What an event! I am still shocked.
I'll get into the details but let's start with Thursday's practice session.
Coming from Atlanta, I knew we had some traction issues. Before the RS-R Scion tC was shipped out to New Jersey, we tested softer springs to see if we can improve traction. We were running 14kg for the rear because last season, we lacked the horse power. 14kg was about perfect for the amount of horse power we had. This year, we have a stable engine, and as a result, 14kg was too hard for the car. We swapped it out to 10kg springs in the rear and immediately, it was faster through corner-exits. We didnt have time to play with camber so we left it at that.
When practice began at Wall Speedway, I was a bit scared of the guardrail at first. 2 years ago, i went into the guardrail and totalled my car. I didn't want to see another wrecked car so I was a bit more cautious.
After a few runs, I began to feel comfortable with the track and the car. I pushed harder and harder to see if i can get any faster and closer to the wall.
Thursday's practice ended with a blown dog box. My dad and the rest of the RS-R team swapped out the transmission that night and headed back to the hotel.
I was feeling comfortable at this point as I knew that all I needed was to get past the top 32 qualify.
Friday came and it was pouring rain. I wasn't upset however because I wanted to drive in the rain. I knew that if I can pull off a decent run, I would be safe and the rain made that easy for me. Robbie Nishida and Eric O'Sullivan went out to test out the track (They missed Thursday's practice due to technical issues with their transporter). The rest of the competition saw their runs and came to conclusion that it would be nearly impossible to hold a qualify session. The track was pretty much a toilet bowl.
Here is a picture of the track in the rain.
(Jose, Im going to borrow your picture!)
(Joey, Im going to borrow yours too! Thanks!)
http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=108
So as you can see, it was pretty much...failure.
BUT, i was still willing to drive. I know it wouldn't be safe for the cars to suck in water through the intake but I wanted to get qualify over with.
Im kind of glad it worked out the way it did.
We ended up doing qualify Saturday morning.
Moving on to Saturday. The rain stopped and the track was beginning to dry up.
I kept telling everyone that this track was my least favorite.
but ironically, we qualified 1st place with 95.9 points.
2nd place was Tyler with also 95.9 points, but I was a mile an hour faster so he took 2nd. (woo-hoo!)
Honestly, I didn't know I scored that high until my team owner John came up to me after i parked back at my pit. With a big smile on his face, he runs to my car yelling "FA--HST PURE-SU!"
I was shocked.
Now this is where I began to worry about the traction issues we have been facing.
I was placed against Gary Lang for the top 32 competition.
In the lead run, i just tried to run my qualify run.
The the following lap, Gary spun out in front of me through the first transition coming off the bank.
I guess you can say I got lucky.
For my top 16 run I had to go against Ross Petty. During my lead lap, Ross lost power and could not start his car. Unfortunately, the competition was cut short because of the 5 minute rule. (Hey Ross, if I had the power to give you more than 5 minutes, I would have!) Next time man, next time. I was expecting a great battle.
It was Taka Aono in my top 8 Battle. Taka was running strong this weekend so I knew I could not lose track of my focus. I tried to stay consistent wit my runs and during the lead lap, I pulled away from him slightly. But it was a big enough gap to move me to the top 4. I thought it was going to be a one more time but I don't know what happened. I moved on.
My next run was against Darren McNamara. In my lead lap, he was really close behind. I could not shake him off so I knew he had advantage. If i didn't stick my car to his door, I would lose this round. Just as I expected, his tiny v8 powered Sky pulled away from me right from the start. That car is stupid fast.
One more chance to take podium. But again, another tiny v8 powered car. Tyler has been looking really good lately with his Falken 350Z. We went one-more-time but on my follow lap, I could not keep up with him because of 1) the ridiculous amount of his tiresmoke limited my sight and 2) his car is also stupid fast.
I finished 4th place for the weekend but it was still not enough to make a shift in my ranking. I only moved one spot up! =(
Anyway, after this weekend the RS-R Scion Toyo tC team learned alot about the car. We need more power and more traction!!!!!!
Im really happy about how the car performed this weekend. Im not completely satisfied about the way the car runs still but atleast we know that we are moving forward. The RS-R Scion Toyo team is going to finish the rest of the season with a bang.
Vegas, Here we come!
Lately I have been installing some TRD parts on it.
I noticed a big difference when i changed the sway bar. Even with RS-R i-Shock coilovers, I felt body roll. It is much more stable mid-corner now.
