I went to the 3rd regional SOLO2 event here in Ontario. I went in the Maxima with the worn out all-season tires and stock suspension. I was pretty much the biggest car there, save for the 95 535i and the 2002 Accord on non-street legal race tires (slicks I think) and a 89 Olds Cutlass Ciera FE3 on 245s summer/sport tires.
I did not have anywhere near the fastest times, but I think I did pretty good, considering I was the only guy there on all-seasons (I think). I know I was the only guy on all-season stock tires in my class though. The times aren't really important, wat was important was that every run I did was faster than the previous one...which is good. If I had a few more runs, I could have been more competitive. Also, all my runs were clean, I never hit any of the pylons...which apparently is very good for a first-timer. My biggest problem was UNDERSTEER!! Holy crap, I cannot do tight hairpins in the Maxima. It just plows like a mofo. However a lot of people were surprised to see a stock Maxima there..and they were surprised it did not hit any cones and did the times it did. On the bright side, I did beat a Contour SE on one run...barely beat him..but hey...
The Track
The auto-x course was set on the skid pad section of the MOSPORT International Raceway's Driver Training Track. The skid pad was the pit area, while a run-way type straightway held the course.
This course was EXTREMELY tight. They had slaloms (which where easy) but then it lead to this really tight hairpin while then lead to a box slalom that was VERY close together. I went as fast as I could without hitting any pylons...then you repeat this process again and then go to the finish box.
The Cars
AWESOME Cars. A wide variety...from an Accord to a Cutlass Ciera to a Lotus Super 7 to a STi to a supercharged Miata to AE86 to S2000 to a few F-bodies to....
And I take back my words about American cars not handling well. That Olds Cutlass Ciera FE3 FREAKING OWNED!! On a few runs, it beat a 95 BMW 535!! That guy did very well. Also, the F-bodies and Mustangs did well as well. The girl driving a current generation Mustang V6 was the Class champion last season. Of course she was on slicks. There was a Trans Am Firebird that was awesome too. Oh man..it was fun watching him run!!
Some other cars, the Lotus Super 7 was also amazing to watch as well. He just kept on gripping...Another star of the show was the supercharged Miata on slicks...oh man..that car must be scary to drive. Everytime he punched it, the rear end squirmed. It was awesome to see him go, I think he had one of the fastest times. There was a Mini Cooper S on race tires that was awesome as well...I think he was in the top four in terms of fastest times of the day. Very competiteive..he was only a few seconds away from the STi, which was on stock tires. That STi...whoa...awesome to see him go around. There was also a turbocharged Legacy (you wouldn't know it looking at it until you heard it or saw the engine bay...total sleeper).
Other low key, yet surprising cars: a gutted out AE86 with a roll cage...whoa he was fast. Kept on lifting one wheel up. A Isuzu Impulse/I-Mark was awesome as well..very tight suspension/chassis...he also lifted up his rear wheel pretty high during cornering...same with the Neon R/T and 1st gen CRX. A few VWs too, like the freaking fast and heavily modified New Beetle that also had one of the fastest times. It was one of the fastest cars there. There was a few Jettas (both of which did well) and some boosted Golf that was fast, but hte driver drove it a little too hard so he either hit a lot of cones or lost control. But it was fast.
I just gained a whole lot of appreciation for some of those cars. Quite awesome to see them go, especially with their expereinced drivers. Also, I learnt that TIRES make a HELL LOT OF A DIFFERENCE! You could have suspension work up the wazoo, but without tires..its useless. Almost everyone had non-street legal tires, and those that were...were mostly R-compound or expensive summer tires. I was the only loser with all-seasons (Michelin MXV4).
The People
The guys here were some of the nicest people I have ever met. Very friendly and very helpful. THey let me borrow helmets, gave me very good advice, and helped me out in general. Very nice people, and the organizer guy, he was very very nice. They definately made this a very positive experience for me (even though I was pretty uncompetitive).
Summary
Awesome! I'm hooked, but I realize that I need more practice to be competitive, and I also need a decent set of tires. I also want a Miata now. You guys can call it girly cars or watever..but after seeing it rip on the track...whoa...it definately ain't girly. And that S/C Miata definately required a crazy set of balls to drive. I also gained a lot of respect for that Olds Cutlass Ceira and the handling abilities of the F-bodies. It definately isn't JUST a straight line car.
Anyway thats about it..theres more ...but I probably forgot a few things to add. I should have videos and pics later on in the week. Stay tuned!
LOW QUALITY VIDEO:
Link
I did not have anywhere near the fastest times, but I think I did pretty good, considering I was the only guy there on all-seasons (I think). I know I was the only guy on all-season stock tires in my class though. The times aren't really important, wat was important was that every run I did was faster than the previous one...which is good. If I had a few more runs, I could have been more competitive. Also, all my runs were clean, I never hit any of the pylons...which apparently is very good for a first-timer. My biggest problem was UNDERSTEER!! Holy crap, I cannot do tight hairpins in the Maxima. It just plows like a mofo. However a lot of people were surprised to see a stock Maxima there..and they were surprised it did not hit any cones and did the times it did. On the bright side, I did beat a Contour SE on one run...barely beat him..but hey...
The Track
The auto-x course was set on the skid pad section of the MOSPORT International Raceway's Driver Training Track. The skid pad was the pit area, while a run-way type straightway held the course.
This course was EXTREMELY tight. They had slaloms (which where easy) but then it lead to this really tight hairpin while then lead to a box slalom that was VERY close together. I went as fast as I could without hitting any pylons...then you repeat this process again and then go to the finish box.
The Cars
AWESOME Cars. A wide variety...from an Accord to a Cutlass Ciera to a Lotus Super 7 to a STi to a supercharged Miata to AE86 to S2000 to a few F-bodies to....
And I take back my words about American cars not handling well. That Olds Cutlass Ciera FE3 FREAKING OWNED!! On a few runs, it beat a 95 BMW 535!! That guy did very well. Also, the F-bodies and Mustangs did well as well. The girl driving a current generation Mustang V6 was the Class champion last season. Of course she was on slicks. There was a Trans Am Firebird that was awesome too. Oh man..it was fun watching him run!!
Some other cars, the Lotus Super 7 was also amazing to watch as well. He just kept on gripping...Another star of the show was the supercharged Miata on slicks...oh man..that car must be scary to drive. Everytime he punched it, the rear end squirmed. It was awesome to see him go, I think he had one of the fastest times. There was a Mini Cooper S on race tires that was awesome as well...I think he was in the top four in terms of fastest times of the day. Very competiteive..he was only a few seconds away from the STi, which was on stock tires. That STi...whoa...awesome to see him go around. There was also a turbocharged Legacy (you wouldn't know it looking at it until you heard it or saw the engine bay...total sleeper).
Other low key, yet surprising cars: a gutted out AE86 with a roll cage...whoa he was fast. Kept on lifting one wheel up. A Isuzu Impulse/I-Mark was awesome as well..very tight suspension/chassis...he also lifted up his rear wheel pretty high during cornering...same with the Neon R/T and 1st gen CRX. A few VWs too, like the freaking fast and heavily modified New Beetle that also had one of the fastest times. It was one of the fastest cars there. There was a few Jettas (both of which did well) and some boosted Golf that was fast, but hte driver drove it a little too hard so he either hit a lot of cones or lost control. But it was fast.
I just gained a whole lot of appreciation for some of those cars. Quite awesome to see them go, especially with their expereinced drivers. Also, I learnt that TIRES make a HELL LOT OF A DIFFERENCE! You could have suspension work up the wazoo, but without tires..its useless. Almost everyone had non-street legal tires, and those that were...were mostly R-compound or expensive summer tires. I was the only loser with all-seasons (Michelin MXV4).
The People
The guys here were some of the nicest people I have ever met. Very friendly and very helpful. THey let me borrow helmets, gave me very good advice, and helped me out in general. Very nice people, and the organizer guy, he was very very nice. They definately made this a very positive experience for me (even though I was pretty uncompetitive).
Summary
Awesome! I'm hooked, but I realize that I need more practice to be competitive, and I also need a decent set of tires. I also want a Miata now. You guys can call it girly cars or watever..but after seeing it rip on the track...whoa...it definately ain't girly. And that S/C Miata definately required a crazy set of balls to drive. I also gained a lot of respect for that Olds Cutlass Ceira and the handling abilities of the F-bodies. It definately isn't JUST a straight line car.
Anyway thats about it..theres more ...but I probably forgot a few things to add. I should have videos and pics later on in the week. Stay tuned!
LOW QUALITY VIDEO:
Link
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