Hot… Mess… 5


messWorst day at auto-x in a long time.  It started out great, with Andrew and I being about as quick as I could hope.  I believe after the morning, I had a scratch time that would have put me second overall (1st place being one STX prepared WRX) and Andrew was about 1 sec back with a clean run, and thus… beating me.  I was pretty sad about that, but planned to redeemed myself in the afternoon.

The afternoon was AWFUL though.  The car seemed to get slower and slower, and knowing what should have been possible, we kept pushing harder and harder.   It was the car… all  the car.  With both of us 1-2 seconds back of our best runs in the morning, and all of our afternoon runs, something must have gone wrong with the car.  It felt way down on power, and the tires may have been waay hot.  I measured as high as 150 degrees Fahrenheit.  185 width might just be far too small for this car, especially with two drivers.  Other 2000lb auto-xers run them in 225’s after all…

Flop.

I had such big dreams, and all I got was a sunburn.

Note: small puddle where an STX car collects FTD.
Photo Credit: Ian Gulinao. Ian takes pictures when he doesn’t know he’s taking pictures.


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5 thoughts on “Hot… Mess…

  • Locotoy

    I really need a polarizing filter to get rid of those reflections from the glass and the shiny hood.

    You guys still did awesome! With all the sliding and still managed to get times like that… to me, that is amazing!

  • Q

    well thanks… I don’t think we were trying to slide around though! At the end of the day, I realized that if I just wanted to have fun I should have gone to the DMCC Pro AM. Ha.

    I contacted Dunlop today out of curiosity. Word is that a Hoosier A6 operates well at 120 degrees F. We were already at 130 F in the morning. It seems to me that a street tire should run cooler, but I don’t really know. Neither does anyone at Dunlop apparently…

    Disappointing. I’m hoping an educated person will get back to me later.

    I kind of regret my nostalgic tire sizing… although if I’d bought 225’s I’d probably still be slow but not having as much fun either.

  • Dennis

    Hi Q,

    I talked to Ryan this past weekend in Saskatoon and he mentioned that you might be attending the ASA regional event at Namao this weekend. Will you be bringing your AE86? Or co-driving Ryan’s MR2?
    I registered my FSP 75 Celica and arranged to rent a car trailer to tow the celica to Edmonton, but many parts on the celica failed at last nights soloII event that I will not be able to remedy before the weekend. I’ve been offered a co-drive in an FSP neon so that I can continue to build FSP points for the regional series.
    Anyways, since I’m not bringing the celica, and if you are driving your AE86 at the regional event, I can bring my 13×8 +4 wheels and 225/50/13 hoosier A6’s for use on your AE86 (if they’ll fit without getting cut up on fender lips). I can also bring some 205/50/15 hoosier wets on 15×6 +10 datsun 280Z swastika wheels for you to use in case it rains heavily.

    Regards,
    -Dennis

  • randedge

    I’m almost disappointed that I won’t get to see what times you’d post with 225/50 hoosiers or 205/50 wets.
    Talk about a battle axe and a swinging mace.