First event of the year and I start with a win in STF! But I wasn't driving my Mazda 2.3s, I drove my buddies Yaris (yes Yaris). I was very impressed with his car, it's very well balanced and has good power. The only bad is a stock seat with very little bolsters to hold you in.
I can't seem to attach pics her's a link to a shot of his car at the 2012 Nationals.
I'll be doing my first event Feb 26th as long as the weather isn't too crazy. There's a small SCCA club in Southern Indiana that holds an event in late Feb every year that I've been attending.
Didn't see any big famous names on the list. How stiff is the local competition there? Not trying to downplay your performance; I know you did well at Nationals. Just curious if you're able to judge your performance by local PAX.
It's just a small SCCA region in Southern Indiana I autocross with every now and then so I'm not surprised if you don't recognize names. However, for small club, they do have a decent amount of very talented drivers (several who compete and do well nationally), but not all of them were in attendance that day.
As far as using local pax results as a yardstick for national performance, it's pretty difficult sometimes and it depends. There's been many a time where some local "hotshoe" almost always wins or does very well on Pax at their local autocross events then goes to Nats for the first time (thinking they are pretty good and will probably trophy) only to get a huge serving of humble pie and get crushed. I've also autocrossed with several bigger regions (Chicago, Indy, STL) for awhile now as well. If a person is a strong enough driver to consistently place way up there on Pax with the big clubs then I'd say they have decent chance of doing well on the National level as long as they're able to max out or nearly max out in their first 3 runs. Something I have been working on the past couple of years (and need to continue to do so) is reaching my full potential within the first 3 runs. If I'm dropping a lot of time on anything beyond my 3rd run I'm not real happy about that. Being fast in 3 is very critical at the high level of the sport and you need to be able to quickly read the course, attack the course, and quickly adapt right from the 1st turn on the 1st run.
Hope I'm still welcome here after selling our Mazda3 last fall.
Our season starts this weekend here in the DC area. A buddy of mine who is starting to develop his STX BRZ invited me to co-drive. I think he's got his suspension on but it still has stock wheels and tires.
Our STS Miata is ready to go (the wife is driving it this weekend). Only made a couple little tweaks to it over the winter so it should be just as good locally and just as bad nationally.
Nothing doing here in NWOR until April 21. The two hotshoes who consistantly kick my butt are going to RT this year, so I bought a new set of Hoosiers and may have a chance in HS for once.
Just wanted y'all to know that the 13 driver STF class at Dixie Match Tour was won by a stock Mazda3 on STF sized wheels, BFG Rivals, and a rear sway bar. That Eric kid is an alien! I felt like I had the car to be at the top too (ran the fastest scratch times in runs 1 and 2), but got greedy on my last two and made huge mistakes...like going backwards! I think we've proven now the Mazda3 is plenty competitive in STF...even on tiny tires!
Results from this weekend's event. Most of the Who's whos in the southeast were in attendance, even the multi, multi, multi-time AMod national champ. There are several other national champs in the list. Felt like I did pretty good with a still underprepped car against nationally prepped rides. I'll take my 14/180 (967) with these guys.
Second event for me, but the first with a car that didn't have a host of issues.
At my first event I found out that:
What I thought were loud snow tires was really a bad left front bearing (that still got through tech)
A bad motor mount will not give you any wheel hop on snow tires, but will give you a sh1tload on R-comps
Plus when changing tires after packing it in for the day, i found that my right axle had a bad inner boot.
Replaced the bearing, replaced the mount, replaced the axle (thank you very much Mazdaspeed Motorsports for getting the stuff to me fast)
What do you know? I feel like I have a brand new car.
So at Devens this past weekend I traded times with my new HS competitor who had moved on from his STX Mini to a 2013 Mini. I put down a time, he beat me, passed him, got passed.
Had Grant Reeve (who has gone from "Grant Who" to a threat in SS Nationally) sit in the car for my third run. He tells me that I am braking too early, not getting any trail braking in.
I listen and drop a second on my fourth run in the afternoon runs. Charlie tops it by .2. Fifth run - drip another half second. Charlie beats me again.
Or does he? Charlie tells the story best from here:
Up shot of it is I ended up 21st out of 137 in PAX. Just about top 15%. In our region, just getting to the top 20% is tough, with a lot of great talent.
Finally got another event in. This one at Carolina Motorsports Park on part of their road course. Didn't think I did very well, but somehow ended up 5th overall.
Third New England Region event. Mini got my by .5. Charlie was 16th in Pax, I was 23rd. We're both pushing each other pretty good. My only consolation about being beat is that it took him 5 runs to get ahead of my morning time.
That was some close, fast racing. To finish less than a half second behind STF, and for you Adam being barely a second behind and finishing fifth. Good stuff, looks like it was a fun event.
Man. I need to travel or something and check out other AutoX events outside Nebraska. The courses here are great but seem compact compared to what you all are running. That or I am really itching to do some track racing.
This was from the June 23rd event down in Lincoln. I run STF and the competition at this event was pretty stiff. But I think with more seat time, I should do pretty well.
Good video and nice looking run up above there Motorgraphic. Didn't look like a tight/compact course to me. Hope you make it out for Nationals this year, I'd like to check out your STF build in person. I'm running RTF for now, but may hop to STF especially if there is some major stock class reshuffling.
I'm down at the Blytheville Summer Nationals right now and we just finished up the Pro-Solo yesterday. In Pro-Solo they combine RTR and RTF and it's called RT2 (Road Tire 2Wd). Decided to stick with the BFG Rivals and use them up before hopping to different tires. I am starting to like them more as I get more familiar with them. Ended up finishing 2nd out of 14 drivers so made a nice little score there with BFG & Mazda.
Good video and nice looking run up above there Motorgraphic. Didn't look like a tight/compact course to me. Hope you make it out for Nationals this year, I'd like to check out your STF build in person. I'm running RTF for now, but may hop to STF especially if there is some major stock class reshuffling.
Thanks. Yeah, I didn't exactly mean small. I guess what I was trying to say was more of a road course but still AutoX. Most of the track configuration have been really good though. Just wish that there were more than cones to dodge.
I really need to look into club racing but I'm a bit concerned as there is a greater chance I could damage my car. Looking to get a 2nd one next year that will be a more dedicated track car.
It be nice to compare other Mazda builds. Could learn a few things to.
Thanks Eric, things were smooth and I really clicked with the course(s) at the Pro and it showed. Not so much for the tour and just a mid-pack finish and I was a lil bit off driving wise. Still, I told myself mid-pack or better for either event was the goal before I even went so I was glad to trophy deep at the Pro and pick up some contingency from Mazda/BFG.
Participated in the Nebraska Solo Points Event #4 this weekend. They used a course layout similar to the NebrasKhana event that took place the day before.
I recorded this with my GPS app durring my 2nd walk of the course: It's about .83 miles in length. It was a fast and fun course. I find this highly ironic after my last statement on wishing to race a larger course.
I'll be trying the Z2's later this year and will report back my findings. I have a lot of experience on the Z1's and like them as well. I can tell you I'm not blown away with the Rivals and neither are a lot of people on the Nat Tour scene. If it wasn't for BFG's generous contingency program, I don't think we'd see a lot of people running them on the Tour. The people in GRM and other publications gushing about how great they are, are NOT running them at the big Tour events and I think that speaks volumes.
Went down to Atlanta this weekend to play with the AR (Atlanta Region) boys. Did pretty well again against those guys. Last time down I had my career best PAX finishing position at 2nd place. This time I had my career best PAX score finish at 979 and finished 3rd overall.
Awesome times there Clemsonmz3. That's pretty impressive out of 114 enterants.
To bad I couldn't attend my local AutoX event this weekend because of the recent fender bender. Would have been my first event in SMF, racing against a Neon and a couple Saturns.
looks like a mazda3 holds top runner in stf after today
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mazda3 Forums
4.3M posts
249.5K members
Since 2000
A forum community dedicated to Mazda 3 and all Mazda vehicle owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about MazdaSpeed performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!