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

[subi-crosser]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Yours truly x2





SS Cayman S




BS 350Z


This is me trying to explain to a guy (not in view) why his 3,600lb Mustang Cobra convertible wasn't able to be competitive in Street Mod in its current state:





WTF?! Hitting cones is bad!!!

Looking forward to seeing you in sept! (they wrote a song about that!)

I don't think auto-Xing was included though.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by subi-crosser

Looking forward to seeing you in sept! (they wrote a song about that!)

I don't think auto-Xing was included though.

Thanks Jerry. I'll be at the Subaru Challenge ready for action!

Hopefully, I'll remember to eat breakfast before I head out!

[Royal Tiger]

Good Luck Chike. And I see the look of envy on your face with the Cayman S!

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by Royal Tiger

Good Luck Chike. And I see the look of envy on your face with the Cayman S!

No look of envy - but those Caymans are nice and sound awesome at full song!

I'll do at least another season in my WRX, but my next car after that will most likely be a Z or RX-8. The RX-8 has a few reliability issues and requires frequent maintenance, while the Z has a cheapish interior and is a lot less practical, but is reliable to a fault. This car will not not daily driven, as I'll be using my wife's 4 door Lancer for family duties (she's getting a mid-size SUV this winter).

So 1 more year in DS (with a trip to Topeka), then I'll be changing classes...

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

No look of envy - but those Caymans are nice and sound awesome at full song!

I'll do at least another season in my WRX, but my next car after that will most likely be a Z or RX-8. The RX-8 has a few reliability issues and requires frequent maintenance, while the Z has a cheapish interior and is a lot less practical, but is reliable to a fault. This car will not not daily driven, as I'll be using my wife's 4 door Lancer for family duties (she's getting a mid-size SUV this winter).

So 1 more year in DS (with a trip to Topeka), then I'll be changing classes...

wait....wait...."I have to get rid of my SVX because I need 4 doors"
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by SVXRide

wait....wait...."I have to get rid of my SVX because I need 4 doors"
-Bill

Which is correct - hence my current 4 door Impreza. I'll have my wife's 4 door for commuting so she's encouraging me to make my next car a true sports cars if I so want.

I used to own a 300ZX TT and that was our date car when we first met, so we both 'love' the Z!

[Royal Tiger]

Wait for the 370Z. More power and far better interior. Or with your small fortune, you can buy the G37 Coupe now. The RX-8 sucks. It's not 1.3L like the Mazda propaganda machine insists, but a 2.6L. Sport Compact Car did a nice multi paged story on it a few years back. I wish Automobile and Car & Driver who do their own research before jumping on the 1.3L banter. Secondy, the one secratary in the Youth Division bought one for her son. It makes more trips to the dealer then your normal ford POS. The topper was when she started it and backed it out of the driveway. When he went to start it an hour later it wouldn't. They called the Mazda dealer and they were told they didn't let the car get to it's proper operating tempature and it will have this issue when "treated" like it was (their words). I never realized backing out a car and parking it was so tramatic to such a "fine" automobile. I have never heard of a 911 GT3 not starting after such horrific treatment. In fact the GT3 will lap the Nuremburgring in under 8 minutes, and take you out to dinner right after. Get the Nissan.

[Chiketkd]

Dan,

I've heard of that issue with the RX-8. It's definitely happens quite often to owners not aware of the rotary engine's quirks. I like the RX-8 for its practicality and the fact that it isn't torquey and is more of a momentum car. This'll develop my driving in a way in a different way from my current WRX.

While I'm not set on getting the RX-8 or Z at this point, they'll both be on my list! My price range will probably be 30-40K. If the 370Z is out by then, I'd definitely take that over a 350Z. Other cars like the STI & Evo also fall into that price range and will be considered...

-Chike

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

In other news, I'll be switching tire brands to run Hankooks Z214's:



These tires come in three different compounds. A hard C30 compound for road-racing, a medium C50 compound for autocross/road racing, and a softer C70 compound for autocross only. I'll be picking up a set of 245/40/17 C50 compound tires pretty soon, and depending on my experience with them, I'll run C70 compound tires next season. These tires run $199 each from Frisby Tire, and are much cheaper than my current Hoosiers which run $237 each from The Tirerack. From several accounts on sccaforums, these tires are taking road racing by storm and are proving to be as fast as the Hoosier R6, and in autoX good drivers are winning National Tour and Pro Solo events on this rubber and can match the times of drivers on Hoosier A6's.

Here's a stack of 245/40/17 Z214's stacked up next to a set of 225/45/17 RE070's (my current street tires):

The tires arrived today via Fedex and will be mounted Saturday morning! The rubber feels very soft and grippy to the touch - I can't wait to try these bad boys out!!!!!
P.S. I'll update my blog soon with results from last Sunday's WDCR. Karen Kraus co-drove my car with and it was solid day at the office.

[Royal Tiger]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Dan,

I've heard of that issue with the RX-8. It's definitely happens quite often to owners not aware of the rotary engine's quirks. I like the RX-8 for its practicality and the fact that it isn't torquey and is more of a momentum car. This'll develop my driving in a way in a different way from my current WRX.

While I'm not set on getting the RX-8 or Z at this point, they'll both be on my list! My price range will probably be 30-40K. If the 370Z is out by then, I'd definitely take that over a 350Z. Other cars like the STI & Evo also fall into that price range and will be considered...

-Chike

If you want a torque-less car, get a S2000, not that RX-8 POS. I could at least tolerate your Mazdaspeed 6 obsession but, the RX-8 is not worth it Chike, seriously. Get the G37, probably the best car in the vein you are looking at. Here is another clincher, an early 996 Carerra 2 cost about the same as a new RX-8. What would you rather have?

[benebob]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

The tires arrived today via Fedex and will be mounted Saturday morning! The rubber feels very soft and grippy to the touch - I can't wait to try these bad boys out!!!!!
P.S. I'll update my blog soon with results from last Sunday's WDCR. Karen Kraus co-drove my car with and it was solid day at the office.

Hoosiers are that fast but they're very predictable and last! From my understanding you may need to get the Korean kids working harder to make you some more by the end of the year!

[SVXRide]

'D Stock' - Total Entries: 18 Trophies: 3 Times Total Diff.
1T 99 Roberts, Shawn 2003 Mazdaspeed Protege Teh Spicy 44.729 43.918 42.979 43.469 42.979 -
2T 170 Kraus, Karen 2006 Subaru Impreza Wrx Black 44.252 43.124+5 44.026+1 43.139 43.139 0.160
3T 57 Arnold, Matthew 2003 Bmw 330I Blue 43.742 43.500 43.244 43.478 43.244 0.105
4 37 Spector, Larry 2000 Acura Integra Type-R Black 44.597 44.128 43.550 43.274 43.274 0.030
5 82 Pozner, Alan 2000 Acura Integra Type R Yellow 45.312 44.398 43.699 43.150+1 43.699 0.425
6 6 Arispe, Eduardo 2006 Subaru Wrx Blue 44.626 44.438+DNF 43.525+1 44.081 44.081 0.382
7 182 Snyder, James 2000 Acura Integra Type R Yellow 45.060 44.561 44.699 44.307 44.307 0.226
8 70 Dellimore, Chike 2006 Subaru Wrx Grey 46.336 45.367 44.734 44.895 44.734 0.427
9 80 Radford, Tommy 1994 Bmw 325Is Black 45.083+1 46.059 44.469+1 44.866 44.866 0.132
10 27 Winkler, Matt 2005 Dodge Srt-4 Acr Black 50.116 47.771 46.819 46.619+2 46.819 1.953
11 48 Williams, Phil 2001 Bmw 330I Orient Blue 48.848 48.291 47.499 46.960 46.960 0.141
12 13 Hogenkamp, Harry 2006 Subaru Wrx Wagon Black 48.916+DNF 47.353 47.626 46.976 46.976 0.016
13 42 Cuellar, Roland 2005 Subaru Wrx Wagon Silver 49.272 47.682 48.478 47.407 47.407 0.431
14 46 Redington, Alex 2001 Audi S4 Black 49.038 47.608+1 47.672 47.955 47.672 0.265
15 3 Rollison, John 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt Black 49.389+DNF 49.253+DNF 48.751 48.758 48.751 1.079
16 7 Walker, Don 2004 Volkswagen R32 Black 53.909 52.819 50.178 48.990 48.990 0.239
17 36 Kiernan, Rob 2006 Subaru Impreza Wrx Red 50.494+DNF 49.952 48.701+1 49.743+DNF 49.952 0.962
18 5 Castillo, Mario 2001 Bmw 325Ci Blue 67.342+DNF 59.557+DNF DNF 49.952

Looks like his car is hiding ~1.5 seconds from him

[Royal Tiger]

3rd Subaru, but at least he beat the neon!

[Chiketkd]

Thanks for posting the results Bill! I was waiting on Team WTF to upload pics before posting...

Okay, WDCR event #8 was interesting... The black WRX Karen was supposed to drive was in an accident, so she co-drove with me at the last minute. Temps were in the 90F range, but luckily there was a steady breeze all day that made things tolerable.

I focused on looking ahead more and being smoother with my steering inputs and ran a semi-decent time. Still made a couple mistakes in 3-4 corners on my fastest run and should have apexed to pivot cones later than I did. Karen and I also had to play with tire pressures a good deal, as my Hoosier R5's were on their last legs (heat cycled out).

Summary:
8th out of 18 in DS
94th out of 245 in PAX

Some pics from the D-stock action that day:

Yours truly




Shawn's MSP (1st in DS)


Co-driver Karen (2nd in DS)


Matt's 330i (3rd in DS)


Larry's ITR (4th in DS)

[Chiketkd]

I decided to take part in the Autocrossers Inc event #3 at Ripken Stadium on Sunday inorder to feel out my new tires before the 2-day North Carolina Autocross Championships (NCAC being held 8/25-8/26). Results should be up later this week, but here's a preview: I ran against my friend Shawn (orange MSP owner that won last Sunday's WDCR event). The weather was overcast, mid 70's, and our first two runs were with a light rain, while the last two runs had no rain but on a wet course that was 'drying'... Oh, these Hankook Z214's are amazing!!!