It's hard to break dance in the driving rain at 50 degrees.
Thursday was miserable. It was cold, rainy, with sustained wind speeds at 12
mph. It started raining Wednesday night and the course was still wet Thursday
morning with standing puddles. It had dried out by the beginning of the 1st
heat when I ran. It started sprinkling just as the first cars pulled out onto
the course. I had my slicks mounted and started a semi-dry run but the skies
opened up half way through. I was lucky that I posted a fairly good time on
that run and the other cars had a bad time on slicks. I swapped onto my rain
tires for the next two runs but couldn't get anywhere close to the other cars
which had more money invested in their rain tires and wheels that I did in the
entire car. My good run put me in ninth out of 18 on the first day. The
second day was cold but dry. I came in 15th on Friday. My good run on
Thursday helped me only lose one place for an overall finish of 10th. The car
ran as well as it ever has. I learned a lot about what I need to do to be
competitive nationally in E-Mod. I need double the horsepower, double the tire
size, and need to lose 300 pounds off the car. I'm happy with my finishing
position on my first national championship event. I am very happy with the
improvements I've made from last year. The car is much faster than a regular
U20 powered roadster. I posted a 4.127 second faster time on the north course
than the EP national winner Todd Green.
My plans for next year are shaping up. I've already got the supercharger and
bigger injectors waiting to go on the KA24DE. This should boost the output
into the 250-290 range. I'm going to remove the fame from the drivers seat to
the back and install coil overs, a three link, and some 23 x 13 x 13 tires on
13 x 14 wheels. I'm going to move the motor back 8" so that the head in inside
the notch in the cowling. This will place the front pulley behind the
crossmember and behind the front suspension. I will also move the radiator
into the passenger seat area.
I'm stuck in Kansas for the weekend because of business and so I'm going to run
with the Salina autocross club on Sunday.
I was lucky at the awards banquet and won a door prize. It is a $700 gift
certificate to take a www.faasst.com driving school. I think the school is in
Denver and is a race track school. I may try and sell it or trade it for an
evolution school.
Thanks to all who have helped especially my dad and wife.
Andy Cost
http://community.webshots.com/user/nomadtrash
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