legomaniac

So some of you may have seen my message about Vancouver's Kumho Super Challenge 2008

I did end up competing in D-Stock, with OEM tires and no alignment (I probably really really need one too ), unfortunately my gas tank was halfish full so I topped it up and ran with it full. Talk about underdog haha.

In my group were the rest of D-Stock: 2 mazdaspeed3's (07/08), 2 wrx's (06/08), 1-GTI (07) and G-Stock: 04 Mini Cooper, 03 Audi A4 for a total of 9 drivers.

1-speed3 and the mini had r-compounds, the other speed3 had high performance street tires, i think everyone else was on 'regular' streets except for the 06 WRX, don't recall looking as it was a dual-driver car.

Day 1 course: it's a tight technical track, doesn't look particularly good from the course walk for cars that aren't lotus/miata but it's an interesting challenge

Day 1 morning: 4-runs but the track condition was quite bad... cold and dirty track = no traction... the r-compound speed3 was complaining that there wasn't any grip and he was going sideways at the slightest hint of lift. if he can't find grip, how can i? wallowed my way to 5th of 9. WRX ahead and behind me.

Day 1 afternoon: 2 runs-last shot at making day 2's job 'easier'... track was now clean and had heat, HUGE difference. my driving also finally settled down by now and cut my time by about 1-1.5 secs but of course so did the fast guys. ended the day w/ my best run but still in 5th

Day 1 conclusion: lotuses dominated the day as well as the mod cars

Day 2 course: run Day 1's course backwards w/ minor safety modifications. was a faster course than Day 1 but still had a tight section for the technical ppl. Course condition: RAIN RAIN RAIN! mid-size puddle exiting a chicago box and a small lake at the back end of the course exiting a increasing radius sweeper - spectacular runs in store

Day 2: 3 runs for all the glory. track is soaking wet but run order is flipped around so now i'm in the last run group, awesome, first 2 groups will dry out the track and i can have a go at it......not! consistently it rained between run groups altho not necessarily heavily. the puddles may have been smaller for our group but they were certainly still there. the decreasing radius sweeper from Day 1 became an increasing radius sweeper with a lake waiting at the other end. i never got this corner right going either way altho thought i would have a better time Day 2. not to be, had a hard time putting the power down often ended up drifting the entire sweeper or pushing for the half of it. the speed3 on r-comps changed to street tires to battle the wet and stayed on top of our group w/ the second speed3 right behind. the mini in r-comps stayed and somehow still managed to stay 3rd in the group after a big spin on his second run. the WRXs swapped positions around me. my last run was going super smooth until the sweeper caught me again, costing me easily 0.5 second which would've put me ahead of both WRXs

i moved from 74th PAX on Day 1 to 62nd overall (total 92 drivers). not bad and the rain certainly helped equalize things a bit

SHOOTOUT
ah... what we've all been waiting for, top 30 pax drivers plus 10 wildcard spots in a 1-run knockout style event (entire field runs once, bottom half is cut, run again, cut bottom half again, until 5 remain and top person there gets the prize). i clearly did not make the top 30 so i volunteered to work the course. as the driver's gathered to discuss the format, the 10 wildcards were announced and guess what? yup... somehow i was picked to fight it out with the best

at this point the sun came out and the track was drying quickly, only a few puddles remained on the line. ppl started playing tricky and grid'd their cars in the 'last' lines in hopes the first runners would dry out the track further, the organizers saw this and decided to run the grid in more or less backwards order. however, looking up at the sky there were a few dark clouds rolling in again...what will happen???

pretty much half the field ran before me. really fast veteran drivers were going at it hard and as a result were either coning or losing it completely. nice, i'll keep it clean but i still gotta push. i get a really good clean run in but again a bit of oversteer on the sweeper cost me a bit of time.

after my run, time to sit and wait.................results come out and the announcer starts with the "first loser" 21st spot in the first round....... drum roll....... ME!!! awww... wth... hahaha... i have yet to see the full results showing how much i lost by. altho no matter what, i was faster/cleaner than at least a handful of the top 30

it stayed dry for the entire shootout and just as the last car finished the last run (putting in the best time), big huge drops of rain started falling. as i drove away from the site, a torrential downpour came. what timing!

anyways, thanks for reading! i will post some in-car video i took of myself and the official results when they come out.

Cheers!
Zach

Solo_D33A

good job none the less, my friends were there with their cars, I was going to go watch, but I don't have my car, my brother drove it out and didn't return the night before...

legomaniac

yikes, hope everything's ok

Solo_D33A

nono, he just took my car since we drove my car from Winnipeg over so when he need the car, he'll take it, but sometimes return very late or not at all that night... car's fine.