Good luck at Nationals!

[tmracing]

Just wanted to tell our members headed to pro solo finale and nationals(Martin, Jason, Brian..am i missing anyone??), have a safe and fun trip and bring back some goodies!! :clap: we'll be cheering you on from West Virginia!

[crobin4]

Just wanted to tell our members headed to pro solo finale and nationals(Martin, Jason, Brian..am i missing anyone??), have a safe and fun trip and bring back some goodies!! :clap: we'll be cheering you on from West Virginia!

Plus one!:f1:

[administerturbo]

hells yes, stay focused out there, hopefully the weather will be temperate.

[2ndShot]

stay safe and have fun!

[CabotTeg118]

Good luck!:partay:

Hopefully I'll make it out there next year...

[sts 50]

Good luck to all. Keep us informed.

[SentraWV]

Take pictures! Write an article for RM! In addition to what everybody else said, of course.

[Jason V]

Thanks everyone!! Brian and I head out Sunday... for those watching results we run Thursday and Friday...

[Hillbilly]

Thanks everyone, gonna be a grand adventure no matter what.

[CabotTeg118]

Martin finished 2nd at the ProSolo today, only 0.3s out of 1st! Nice driving! :f1:

[mirogsr]

Awesome...

[crobin4]

Great job Martin!:f1: Very Impressive result!!! It is my impression that G-Fab Racing and the Silva guy in the Evo are usually at the top of the heap. To slot right between them is just GREAT!!!


Martin finished 2nd at the ProSolo today, only 0.3s out of 1st! Nice driving! :f1:

[SeanB]

Congrats to Marteen!


It is my impression that G-Fab Racing and the Silva guy in the Evo are usually at the top of the heap.

Wrong, Joe Silva has hopped between cars for a few years. I believe this is the third Pro for him this year in the EVO. The G-Fab guys are a little more stable and have been running the Nissan for a couple of years. Lieber, Hoops, Sias who usually are in the pointy end of SM weren't there because they generally do not run Pro Solos.

[sts 50]

Way to go, Marteen!

[tmracing]

:smile: yay for my man! Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there this year, but maybe next year! According to Martin, it's fantastic - the course, lot and just the vastness of the site! and just a little more bragging about him..he took 3rd overall in SM for the season! way to go!

[gtfour77]

Well we're finally back to WV after The Pro Solo Finale and TX trip past few days...
The Pro Finale was a lot of fun and worth every penny and every minute of it.
I was coming to this event knowing that winning or even placing decently was going to be tough after disastrous Toledo Pro finish back in July. For those who did not know I finished way back in 5th at Toledo and on top of it the celica was penalized for being underweight (all of 3 or 4 lbs) which put me to 6th in SM with measly 7 points to take to the Finale.
The drive to Nebraska was uneventful thanks to a great 3-car enclosed trailer and driving skills of Trevor Hill from the Steel Cities Region in Pa. Upon arrival we were stunned by the vast sticky concrete at the Lincoln Airpark.
Day one started with very thick fog which led to about an hour long delay after which it burned off and the competition started. The courses were very fast with a slower and very precise section at the beginning requiring a couple of quick manuvers before getting in to a long open section in the back coming into a series of slalom offsets and couple of very open sweepers for the finish. After day one the Tireland of S. Charleston/ TM Racing Celica was sitting in third place after coned left side run which would have been enough for first with couple of tenths to spare.
Day two started with no fog or any delays and plenty of sunshine. The first run was on the left with only 1 tenth improvement. Onto the right side where I knew was plenty of time to make up. After a shaky first section and a slight push the run ended up being 6 tenths faster from the previous day. Good start so far but I knew there was much more time left out there. The last left side run was much better although some time was lost (gained really) in the long back section where I used brakes in a fast offset which was a big no no. Still, it was about 6 tenths faster so I was pretty happy with it. Back to the right side. Great start, early throttle into the back section... I was thinking I had this and this was going to be THE run of the weekend. Minor lift through the long offset and back on the gas early already looking ahead to the slalom offset section. All of a sudden there was a "clunk" from the brake pedal as it came back up after stepping on it. My foot was stuck underneath and by the time I pulled it out the corner was about 20 feet behind me. This was something unexpected and was my own fault due to replacing the pedal cover the week before. The Celica ended the day with 2nd place about 3 tenths back from 1st (David White's 240sx) for the weekend. I wasn't too happy about blowing the last run but not too disappointed either as I knew at least some contingency rewards were captured. After Toledo's 7 point finish the chances of the Celica placing well in overall Championship was very slim. I was very surprised to receive a third place Pro Solo Championship trophy that evening, I was sure the points would put me back into 4th or 5th position with no contingency rewards but I was wrong. Contingency was crucial this year as A: Hoosier tires are expensive and B: Fresh new tires are required to be competitive.
Overall this was a great event with plenty of competition and friendly staff/competitors. Already looking forward to next year's season hoping to see more of SWVR members attending these bigger events.

Few pics:
http://www.gotcone.com/pgallery/images/2009_autocross/09_05-09_06_prosolo_finale/img_7806.jpg
http://www.gotcone.com/pgallery/images/2009_autocross/09_05-09_06_prosolo_finale/img_7807.jpg
http://www.gotcone.com/pgallery/images/2009_autocross/09_05-09_06_prosolo_finale/img_7764.jpg

[mordant80]

I found a link to the results for those interested =)

http://www.scca.com/popup/raceresult.aspx?event=13555&file=854

Edit: That may be for a different one... don't see Marteen in SM... see Jason and Brian under f125 though.

[gtfour77]

Those are for the National Championships, look under Pro Solo at www.scca.com. Thanks for posting those though.

[crobin4]

Great job Martin! Now I'm anxiously awaiting a report from the other team to hear how much fun they had!:f1:

[Hillbilly]

Let's see.....we both got a couple practice runs on tuesday before the coil died. A few calls to Jim Russel Jr. to test some things and we packed up to go to his shop in Kansas City(3 1/2 hours away)on wednesday morning. We left at 5 am and had the kart in his shop by 9. He pulled the jug off of the engine to look at the piston(whick was fine)then took the rotor, stator and coil off and ran them on his ignition dyno which confirmed our suspicions that the coil was bad. He also told us it was at least 8 years old so I guess we can't be too mad at it. We left his shop at 1145, picked up Arthur Bryant's KC BBQ(as Jim insisted) and made it back to Lincoln at 4 pm just in time to register and make our last practice time. Made a couple runs(which broke a sidepod) and Jason scuffed in the stickers. Got the sidepod welded by a FM competitor with Tim Kubo's new welder that he hasn't learned to operate, walked the east course and put a taller gear on before hangin' out with some of the Atlanta crew before going back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Thursday came early and we walked the course again before we got the kart out and over to grid. I ran first and coned my first run away and Jason wasn't driving as well as he normally does either. Subsequent runs proved this as I missed a couple shifts on my second run and DNF'd my last run and Jason steadily improved, but he wasn't nearly as speedy as he normally is. We walked the west course a couple times, changed the gear back and made a couple adjustments before having some cold refreshments and hangin' out with our new friends from the west coast. Friday came early as well but with a better outlook for the day: we had nowhere to go but up. We both ran more competitively, neither one of us coned any runs and Jason beat me by 7 or 8 tenths(as usual). We both moved up a couple spots overall(to 15th and 19th)and concluded it was a good day. We packed up and went to the awards ceremony with a fellow karter and his Porsche driving buddy and had a great time. We left around 9 heading east to Eldora in Ohio for the World 100, 12 1/2 hours away which would be harder to do than I ever imagined, but that's a whole other story. I'm sure Jason will fill in his part when he gets a chance.

[crobin4]

Sorry, missed it all! Oo oo oo!! I Wanna GO next time! :f1:

Great job everyone!! Glad everyone had a safe trip!:biggrin:

[gtfour77]

I forgot all about your Kansas trip....what dedicated couple of autocrossers! Although Sam Krauss would top it all with his car breaking during the pro solo finale and him wanting to drive back home (16 or so hours), fix the car and then come back for nats....:uhoh: Have not talked to him whether he went or not, from the results it looks like he just drove the car the way it was...

Also, did you guys have any issues with clag accumulating on your tires? I know yours are much smaller but still...at the pro solo there was soooo much rubber down that I hardly used the rear tires at all.... I was riding on about 1/4 inch of clag build up....never seen that much rubber on a course before. It was really, really sticky so that would explain it I guess...

[Jason V]

We had some klag but we ran second heat both days so it was not too bad... I got back to town and then on Monday had to leave town AGAIN for work... I am at Snowshoe now for a trade show... I will give a better quick review here soon... but for my full story you will have to wait until the next Rich Mixture!!!

[gtfour77]

Super Challenge video. My regular runs were not recorded properly so this is all I have. These the fastest runs anyway...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JJ4AOfK-0k

[Jason V]

Nice runs Marteen... I have not had time to get my vids uploaded but I should have them ready soon.. we mounted the camera on the radiator to keep filming simple ... it's a little shaky but not bad.. the West Course vids came out quite well.. east course was rougher.

Overall I am quite happy with the results Brian and I had. I have not been involved with National Level events since 2003 and for Brian it was his first exposure to this type of event. Day one we had to adjust to a new surface and a course that is much longer with many more high speed sweepers that we have at most of our local events. This showed in the results for Thursday... both of us were well off the pace... Brian was just trying to get a clean run and I was not on my game at all. Friday was a much different story. We both ran well and got faster on each run (remember at nats it's 3 runs per day so you have to be fast out of the box)... Friday only I was in a solid mid pack position and Brian was right behind me. After Thursday Brian was in 21st and I was in 17th... after friday we both moved up ... Brian went up to 19th and I moved up to 15th. Our Friday results give me lots of hope for a better overall finish next year... Yeah thats right it looks like I will be trying to give it another go in 2010 ...

I HIGHLY advise that anyone who can pull it off make the trip to Lincoln!!! It is the automotive version of Woodstock!!!