2012 Season Thread - 929 Evo

[boomn29]

Road Atlanta - Saturday.




The day started with a 7am meeting. The TT group was first out at 8am. I went out on street tires with a goal to learn the track, stay out of the way of the locals, and try to set a fast enough time to stay towards the front of the grid.
The track was... pretty fun. Nothing too crazy. I was motoring down the backstraight and glanced down to see the odo approaching 140 really quick. Damn! Got past that; through the 'S' curve and then I went under the bridge and down the hill into T12. Holy sh1t; it was like the Log Ride - seemed like it was straight down. This was going to take some getting used to...

For S2 - I went back out on the street tires again. I was picking up the track, but definitely coasting down the latter part of the backstraight and down 12 (the huge hill) I netted a 1:39 still on street tires! I was actually pretty proud of that.

For S3 - I bolted on the Hoosier R6's. 2 were new; the other 2 were used so I'd need to scrub everything in. I tried to keep my track positioning in the first 2 laps and control the inevitable skids - which was fun. After a 1:37 I reset my tire pressures and was ready for S4 to hammer it.

S4 - Traffic! By now I was working my way through some of the TTS cars that are 1 class above me and run more HP. I'd catch them in the first part of the track but they could pull away down the long backstraight and down the big hill in T12. Track positioning is definitely important for a flying lap in TT. Best of 1:36.5.

S5 - I was up to 7th on grid by now, but as not everyone went out I was actually 3rd. This proved to be my best track position and allowed me to hammer w/o having to worry about navigating any traffic in front or behind. I had my best laps of the day; with the overall best of 1:34.8 that netted my 1st place out of 3 in my class of TTA and 5th out of 38 overall in TT.

The day turned out great, the Evo made it through it's first track event of 2012 with flying colors, which included a new tune by Buschur Racing. No problems over the ~100 miles on track including a top speed of 149.87 mph on the backstraight and around 130 on the front!
So I quickly rotated the tires and checked the car over before Then off to the NASA awards ceremony just off the main straight. The background for the food/drink/presentation:

[LNCRRA1]

Way to go Nathan!!! and in that video your haulin ass good to hear your first event of the year was a good one

[boomn29]

Here's another vid from Saturday. This is from Session #4 and shows me playing with some of the TTS cars that I mentioned.

[boomn29]

Here's the writeup from Sunday - Day #2 at Road Atlanta:



Sunday:
Day #2 at Road Atlanta started dark and slow. With the time change in the ET zone; it was pitch dark when I got to the track and nearly that for our morning meeting. Then a screwy schedule had me waiting around for about 2 hours. I really had no changes to make, other than remounting my camera and GPS and putting in a little fuel. I'm tuned for 100oct; and having used all I brought I was using a cocktail of 98 unleaded and 110 leaded since that's all they had (well had 112 leaded too). Oh, I did get my AFR guage hooked back up as the wire had come out. Lastly I had installed a different ACD in my car as I had planned on doing some testing on a reflashed ACD unit from ACD-Tuning (http://www.acd-tuning.com/). We talked over the winter and Mathew hooked with up with a unit with 3 special maps; each more aggressive than the stock Tarmac map.

When our first session finally came, I had the inevitable slow-down from a new track on a new day and not being aggressive. I also had overestimated the tire pressures so everything was high - which I could tell by the reduced grip. I took it easy on the tires and ran a some mid 1:35's. Watching the AFR down the long backstraight in 5th gear 'planted', I seen 10.5 - 10.6 on the new Buschur tune with the 98/110 cocktail. I did come up on a TTS (1 class up) Vette right before the long backstraight and we ended up going side-by-side pretty much the entire backstraight from probably 60-140mph. I was really curious to see how my car stacked up against this particular Vette past 100mph as that's where our Evo's usually succumb to our gearing, aero and power disadvantages - but I hung right with him. That was good to see. But that led to me checking my mirror a bit too much and a side going downhill through T12. (this lap is in the vid). As for the updated ACD unit, I completely forgot about it until the session was done - which is good. Nothing detrimental at all to say about the map, no locking, no confusion, nothing at all that slowed me down. However, I didn't really notice any huge changes either which could mean I needed a more aggressive map or I simply wasn't pushing hard enough to tell - probably a combination of both.
I checked my data afterwards and I finally cleared 150mph on the backstraight!

Again - screwy schedule, so I had a big break before the next session. I had already started packing up, and continued that just in case I were to leave after this next session. Changes were small, reset the tire pressures was about it. I did decide to move my ACD to map #2 as I did not feel anything really different with map #1.
Finally around 12:30pm I lined up for session #2 - where I was up to 5th on grid I think. Knowing I had a 10hr drive home, I really just wanted to better my time from yesterday primarily. No sense in putting the car in danger with over-aggressive driving or torturing the tires (given the 2012 Hoosier contingencies). I ran a pair of 1:34's including my best of the weekend - a 1:34.1 - with a nice drift through T10A at the end of the long backstraight. Besdies a few key areas, I was getting about as much out of the track as I could with the tires I had. I believe the time held for 1st place again in TTA and the 4th best out of 37 cars in TT.

Given the screwy schedule - I had 2:20 until my next session - I decided to head homeward. If we drove straight though I could be home around 12pm.
Gotta give huge props to David and crew at Buschur Racing for all the updated work on the car, installation of parts and most notably the new tune. Also thanks to AMSOIL, Forgeline, ACD-Tuning, KNS Brakes & Andrews Racing. The trip home was long and tiring. I'm thankful my Dad was with me, he drove the middle 4 hours of the trip probably and I ended up home about 2:30am ET. And yes I was at work Monday... Pic from rest area in Tennessee:

[fixem2@ATK]

Love the 2 wheel picture!!

[boomn29]

Here's some pics from Road Atlanta I snapped during the Lightning race on Saturday around the track:

[whitevo]

Nice Run! Look forward to our trip there in May!

[boomn29]

Finished up the cage prep this weekend. Got the car loaded back on the trailer and it'll goto my builder tomorrow. Posted up some for sale threads if anyone is interested:

Misc Intake items:
http://midwestevos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9623

Sparco seat, harnesses and Autopower 4pt rollbar:
http://midwestevos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9823

Current pics of the car:

[bryan24207]

dude lovin the 2 wheel action, i think once my car is somewhat where i want it to be, ima get all my evo friends and rent a day at the local road course here its like an hour away..i love drag and highway racing but the road course could be a fun challenge

[boomn29]

Ah; towing with E-85 - gotta love it. Got about 12.5 mpg coming back with an empty trailer in OD.

Dropped off the car last night - went over the cage build with Scott. Technically it's a 6pt cage I guess; so I don't incur the extra 2pts in the TT world for the firewall penetration or extra attachment points.
We're going to try for a Nascar bar on the driver's side - with keeping the window and motor in place as there looks like enough room with me in the seat and all. I added a small 'rally-bar' downward near the side mirror for support, doing a bar across the roof from above my head to the passenger side, doing an X in the main hoop behind me and having a bar connect the rear strut towers.

When it's done, I asked him to do a quick paintjob in Satin black.

[boomn29]

So here's how the Driver's side door looks right now. I took it to my cagebuilder like this. The door skin off, speaker out, power windows & locks ziptied and still working - and the window glass still in. I've got an open trailer so my I still need functioning windows, be it the factory glass or a lexan cutoff stuck in place.

I think I'll have to add some weight back into the car as it is to make my 3263 TTA/PTA min with low fuel so the extra weight of the window glass shouldn't be an issue this year.
We did some quick measuring and based on where my seat is installed, there should be enough room to do a Nascar style door-bar with everything shown (window in). So that's the goal at least for now.

[fixem2@ATK]

Naked Evo!!

[boomn29]

After a few days of vacation and rest; I'm back. Checked out FB to see if my cage guy posted any updates on the car as he's had it 1 whole week now - and he did! Here's the post:

"Mitsubishi Evo rollcage for NASA is well underway. Pad areas just about prepped. Main hoop and laterals formed up. Base pads cut and will get installed in the am."

Now I couldn't explain much of it except things are moving along! I'll pass along any pics when I get them.

[boomn29]

Progress of the car at the cagebuilder...

[boomn29]

On the last one here, it's a pic of the pinch welds on the car as I dropped it off. 6 years of track events and lots of jacking up the car have turned it into this! So the plan is to attach somewhat of a framerail the first 3-4 feet of the car to use for jack points. It's a small addition and a great idea I think. Shown here is some of the prepwork.

[boomn29]

Got some more updates:





(top) This will be the completed color of the cage - satin black.
(above) Custom dash bar! I'm smelling some weight savings!
(below) Rear support bars getting started here:

[fixem2@ATK]

No body color matching cage? Lol! Looks nice.

[boomn29]

If anyone has any experience with Hoosier R6/A6 compared to the newer BFG R1; please PM me to discuss.

I'm trying to decide if I should knab some BF Goodrich R1's for track use. Assuming I'm racing on a particular weekend, their contingency payout is much better than Hoosier. For TT (Time Trials) Hoosier is the only contingency option.

[Grip Master]

If anyone has any experience with Hoosier R6/A6 compared to the newer BFG R1; please PM me to discuss.

I'm trying to decide if I should knab some BF Goodrich R1's for track use. Assuming I'm racing on a particular weekend, their contingency payout is much better than Hoosier. For TT (Time Trials) Hoosier is the only contingency option.

I'll ask a couple of my buddies that run GTS racing.

[boomn29]

Cage connected up to the rear!

And it looks like my plan to be able to haul tires to/from the track in the rear seats will once again be an option (last pic). It's a nice option to have, especially when I've got 2 sets of slicks & 1 set of street tires I take to pretty much every event. Plus occasionally extra NEW tires to mount need hauled. And this year I'll have a set of wets I'll take when the weather looks nasty; although they could simply replace the street tires.

I used to be able to put 2 tires in the trunk. But once I bumped up to 9.5" wide rims that was no longer an option as they wouldn't fit! Could be since I've been using the spare tire for ballast... We're also planning a connecting bar between the struts in the rear.

[boomn29]

Doorbars getting going. With an open trailer, I chose to keep my power windows IN the car.

[boomn29]

Gateway is STL next weekend!

It'll be my first visit since April, 2010 when I set the NASA MW TTB record with 1:08.75. Looking back at my best lap from April, 2010, I ran the oval at about 98mph with 1.2g solid and a top speed of about 135mph. I'm definite I can slaughter the top speed.

Got my initial look at the schedule. Sat will be nothing but COMP school exercises with side-by-side, mock starts, etc. I think my goal for Sat will be to run a sub 1:10 on street tires! I'll run the Hoosiers on Sunday for my first official race I'm sure...

[bryan24207]

i save almost all your pics, your car is awesome man..

[boomn29]

i save almost all your pics, your car is awesome man..

Thanks man.

[boomn29]

More pics of the doorbars. Any overall, I think this thing is close to done!

[boomn29]

I'm not a pro, and sponsors do not pay my way; but they do help. Along with the folks at Buschur Racing, AMSOIL is a supporter of mine and I wanted give a shoutout to them and their help over the past few years as a recurring sponsor. I received my yearly shipment this weekend. 156+ lbs...

[fixem2@ATK]

Glad to be a part of your team this year!

[boomn29]

Glad to be a part of your team this year!

Sorry, I forgot to specifically mention Scott. I switched my rep this year after some shipping/timing issues I'd been fighting through and after Scott volunteered to take on my account. It was also great that he's local and we met up last year to exchange some product when I switched from the 'Dominator' 10w30 to the 15w50.

Thanks Scott!

[Grip Master]

If anyone has any experience with Hoosier R6/A6 compared to the newer BFG R1; please PM me to discuss.

I'm trying to decide if I should knab some BF Goodrich R1's for track use. Assuming I'm racing on a particular weekend, their contingency payout is much better than Hoosier. For TT (Time Trials) Hoosier is the only contingency option.

I talked to a couple friends, and the consensus seems to be that you MIGHT lose a tenth or two with the bfg's, but they last longer than the hoosiers. They said the best advice they can give you is to just try them.

[boomn29]

Along with the actual cage, there are some other required updates needed to make sure the car is legal for w2w racing with NASA. One of those items is a Master Cutoff Switch, along with some stickers marking it's location. Below are some pics of the wiring & routing for my master cutoff switch.