GD Karen's 2006 WRX prepped for SCCA ESP

CamaroWRX

New member
Looking good Karen. I still love the best mod ever, the Caps License Plate :D
Eight game winning streak!!! :D :D (still all psyched about seeing Knuble score that overtime winner... and even more psyched about getting hockey instruction from Brooks Laich and Matt Hendricks next weekend!!!). :D :)
 

BoxerRumbleSTi

New member
Thats awesome, and yes 8 GAME STREAK. We started good, then got in a slump, then back on top again. I can't wait to listen to Elliot in the Morning, he is going to be so cised tomorrow lol. This is awesome to try and win from Elliot in the Morning too,


http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186757531359990


The Canadian Tourism Commission, Connect 2 Canada, and Tourism Quebec are sending you, a guest, and Elliot to CANADA!

Listen from 3/8 - 3/11 and 3/14 - 3/15 to win a C2C fleece jacket and qualify for the grand prize: a trip for two (three if you count Elliot) to Ottawa and Montreal, Canada for a weekend of hockey, sightseeing, and more hockey!

C-A-P-S! CAPS! CAPS! CAPS! Again, but this time, in Fran?ais!

Yep, you'll see the Washington Capitals take on the S?nateurs d'Ottawa on Friday, March 25th and the Canadiens de Montr?al on Saturday, March 26th.

Looking for this? http://translate.google.com/

So yeah, if you win this grand prize, you're definitely going to need that jacket. Pardon, that 'veste.'

Can't get through on the phones? Ne vous en faites pas...

To register to win online via Connect 2 Canada, click here: http://www.connect2canada.com/event/dc101hockey-rsvpmedia/

Must be 21 by 3/24/11. Winner and guest must have a valid U.S. passport.

Bon voyage!
 

SubieEngineer

New member
Hey, another AX build! :D

I'll be watching this one, as I'm curious how prepped WRXs in ESP fare against the competition (and a friend of mine may start sliding that way with his bugeye).
 

CamaroWRX

New member
Hey, another AX build! :D

I'll be watching this one, as I'm curious how prepped WRXs in ESP fare against the competition (and a friend of mine may start sliding that way with his bugeye).
WRXs do pretty well. McCance and Madarash have been pretty close the last two years, though Mark edged Greg out in 2009, and then Greg's continued transmission problems likely had something to do with his lower (but still respectable) finish in 2010. In the ProSolo, Greg had been a tick better than Mark.

This will be my third year in ESP with the car. I haven't committed to running open again this year (I did last year), but I finished third and final trophy in ESP open at the DC ProSolo last year (behind McCance and Billy Brooks), and I should have been able to trophy at Nationals if I hadn't psyched myself out. My time was about 4 seconds faster than the ESPL National Champion.
 

CamaroWRX

New member
Car is back in my possession, with the TiC rear differential mount bushings in, and the pre-season shakedown complete. Now, I have to decide if I'm going to try to go to the Autocrossers, Inc even on Saturday before heading downtown to the Caps game. Decisions, decisions...
 

IGOTASTi

System Operator
Staff member
How does it feel now?
 

CamaroWRX

New member
How does it feel now?
Haven't really done anything except drive it home from the shop so far. I'm toying with the idea of taking to an autocross on Saturday morning, but I also have tickets to the Capitals vs. Rangers playoff game that starts at 3PM.... so....

Honestly, I generally didn't notice much difference on the drive home (and I did take some nice little back roads), but I didn't expect to either, since I have so much other stuff done to the car already. There was no increase in NVH over what it already has (keep in mind that this is a near-full street prepared car, so it's already pretty rough for the average driver), and with all the changes I've made since my last event (which was last September), I doubt I'll be able to say that any one change made a huge difference. Keep in mind I've swapped my coilovers (including lowering spring rates), put on a FSB, put on a bigger RSB, and done steering rack and other bushings in addition to getting a bad wheel bearing fixed. So... the car should be a LOT better. :)
 

CamaroWRX

New member
Karen, hook me up some Caps tix haha. Ive never been. That win the other night was epic. 2OT and WE win! :)
:lol: Yeah, I know. Those multi-OT games typically don't go the Caps' way! My tix for tomorrow are spoken for (me and my little brother), but I don't know about future ones yet. Keep an eye out on my FB page because if my friends are selling, I typically post them there.

My WRX may make it out tomorrow with or without me. Pat's Camaro isn't fixed yet, so I told him he could take the WRX if he wants. I think he's considering it. He's not exactly an AWD guy, but he did drive it at the 2009 SCCA Solo Nats (and even managed an epic spin with it).
 

IGOTASTi

System Operator
Staff member
Yeah you gotta play with the camera. What settings do you have the res on?
 

CamaroWRX

New member
I broke out the purple wheels again this past weekend for the NJ ProSolo. I'll mess around with a write up later (maybe tonight if I have energy before my hockey game or maybe tomorrow afternoon), but the short story is that Sam Krauss can drive, I can't, and I really, really hate cold tires.

In the meantime, here's my bonus challenge footage, where I get to play "catch the car" heading into the slalom on my left side (first side) run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBZ-_9MVfjk

Gotta figure out this tricycling thing too... car's never done that before :
DSC_1639.JPG


Results : http://www.scca.com/documents/resultfiles/NJ RESULTS5.pdf
 

CamaroWRX

New member
The WRX went to the OC meet this weekend without me. I'm not much of a beach person, but it wanted to go, so I figured IAG would make a good chaperone. ;)
IMG_1589.jpg
 

CamaroWRX

New member
The last two weeks have seen a good 7000 miles get added to the odometer. It started two weeks ago when I left Baltimore for the Packwood Prosolo, in Washington. I went hiking at Mount St. Helens first.
packwood%252520trip%252520012.jpg


Packwood's site was an old lumbar mill that has since seen the operations move five miles down the road to Randle. The buildings are now used as an indoor paddock and covered impound/tech area for events. The locals are really friendly and supportive, as I guess the participants don't do stupid things to shed a bad light on the autocross activities. I had a lot of fun hanging out at the Blue Spruce for karaoke on Friday night, but three days of driving and then a 9 mile hike in the mountains had taken its toll on me by Saturday, some I missed the fun at the Peters Inn on Saturday night.

The car felt amazingly good on Saturday. I'd had the front struts replaced, and I think that may have been a good thing, as the car was finally handling the way it should have been since the ESP conversion. I'd go off course my first left side run in the morning, and then was tentative on the second left side to figure out where I'd screwed up, so come the afternoon runs, I had a lot of time I could drop. I moved from 5th in class at the start of the Saturday afternoon runs to second after improving 2.5s overall (most of which was on the left side).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHRxbmhOnYo&feature=player_embedded

I got greedy and overdrove on Sunday morning, and didn't improve. Tom Kotzian -- a multi-time National champion who was driving an SMF Mini Cooper -- dropped a few tenths on one side and got by me, so I finished in the third and final trophy spot in class (I was in the Bump 2 class, since no other ESP cars were there).

On the way home, I decided to make a four hour detour to Wendover, Utah. If you don't know where that is, let me give you a hint :
packwood%252520trip%252520046.jpg


I knew I'd be upset with myself if I didn't make that side trip. I'd last been out there three years ago, and it's just as beautiful as I remember.

So, I get home Wednesday evening, go to hockey class, then Thursday, take the car to IAG for the 90K service. Before I can leave, however, I'm shown a disconcerting problem; the timing belt tensioner is pretty much dead, and the timing belt had been actually scoring the inside of the cover. I have to leave the car there for the night so that the 105K service can be done on Friday.

I drove to the Northeast Divisionals at the Seneca Army Depot in the Finger Lakes area of New York after picking up the car on Friday... actually, I took a nap, then left at midnight. I've never been up there before. Knowing it was a "runway" type of site, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but it exceeded my expectations. Strano set up some non-runwayesque type courses, and the car continued to work better than it has in a long time, even though I went to the "old" tires (the ones on the purple rims that I last used at the NJ ProSolo).

Still getting used to how the car is handling, and trying to trust it more in the slaloms/offsets. It sucked that I had no one else in ESP to gauge off of (much less to push me). Dave Newman was gridded next to me, and we discussed our runs during the downtime on Saturday, and that helped a bit, I think. I was dead tired on Sunday (had been up 23+ hours the day before), and actually fell asleep in the back seat between my last two runs. I didn't do as well PAX-wise on Sunday, and my exhaustion likely was part of the reason why.

Saturday :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewPXk-RWDtA

Sunday :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zul1r7Sp0Y

Results are at : http://autox4u.com/nedivsolo/index.htm
 
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