SCCA National Championship Runoffs

Heartland Park Topeka (HPT)

This year’s chance started early Friday morning (Oct 3^rd).  The crew (Ryan and Marti from VIP) and I, loaded up at my house and pulled away for the long haul to Topeka.  We had arranged to meet Marty on the highway and soon our entire team was enroute to the Runoffs.  The trip was much less eventful than last  year’s saga.  Heck, Marty didn’t blow a single tire or even burn up a wheel bearing.  I had one trailer tire that was a little worse for the wear and we swapped that during one of our scheduled fuel stops.  We drove in to the wee hours and then found a rest area to catch a few hours of sleep.  We awoke bright and early to the diesel truck starting next to us and figured it was time to roll to the track.  Just over a day after leaving we found our way to HPT. 

Once we were registered we pulled the trailers in to their designated spots and setup camp.  We were lucky enough to have reserved slots with our good friend and some times competitor Tim Hund of Old Dominion Metals fame.  Tim drives a GXP in T2 and on this occasion a Vette in T1 and a RX-8 in T3…yeah he was going for his own little Touring hat trick.  Even though he drives a GXP, we still like Tim and his crew, Donnie and Curt ;)  Tim invited us to stay in his Toterhome ma’hal and we gladly accepted.  Marti and Ryan decided my trailer was a little more comfy with their huge air beds. 

Tim's Toterhome Ma'hal

Sunday morning we got up and did final prep on the cars before heading out for some much needed
practice and sorting.  First session out felt a little slow and was just really to shake the HPT cobwebs out.  The second session went much better and allowed both Marty and I to make some suspension adjustments.  The third and final session came late in the day as the sun had started to set and the temp had dropped a good bit.  I had set my car up very loose earlier in the day, but with the weather change I found the car was REALLY LOOSE.  I’d never driven an Evo that had a rear end so active, it really felt like an old camaro with worn rear tires.   

   

Monday morning first thing we were up for qualifying.  The cars were ready and we hoped the drivers were too.  I went out light on fuel with sticker A compounds thinking my best shot would be the first few laps.  I was wrong as traffic and my lack of seat time at HPT only netted me a 1:51.23 before I started fuel starve :(  Marty on the other hand put down a very respectable 1:48.08.  These times would have us setup to start 9^th and 13^th, not what we wanted but there is always tomorrow right?

Tuesday arrives and so does the rain.  I call it a day as the weather prediction for the race is cool and dry, no need to put the car in to a tire wall just for fun.  Oh, but then there is Marty and he loves the rain, think it kinda reminds him of his rally days ;)   Marty takes pole for the day with a 1:58.59  Everyone that watches him play finally realizes that if it rains they are screwed :)  


 

Early Wednesday morning we needed to prep Marty’s car for a TV appearance, so he asked Marti to take it over to the wash rack and spray off the mud from the day before.  Marti gladly drives away, but doesn’t come back for a really long time.  We all start to wonder what the problem was and were just about to go looking for him when he finally comes back.  As it turns out they only have hand water pumps at the wash rack, well, not really, but that is what Marti thought as he turned the water on and off in rapid succession to get the car washed.  Man I wish I was there to see him ‘pumping’ that water valve… LMFAO :) 

Our last chance at a good qualification occurred later that day.  Since our scheduled time was later in the day than the previous sessions and both the track and air temperature would be higher, times should be slower.  Marty and I planned another nose to tail session.  I was to follow while he tried to get away.  We got lined up earlier than we thought as several cars streamed by on the warm-up lap.  Sometimes I wonder what these guys are thinking about…if everyone would just get a nice gap from each other there is plenty of room for us all to get a few good laps.  We were able to get a couple decent laps in which improved my best qual time down to a 1:49.01, but unfortunately Marty was unable to better his time.  After the first few fast laps I noticed my car falling off, it was just down on power and I noticed it wasn’t making the boost it should and running way rich.  On an Evo this is one of two things…  a boost leak or the catalytic converter is clogging.  Our qual times set Marty and I up 11^th and 12^th respectively on the final grid. 

Tim was nice enough to let Ryan and Marti use his lift to replace my cat.  After they completed that they
went to looking for a boost leak and found an intercooler coupler that had burst.  I called up AMS and they overnighted a new one right to the track (Thanks guys you rock!).   The next day was a day off and Marti used the morning to completely prep my car, including the new acquired coupler.  Ryan fixed Marty’s ride all up and we spent the day working hard ;) 

Who knew Marti could read? :) 

We went to dinner with Tim, Donnie and Curt at the Mazdaspeed banquet.  Man I wish Mitsubishi would support us even half of what the other manufactures do their drivers.  Dinner was great, but we all called it an early night and headed back to turn-in early…or so we thought.  Marty had yet to bed in his brakes and while doing so he realized the car pulled hard to one side.  Yeah, once again we had to do a last minute late night caliper rebuild.  We worked as a team and knocked it out in just a few minutes.  The cars were both now ready and we could get some sleep for the early morning race.

The morning came and the weather looked nice.  Here are a few videos to tell part of the story:

End results were that Marty finished an amazing 4th and I placed a better than

  
Thanks to all of the following sponsors:



AMS Time Attack Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjhMyJq-gGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_-HpBpQsnA

AMS Drag Car Dyno 1130 AWHP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEFIMBumJs


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