Bad Co. Racing - Version 2.0

We just came back from the July event for the CFR region. I was able to post up another consistent 2nd, and my wife pulled off a 4th this time. She is firmly in 3rd for the season, and I just got booted down to 2nd by one point overall, with three events left.

Thanks to the sponsors which have kept us going so strong this season. EPR, MD auto & tire, USRT, Mishimoto, and SIMC.

August event is in the bag, and that means that the season is 2/3 of the way through. 7 events out of 10, and solidly in 2nd place for the class. First season as a driver, and with a newly built car that had seen zero competition time.
Been very happy with the progress working out the bugs, as I learn to drive it, and get used to it. Still planning on running full RX season next year as well, with the addition of as many Rally Sprints as I can, and any event being held at The FIRM on top of them. Third season will still hopefully see the SandBlast Rally being attended.
Here is the breakdown of the 2017 season so far...

Event # 1:

Came in the top half of all drivers in my first ever RallyCross. Even with the cones, had it not been for missed gates, I would have been in the top third. Oh well, lesson learned. Pay more attention on the parade lap, and do course walk throughs.
Came in First, but the only other driver in my class was my wife, in my car. She had never driven anything competition ever in her life, and took it real easy. But she still didn't come in last, so I was really proud of her.
6 of the cars that came in ahead of me were AWD, and another one was Leon Drake, the RX National champion. So all in all, a good strong first outing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuQzNjOG1mcURTTEU/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuaHJVQ3RFZS1IQlE/view

Event # 2:

Dropped all the way down to 16 out of 21 due to 2 missed runs of the 6, due to cooling issues, and major overheating. Starting to find the weak links as I learned to push the car harder. Was able to fix the car and at least not be a complete DNF, so I pulled off 2nd in class. The big improvement was no missed gates, which really helped my confidence.
My wife also had a great confidence boost when she went from beating one other driver overall last month, to placing ahead of four competitors this time.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuN1E5aTgydnE5bVE/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuLXAxLTJZSlBIbnM/view

Event # 3:

Another 2nd in Class, and no missed gates. The confidence started to improve, and the car ran well after replacing almost the entire cooling system, and all of the hoses.
The biggest improvement for the third event was an overall finish of 6th out of 26 drivers. Out of the 5 cars ahead of me, 3 were AWD cars and 1 was the Peugeot 206 Rally (Group A6) driven by our class champion of the past 3 seasons. He also came in first overall, and set the fastest pass of the day. So losing to him is an honor.
My wife also steadily improved with beating 8 other competitors in this outing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuWW51NjVEd0VIOEk/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkubWtkWmRnTDNvbnc/view

Event # 4:

Dayutona, the one I was looking the most forward to, and the one I did my worst at. Being foolish, and trying to practice pendulum turns, I put too much power from the modified Audi engine through the stock VW axles and broke an axle shaft. Lucky for the sponsored trailer with winch, or I would have had to call AAA for a 125 mile trip. Unfortunately, because I broke the car, I even placed below my wife, but we were way down in the class, coming in 8th and 9th, while placing at 47 and 48 out of 56 drivers.
The only positive was another event with no missed gates, so I hadn't missed a gate since the season opener.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkud093QVVaOTgtanc/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkucXRpUDU1YVIxZEE/view

Event # 5:

My high point for the season so far, coming in at 5th out of 28 drivers overall, and another 2nd in class. The only four cars ahead of me were 3 AWD cars, and the Peugeot 206 rally again. As usual, my wife continued to improve as well, with more seat time. She came in at the middle, in spot 14, with only one cone and no missed gates by either of us.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuUlFMcmJRa1FEMDg/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuNzh3c056RDB1VXM/view

Event # 6:

A good strong showing coming in the top third at position 11 out of 33 drivers. Out of the 10 cars ahead of me, 8 were AWD cars, and one was the Peugeot 206 Rally - yet again. Considering its a real rally car, driven by a driver with real stage Rally experience, I know I cannot get past him in my rookie season, and that's fine. Another 2nd place medal. My wife came in ahead of 8 drivers again, and besides some gates was looking good all day. On my part, another event with no gates.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuaUhpeEZ2RFZ4d00/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuZV9hWDgzUVFEVzg/view

Event # 7:

Not where I wanted to be. Slipping a little in some really loose stuff. The Michelin Rally tires are almost completely worn out, so I am switching back to my DMacks for the rest of the season. Next season will see a couple of sets of brand new DMacks replacing all of the used tires I purchased last year.
Dropped down to 15th out of 22 drivers, and tagged 13 cones. Still good enough for a 2nd, but only because my wife was having problems being in the same car. I had set my rear anti roll bar to its softest setting seeing how soft the dirt was, but the rear was still hanging out all over the place at this one.
One high note was that out of the 14 cars ahead of me, 8 were AWD and 1 was the darned Peugeot again. So I know the track was favoring AWD cars with this weather. Another was that I still didn't miss any gates, even with the rear end all over the place.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkucnZhdUJFaC1qLU0/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuY3hLR2t0d3RmM2s/view

So out of 7 events run this year, 6 have counted for points, and I have 2nd place in 5 of those 6. We are trying to talk some competitors in Prepared Front into coming up to MF next season, as my wife is now going to be running an Audi TT in Stock ALL. She decided that she wanted A/C, a stereo, regular seats, and regular seat belts. She could not stand the way I had the GTI set up for Modified.
Hopefully the added competition will make me a better driver, and push me to the point where I can catch the Peugeot. I made a spreadsheet up, and I track every run of every event between the two of us, and I have steadily been closing the gap on the average seconds between us. At event # 7 in August, I actually beat him on 4 out of 8 runs. But in the end, he still had me, as his four wins were by multiple seconds, and my four wins were by fractions of a single second.

Next event is in three weeks, so I am looking forward to trying to close the gap even further. I would love to pull off at least a single first place finish in my rookie season.

Update:

Event # 8:

More progress on moving in on the Peugeot that dominates Modified Front. Morning Heat of three runs, and I was ahead by more than 1.4 seconds. Had better times on 2 out of 3 runs, and my best run I was ahead by more than 1.8 seconds.

Going into the afternoon when they reversed track direction, I was ahead on 1 run, and the Peugeot was ahead on 1 run. But my lead was greater than his, and only added to my morning lead. But one run, # 4, he had taken me by more than 3.3 seconds; and ended up once again taking 1st place in MF. Locking me into yet another 2nd.

Overall discrepancy over 6 runs was only 1.734 seconds, not including penalties.

Another event with no missed gates, and my second with only one cone penalty. This put me in 6th overall out of 28 drivers. Without the cone hit, I would have been in the top 5. So that's 6 2nd place finishes out of 7 point eligible events. Even if I didn't make it to the last points event of the season, I will be solid for the 2nd place position.

Next month is another night event, but it is not points eligible, so the Peugeot will not even show up. I will use it simply for more seat time to get more acquainted with the car before next years set up changes and modifications.

My wife once again got more confidence and seat time; and continues to impress me. She placed a solid 17th out of 28 drivers overall, and matched me with only one cone penalty. She is consistently the second fastest female driver in the region. I think with the TT Quattro next year, she may become the quickest overall.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuNHhtTHhOTFdLcWc/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuQkxTeEJJLW1uSTA/view

Update:

Event # 9:

At the last night event of the season, I was able to try out, and properly set-up my new Diode Dynamics LED light bar. Amazing amount of light thrown from these things. When I move up to Rally Sprints next year, I will be adding a second, larger one as well. This wasn't a points event, but it did give me some more seat time, which is the most important in the rookie season. I came in 8th out of 15 drivers, with all cars ahead of me being AWD except for a dual driver MR Miata. And that cars' drivers are in 1st and 2nd in MR this season, and just bought a NASA / RA Subaru which has a few years of log books behind it, so they can run NASA events next year. If it hadn't been for cones, I would have been in 6th instead of 8th, so my times are consistently in the top section of drivers overall. Came in first in class, ahead of my wife, lol. But as it was a non-points event, it was just for the fun of it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuazJyVFN4MXExaDg/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B855msUgdBkuMV9OYWJfUTdTeFE/view

Event # 10:

Season finale, for the CFR-RX 2017 season. Ended up losing my clutch, and smoking it to death trying to finish the second lap. Unfortunately, it fried completely, and I DNF'd. One of my competitors allowed me to run his MF Honda FIT with the HPD rally Spec B package for two runs, so I would have enough points for my 2nd place in the championship. Even without them, I still had 2nd wrapped up, but the camaraderie in the SCCA RX group is second to none. I was on average, 10 seconds faster than him in his own car, so he has a good competitive car once he gets more seat time himself. I was running within a second or two of my times in the GTI my first time ever in the car, and with no harness keeping me secured. I know the big difference was that he has the plate style LSD in his car, and I'm running an open diff this year. I'm hoping that once I add a plate LSD to my own car, that I should save between 2-3 seconds per lap. I blew up the car before my wife could get any runs in, but she had enough points this season to still have 3rd locked in.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uNDeVIoeEwK4BCNveo6rO3Bdc9C1tPIC/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E1V-vBAz9Nm0QuWOfehoA5MY7wwtGUyj/view

I kept a spreadsheet between the Peugeot 206 Rally and myself, to see if there was any progress over the season, as I got more seat time. I am hoping that with the LSD and the brand new DMacks replacing the worn out Michelins, that I will be able to catch him next season. Unfortunately, he is adding Group N cams, a supercharger, and an LSD for next season. I was the most competition he has had in the class since he started running the 206, so it seems it is my responsibility to modify as well and stay after him in 2018.