regional Airport this coming weekend.

[SVXRide]

Chike,
How come Strano didn't drive?
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

Chike,
How come Strano didn't drive?
-Bill

Not quite sure Bill. He was on the road 3 weekends in a row for the DC Pro, Peru NT and Toledo Pro, so I'm assuming he just needed a break???

I know I'm getting a little run-down, but luckily my entire family is coming down with me this weekend to Danville. I got the best room available at teh Sleep Inn (which isn't saying a whole lot) but it's a suite with a full kitchen, living room and bed room area. Should hopefully be a relaxing trip, even though I'm on the road. After this weekend's event, I'm off for three weekends and then back @ Fedex for WDCR event #5.

[Chiketkd]

I competed in the two day Commonwealth Games at the Danville airport over the weekend. There was only one other driver in the BS class (Chad) and he had beaten me twice earlier this season - but we hadn't met since April.

Saturday - Day 1
The course was technical with some fast sections thrown into the mix. My first two runs had me making some serious mistakes (costing me time) but by my final two runs I was able to whittle my time down to a respectable 46.4xx. Chad had broken into the 46's as well with a 46.9xx best. He didn't have his sprayer with him that day, and felt his tires were greasy on his final two runs, so Sunday was going to be more of a test.

Sunday - Day 2
The course was much faster than the previous day's with a few sections that punished you if you got them wrong. I drove better and ran a 45.1xx, which I had dropped to a 44.0xx by my third run. On my 4th run, I clipped a cone in the slalom, and went slightly faster at 43.8xx (but with one cone). Chad failed to break out of the 45's and a 45.1xx was his best of the day.

Summary:
1st of 2 in class
18 out of 63 in PAX


B-Stock Results Sat / Sun / Total / Pax
70 CHIKE DELLIMORE 06 MAZDA RX-8 GREY 46.474 44.059 90.533 75.323
92 CHAD HENRY 05 MAZDA RX-8 BLUE 46.937 45.175 92.112 76.638
http://www.brr-scca.org/2008Games.htm

Pics from the event:

Cline's STX BMW


Valent's SM Celica Alltrac


St. John's AS Sky Redline


Portanova's SS Elise


Chad




Dellimore

[Chiketkd]

A friend of mine took a couple photo series of my car on course. A couple came out great!

The slalom

[Chiketkd]

The 120 degree kink (taken at 60+mph)

[Chiketkd]