I was back competing at Buttonwillow this past weekend, June 21-22, but this time around we were running 1 CCW. Last time i was there was back on April 26-27 when we were running 13 CW. And before this past weekend, on June 7-8, i went up and competed with the Norcal NASA guys for the first time running on my first Norcal track, T-hill CCW with the T5 bypass. For those of you that have kept up with my ridiculously long threads youre probably aware that i have been having braking issues at my last 2 TTA weekend events. But before i get into details, for the time being, ill post up my results and get into the details later. Im waiting on a few things, so as soon as i sort through it all, ill get back to you guys with how my weekend unfolded. But for now, im happy to say that i was able to get through this past weekends intense heat, and walk away with 2 more wins.
Continued...
The last time i ran 1 CCW with NASA was back in the 2007 season during the November 10-11 weekend event. So ever since i had my car setup more properly for TTA, this was my first time back to see how i was going to do. Based on my experience thus far with my new setup i had an idea of what to expect, but with the braking issues i have been having at my last 2 TTA weekend events, i wasnt even sure if i was going to be able to get through the weekend. My braking issues have been really exhausting. Constantly working on your car at an event depletes you in so many ways. And i had done everything i could within my experience to troubleshoot that issue and couldnt figure out what the problem was. After some more inspecting, i found what i thought was the problem. There are these metal tabs that are above and below where you insert the pads. Those medal tabs were deformed on both of the front calipers. The left side was worse, but both calipers had the same issue. Long story short, i contacted South Coast Mitsubishi and spoke with Rigo. He told me to bring in the car and they would take a look. I took my car in and Rigo took care of me. He confirmed that the metal tabs were definitely deformed, and basically it would be covered under warranty. After a few short hours Rigo replaced my calipers with new ones under warranty. How awesome is Rigo and South Coast Mitsubishi? A big thanks to Rigo and SCM would be a major understatement, but thanks guys! Right off the bat i could tell there was a difference even while driving on the streets. I was optimistic, but given all the trouble i had been through i knew the true test would be at my upcoming Buttonwillow event.
I now had a new set of calipers, so the next thing i needed to settle were my rotors. As i have noted in my last few threads, i have been trying to source some new rotors. No one had any replacement hardware for my StopTech 2 piece rotors, and based on what i had found out in the last 2 months, it didnt seem like StopTech was going to have any replacement hardware soon, so i needed a new route. I made some phone calls, got in touch with Martin from Girodisc, and he set me up with his 2 piece rotors. Martin worked real hard to get me his rotors in time for this Buttonwillow event. He really went out of his way, and got me his rotors on Thursday, which was the day before i was going to leave. Thanks a bunch Martin. I then took everything apart and got those bad boys on and ready to go for the weekend. For the meantime im not going to get into details because the true test will be in the coming months. However, ill say that i am impressed with how they performed that weekend.
Moving on with the weekend. Well, it was a pretty hot weekend. At times it was seriously like torture if you were outside. Mark, Sean, and i were parked together as usual. Sean mentioned before the event that maybe we should take fans with us, and its a good thing we did. We had 3 fans going, but i could swear that sometimes they only made things worse by blowing more hot air around. But either way, i dont think we would have survived without them. Sean took some temps of the area where we were parked, and the pavement in our area got as hot as 170+. So who knows what the track temps were like. As far as TTA drivers, there were 3 of us at this event. It was basically a very low attendance weekend in all the groups. So it was a pretty dead weekend. As far as the TTA regulars, it was only Team Meze Racing and myself. Karen didnt make this event, and the few other guys that have ran with us thus far were not there either. But Scott Sentirmay ran with us. He was running his Trans Am in TTB up until last year. He was planning on running TTA this year, but he has missed all of our events thus far. He basically couldnt get his car ready in time, but finally made it out for this event, so it was nice to finally see him back.
Since it was so hot, all i wanted to do the first day was to feel things out. I gradually got up to speed to check out my new overall brakes. I dont know how to explain it, but it was such a major relief to finally get my brakes to where they need to be. No more steering wheel shaking issues under braking! My brakes overall felt great. And, i was impressed as to how well the Girodisc 2 piece rotors dissipated the heat. However, like i stated before, im not going to get into details because the true test will be in the coming months. But ill say this much, even though i was skipping sessions due to the excessive heat, im impressed as to how they performed given the temps we were experiencing that weekend. I knew that i could have easily ran much faster, but my primary objective for Saturday was to test things out. So the best time i ran on Saturday was a 2:11.305 which was good enough for 1st place.
Since everything felt great on Saturday despite the heat, i was ready to push it a bit harder on Sunday. I was running with my heater on for Saturday and continued to run with the heater on for Sunday. It was just too hot to not run with it on. I got blocked early in my sessions during both sessions on Sunday, but nothing major. In both sessions my fastest lap was my last lap. In the second session i ran my fastest lap all weekend with a 2:08.934 which was again good for 1st place. If i wasnt blocked early i probably would have ran in the low-mid 2:08s, but given the conditions, im happy with my times. I know most people dont run 1 CCW because 13 CW is the more known configuration. But if any of you guys ever want to try a different configuration, try 1 CCW. I think its much more fun than 13 CW.
In the end, it was a really fun weekend despite the heat. We had some crazy Honda Challenge neighbors along with Mike Kojima, who were pretty entertaining. Im sure i have missed a bunch of details here and there since this was last weekend, but im sure some of you are glad that i have. Next event up we are back at Big Willow, which im sure will be plagued with the summer heat once again.
Again, a big thanks to Rigo and South Coast Mitsubishi for stepping up and helping me out. And thanks to Martin from Girodisc for his efforts to get me his rotors in time for this event. Without their efforts, im not sure what i would have done.