Classing, Instructor Clinic Preview, and Upgrades!
It pays to read your rulebooks people. A few weeks ago I was casually re-reading the NASA Time Trial rules, and a thread about clarifications of said rules. I was trying to figure out where to allocate the 3 points I currently have to spend. I realized that I can “trade-in” my Konis and spend an additional 2 points and upgrade all the way to coilovers with 1 additional point to “spend” on the car. This started a mad flurry of research, as I had many options to try and narrow down to a few viable and worthwhile options. Part of this is done for me, as I didn’t have the points to spend on the very advanced stuff (+10-13 depending on triple or more adjustable shocks, external reservoirs, etc) so this limited me to a setup that MSRPs at $2999 or less, and uses a single or double adjustable shock.
Most of the Japanese stuff was quickly ruled out, as their damper quality leaves far too much to be desired. The MR2 isn’t well supported outside of Japan, so this limited me fairly quickly to one newer German company, KW, and their Variant 3 coilovers or having a custom setup made using Ground Control parts and the shorter body Koni 8611 double adjustable strut insert. I still have much to research (namely finding a place to make the Koni/GC setup, and find out what the KWs will do as far as spring rates) but so far, it seems like both are fairly solid options. Koni and Ground Control have a solid reputation, and KW supports a well done Time Attack MR2 Turbo that is successful with their product, and many other cars seem to do well using their products as well (STi, Evo, etc). Both setups would be double adjustable shorter body shocks and quality coilover sleeves so it may just come down to price and/or availability if the KWs can handle a bit more spring rate. And the best part is that what I choose will also be legal for SCCA Improved Touring. I’ve pretty much written off chasing National Autocross titles with this car, so the impacts of autocross classing aren’t a concern anymore. Stay tuned, this could get interesting as I choose what I’m getting!
This change leaves my planned TTF setup as follows
+ 7 car handicap
+5 for Toyo RA1s
+1 for 225s
+5 for coilover setup (3 for shocks, 2 for the springs, sleeves are free)
= 18 total points, 1 to spend while staying in TTF
For the upcoming weekend I’ve got, I ordered a set of Carbotech XP10s. Reviews will follow, but I do have to say I’ve got a bit of sticker shock going from $130ish a set Porterfield R4S to $260 set of Carbotechs. Let’s hope they stop better and last longer, or this could get expensive pretty damn quick, heh.
Speaking of the event let me tell you a bit more about what I’ll be doing. I have signed up to take Instructor Clinic which is held on Friday at the upcoming NASA Mid Atlantic trackday at VIR Full Course. The purpose of the class is to teach you how to more or less control the car you’re in from the passenger seat through communication with the driver you are teaching. There is also supposed to be some stuff on learning styles, and so on. I am sure this will be very enlightening from all the wonderful reviews I have read from people who have taken the class from Mid-Atlantic’s classroom guy, Dan Unkefer.
On Saturday and Sunday I’ll be given at least one student to instruct, so wish me luck there (wish the other guy luck too, we both may need it, heh!). I don’t expect to really mess up, as I have gotten a lot of great advice from Trackpedia, Corner-Carvers, Roadrace-Autox, and a couple other smaller boards. If you’re thinking about instructing drop me a message and I’ll point you towards all the advice threads I either found or started on those boards.
Next entry should detail my adventure on VIR-Full (I’ve only seen the first and last thirds of the circuit, so that middle section should be interesting!) and let you all know how I did with this whole instructing thing!
Take care until then!
