Chike's official 2007 AutoX Blog thread (D-Stock)

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by Earthworm

Hehehe...

LOL!!!

Originally Posted by Hocrest

Congrats on the little racer, just think, 5 years from now she'll be running carts


oh yeah... Nice shirt

Thanks Dave! Yeah, I kinda wear that shirt a bunch!

[Chiketkd]

I attended the WDCR event #3 this past Sunday. The class was packed with several strong competitors including multi-time national trophy winner Terry Baker in a 330i. I actually drove quite well, and got close to several drivers who I would normally be over 1 second back from.

Final results in my class were as follows:

'D Stock' - Total Entries: 18 Trophies: 3 Times Total Diff.
1T DS 171 Baker, Terry 1999 Bmw 323I Black 60.747+2 60.173 59.370 59.768 59.370 -
2T DS 157 Arnold, Matthew 2003 Bmw 330I Blue 60.610+DNF 60.368 60.059 60.063 60.059 0.689
3T DS 37 Spector, Larry 2000 Acura Integra Type-R Black 61.236 60.743 60.082 60.582 60.082 0.023
4 DS 34 Kraus, Karen 2006 Subaru Impreza Wrx Black 60.966 60.776 60.898 60.726 60.726 0.644
5 DS 182 Snyder, James 2000 Acura Integra Type R Yellow 61.492 61.634+DNF 61.149 60.895 60.895 0.169
6 DS 82 Pozner, Alan 2000 Acura Integra Type R Yellow 61.373 61.380 61.504 61.119 61.119 0.224
7 DS 50 Taylor, Bill 2002 Subaru Wrx World Rally Blue 62.163+1 61.881 61.621 62.281+1 61.621 0.502
8 DS 6 Arispe, Eduardo 2006 Subaru Wrx Blue 63.923 63.405 62.005 62.113 62.005 0.384
9 DS 71 Staples, Curtis 2002 Bmw 330Ci Blue 62.838 62.445+1 62.022 62.461 62.022 0.017
10 DS 70 Dellimore, Chike 2006 Subaru Wrx Grey 63.216 63.845 62.676 62.259 62.259 0.237
11 DS 80 Radford, Tommy 1994 Bmw 325Is Black 63.137+2 63.131+1 64.266 63.373 63.373 1.114
12 DS 46 Redington, Alex 2001 Audi S4 Black 67.277+1 66.956 66.911+1 65.963 65.963 2.590
13 DS 27 Winkler, Matt 2005 Dodge Srt-4 Acr Black 75.844+DNF 74.924 67.571 66.768 66.768 0.805
14 DS 24 Danneman, Randy 2005 Dodge Neon Srt-4 Acr White 71.616 69.617 68.100 66.886 66.886 0.118
15 DS 42 Cuellar, Roland 2005 Subaru Wrx Wagon Silver 70.376 67.600 67.048 67.478 67.048 0.162
16 DS 13 Hogenkamp, Harry 2006 Subaru Wrx Wagon Blk 67.458 67.291+1 67.443 67.599 67.443 0.395
17 DS 57 Arnold, Jelena 2003 Bmw 330I Blue 83.184 70.820+2 68.157 67.578+1 68.157 0.714
18 DS 124 Danneman, Dorinda 2005 Dodge Neon Srt-4 Acr White 75.365 72.668 74.070 72.231 72.231 4.07
http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/20070617.php

Summary:
10th out of 18 in D-Stock
85th out of 244 in PAX

Some pics from the event:

Yours truly








Terry Baker 330i


Karen Kraus WRX


Larry Spector ITR:


P.S. My next event is this coming weekend - the National Pro Solo being held at Fedex Stadium!!!

[Chiketkd]

Sam Strano


Jason Burns


Mike 'Jr' Johnson - ASP C5 Z06


Courtney Cormier drving McGeorge's ASP C6 Z06

[Chiketkd]

This past weekend, I attended my first ever national solo competition at the Washington, D.C. Pro Solo held at Fedex Stadium. My weekend report is as follows:

Friday 6/22
Got up to DC around 12:45pm, registered with Ann and Andy Hollis to do the QuickStart program for Pro Solo novices. I then immediately changed tires and got ready for the 1:30pm start time of the program. Quickstart gives you 4 free practice starts and I had reaction times in the 0.6-0.7 range. I then paid to do 4 more practice starts and got a best 60ft time of 1.9 seconds. After the practice starts, the course was open for walking and I went around at least 5-6 times per side. I also had the opportunity to do a course walk with Jonathan Roberts (National Solo and Pro Solo champion). I checked in at registration and took my car through tech and got the SCCA required decals to run the Pro Solo/National Tour events. I was all set to go...



I bought a t-shirt which had the DC Pro Solo course maps on the back:



Saturday 6/23
I was there bright and early at 7:00am and commenced my course walks once more. I felt relatively rested and refreshed and was looking forward to competing. Took my car to grid, checked tire pressure and checked my lug nuts with my torque wrench. DS ran in Heat 2 and it was soon time to roll!

In the morning session, we got 4 runs and my plan was to go out and put down some fast & clean scratch times. As I went out on course my car felt extremely 'pushy' and I couldn't get a good rhythm going. My best on the left course was a clean 36.8 along with a clean 36.7 on the right. The leaders were into the low 35's, and three had cracked into the upper 34's. At the end of the session, I sat 8th out of 11 in class.

In the afternoon session, I decided to set my car up a little looser with my tire pressures to get my back-end to step out more. The car was much looser and on my first afternoon run, I ended up spinning 360 degrees when making my way through the esses after the start. This shook my confidence for the rest of the session and I only ended up lowering my times slightly to equal 'clean' 36.7's on both left and right courses... I now sat 10th out of 11 in class.

Sunday 6/24
I was staying with a couple of friends and one data-logged his runs in his ES miata and mentioned on our drive to Fedex that he was going faster when he gave up some speed in the esses to position the car better for the long straight afterwards. I took this advice to heart but still felt very down after my Day 1 performance. I ran into Jonathan Roberts right before heading out for my final four runs - he told me he always went faster on Day 2 and to just go out there and focus on running my lines. I took his advice to heart and decided to take a gamble and set my car up a loose as it was on my Saturday afternoon runs. First run was on the left, and I gave up a little speed in the esses but was able to really carry some speed in the straight afterwards. Came back in and saw a 37.1 but I knew my tires were cold and would be grippier on the next run. Adjusted tire pressures and pulled up to the line on the right side. Right as the lights were coming down the tree, my car rolled backwards a little causing one of my staging lights to go out. The run ended up being a DNF, but I still drove the course to plan and my time was a 36.5! I had two more runs left - one per side.

I pulled up to the left side for my final run. Got a good reaction, and a pretty solid launch. Took her up through the esses modulating the throttle and went into the turn around at a decent speed. I positioned the car well for the run back down to the slalom and I was able to carry some serious speed back down the course. I came into the slalolom a little too hot and pushed wide. I didn't panic but let the loose back-end step out to tighten my line and then romped back onto the throttle and went through the slalom into the finish. My time was a clean 36.06 - a 0.7 second improvement even with the sloppy slalom entry and choppy slalom driving! I then went over to the right side and ran everything soundly except for some more choppy driving in the slalom. My final time on that side was a 36.14 - a 0.6 second improvement. This dropped my combined time down to a 72.2 which still held me 10th in class, but just 0.2 seconds behind Larry Spector in his ITR (top DS driver with the WDCR) and 0.4 seconds behind Matt Arnold in his 330i - finished ~20th at Solo Nationals in '05. Steve Bambach who finished third at the 2006 DS Pro Finale finished 4th at the event, while my friend Justin Rest came third in his '06 WRX, and my other friend Keith Vail took 1st place in his Crossfire!

Final results for my class were as follows:

D Stock Drivers: 11 Trophies: 4
T 1 75 Keith Vail 2005 Chrysler Crossf 69.625
T 2 187 Bryan Hertweck 2006 Chrysler Crossf 69.640
T 3 60 Justin Rest 2006 Subaru Impreza Hoosier 69.754
T 4 2 Steve Baumbach 2005 Dodge SRT4 ACR 70.000
5 87 Aaron Buckley 2006 Chrysler Crossf 70.277
6 6 Eduardo N Arispe 2006 Subaru WRX Bl Hoosier 70.327
7 13 Mark A Pedley 2004 VW R32 Blu Kumho 70.698
8 57 Matthew Arnold 2003 BMW 330i Blu Kumho 71.879
9 37 Larry Spector 2000 Acura Integra Type R Hoosier 72.021
10 70 Chike Akil Dellimo 2006 Subaru WRX Hoosier 72.208
11 48 A Phil Williams 2001 BMW 330i Blu Avon 78.775

Complete results for the event can be viewed here: DC Pro Solo Results

Pro Solo index results for the event are up here: DC Pro Solo Index Rankings

Summary:
10th out of 11 in DS
130 out of 214 in Index (Pro Solo PAX)

When changing back to my street tires Sunday afternoon, I realized the reason why my car was so pushy in corners. Both of my factory front struts are now leaking...



The leak looks worse than it really is and they should last me until the end of the '07 season. I'll be upgrading to konis later this year!

Here are some pics of my car in action courtesy Team WTF?!

[Chiketkd]

Sam Strano:


Mark Daddio:


Jonathan Roberts:


Ian Stewart:

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

When changing back to my street tires Sunday afternoon, I realized the reason why my car was so pushy in corners. Both of my factory front struts are now leaking...

I found last summer that one of my Outback's struts was leaking. What's Subaru buying these days?

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

What's Subaru buying these days?

KYB is the OE strut manufacturer. My car is still under warranty but I won't be getting them replaced as the stock struts are crap. I'll hold out until this Fall and go to konis. If the car doesn't make it, then I'll just do co-drives until the end of the season.

[SSSVX]

Chike, how many miles on your WRX now from your abuse? Any recommendation...where to get struts at good deal on the web? My struts are leaking too/my strut mounts are not as good I think.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

Chike, how many miles on your WRX now from your abuse? Any recommendation...where to get struts at good deal on the web? My struts are leaking too/my strut mounts are not as good I think.

My car currently has 35K miles - one more 1K miles and it'll be out of warranty. IIRC, SVXs came stock with Showa struts. AFAIK, the new Imprezas and Legacies have KYB struts.

Not sure where cheap struts can be bought on-line.

Btw, Sam Strano pointed out on SCCA Forums that they were over 20 National Solo and Pro Solo champions at the DC pro Solo this past weekend.

[Chiketkd]

After speaking with my friend who's a former solo National Tour winner, I'm looking to replace my front struts with Tokico HP's:

Tokico HP Struts

These come stock on the Mazdaspeed Protege and should be noticeably better than my stockers. They're not adjustable and aren't as good as konis, but should work well with the stockers which I'll be keeping in the back.

These HP's will only need to last me until this winter when I'll be upgrading to konis...or maybe even Ohlins struts!

[Chiketkd]

...and should arrive by Friday, July 6th. Ran me $173.60 shipped to my door!



A member of my Blue Ridge SCCA club who lives nearby will help me replace the struts on Sunday, July 8th.

[SSSVX]

I'm also looking at this strut(tokico hp) for my mazda. Maybe I will hold on for a while, it leaks but not as bad. I definitely need strut mounts too at that time.

Chike, you just change two? So your front is gonna be stiffer than the rear? Do you think urethane will help extend the life of strut mount or help old strut mounts perform better?

Let us know what you think for this strut later on.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SSSVX

I'm also looking at this strut(tokico hp) for my mazda. Maybe I will hold on for a while, it leaks but not as bad. I definitely need strut mounts too at that time.

Chike, you just change two? So your front is gonna be stiffer than the rear? Do you think urethane will help extend the life of strut mount or help old strut mounts perform better?

Let us know what you think for this strut later on.

Ken,

My friends on the Mazda forums rave about the Tokico struts. The piston in the strut is much thicker than the factory unit, and these should be noticeably stiffer. I'm sure they'll be great for your mazda.

I'm just replacing the fronts as these will only be on my car for ~6 months. These should work very well with my stockers out back, and should help my big front swaybar keep my car flat in corners. Come Xmas, it'll be time for konis at all four corners ($600) -- or even Ohlins fixed perch struts which cost ~$1,800 for a set.

Chike

[Chiketkd]

They'll be on my car by Sunday!

Chike

[Royal Tiger]

Who let the rustangs enter?

Tenth, not bad, but you let two other Subies beat you.

I'd like to see what you could do with a Cayman S.