Car was
amazing all weekend long at the Halloween Classic in stock.
Set TQ in round 1, then reset it in round 2.
In round 3, Kyle Klingsforth and myself were swapping the lead back and forth for a new TQ. A couple minutes in while I am in the lead a lapped car takes me out. I was fuming, but it was just a couple of seconds so I thought I could recover. I drive like an angry idiot for a couple of laps, and then I try to get around Mike Hanulec too quickly and unintentionally take him out. I pull off the track after that.... no reason to continue causing havoc over toy cars. He was understandably very upset with me but we made amends. Kyle continues his clean run, however, and resets TQ by about 3 seconds over my time. Despite Hanulec getting dumped by me, he improves his time to 3rd on the grid, nearly bumping me out of 2nd.
Round 4 was Sunday morning, so I expected the grip to be a bit less as the track had sat overnight. For practice I made a small change and went out on new tires. The car felt even BETTER than it had the previous rounds. The track didn't feel greasy like I was expecting, so I was hoping that round 4 would allow the fastest times of the weekend for my car. Also, starting behind Kyle for this qualifier would give me a car to chase and hopefully improve my early lap times, as I can be a slow starter on occasion.
I do have a small tap that lets Hanulec by, and we basically make a 2-man freight train for 5 minutes. Kyle stays fairly clean from what I can tell, but the track had slowed down way more than I thought.... despite clean runs, no qualifying positions changed.
Started 2nd on the main grid. I was a tad worried about turning in to Kyle on the first turn, because my car was rotating in very strongly. Sure enough, coming into the infield I hug the wall tight and have to do a quick brake check and get tossed around. No one's fault at all..... that's what happens when 10 cars squeeze into 3 square feet of carpet! I get dropped to 10th from the start, drive like a bat out of hell and make it up to 4th at some point.... shortly after that, a car smacks my rear right tire going into the chicane, and it blows my rear diff out..... so with 30 seconds to go and a coffee-grinder noise emanating from my car, I'm forced to DNF.
Props to Awesomatix USA for terrorizing another national stock A-main.
I'm absolutely happy with how well the car did. It had the best pace for a good part of the entire weekend, and I received a lot of compliments on how smooth the car looked on the track.
I made a few changes from what I ran at the Southern Nationals. The front gear diff felt awesome. The groove was a bit narrow, but traction was great. The car was never tippy or edgy at any time. I personally think this setup rotates smoother and is a bit easier to drive than my previous one.
I had 4-hole pistons in the shocks from running at my local track (lots of track dots), but the shock package felt great at The Gate so I just left it. Since the layout was a bit more flowing I simply went up 50cst in the oil to smooth the car out.
The 1.4 front swaybar and shocks in the 2-hole felt a bit smoother overall then the 1.2 front swaybar and shocks in the 3-hole.
I also ran mod, but I was playing with setup all weekend. The car felt and looked fast, but I couldn't find a setup that I could drive consistently.... so it was more of a test session for me.
Thanks
