2012 Schedule - 929 Evo

[boomn29]

After mulling over all the area schedules, here's my best guess at where the #929 Evo will be throughout the year. As usual, some dates will be added and some will be dropped as things progress. Hopefully we'll sneak in some Enduro's as well - with NASA having a few on Friday's before normal weekend events. I'll also be deciding between TT & w2w racing the Evo, with some possible rental dates as well. Should be a fun year with some new challenges to be sure!


January: Drop off car at Buschur Racing for Tuning (Ohio) - Complete.

February: Retrieve car from Buschur Racing - Complete.

March 9-10-11 Road Atlanta - NASA SE - Complete.
March: Drop car off at Izzy's Custom Cages for Cage! (St Louis) - Complete.

April: Pick car up from Izzy's - Complete.
April 14-15 - Gateway - NASA MidSouth/Central + Comp School - Complete.
April 21 - Autobahn 3hr Enduro - Sharing a Porsche 944 - Complete.
April 21-22 - Autobahn & Enduro - NASA MW - Complete.

May 11 - Putnam 3hr Enduro - Sharing a Miata - Complete.
May 12-13 - Putnam Park (crossover) - NASA MW/GL - Complete.

June 9-10 - Gateway - Chumpcar 14hr Enduro - Date Cancelled.
June 9-10 - GingerMan - NASA MW - Complete.
June 30-July 1 - Mid-Ohio - NASA GL - Complete.

July 13 - Autobahn - NASA MW - 3 hr Enduro

August 11-12 - Mid-Ohio (crossover) - NASA MW/GL - Cancelled Reg.

[boomn29]

January: Drop off car at Buschur Racing for Tuning (Ohio)

January Review

January really signals the official start to the season - as the time to solidify plans and start taking some action. By the time January rolled around most of the 2012 track schedules had been released along with the updated 2012 rulesets. So with that information in tow, it's time to start figuring out where to run the car and what to concentrate on.

At the beginning of the month I had decided to stick with NASA TTA because of the minor changes in rulesets. I planned to get it retuned with a small update in engine mods and hopefully run a bit more aero. Easy enough.
I had already gathered as many estimates for renting cars as I could. And while it sounds like a great alternative to 'arrive and drive', it's not cheap. And anything faster than a Spec Miata or Civic got really expensive! I literally went back-and-forth and finally decided to put a deposit down on a cage. So... that's coming later!

Another big decision was to use a different tuner in 2012. I've had zero issues with the car, so this is more of a convenience move than anything else. David, the owner of Buschur Racing, and I met at the track in 2011 and had some good times. Fast-forward to the January and I was looking for the right timeframe to get the car TO his shop. It took 2 weekends and 3 attempts after some snow and ice issues, but I got it there!

As of 1-31-2012 - the Evo is resting at Buschur's awaiting some go-fast goodies!

[boomn29]

February: Retrieve car from Buschur Racing

February Preview / Plan

February brings more setup. Once the car is done at Buschur Racing, I'll be headed East to pick it up. We've been trying a few different 'mod' options to extract as much power as we can for the least amount of 'mod' pts possible.

While the car is gone, I've been using the garage to work on a splitter update. I'll get some pics up soon in the main thread.

Once the car is tuned, I'll bring it back home and attack all the needed maintenance. Lots of yearly fluids and brake maintenance plus other things including weight removal and ballast addition.

[boomn29]

Less that 2 weeks before the first event! Most of the necessities are done; but still a lot of stuff I'd like to do (needs done eventually!).

[boomn29]

March 9-10-11 Road Atlanta - NASA SE
March: Drop car off at Izzy's Custom Cages for Cage! (St Louis)

March Preview/Plan

March is here and that means track time for 2012. I'm starting the season earlier than usual with a goal to take a break in the summer (July) when it's super hot and there's other fun summer things to do.

Next week I'll be headed to Road Atlanta for the first time ever. All the necessities are done with the car and it's down to the nice-to-haves and other things. Total trip should be close to 1500 miles altogether including tracktime.

Once we're back from Road Atlanta, I'll be feverishly ripping out everything that I can before it goes to the cagebuilder where it'll be for the rest of the month. Full weld-in cage going in!

[boomn29]

Double firsts in TTA at Road Atlanta with a best lap of 1:34.1

[boomn29]

April: Pick car up from Izzy's
April 13-15 - Mid-Ohio - NASA GL + Comp School
April 13-15 - Gateway - NASA MidSouth/Central + Comp School
April 20-22 - Autobahn - NASA MW

April Preview/Plan

As always, April will be a very busy month. On the schedule first is picking up the car at Izzy's Custom Cages once the cage is complete. I'll be keeping close tabs on that progress, but so far things are moving pretty quickly.

Assuming the car is done no later than April 13th, we're currently scheduled to complete NASA Competition School (aka COMP school) April 13-14th at Gateway in STL. I'm a bit dissapointed as to the # of people signed up for this event at the moment. But, I do like the ~1 hr trip to Gateway in STL vs the 7.5 hrs to Mid Ohio which is that same weekend...


The very next weekend is a NASA Midwest event (my 'home' region) at Autobahn near Chicago. This is a track I'm very familiar with and it'll be the final shakedown for the car. Assuming it does well here, there will be no major changes planned for the rest of 2012 assuming no classing changes. Not sure whether I'll do TT or race.
I do know that on Friday I'm scheduled to split a 3hr Enduro in a Porsche 944. This is another opportunity for tracktime and a different style of racing now that I'll have my COMP license. So I'm planning on ~1.5 hrs in an old lower horsepower RWD Porsche. I'm very much looking forward to this.

[boomn29]

NASA Competition School - complete!

Officially licensed to race w2w including Enduro's with NASA now.

[boomn29]

May 11 - Putnam 3hr Enduro?
May 12-13 - Putnam Park (crossover) & Enduro - NASA MW/GL

May Preview/Plan

May is upon us and the weather is still freakin unpredictable with it pushing to near 90 yesterday with humidity; yucky. I spent a little time laying under the car trying to figure out how to try and connect up the updated splitter I have. Check out that thread for some updates soon.

May brings us the normal schedule of Putnam Park outside of Indianapolis, IN. Putnam's a fun, shorter track where lighter more balanced cars dominate. That's not to say a properly balanced Evo can't do well - as I've done well at this track aside from the torture it does to the LF tire, especially w/o aero...

Friday there's a 3hr Enduro, and again I've setup a deal to split it with another driver. This will be in a Miata owned and operated (and rented) by a group called GP Racing Products out of Wisconsin. It's a small group of usually 3 that build, sell, bring, rent & service SM's at local NASA and SCCA events with a great reputation. I've known Jason P. (part of G.P.) for a few years how and he's the one that loaned me the SM to drive for 1 session last June at Gingerman where I put down a lap only 2 seconds off his qualifying pace for the race! So while I don't plan on setting the fastest lap in the E3 class, I look to successfully get through 1.5 hrs on the track and seeing how close of a lap I can consistently put down as compared to Jason who'll drive stint #2 in the last half of the 3hr Enduro. Wish us luck!

Sat/Sun is the normal NASA weekend. Right now I'm signed up for TTA and there's 4 in class; 40 overall in TT barring any last minute changes - which there usually are! I'll be showing up on old rubber, so we'll see how close I can get to last year's 1:15.7 I put down which set a new TTA track record.

[boomn29]

June 2-3 - Grattan - NASA GL
June 9-10 - Gateway - Chumpcar 14hr Enduro - Date Cancelled.
June 9-10 - GingerMan - NASA MW
June 15-16-17 Road Atlanta - NASA SE
June 30-July 1 - Mid-Ohio - NASA GL

July 14-15 - Autobahn - NASA MW
July 20-22 - VIR (with UTCC) - NASA Mid-A

June-July Preview/Plan

I had a goal for this year, to try and clear up more time in June & July for summer related trips and activities that are un-related to racing. Summer events really take their toll, especially with the temps and humidity pushing well into the 90's most of the time. Long trip like those to Mid Ohio last year (7.5hrs 1-way) only add to the complexity when you leave work early Friday and push to make it home by midnight Sunday night.

My thought process was to start earlier this year (herego Road Atlanta in March) and take a summer break. So far the plan has been good! And with temps already pushing into the high 90's in May, lining up for a sweaty sprint race doesn't seem like real fun... I think I've got some open weekends, but there's maintenance & setup that HAS to be done before I can enter the car in another Sprint Race. And the Sprint races & Enduro's are more what I am wanting to concentrate on at this time - as compared to Time Trials.

So as of now, nothing is booked for June or July. The long out of region trips are probably out because of time constraints of the longer trips and the added hotel/fuel costs with the longer travel. We'll see how things play out...

[boomn29]

June 9-10 - GingerMan - NASA MW

June-July Preview/Plan

I had a goal for this year, to try and clear up more time in June & July for summer related trips and activities that are un-related to racing. Summer events really take their toll, especially with the temps and humidity pushing well into the 90's most of the time. Long trip like those to Mid Ohio last year (7.5hrs 1-way) only add to the complexity when you leave work early Friday and push to make it home by midnight Sunday night.

My thought process was to start earlier this year (herego Road Atlanta in March) and take a summer break. So far the plan has been good! And with temps already pushing into the high 90's in May, lining up for a sweaty sprint race doesn't seem like real fun... I think I've got some open weekends, but there's maintenance & setup that HAS to be done before I can enter the car in another Sprint Race. And the Sprint races & Enduro's are more what I am wanting to concentrate on at this time - as compared to Time Trials.

So as of now, nothing is booked for June or July. The long out of region trips are probably out because of time constraints of the longer trips and the added hotel/fuel costs with the longer travel. We'll see how things play out...

June 9-10 @ Gingerman has been booked!

[boomn29]

June 30-July 1 - Mid-Ohio - NASA GL

June-July Preview/Plan

I had a goal for this year, to try and clear up more time in June & July for summer related trips and activities that are un-related to racing. Summer events really take their toll, especially with the temps and humidity pushing well into the 90's most of the time. Long trip like those to Mid Ohio last year (7.5hrs 1-way) only add to the complexity when you leave work early Friday and push to make it home by midnight Sunday night.

My thought process was to start earlier this year (herego Road Atlanta in March) and take a summer break. So far the plan has been good! And with temps already pushing into the high 90's in May, lining up for a sweaty sprint race doesn't seem like real fun... I think I've got some open weekends, but there's maintenance & setup that HAS to be done before I can enter the car in another Sprint Race. And the Sprint races & Enduro's are more what I am wanting to concentrate on at this time - as compared to Time Trials.

So as of now, nothing is booked for June or July. The long out of region trips are probably out because of time constraints of the longer trips and the added hotel/fuel costs with the longer travel. We'll see how things play out...

June 30th - July 1st Mid Ohio - Booked!

[boomn29]

June-July Preview/Plan

I had a goal for this year, to try and clear up more time in June & July for summer related trips and activities that are un-related to racing. Summer events really take their toll, especially with the temps and humidity pushing well into the 90's most of the time. Long trip like those to Mid Ohio last year (7.5hrs 1-way) only add to the complexity when you leave work early Friday and push to make it home by midnight Sunday night.

My thought process was to start earlier this year (herego Road Atlanta in March) and take a summer break. So far the plan has been good! And with temps already pushing into the high 90's in May, lining up for a sweaty sprint race doesn't seem like real fun... I think I've got some open weekends, but there's maintenance & setup that HAS to be done before I can enter the car in another Sprint Race. And the Sprint races & Enduro's are more what I am wanting to concentrate on at this time - as compared to Time Trials.

So as of now, nothing is booked for June or July. The long out of region trips are probably out because of time constraints of the longer trips and the added hotel/fuel costs with the longer travel. We'll see how things play out...

July will remain event-free! Given the repeated 100+ temperature days here, I'm happy to say I have no plans to be in a racecar during July! Whew; it's been hot!