The wannabe ST

[WannabeST]

I will add more details later to this thread but for now.
I got P2 at GRIDLIFE at big willow. I missed P1 by 4 tenths of a second. Not bad considering I am once again the only car competing on OEM shocks lol.
im happy to add another trophy to the collection and hyped for Laguna Seca competition in September

 

[WannabeST]

Now that I have a little more time, what a weekend.
I started off the weekend by putting a bunch of stickers on the car. These are some of the businesses of my close friends and I want to help them get some exposure as I compete through my first full time attack season.
the competition between me and another competitor for P1 was fierce. We had a good lead over the competition but we both improved every single session. And every session we switched on who was the faster driver. We were always less than 5 tenths away from eachother. It was a rollercoaster of emotions to see my lap time go down 6 tenths and then I need 2 tenths more to catch up. And the feeling would go both ways.


I was dipping tires a lot on one of my sessions and got this wonderful text 5 minutes after my session ended lol.
In an effort to go faster on day 2. A friend gave me some duct tape and I sealed off the whole upper grill of the fiesta and also gave me a little bit of gold heat tape which I put on the intake manifold.
the intake temps went up another 15-20 degrees with this combination. Making my intake temps 40+ over ambient. Not good since we were in the high 70s!


the coolant temps run at around 205-210 with this setup, normally they’re closer to 180-190.
despite the higher intake temps. I saw immediate time drop on the straights and corner exit with all the tape.
I also got the car weighed since they had the scales out and my car sits at 2659 pounds with roughly half a tank. Which means I should be able to take out roughly 120-150 pounds out of the car and still be legal for the class. At some point this year I will get the car on a dyno since I need to for nasa tt6 and that will let me know exactly how low in weight I can go.

once it was time for podiums. I finished with a time of 1.42.6 which landed me that P2. P1 was a 1.42.2. Once again why I love sundae cup so much. The tight competition makes it so much fun and gives you something to push for.
enjoy a few of these pictures I received this weekend:



Some mental notes for myself of things to upgrade:
Get bigger radiator for faster heat distribution
Lower temp thermostat
Block off upper grill permanently
Repair front bumper for better aero
Check if tire spats are legal
Get front and rear crash bars with tow hooks before I end up failing tech like someone else did
Remove random weight I don’t need, ideally in the back for more rotation.

 

[M-Sport fan]

View attachment 61547
View attachment 61548
I was dipping tires a lot on one of my sessions and got this wonderful text 5 minutes after my session ended lol.

HA! In WRC tarmac rallying, this is fully expected and considered merely 'force majeure' or par for the course for the crews further down the start list for the stages.
They might even make some suspension adjustment, or tire compound choice changes/decisions because of it!

 

[WannabeST]

HA! In WRC tarmac rallying, this is fully expected and considered merely 'force majeure' or par for the course for the crews further down the start list for the stages.
They might even make some suspension adjustment, or tire compound choice changes/decisions because of it!

Yea, some of my friends that were spectating were telling me about how the flaggers would grab the black flag as if they were going to point it at me, we all thought it was pretty extra because the amount I was throwing on track was minimal and it was off of most peoples race line, mine was a more narrow race line due to the elevation and needing to keep my momentum up. As someone who hosts 1-2 events a year and helps out with another organization I can understand the annoyance. Because as a host you will get drivers complaining about debris and in a competition format drivers aren't the biggest fans of it.

 

[WannabeST]

I just signed up for my first NASA event later this month. It is going to be at willow springs here in socal. Does anyone have any tips or advice on what to expect? I sent an email asking to be put in HPDE 4 or straight into TT6 instead of going thru the whole HPDE 1-4 process.

 

[WannabeST]

Another 2 day track weekend in the books for my car. This brings my total to 14 track days on this car now. With no major issues. I did run into overheating on my first session out. Temps shot up to 235 on my second lap. I opened the radiator cap for 20 minutes and it seemed to just be an air bubble because the car didn’t over heat anymore after that.
the first day was chuckwalla CW.
I got zero laps alone in my car due to instructing so much. Also my garmin stopped working so my best lap time with proof was a 2.18 but I’m sure I went faster.
On my last session I hit a suspension bolt from someone else’s car and hat to patch my tire the next morning. It held up all day with no issues.
the second day was CCW and I only got 3 laps to myself at the end of the day. My tires were delaminating and I just wanted to try to get a PB. I ended up with a 2.14. I’m pretty confident there is a 2.11-2.12 on the stock wheels and 195 wide federal rs pro setup. On my sundae cup setup with the motegis and rt660 I’m pretty sure a sub 2.10 lap time will be plenty do able.
enjoy these pics from the weekend:

 

[WannabeST]

On Friday this week tickets will go live for drivers for my annual birthday event. This year will be at Buttonwillow CW13 again in December on the 27th. The driver count will be 80 driver cap. I tried to work on pricing to get it lower, but pricing would've been more than I wanted to charge keeping it at 60 driver cap like last year. Early bird tickets will be $200 and regular price tickets will be $230. This year I am hosting it in collaboration with Touge2track so the event should run way smoother, as far as check in goes and more. The event will have sessions in the morning and after lunch will be open track. As always, I will be available to instruct and first timers to the track life are always welcome.

 

[WannabeST]

Registration for buttonwillow will go live at 8pm. This is one of the best deals you will find on buttonwillow for the driver count (80).
for any beginners, don’t be afraid of a new experience. Our organization is very beginner friendly and will help you out all day to go faster and safer.

https://touge2track.com/

 

[WannabeST]

I just signed up for my first NASA event later this month. It is going to be at willow springs here in socal. Does anyone have any tips or advice on what to expect? I sent an email asking to be put in HPDE 4 or straight into TT6 instead of going thru the whole HPDE 1-4 process.

Just finished my first day with NASA today and they went ahead and made me an instructor.
I also got approval to go straight into TT6. There is literally no TT6 drivers this weekend. I find no fun in getting P1 if I’m the only one lol. But in the future events I should be able to remove some interior pieces for the events and be slightly more competitive.
im happy to be part of the Nasa family. They take their instruction a lot more seriously than most regular HPDE events.

 

[M-Sport fan]

View attachment 61695

Shreddy Feddys!

You literally drive the wheels (or at least the tires) off of that thing!!

 

[WannabeST]

Shreddy Feddys!

You literally drive the wheels (or at least the tires) off of that thing!!

Yea this was poor tire temp management on my end.
I had so many people requesting a ride long and I tried to get everyone at least 2 laps. So the tires had very little time to cool off. In hindsight if I would’ve backed off the pace by like 20-30% I might’ve been fine. Same for time in between sessions. If I would’ve made people wait atleast 5-10 minutes it would’ve helped.
but I felt rushed because I didn’t want to make anyone feel left out. I had 3 people from that Saturday that had to wait till Sunday to get a ride due to time constraints.

 

[WannabeST]

Just finished my first day with NASA today and they went ahead and made me an instructor.
I also got approval to go straight into TT6. There is literally no TT6 drivers this weekend. I find no fun in getting P1 if I’m the only one lol. But in the future events I should be able to remove some interior pieces for the events and be slightly more competitive.
im happy to be part of the Nasa family. They take their instruction a lot more seriously than most regular HPDE events.

I just finished my second day of nasa. I met the owner of another organization and he invited me out to a private event. This is going to be my first instructing gig with pay so I am stoked. These are the only 3 pics of the car from this weekend.

 

[WannabeST]

So touching back on the event I got invited to. I'm pretty excited. My boss at work just approved my day off for it. The event I am instructing at is fast toys at Laguna Seca. Which is mostly a lot of exotic cars, apparently exotic owners are more available mid week for some reason. The owner of fast Toys is paying for a local hotel and I am getting paid an undisclosed amount. I would've went to this for free. So hotel accommodations and getting paid on top is epic. My plan is to drive up Wednesday after work and knockout in my hotel, then instruct all day, hopefully I get a chance to get some laps in because in September I will be competing at Laguna so this should be a good recon day to get to set my markers and learn some lines and gather data. I will most likely be driving straight back home Thursday night and just getting home to knockout and be back to work on Friday lol.

Also side note, I will be getting various discounts with NASA as an instructor. once I get those codes I will share with everyone to get some deals on parts/ gear.

 

[WannabeST]

I just got offered a nine lives racing swan neck wing from a friend. I am debating between throwing it on my mustang or my fiesta. I double checked the rulebook and I am able to use aero in NASA TT6 because my power to weight is so garbage lol. This would not be sundae cup legal, but I can easily remove the aero for gridlife and street driving. I would need to make a custom wing mount situation. I was looking up some ideas and I think something like this civic has is probably the best solution.

I would need to get someone to make me custom brackets on top of adding front aero to balance out the car. I imagine I will get the effect that Miatas have where the cornering speed and overall lap time should improve but the top speed will suffer. I also need to get my car on to a dyno to know the actual horsepower figures. SOooo sometime soon ish I will find out if the fiesta is over or under 100hp lol.

 

[rallytaff]

So touching back on the event I got invited to. I'm pretty excited. My boss at work just approved my day off for it. The event I am instructing at is fast toys at Laguna Seca. Which is mostly a lot of exotic cars, apparently exotic owners are more available mid week for some reason. The owner of fast Toys is paying for a local hotel and I am getting paid an undisclosed amount. I would've went to this for free. So hotel accommodations and getting paid on top is epic. My plan is to drive up Wednesday after work and knockout in my hotel, then instruct all day, hopefully I get a chance to get some laps in because in September I will be competing at Laguna so this should be a good recon day to get to set my markers and learn some lines and gather data. I will most likely be driving straight back home Thursday night and just getting home to knockout and be back to work on Friday lol.

Also side note, I will be getting various discounts with NASA as an instructor. once I get those codes I will share with everyone to get some deals on parts/ gear.

Instructing is a lot of fun. I used to teach Navy SEALS, Special Forces etc at a rally school. We'd use tarmac and dirt surfaces for teaching car control. Those guys had no fear of trees or high speeds!

 

[WannabeST]

Instructing is a lot of fun. I used to teach Navy SEALS, Special Forces etc at a rally school. We'd use tarmac and dirt surfaces for teaching car control. Those guys had no fear of trees or high speeds!

I had a student this weekend that was very fearless when it came to sending it in his GTI on all seasons lol. His friends kept teasing him that his instructor (me) was going faster, and it seemed like he was making it his mission to keep up. It cost him a 4 wheels off on one corner lol. And then on the complete opposite spectrum I had a student in an s2000 doing like half the speeds the car was capable of.

 

[M-Sport fan]

SOooo sometime soon ish I will find out if the fiesta is over or under 100hp lol.

The base NA car is rated 123 at the flywheel, correct?

Even a manual loses potentially >20% power at the wheels??

 

[WannabeST]

The base NA car is rated 123 at the flywheel, correct?

Even a manual loses potentially >20% power at the wheels??

Yes, 120 Horsepower to the flywheel is what it is rated for. WHP readings will probably depend heavily on what dyno I am on. The highest whp reading I have ever seen is just under 120 with intake and exhaust

But then there are other dynos that read low. I've found SE numbers ranging anywhere from 81-117whp.
This one below is in the 80s even with an intake.

NASA doesn't specify what kind of dyno they use so it'll be hard to confirm my legality with them. But even assuming I make 120whp theoretically, NASA TT6 is a 1:19 power to weight class. Which is why I have so much head room for aero and tire choice. My power to weight is more important for sundae cup since that class is 1:25. If I made 120whp I would actually be illegal in sundae cup because with a 1:25 power to weight I would need to be 3k pounds with driver, plus I have a dual cam weight penalty. I don't think I am near 120whp because side by side with a fiesta from a roll they will pull away. I am pretty confident my car should be class legal.

 

[WannabeST]

I was playing around on the NASA classing calculator. This is where I would land with aero and ability to run any tire compound or size. So if on the high end I made 120whp, as long as I don't go under 2500 pounds I would be good for the class. Or I could run no aero and run just under 2300 pounds, but I am not interested in stripping this car down that much (for now) Maybe in the future this can be an ST6 car or a lemons racecar. Both are potential options as I eventually want to get a wheel to wheel license. But that is for the future when budget and driver skill have improved.

 

[M-Sport fan]

Strange that they have a DOHC weight penalty, as just how many cars still running on the road (or elsewhere, except possibly Lemons) have a SOHC (or single cam) engine, save for single cam-in-block, OHV, big 'muricun V8s??

(Many) Years ago, in the WRC Group A rules, there used to be a 'multiplication factor' for 4 valve per cylinder engines, as well as anything boosted.
Together, they dropped the allowable displacement to qualify for Group A homologation way down.