With only one day of testing this season, it was time for Bumblestook to go to her first big event this year, the Toledo ProSolo. The Poconos event a few week ago was a good test to make sure she was generally working well but I didn't really get a chance to do any suspension tuning so it was unclear how she'd behave on the high grip concrete at Toledo. Before leaving, I swung by SJF Performance to drain out all the pump gas so I could switch to E85.
Some last minute work at SJF Performance - 6/8/2017
My plan was to just run pump gas in Toledo since I didn't have time to get any C85 (my preferred E85 blend) but thankfully Billy told me about a Speedway in Waterville, OH just 15 minutes from the hotel that had E85 at the pump. Unfortunately with pump E85 the ethanol content can vary from 70% all the way to 90% but having a Flex Fuel sensor on the car, the tune can compensate for any amount of ethanol so I took the chance. Turns out this particular station had the same ethanol percentage as C85 and she seemed to run ok so I was happy with that.
Filling up on corn juice - Watterville, OH - 6/8/2017
The next day I arrived on site early to get a good spot in paddock and it started pouring. This is pretty typical of Toledo but I'd rather it rain all day on a Friday than during the competition days in the weekend. Since I had no baseline to go against I just did what I always do when I get on concrete which is to up the rear swaybar setting going from full soft to 5/7 on the new Karcepts rear bar. I used to go full stiff with the Ankeny rear bar but the Karcepts bar can go stiffer than the Ankeny bar so I didn't want to max it out just yet. It eventually stopped raining and we got to do practice starts in the dry which she was able to get done with no problems. Unfortunately Kirk's BSP 240Z destroyed a drive shaft u-joint and sheered the transmission output shaft during their practice starts so to keep class numbers, I took on Kirk as a codriver and Lee took on Mike.
Arrived on site - Toledo ProSolo - 6/9/2017
Saturday morning rolled in and it was time for the first set of competition runs. It did not go well. She was extremely pushy everywhere. It didn't matter if it was under braking, under power or just transitioning. Bumblestook did not drive like an S2000 and I was a bit worried. I needed to make some big shock changes to get her front end to bite better. The Moton tripples have 5 settings for low speed compression and it was set to full stiff in the front. I decided to dial it back 2 clicks and that transformed her completely for the afternoon runs. She started to drive as expected and I was able to regain confidence to push her a bit harder. She was rotating nicely under power with just enough slip angle to slide the rear around but it would still set and the diff could put the power down as needed.
Ready for morning runs - Toledo ProSolo - 6/10/2017
Unfortunately I was still having difficulty getting my timing right and was hitting cones in most of my runs so I found myself at the end of day 1 in 2nd sitting 0.7 seconds back from Lee. I reviewed the video and data of the runs overnight and knew that if I could just stay off the cones I could pick up some time in other sections now that I was more willing to chuck her into a corner and let her stick. I also felt that the front didn't have enough rebound so I added a click of rebound to control the front a bit more.
In grid for day 2 - Toledo ProSolo - 6/11/2017
I needed a good left side run and thankfully being 2nd I was starting off day 2 on the right so I took the first run as a recon run and get the tires and brakes heated up. When I got to the left side I was able to finally get in a clean run by being a bit safe and taking slightly wider lines and still finding 0.8 seconds to take the lead by about 0.1. I went back to the right side and put in a much faster run now that I was in the lead and tried to find her limits more. I was able to find another 0.7 seconds but coned the slalom so no improvement there. Back to my final run on the left, I pushed a little harder but the tires were starting to feel a little greasy and she was sliding a little more. I still managed to find some more time and seal the win with a 0.3 second lead.
Toledo ProSolo - Left Side
Toledo ProSolo - Right Side
I definitely lost some time in the launches. There was so much grip with the concrete and Hoosiers that even launching at 8800rpm I was bogging hard. Not having torque was not helping me here. I think she definitely had a lot more pace out there. I need to work on finding out how much space I need to give to clear the cones especially on right hand turns. The cone troubles are going to bite me hard at nationals if I don't figure it out. The Toda Racing Torquie-Kun header that I had ceramic coated for Lupa will have to be given up to Bumblestook I think as she has a greater need for a better mid-range torque curve so I'll have to find time to get her back on the Dyno. That will probably be the final change for the season.
Toledo ProSolo 2017 - 6/11/2017
I'm really happy with the changes for this year and it was great that I now have a working concrete setup for her. She didn't break and helped me secure the win defending her win at Toledo from last year. Going racing on my birthday was a treat. Winning was icing on the cake. We've got a little more work to do but good job Bumblestook!
