Not enough RX8's to make a class, but ULLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOSE did take the bump class with whatbadgerseat pulling down the final trophy in bump, making it to the Super Challenge (good job, Brian!). Not sure what happened with Jason in the Super Challenge, though...

 

I'm sure he forfeited his spot to get on the road early. He did the same in 06. Nice to see my former SDR buddy James Wilson take the challenge win.

 

Yeah, it makes sense that Jason would want to get on the road...pretty good haul from Wendover to the OC...

I agree, it's good to see James pick up the SC win...only guy I know who can go from a Subie to an Escort and do better

 

+1 It's good to see my buddy James take the SC win!!!

Congrats on the Bump 1 win Jason.

Not sure what happened to Sipe. He DNS'd his last runs on Saturday afternoon -- not sure if something broke on his car?

 

Yep, pulled my usual skipping of the Sand Fest (aka Challenge), to get home at a decent hour. I am not about leaving time out there for the Challenge, unlike some people in SOFT classes, so typically I skip them. I am not a fan of the ProSolo format to begin with, and the Challenge is the worst part of it imho.

Course was very, very much like the 2006 course, only slower. Few blips of the limiter on each side going out, 1st gear turn around, and the rest of the course mid 2nd gear.

Sipe broke something to do with his front swaybar on Sat. DKNV stepped in with the community RX-8, which Coulson was already in - his car never made it to the event - so Sipe was able to jump in that Sun. Those guys must of been near stroking out, all three of them ran a different set of tires, requiring a tire change after each set of runs in high 90 temps.

 

When it rains it pours, spun off the splines on one aluminum arm of the front speedway sway bar. I thought the car was going to roll when it took several big sideways hops when the bar finally let go all the way and DNS'd the remaining afternoon runs on Saturday. Debbie's car handled so differently than mine that I kept making mistakes in a critical spot or two and just couldn't pull it together on the Sunday runs.

I was just about to convert over to a steel sway bar this week after figuring out the final rate with the speedway bar, just came up a weekend short

 

Funny you mention that, just today I did some quick calculations to get a better feel for what people mean when they talk about SOFT classes ---

If I figured this out correctly, BS has an index that is 99.2% of PAX/RTP, while AS is 98.6%, CS is 98.1%, DS is 97.6%, GS is 97.2%. When I look at these numbers in the context of L1, it would seem that BS is the hardest, GS is the softest. Why is this? The RX8 has no launch advantage (though the MR2 Turbo is presumed to have it). Yet, AS has the Evo and STi, and DS has the WRX.

 

index = subjective BS, not logic

 

Yep... To win L1 you would have needed to be within about a tenth of my time on each side.

 

Haha, I learned that while sitting at the line. I heard the announcer say that my dial-in was a 36.9-something. Then I'm thinking, "What?!!! expletive expletive!!" With my inexperience in a challenge round, I went out and made at least 2 mistakes in tactic: a) thinking I had to run faster, I promptly hit a cone on the way out, then another on the way back, and b) not remembering that the other driver (Beth) could have made a mistake. At least I got a chance to run both sides without RL's, and no shame losing the round to Beth Strelnieks.

 

Huge thanks go out to dkmv and team for the ride! My friends are still calling me rotorchick... Big thanks to ULLLOSE too!
Now I can still get schooled at the finale...

 

don't thank me, it's her car and decision ...

 

Pics taken by Kraus and her co-driver Gabe Dunn of the event can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kiirenza

They're three albums, and at a quick glance, I saw a bunch of Sipe, Isley as well as a red RX-8 (whatbadgerseat??)...