Lexmex

On the last Sunday every month, barring rain, we have a Bracket Racing Competition for the Mexico City Metro Area at my track in Tlalnepantla that is part of a 6-7 month championship. On Sunday, I got second place (we will see what happened) and held on to third place (this will help for going to the Mexican National Finals) for the championship. I have won the monthly portion in November and have gotten semifinalist a few times. This isn't kiddy stuff and when I lose, it is 90% of the time by a hundredths of a second (kind of like that Indy 500 finish).

We have these types of competitions sometimes at the wee end of Friday/Saturday night racing and those end up being for me like taking candy from a baby. but not this Sunday.

Lexmex

Ah a Ford Ka, something we don't see sold in the U.S.

This is driven by my great friend Alan. Alan ended up getting third place today and took second for the championship, but he could have gotten 1st.

He and I like to go against each other in warm ups to test consistency and practice launches.

I actually beat him in one final, once in a semifinal and last time he won our monthly championship, beating me in the semis.

Lexmex

Let's hit it.

First round is going to open up against Chevrolet Astra. You can see part of this vehicle to the right. The Astra will come to the U.S. I think next year badged as a Saturn.

We had a crummy weather day, 72 F, 29.87 air pressure and 33% humidity. Thus my vehicle never got faster than 18.5. My friend Alan and his Ford Ka (very similar to the Fiesta) can also hit 18s with his vehicle, but not today and was hitting 19s. My record is 17.931. The best I usually do during daytime is about an 18.390 or so.

Lexmex

You may have noticed the 18.5 scrawled on the back of the RX. That is the time that I predict I will run and is known as my bracket (we called it the bracket here but in the U.S., this is the dial-in time). The objective is not to run faster and at the same time beat your opponent to the line.

In this race, I won.

What happened was this. Since I am the slower vehicle my green light comes on .090 before the green light for the Astra (staggered lighting) and thus I will be able to leave first. I did as I also had the faster reaction time (.705) and the other guy actually took a little longer (.876), with .500 being perfect. I am somewhat cautious so as not pull a red light.

I took off like a bat out of hell and easily was about 4 car lengths ahead. I kept looking back at him and realized he wasn't going to catch me.

However, I have to make sure that I don't go faster than 18.500. Thus, as I approached the area between the velocity trap (this measures your mph or km/h) and the finish line I hit the brakes hard and then kept going, thus giving me the 18.865 and the win.

Usually, I set the RX at 18.400 as these are generally run like a solo run unlike my normal runs (whoever is faster) that run .3 less or about 18.100 or so.

Lexmex

We have three speed categories. One is called the Rapido (for cars 13.50 and faster), the next one Avanzado (13.6 to 16.9) and mine is Novato (17.0 to 20.5).

Today, we had just 6 racers, but usually we have a ton more (double digits, 20+) and you have to weave your way through several rounds (quite easy) until you reach the semifinals. The reason we only had 6 racers was due to the the fact that only four of us were in position for getting 1st, 2nd or 3rd and the other two just wanted to see if they could get a trophy.

My friend Alan, my friend Carlos and I all won our races (this also happens about every time with 20+ racers). We obviously had an odd number of racers, so we draw cards and one person gets a bye to the final round. For the first time, I drew the bye card.

This means I basically get to take a nice little Sunday in the park run while the other two guys battle it out (Carlos won, and thus secured first place in our championship).

I ended up running slow as I didn't want to push my engine.

Lexmex

That meant I had to face off against Carlos and his deadly as it is beautiful 1929 Ford V8. He is a bracket racing master.

Lexmex

One good thing for everybody is that only 6 racers meant the first round started as a quarterfinal, meaning everyone got their 11 quarterfinal points automatically.

My final race had no effect on my final championship standing, I had 3rd place in the bag and Carlos had 1st place wrapped up. It was just a trophy for who was best that day.

In the photo, keep a good eye on the guy on my passenger side. When that turbo finally goes in my RX300, you will have Mario Gamboa to thank for this as he is going to do the install. Mario Jr. on my driver's side is one of the my best friends. The Gamboa family is world famous for building turbocharged VW Beetles through their family-owned business Grillos Racing. They also handle the track operations.

Lexmex

Oh a few seconds before we launched, the raindrops started to fall. I got the green light first and then about .9 seconds later Carlos hit the gas. Actually, his reaction times in competition are insane, always 500s (.562 this time) and my reaction time was (.630, which is respectable for a bracket though I was hitting a couple of .500s in warmups).

Lexmex

Lost by .041 seconds (and you thought that Indy 500 race was close).

This was about the length from the back of my front tire to the front of my front bumper.

The reaction time helped Carlos more than the fact that I was off only .005 from my expected time (I told you our RX300s are very well tuned vehicles )

Carlos predicted 17.510 and he actually passed me on the track about 100 meters from the finish and then had to slow down ever so carefully (reason why he is considered the master of this type of competition by everyone in the 3 speed divisions) so as to avoid not going over his time and yet still beat me to the line. I wish had a video camera to show this as it was like heaven on earth watching him.

He wasn't sandbagging as someone suggested (where you have a slower dial-up than normal overtake the other driver and then slow down) as I have seen him come on regular race nights and he was only .1 second slower on his dial-in due to the weather as was my dial-in time.

I have beaten him once and it was literally by a nose.

Lexmex

Well the rain did hit and we actually couldn't race the final of the rapido division (they have to come back later in the week.

However, I love these trophies they give out.

I am supposed to get one later at the end of June for winning 3rd place in the overall championship. I actually missed one of the monthly championships due to a trip.

Lexmex

In line with Alan and his beautiful Ford Ka. You will notice another Ka just behind me for comparison.

Lexmex

A final shot of Alan and I awaiting launch on our practice runs.

duane

LexMex,

Do you get any wheel spin? Does the AWD give you an advantage over the 2 wheel drive cars.

Lexmex

No spin with the AWD and it certainly does give me an advantage. I couldn't imagine running without AWD.

06Harrier

sweet.
tuuuuuurrrrbo.....yeah..!