First Time Attack!- The 33 kicks asphalt

[ehansen007]

After drooling over Mr. Veale's weekend romp at the racetrack I was immediately online searching for local track days. Pretty much everything is 3 hours away per Google Maps and then I spotted "Adams Motorsport Park" in Riverside. Yeah right, this is the same Adams I raced karts at 20 years ago....but then on the front page of the website I see pictures of cars going around it. What the? They must have a new track or something. Nope. Turns out it's the very same track! Not only do they do time attack but they also do drifting! Last night was time attack Tuesday so I headed out last minute. I threw the stock springs on the front and stiffen up the damper to a click out from "total Puss" where I had it set for the street and she still rode like a dream on the way out there. Got a little hot in traffic but no other problems.

I got to the track and it was like going back in time. I signed up for $20 and ran the first session. What a blast. I never would have thought full sized cars would be allowed out there but this is like an autocross only on a closed course! So much better and more fun! I immediately made some friends from Eibach, who, sponsored the event, and before we knew it we were on the track. 3 laps each over 4 runs. At the end, I had gotten my tire pressure figured out and was only .5 seconds off the best time from this really dirty guy driving this wild turbo'ed Miata (see the video). He holds the track record right now. I was able to beat all the others by quite a bit which shows how good the 33 chassis is. It was right at home here and it felt like a bit of a homecoming to return to the track after all these years. The Time Attack seems to favor the Imports but there were a ton of Chevys and Pontiacs out there as well. I got a lot of questions for sure and had a great time. They actually have a DJ out there playing music for the spectators that come out for all the events. The guy from Eibach was telling me that on drift nights, they get about 700 people to show up and have a wet t-shirt contest!

The video is OK, I rushed it a bit and I'm trying out a new camera call the Replay XD1080. Hope you don't mind the music.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRZgIoer190

['33 BOD]

Great video, thanks for posting.

Brian

[vnmsss]

Awesome Eric!! Nice work! I've run karts there in the past, and Andy used to talk about CSCSC events they would run there with cars back in the '70's.....Neat place, and I'm glad they're still hosting event!

Karen

[Tom Veale]

Erik, Very Good, and Very Smooth! Congratulations on making the Miata guy sweat a bit!

I'm happy to see I could coerce another '33 driver into sporting their car on a road course. Incredibly good manners seem to be the '33's forte.

Best regards, Tom

[ehansen007]

This was like a cross between Autocross and Road course which was great. Note steely concentration when my hat flies out on the second run. Too funny. After the first run, I realized you don't need first gear although I have to ask you racers, when I get around the hairpin (the first turn out of the pits) am I better off getting into first to get the car to turn in better? In second, the car just wants to plow through the corner then come out with oversteer. That corner is tough to get the wheel all the way around too as you can see so there's a lot going on.

My dream is to get it to Laguna Seca. I need to get some fenders on it first as per the rules of the club that runs there. Probably throw a high back seat in there too along with the square roll bar and the roof. Then it's go time! Karen, you better be there when I get there! :)

[Tom Veale]

Erik,
In reviewing the video again, I noted the red and green lights inside your tach. Is that manifold vaccuum or something like that?
Thanks,
Tom
PS: Good catch on the Hat!

[skullandbones]

Hi Eric,

That was fun to ride along with you! Look's like you had a lot of fun. On that hairpin, I noticed you were close to breaking the tires loose (or it sounded that way). So you were in second the whole time? I thought it might be worth experimenting to go in in first and feather it or drift (could be touchy) to come out of the hairpin with more power. It sounds like you have lots of hp. I will bet you can get that extra 0.5 second in the curve. I know you were giving most of the credit to the 33 but your driving seemed pretty consistent, too. What kind of tires are you using? Are the rear shocks set up for track or for street? Keep up the good work! WEK.

[ehansen007]

Hey Tom,

The Tach I have has a rev limiter light on it and and I don't have it set quite yet. So it was maxing out at 4000RPM. I'm still fiddling with it.

Skull, I'll be trying to get it into first and see how I do next time. You can see by the first video I was in first when I first came out of the pits and on the second lap. Then I just put it in second for the rest of the laps. There's always some time out there and I did put the stock springs on the front and went up a click on the stiffness of the Konis. I didn't touch the rear since it's so much hard to swap out springs. My plan is to get some even stiffer springs for the front (600-700) and put the stock front springs on the rear since I don't have sway bars. That will take off some time as well. The tires are the best part of the whole car. Nitto NT-05s. 200 Treadwear! I'm only putting out 300 but it's plenty on this track.

[skullandbones]

Just curious: have you driven a roadster. I was wondering if you had and can give some comparisons on how the two handle. Are there any similarities? It's funny but I have hear of people taking the stock 450 front springs and putting them on the rear and installing 650s on the front just like you are suggesting. I'm sure you will find some time on the track once you get more laps. Good luck, WEK.

[aesthetect]

awesome to see more of these seeing some real driving time - definitely a good start if youre only half a second behind the best miata time on such a tight course! (and for the first time on that track)

definitely keep posting about your experiences with the 33 out there, looking forward to hearing how different suspension setups work out

[ehansen007]

I haven't driven a roadster. Only driven against them. Although the wheelbase is shorter, they have a much harder time steering (unless they have power steering put in) on a course like this.

That Miata guy is very fast. I'm sure he wasn't even posting close to his best time and he has the track record. I'll post more once I get out there. It was over 100 this Tuesday and I still hadn't figured out my cooling issues so I figured it would be best to keep it home and work on it instead.