SCCA Solo Nationals

[Reijo]

They just mentioned that Hsun Chen was on Kumho tires ... (Bridgestone listed on the results???) ... and he just went to 11th place ... (23 trophies) ... Maybe that Kumho tire is not all bad?

[Reijo]

Wow ... Jason Saini/CS/ND just ran a 59.9 ... no one has even run a 60 second run!   Amazing ... there are guys who test tires for a living (Chris Harvey) in the field and no one is touching Jason.   One difference I note is the BFG tires ... Perhaps they are much better in the wet than the Bridgestones?

[Reijo]

Think I just saw Tom on here ... advice:   Never mind the "line" ... rather keep the tires on the high and dry instead ... and keep it smooth ... like usual ... a bigger slip angle in the wet is ok.  Oh, and straighten your line across the "streams" ... and shortly thereafter:  That is where you get major twitches that can cost you!

[Reijo]

Andy Hollis actually ran his Michelin rain tires on the first run ... as per info on the broadcast ... fellow interviewing him between runs and reporting back.   Then he ran his "dry" tires with traction control on for his 2nd run ... (ND Miata).  Andy does a LOT of tire testing and is from Texas ... including tire tests in the Grassroots magazine etc.

[Reijo]

Going into 3rd runs .... going to be a last run race ... with the slightly drying conditions I think ... and adjustments from the drivers for the conditions.

And, of course, 4 of our own will be running in the 3rd heat ... in a short while ... maybe just over 1/2 hour ... not sure if they will have a course walk or not ... thought I heard they were not earlier ... but that might have been speculation by the 1st announcer?   Odd....So it could be an hour before our people are running ... and Stephen in the heat after that.

[Reijo]

Times are dropping significantly .... obviously another stage of drying ... It is for sure a one run competition ... This will be the driest run for everyone and the 2nd drivers will be the last to run ... and therefore the biggest advantage ... and the later, the better.   This is one reason to have as high a number as possible ... but that can work against you also .... if it starts raining during the runs.

Whoever cones this last run is going to be kicking themselves .... sounds like people are improving by about 1.5 seconds per run or there-abouts ... jumping from mid30's to mid-teens positions ... 15 or so spots ...

[Reijo]

Apparently there is going to be a 20 min. course walk.     

2nd drivers on the 3rd and final runs .... some improving more than 2 sec ... Jason Saini just coned his last run ... would have been a 58.9 ... 1 second improvement ... door is open for McCelvey .... wow!

[Reijo]

Wow!   Jason Saini cones the last run ... and ends up in 5th instead of 1st!   Ouch!

That one cone cost him the National Championship!  Double ouch!

[Reijo]

Just watching the course walkers ... recognized a few people ... think I saw Cam ... not sure tho' ... blurry.....some people from the NW - Karen Babb, Carol Leuty, etc. ...

However the conditions are changing rapidly ... it is looking brighter (almost sunny?), pavement has dry spots obviously and WINDY ... It is drying very, very quickly ... might be close to dry runs on the last runs of the next heat - AS and SS classes only.   Includes Cam/Tom and Ryan/Wayne.

Stephen runs in DS in the next heat in his Mini ... should be dry by then.

[Reijo]

Wayne/Ryan could be in good shape with the AWD of the Porsche 911 Turbo ... in the wet conditions ...

[Reijo]

The scoring does not show any results today for Ryan/Wayne in SS ... since they are provisional ... too bad.  Wayne's first run was 59.9 and Ryan's 1st run was 56.2 ... notably Ken Motonishi ran a 54.4 directly after him in Hi Ly's '07 GT3 ...

I guess the 911 Turbo is not an overdog in this class as Ryan commented ... makes sense.  Even the announcer mentioned that he did not know how that car has never been classed ... and that it would probably go into SS ... which makes sense to me as well.

R

[Reijo]

Cam just ran the fastest time in the class on his 1st run in AS but he hit a cone ... drops to 7th ... whoops .. actually Mark Daddio ran a 54.582 but with 2 cones ... He is in 10th;  the last trophy position.

And, Tom, unfortunately coned all his runs yesterday ... and got his first clean run on the 1st run ... 65.754 ...

[Reijo]

This will be a one run race again .... as the drying continues ... and the temps go up .... and tires get up to temp.

[Reijo]

Tom just ran a 58 for his 2nd run ... much better ...

[Reijo]

Just found the providential runs (Wayne/Ryan and the NSX):

http://sololive.scca.com/IDX1.php