The recent two autocross events at Evergreen Speedway went well. Placed 3rd place in both events.

Detailed result can be found here:

The Track

In the race on 03/18, the usual layout was changed and a small roundabout was added to the first half of the track. The second half of the track features a fast double-cone slalom section on the bank followed by the usual end section. It is a fine balance for cars with different capabilities.

A Gap of 0.125 Second

I landed at 1.01 after the 1st run set. As a common practice, I did not check the ranking in order to stay focused on learning the track and from my mistake. In the 2nd run set, the time was improved to 1.00.8, standing in 3rd place with Seth at 4th with a 2-second gap, which he miraculously closed up , and pushed me to 4th with his 1.00.31 finish in his run set 3. Coming into my run set 3 under such pressure, I managed to pull ahead again with 1.00.185 at the end, also my best time of the day. The improvement comes from a few aspects including being more smooth on throttle, less braking, more aggressive in both the roundabout and slalom section. In run set 4, both Seth and I were not able to improve upon our result in the previous set. So the competition ended with a 0.125 second from 4th place, and 0.099 from 2nd place. Quite a close competition and hats off to Charlie and Seth for keeping everyone on their toes. As usual, such a wonderful day of racing!

The Lifted Wheel(s)

Based on the finding in the 03/10 event, with the additional and exceptional traction from the re71r tires, the outside wheels would lift during cornering leading to LSD going into open mode (see this article), and sudden power loss. In 03/18, effort was put in to be more smooth at mid-corner and exit to keep all wheels on the ground. A typical example is at the roundabout exit. In later runs of the day, LSD would kick in "violently" trying to send power to the "good" wheels as I rolled on the throttle. This will still remain an area of improvement for the next few events.

Next Services

After the 03/18 events, the rear brake pads are ready to be replaced. Cars will also need oil change, oil analysis, new pads and rotors and a light-weight battery. Will schedule to have these serviced by Infront Automative in a week or two. Car is grounded at the moment.

The People

So happy to see all the friends at evergreen event. It was also great to see Sean bringing his war machine Subie to Evergreen for the first time! We met at my very first rallycross and a few years ago, and now again at his very first autocross. Love the car, and impressed by how he performed being a first timer. Smooth, tight to cones and beating some cars with much better setups. Looking forward to seeing him next time.

Lastly, here's a video of a 1.01 run. The cloud in the backdrop was so beautiful!

Till next time!