Hello fellow Roadsterites. I just got back from the SCCA Nationals in
Topeka where I managed to beat one car out of the thirty in my class. I had
a very good time and met some very nice people. I wasn't even close to the
times the National Champion posted. I had a choice several months ago as to
the tires I would run, and I chose the less sticky (and much longer lasting)
Kumho tires in 205-55-14 size. The tire of choice for the trophy winners
was Hoosier Autocross in 225-45-13 size, and one of my fellow competitors
said he had used up 16 of them this season. They remind me of sticky black
pencil erasers, and last about as long. They also cost about $150 apiece.
That's a lot of money. And he didn't win. My 5.13 limited slip gave me all
the power I could use, and the other two Roadsters also seemed to have
plenty of power, but handling problems kept us out of the trophies. Someone
suggested that the problem might be that I'm just a bog slow driver. I told
her if she wanted a ride back to Texas she'd better not say that too loudly.
I've said before that speed equals money, and how fast you want to go
depends on how much you're willing to spend. I think that with different
wheels and tires ($2000-$5000), suspension mods ($1000-$3000), a really good
Solex engine ($2000-$5000), drivers school ($1000-$3000 even though I don't
need it), a full season of seat time to sort things out ($300 per weekend)
and updates/backdates/bodywork to the car allowed by the SCCA rules book
($2000-$5000) I could come close to competing nationally with the Roadster.
That's if they don't change the rules and/or put me in another class and/or
put something really fast into my class. I think that's what happened with
the Harvey brothers. They put money into their Roadster a few years ago to
compete against a different set of cars, and the rules have changed. New
cars, new tires, new money.
My times were about 5 seconds per day slower than the trophy cars. On a
50-60 second course, that's a 10% difference. If better tires could make a
2% difference, better suspension 2%, more horsepower 2%, weight management
2% (car and driver), attention to detail 2% (like wrapping the tires to keep
them at optimum stickiness between runs), then I'd be in the trophy race.
For only $20,000.
I have a few pictures which I'll post to the new TDROC website Charlie
Hubbard is hosting. If you have any questions I can answer about
autocrossing, feel free to ask. They say it of golf and fishing, but it's
also true of autocrossing. "Even the worst day of autocrossing beats the
best day of work."
Leisure Suit Terry
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