NNJR SCCA Season Closer

It's been a good season. Despite probably being the season with the least number of events I've attended in 10 years, I had a blast at every event and it's been a successful season overall. It's the end of October and we're still out there in the sun with the top down burning rubber and it's great! Realized last week that Lupa was feeling extra loose because the last event I attended was at Bader field and I had the rear bar cranked up. We put the rear bar back to full soft and ran slightly lower pressures (27f/25r) and it's much easier to get aggressive with the throttle again.

Rad getting ready to run - NNJR SCCA
Meadowlands, NJ - 10/28/2017

Rad codrove with me again. His car is quickly getting parted out so it probably won't be soon before the car is sold. I did happen to get this sweet seat protector from Rad that he got from Clyde. Not sure if I'm keeping it on but it should protect the seat from wear and tear.

Recaro Seat Protector - 10/26/2017

It was a special finale event today. Basically two events in one. We ran clockwise in the morning and counter clockwise in the afternoon. Fun flowing course and I'm slowly regaining some confidence in the lower grip levels. Looking forward to next season.

Steguis - NNJR SCCA - 10-28-2017

Rad - NNJR SCCA - 10-28-2017

Late Season Fun

It's pretty rare to have amazing "shorts" weather at the end of October so needless to say the NNJR SCCA event we had today was another record breaker in terms of attendance. With the days getting shorter, taking the extra trek to bring out Bumblestook isn't happening so it was time to have fun with Lupa and work on the driver instead.

NNJR SCCA Event #10 - Meadowlands, NJ - 10/21/2017

I finally got to put on the new number plates Kamil made for Lupa. I think it's much easier to read the numbers now than the previous red on black. I had Rad codrive since his STR S2000 is now parked getting ready to be parted out and sold so he can get an FRS/BRZ for SSC next year. Unlike all previous events I promised myself I would not touch any knobs or change any settings. We set the tire pressures at 28f/26r and just ran the car trying to go faster with each run. Overall she was very well balanced but it's definitely rough for me readjusting to lower grip. I spun her twice in 5 runs from overly abrupt input. I think driving Lupa more will really help me focus on smoother and earlier inputs. My driving has definitely gotten worse in recent years and street tire S2000s sure punish you hard when you drive like a jackass.

NNJR SCCA Autox - 10-21-2017

The course was fast and fun and required a set of balls that I probably left somewhere in NYC. Either way, I had loads of fun and got to enjoy the drive to and from the event which isn't really something I can say when I'm trailer to events. Looking forward to our final event next weekend. Hopefully we catch a break and get one last good weather day for our final autocross fling for the season.

Pre-Winter Prep

It's been 4 weeks since Bumblestook's final event of the season. At the end of that event I noticed I was leaking brake fluid out of the stainless braided brake line on the driver side front. My initial inspection at the time indicated it might be a crack somewhere in the line but I really just wanted to go home so I didn't jack the car up and pull the wheel off to take a closer look Just to be safe, I ordered brand new lines all around and went to SJF Performance today to give the car a good look before packing her away for the winter.

Faulty brake line - 10/15/2017

It turns out the line itself wasn't bad at all and the nut simply vibrated loose (ah the joys of Street Prepared). We opted to just tighten the nut for now and not replace all the brake lines as there didn't seem to be a good reason to do this right now. I'll just have to add this to the list of things we check periodically. For my own reference though, these are the parts and part numbers for the new brake lines.

Wilwood 220-10841 brake lines for the front calipers

Techna-Fit Honda S2000 Rear Brake Lines - HN-20000R

The usual ATE DOT4 Brake fluid

With the brakes sorted, the only thing left was to drain out the remaining E85 in the car which turned out to be around 3 gallons. I left enough fuel in to drive Bumblestook back onto the trailer and filled her up with pump 93 on the way back to storage. Lastly, mostly because I don't have a lot of space, I decided to mount the Hoosiers TomO won at Nationals for Bumblestook on my other set of CCWs.

Fresh tires mounted for next year

She's now tucked away for the winter. I'm not really clear when I'll run her next year but she'll likely be on a reduced racing schedule as I focus on improving my driving and running Lupa, my STR S2000 more instead.

All ready to be put into hibernation - 10/15/2017