My uninteresting 2007 racing season recap...

[eMKay]

My first season racing in SCCA Club Racing (5 years in autocross competition)

In April this year I borrowed my friends race car and attended an SCCA competition licensing school, the purpose of the school is to teach you how to be a race car driver, and get your competition license to race with the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) I completed the school and raced in five races during 2007.

My first races were on June 9th and 10th, the car I am driving is a 1992 Nissan NX2000 that belongs to a friend of mine, the class I race it in is called "Improved Touring" which is lightly modified street cars that have been turned into race cars. The rules only allow changing certain parts like springs and shocks, tires, header, simple bold on stuff. The car produces 138hp at the wheels (or did once) and weighs 2550lbs with me in it, it's top speed on Nelson Ledges is about 115mph before I have to brake for turn 12.

In my first race , I finished 8th out of 14 in class and 13th out of 25 overall. It was an 18 lap race (originally 22 but shortened due to a crash) My best time was 1:22.241, my average speed on that lap was about 87mph.
In the 2nd race this weekend I finished 6th in class and 11th overall, it was also an 18 lap race and my best time was a 1:22.454. The fastest cars in my class (ITA) will run lap times of about 1:17 flat, so the car and driver need a little work.

My next races were at the Great Pumpkin race on the weekend of October 27th and 28th 2007. There were three races this weekend, a 10 lap sprint race that was ran just after it started raining, it turns out I'm not bad in the rain (this being my first wet race) and rain is a great equalizer (as our car is NOT even close to a winning car). I was passing the cars ahead of me when my next victim spun in front of me entering turn one, I hit him hard and lost all of the positions I had gained, if he had not spun I likely would have been in the top 3...But that's racing. My best time in that race was 1:41.252, so the rain is worth about 10 seconds.

In the 2nd sprint race I finished 6th of 8 in class and 17th overall, my best time was 1:22.004, the times are dropping!

In the 2 hour enduro I co-drove the race with the car owner and thanks to some good luck we finished 3rd! Our first trophy! We finished 11th overall and if I didn't have to make an emergency pit stop due to a bad tire we would have finished 7th overall, a very good result for us.

I am building a new car for 2008 and beyond, it is a '91 Honda Civic, in 2008 it will be in ITC, in 2009 (if the SCCA changes a certain rule that is being debated) it will be in ITB. This car will have the potential to win unlike the current car, so stay tuned for some better results in 2008.

Picture from the false grid in one of the sprint races


During the Enduro, we were running 7th overall at this point...


This is the pit stop that cost us 4 positions, I'm in the black helmet changing the tire, the car owner is in the white helmet filling the tank (driver MUST be out of the car when gassing up), the two other guys helping are our direct competitors, their car was even in the same class as ours. Now that's sportsmanship.

[eMKay]

We had the awards banquet last night, the region named me rookie of the year, gave me $100, and a nice shiny trophy

[TomCat]

That's really cool. It must be fun to get involved in a sport like that.

Got any pics of the Civic project car?

[eMKay]

Yeah, but there's not much to see right now, I've only just begun, I bought a florida shell, and slapped together some parts from a parts car. I have coilovers, springs, header, and a few other racing parts. I still need a cage (will order next week) shocks, rear swaybar, and other various bits. Nice thing about building an Improved Touring car is it's not very complicated, slap some suspension parts on, the required safety gear, and go racing.