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

[SVXRide]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Bill,

Cross-weights are as follows:

w/o driver:
RRxLF = 1,488.0lbs (48.7%)
LRxRF = 1,568.0lbs (51.3%)

w/ driver:
RRxLF = 1,584.0lbs (49.1%)
LRxRF = 1,642lbs (50.9%)

Chike,
Interesting. Shame you can't move anything around to be a 50-50 balance
-Bill

[Chiketkd]

LOL! You know, I never take out my factory jack when I race (or when I weighed the car). It sits in the far left rear of my car and weighs about 10lbs or so. Not a huge change, but it'll move me in the right direction...

[Royal Tiger]

Chike, she looks good. Congrats on getting better with auto-X. Maybe someday I'll get to meet up with you and go for that ride you promised.

[Chiketkd]

Thanks Dan! We should definitely meet up and have that ride someday!!!

Chike

P.S. Bled and then re-bled my brake lines this weekend replacing the fluid with Valvoline Syn Power (dry boiling piont of 500F). Brake pedal feels much firmer and I'm ready for my season to begin this upcoming weekend!

[Mr. Pockets]

Chike, good luck this season.

I'm not running my MR2 this year. A friend and I are going to be campaigning his Eclipse GS-T in STX. Front-wheel-drive isn't my thing, but the car's pretty quick. It's probably still not really competitive for its class, but it is much more so than my car is. We have a lot of work to do before the season starts next month.

We're planning on doing our first NT event in July, in Milwaukee.

I was 2006 regional ES champ in my Mk1, by the way.

[Chiketkd]

That's awesome Pockets! Congrats! Definitely keep me posted of your progress this season and good look at the Milwaukee NT!!!

[Chiketkd]

My weekend ended up being quite crazy. I did the test-n-tune event Saturday and found out very early on that these 'practice' victoracers were heatcycled to death and lacked any sort of grip. My best time ended up being a 39.2 while FTD for the day was a 37.1. I had two more seasoned drivers in my autoX club take my car out for some laps and they're best were a 39.1 & 39.4. So I was basically extracting the most time possible given the slick grip from the tires. Other than the lack of grip though - my car was handling pretty well - it was pretty easy to get my rear end to step out in low to medium speed corners.

The craziness began on Saturday evening when I got home - I had to drive up to DC immediately as my younger brother (a Phd student at the Univ of Md) was involved in a hit-n-run accident. He was coming home from the lab early Saturday morning (around 1:30am) and a driver ran a stop light and struck him. He was knocked unconscious and the humorous bone in his left arm (between elbow and shoulder) was broken and he also sustained lacerations on his left leg and bruises on the left side of his back. I didn't get back home until 4:00am...

Sunday was event #1 with my autoX club, and I decided to compte despite being on 4 hours of sleep. Finished 3rd out 4, about 1.5 seconds back from the leader (a guy I was able to beat by over 2 seconds on my RA-1's last season). Great course and I really enjoyed driving it - but there was very little grip to work with from the victoracers.

I've decided to put my autoX schedule on hold for a month and my next event will be the 4/14 Evo School. I plan to use the victos for the school and then replace them with 245/40/17 Hoosiers!

I'll post a few pics from this weekend in the coming days...

[Hotshot]

I was out at the government center saturday to watch, and it took me a little reading to figure out why your car and the background from the pictures looked so familiar. Although we were not able to make it this weekend, I've competed in some of the SCCA events there with my governor's school's electric vehicle team. If you have seen them, it is pretty hard to miss the white and blue 240z and the ugliest porsche 911 you have ever seen. If I had something a little more competitive to run than my '97 legacy outback, I would have been out there too. Next time I see you, I'll have to stop and say hi.

[Chiketkd]

^
I remember seeing that electric 240Z last season. Definitely come by and say hi - I should be at the 4/22 event #2 in Salem.

[newsvx]

Chike,
My best to your brother!! Hope he recovers quickly! A real bummer - I hope they catch the guy that hit him.

From what my son, Tom, tells me, you'll love those Hoosiers! Best tire for autocrossing, but more dollars!!

keep up the good effort, and keep us posted on your brother. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and your family!

Harry

[Chiketkd]

Thanks Harry. I really appreciate those comments.

Hoosiers are expensive but I'm not going in the 'deep end' just yet. I've secured a set of 245/40/17 S05's that were purchased new last Fall, have 4 heat cycles on them and were stored in a heated basement all winter. These should get the job done!

[Chiketkd]

From the Test-n-Tune:







From Sunday's Event:

[subi-crosser]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

My weekend ended up being quite crazy. I did the test-n-tune event Saturday and found out very early on that these 'practice' victoracers were heatcycled to death and lacked any sort of grip. My best time ended up being a 39.2 while FTD for the day was a 37.1. I had two more seasoned drivers in my autoX club take my car out for some laps and they're best were a 39.1 & 39.4. So I was basically extracting the most time possible given the slick grip from the tires. Other than the lack of grip though - my car was handling pretty well - it was pretty easy to get my rear end to step out in low to medium speed corners.

The craziness began on Saturday evening when I got home - I had to drive up to DC immediately as my younger brother (a Phd student at the Univ of Md) was involved in a hit-n-run accident. He was coming home from the lab early Saturday morning (around 1:30am) and a driver ran a stop light and struck him. He was knocked unconscious and the humorous bone in his left arm (between elbow and shoulder) was broken and he also sustained lacerations on his left leg and bruises on the left side of his back. I didn't get back home until 4:00am...

Sunday was event #1 with my autoX club, and I decided to compte despite being on 4 hours of sleep. Finished 3rd out 4, about 1.5 seconds back from the leader (a guy I was able to beat by over 2 seconds on my RA-1's last season). Great course and I really enjoyed driving it - but there was very little grip to work with from the victoracers.

I've decided to put my autoX schedule on hold for a month and my next event will be the 4/14 Evo School. I plan to use the victos for the school and then replace them with 245/40/17 Hoosiers!

I'll post a few pics from this weekend in the coming days...

I hope all is well with your brother! My brother just spent some time in hospital because he passed out at his Dr's appt! When all the tests showed no reason for the 'symptoms', they went to his house and found a major problem with his FURNACE!!
They replaced it, he is home and there has been no furthur problems.

Are you planning any weekends in Cumberland??
I really enjoyed the 'visit' last year!
I am keeping my options open as to what I will be driving this year, but really hope to see what Tom's SVX will do if the belts stay on!!

I need to spend some QUALITY time with Tom so I can explain what a cone w a cone laying next to it actually means! Then maybe HE will burn up his own tires..

We are talking about 'turbo-ing' my little red wagon. I put some Dayton Datonas on it. It feels like a different car. Now it needs a 50% boost on torque and HP!!

[Chiketkd]

Thanks Jerry. He was discharged yesterday and is back at home resting comfortably. I'll be visiting him again this upcoming weekend.

Glad your brother is okay and the problem was fixed with his furnace. I'm not sure about Cumberland autoXs this year. I'm on a very fixed autoX budget and will be lucky to do 1/2 the # of events as I did last year. Our soon-to-arrive-in-June baby takes top priority.

[subi-crosser]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Thanks Jerry. He was discharged yesterday and is back at home resting comfortably. I'll be visiting him again this upcoming weekend.

Glad your brother is okay and the problem was fixed with his furnace. I'm not sure about Cumberland autoXs this year. I'm on a very fixed autoX budget and will be lucky to do 1/2 the # of events as I did last year. Our soon-to-arrive-in-June baby takes top priority.

June 28th through sunday. There is a rod run scheduled . cost is $30. for the weekend, Includes 2 adults, and 3 kids under 16. bands, food, driving events etc.

I will be doing the 'rod jousting'. ( goal is to spear 3 rings in the shortest time). Practice is sat, actual compition is sunday.

Camping is free after thursday.

I offered to bring the bleach for an AWD burnout on the FIRST supercharged SVX.....

Tom said that his family WILL attend the event.


If anyone needs a reg form, , post the request and I will download one.