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Inputs looked pretty smooth to me. The big question is, did you have fun?Welp, been awhile since I've gotten around to posting in here as things have gotten hectic with the reopening of schools in NYC. Nevertheless, I've been continuing my campaign with the car throughout the tri-state area with focus on events with the hyper competitive NNJR SCCA. As of right now I'm safely placed in 3rd in points in DS with NNJR, which although is not a bad thing, isn't as competitive as I had hoped versus the top cars in DS. Recently flipped the Re71R's after ~120 runs and they'll have plenty of life to finish the season deep into November.
Reflecting at this point in the season, but it is safe to say all the issues with the S197 chassis that I was warned about prior to this foray from Vorschlag & Strano came to fruition this season. The largest issue proved to be the brake setup which has been rectified for single driver use, but still isn't confidence inspiring with a co-driver during the COVID heat formatting. Additionally issues with repeated advancetrac intervention (despite the system being turned off/resetting the system between runs) and the subsequent rear brake wear has not been fun. Finally the rear trac-lok diff seems to have finally given up the ghost with 85k miles and consistently spins the inside rear tire even with the Strano bar on the softest setting.
I'm sure that the setup could be further developed/honed with pinched 275 width tires on the 8.5 inch Enkei (like the DS winning Camaro turbo did in 2017), a better alignment (never was able to get more than -1 degree even with slotting/crash bolts), higher temp pads/castrol SRF, a rebuilt rear diff, and maybe an 18-20mm rear sway. Maybe running with the abs fuse pulled to disable advancedtrac might prove helpful (or lead to some flat spotted rubber lol), but it might be something to toy with.
Regardless, I think my time with DS is done after this season. The car just isn't hanging with the Type R or even a well driven Evo X/veteran campaigned Turbo 1le Camaro.
Still working out the logistics on what it would take to make the car entertaining locally in CAM-C, but given my recent engagement in August I'm not sure throwing money at the uncompetitive car is the way to go.
Here's some footage of the car from this weekend with NNJR, not particularly good driving here and was well off the pace of 1st in DS (not to mention the first event on flipped tires is always sketchy).
Until next time,
J
Inputs looked pretty smooth to me. The big question is, did you have fun?
Looks like a good run from the video. You're nice and tight on the cones in the slaloms. The one section that stood out to me starts at about 33 sec. - it looks like you pinch the entry of the right-hander and are about 2-3 feet inside of the "exit limit" cone, then you make a pretty much straight line to the next left-hander so you are taking a tighter entry than you have to. Hard to tell without walking the course, but I'd probably try a wider entry to the right-hander and get onto that last outside cone to "straighten" the corner more and allow a higher apex speed, then after the right-hander move the car to the right maybe 8-15 feet on the way to the left-hander to open up the entry and carry more speed through it as well. So running kind of an S-bend between those 2 corners.
Also, the same kind of thing from the end of the slalom at 0:47 into the next left sweeper. You're nice and tight on the last slalom cone, but you don't actually have to be. I'd get on the throttle at the second-to-last slalom cone, let the car float out to the right more past the last cone, and take a wider entry to the left-hand sweeper to carry more speed through it.
Especially with the diff on the way out, you're limited on your acceleration, so you have to choose a line that really minimizes bleeding off speed - a momentum line. Drive the Mustang like a big Miata. Unfortunately, I don't think you can use the carbon clutch rebuild kit on your car in Street class.
Is the Camaro driver Bruce Bellom? He's a very good driver. Can't remember if NNJR allows it, but you might ask Bruce to take a drive in your car with you as passenger. Since the Camaro is about the same size, he can also give you some good feedback on how your setup/balance compares to his.
How are you running all these autocross days in New York!? I'm in Missouri where Covid is a complete afterthought but all of our autocross sites have been shut down this whole year.
It looks like I'll have to create a new thread this winter dedicated to building the "Wrong Car" for CAM-C next year....
-J