Getting my hands Dirty :)

Yes, finally I can sit down and put my thoughts, and words together.

It has been a bit more than a month since I completed the move from Boston to Seattle.

It has been completely crazy in so many different levels… moving to a new town, finding a new place, getting used to a new job… a whole new job, which is both exciting and demanding. It is no exaggeration when I admit that I have been working probably 60 hour weeks since I got here…from day #1.

I joined the new job at a time when a lot had to be done, a lot was expected,,, and I knew I had to get my hands dirty, and dirty fast…and break all mental and emotional barriers that will slow me down, and focused on getting up-to speed right away….  Am I there? No…but my hands are dirty…and each day I am learning, improving, and understanding my new purpose in life J

The thoughts of leaving so many things behind also adds a bit of spice on top…but life is a bit like racing, you have to stop looking back, the things you have passed… and look forward.

Just like I dived head first into the new challenge, the new job… I decided to jump right into to some racing action… to help with stress J I found a great outdoor karting track(Pacific Grand Prix), which either run’s bi-weekly league’s or 90 minute enduro’s every other week. So I signed up to both events … the first weekend I arrived here J

Pacific Grand Prix track layout supports multiple config's and the great thing about this place,,, outdoor track,,, in Seattle it rains… and they are using made in china, cheap hard slick tires J So expect some great rain action from me.,, when it starts to rain of course, I’ve been honestly waiting for it to rain…where is the $@$@$ rain in Seattle?!?

I have already started winning races in the league’s which consists of a 15 minute x (practice + qualifier + heat #1 + final race).But I have found myself attracted to a greater challenge, the 90 Minute Enduro…in the Ironman class, which means while most people race in 2-3 people teams and switch drivers during a 90 minute race,,, I race with a select few crazy, hard core karters who go 90 minutes solo…rain or shine J We all know each other by name… J

My first enduro,,, and I was leading 80 minutes of the race, until when I was re-lapping somebody, who took both of us out and also fractured my rib in the process… I continued the remaining 10 minutes of the race with tears in my eyes… while losing -5 seconds a lap because I couldn’t turn left anymore,, and came in second. Right now,, I’m waiting for a new rib protector in the mail, and also waiting patiently(!) for my ribs to heal…so I can go out, and kick some ass!

But in the meantime, here are some pictures from the events & podiums from the league race which I came first, and a video of the final race. (I will be recording more videos from enduro events in rain, when i can heal & and can race again :) )

Here is some racing action, i had qualified 5th, and finished 1st :)

Coast 2 Coast

So I've got some big news! I'm moving to Seattle. The land of umbrella's,rain boots and of course rain tires... here we come :)

I look forward to this new challenge and adventure..but also feel sad that i'll be leaving so much
behind. Instead of racing with Team FarFrumWinnin mid June @ Summit for the
3rd race of the season as initially planned, i'll be packing and moving boxes! This also means i'll be missing out on rest of the season. I'll be updating the team's races on this blog going forward regardless.

I already have a few plans when i hit the ground on the rainy hills of Seattle. A childhood friend and his brother (which we united years later) lives here, and they happen to be major petrol heads as-well. So expect some planning,building and racing from us very soon :) More to come on this later...

So lets get back to the main story, last Saturday, under a sunny ~80F degree weather I met up
with Andre Gomes and Ryan Field @ Devens airfield for my last autox in Boston. It was good
to see Andre, i had last seen him kicking ass @ Summit last year during the 24 Hours of Lemons race where the car he drove won in Class C.
This was Andre's first autox, and he would drive his stock miata on old and useless tires. As expected
he set the fastest time in Novice class. The most impressive part was majority of his runs were clean, no cones, no off courses...all clean.Which is a challenge for many people when they start as it is very difficult to read the course and stay out of trouble at speed.

On the other hand Ryan was much more aggresive but still smooth as expected, and he was able to
set some really fast times. He had a 78.x with 1 cone, compared to my 76 clean on a Lotus! That is
a respectful time from a miata. He also looked like he dialed in the car much better with his recent suspension upgrade.

Although i'm leaving town for good, i'm really happy Ryan and Andre finally met,and i look
forward to both of them kicking ass in the autox scene in New England... perhaps even in SCCA one day!

Time to catch my next flight!

24 Hours of Lemons - NHMS - Race Report

As I was driving the Fox slowly in the pits Friday afternoon i said to myself  "Noo not....again!!".
It had just started to rain.

Rain and NHMS, we had some unfinished business.. a moment stuck in time, a moment stuck with me. The moment when i tried to overtake another car last year at the same exact event on turn 12, under heavy rain, under braking. To be more precise I lost, and found myself in the grass... Yes that was my first rain experience, and I had a lot to learn, and I still do...

Since then I had a bit more seat time in the wet, including karts on slicks, and most notably the recent race in Infineon with Team Sex Pistons and the mighty Spitfire with no windshield wipers driving blind with 172 cars on the same track :)

Lets be honest, the car also had some recent upgrades, a stiffer rear suspension to be exact. If it did not feel like a gokart before, now it did. In the rain the car was nervous, a bit twicthy at the rear.
I was suprised by how easy it was to save. As i was sideways on turn 7 with full opposite lock i was bummed to not have my camera with me :) . But personally maybe it was meant to be an experience just between NHMS, rain and me this time.


As I pulled back into the pits after my brief 20 min practice stint, I had really good feelings for the car, and the track... The track which had cursed us last time, when last year we blew the engine a few hours before taking our first victory... felt like it was on our side this time.

WRONG!... Saturday green flag followed 4 black flags for us. Our craptain Tom got rear ended, then got a pass on yellow. I then got taken out on Turn 1 by a blind driver, and last but not least our
family dentist Steve had a pass on yellow. So we had to park the car the rest of Saturday.

However i did capture some videos of those incidents, enjoy :)


And as usual here are some race highlights from my perspective:


So not a really good weekend for us, however now its time to lick the wounds and prepare for Summit next month!

24 Hours of Lemons - NJMP Race Summary

One either needs the time to come up with an excuse or a story... There are no lazy options available for a blog owner. Maybe a bit of an excuse, a bit of a painful fact.. I have been on the road almost everyday last month. It is only now I have a bit of free time, which means I have plenty of catching up to do...

3am Thursday departure meant we would arrive for Friday practice at NJ by10am.
I was also quite excited to see the team in our first race for the season. However the first practice session turned out to be a complete disaster. We blew the head gasket!

Usually starting Friday practice with a blown and warped head can mean its time to pack and go. Instead of throwing in the towel, the team came together. We found a place to shave the head, got the parts, put it all together before midnight just before Saturday's green flag.

The heroic fix during those 24 hours is forever captured in this:




We focused on optimizing our pit strategy, which paid off with the average 4 minute pit stops compared to last year's 7 minute stop. Also all the drivers drove exceptionally well and we quickly found ourselves in 2nd place. Chasing a first place car which is far more quicker than us, working in the pits, checking the time was a nail biting experience.

At the end, although we couldn't take first place, we came 8th overall out 102 cars ( in a VW FOX!) and 2nd in class B. We also won a honorary 24 hours of Lemons "Lemons Lifetime Achievement Award"! :)

Here are some action shots from my point of view:



Next up is 24 Hours of Lemons - New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which turned out to be far from perfect...stay tuned.

First Autox of 2012

Last weekend I had the opportunity to do a proper shake down of the recent changes on the Elise
at Devens Airfield. As in my previous post the car had undergone significant suspension changes
during the winter, not to mention a new race seat + harness to keep me connected with the car
and road.

Ofcourse as one of the disadvantages of New England i woke up to a light snowy day, a bit of a late
april fools joke! The situation did not get any better as we were forced to autox in almost freezing
temperatures, but atleast the light snow had stopped by early morning.

But luckly i had some good company with me. Ryan and Ian (fellow iracers) were also at the
event, and this time Ryan had brought his new miata he had recently purchased this winter to its
first event. I quickly found out that Ian also had replaced his miata with a much better one as-well.
So it was a bit of a shakedown for them as-well...with their new cars.

Both of them did a great job. Ryan was getting comfortable with his left foot braking and his new car, while a few ride alongs with Ian showed the "smoother" side of Ian... with a bit of aggresion he was
easly able to do 108.x on his last run but he took out a few cones. It sucks because i had mounted
my camera on his car during that run but later we found out the battery had diea.

Anyways getting back to suspension changes, what i wanted to do the first test day was to keep the suspension at baseline as suggested by Nitron, but through out the day i really could not get a good feel for the new setup as the cold temperatures made it almost impossible to generate any tire temps to allow for any grib. My tires are barely street legal and quite soft which makes them like a brick in the cold...

With the cold tire temps, the car had significant understeer...compared to before.Also i think next time i will try softening up the front sway bar a little bit, as with the new stiff suspension the car is completely flat on any corner! :) Which means i really can't do proper weight transfer...

Not to mention, because the suspension is soo stiff now, i also struggled putting enough weight
on the front tires under braking, which did not help with the understeer.

My plan is to perhaps soften the sway bar, and do another test day when the temperature is not
freezing, this will allow me to see the true potential of the baseline setup. Then from there i should
be able to fine tune further.

Here is the 102.8 run from that day:


Tomorrow, i'll be heading to 24 Hours of Lemons @ New Jersey Motorsports Park and will be
racing the mighy 95hp Fox...! Looking forward to seeing my team mates,which i have not seen since last year! More to come on that after i get back...

Back from Infineon - 24 Hours of Lemons

Had a great time with Team Sex Pistons and the nimble 1978 Triump Spitfire last weekend.
The Spitfire comes with only 65 hp but sticky handling allows it to keep up with the big boys
on the technical parts of Infineon.

I have to thank the team captain Colin for the seat and oppurtunity, they have a very solid operation
and a great bunch of people! Not to mention the team had extra parts for almost everything, engine,
transmission, you name it.. But the car was well kept and ran like a clock the whole 14 hours
considering old British cars are known for being a pain in the $@#$#@!

Also the most crowded race in Lemon's history was to take in heavy rain on Saturday.I was
really looking forward to experiecing 172 other cars on the track racing in the rain with me.. :)
But as it turns out our car had no wipers. Having a plastic windshield also meant RainX would
not work, and we were left racing on Saturday under heavy rain almost blind. I got some footage of
that at begining of my video to give a idea...it was quite scary as we could not see where we were going
and i actually had to count between turns in my head, memorize and turn-in blindly..! :)

But after a penalty free wet Saturday, Sunday the clouds cleared...and we had dry tarmac ahead.
The Spitfire came to itself in the dry and we were dicing with some of the Class A and B cars all day.
I have to say the team kept it clean and the momentum going...which ultimately led to a 4th in Class
position at the end of the weekend. I hope to be able to race with Team Sex Pistons again in
the future...!

Some video, mostly Sunday from my perspective dicing with traffic: :)




Tomorrow I'll be taking the Lotus for its first shakedown autocross after the recent suspension ugrades.
Since i live in New England, i just found out freezing rain and snow is expected...so it's going to
be a interesting day for sure with my cold tires :) More to come on that in the following days...

The Black Art of Suspension Tuning

Recently i had the pleasure to work with the Services Director Steve from Aston Martin of New England & Lotus Motorsports dealer which happens to be only 3 miles away from my house. Considering that there aren't many Lotus dealers in the country, i can say i am quite lucky...and more lucky to have these guys in reach for not just the quality & timely work they do on the cars, but because they are also very reachable and responsive to any sorts of questions.

And plenty of questions did i have :) My plan for 2012 season was more local autox and track days. The biggest item (both from budget and proabbly bang for the buck) on my todo list was to get a Nitron 46mm Race Pro 3-way adjustable racing suspension upgrade.

Although the Elise comes with a proper "sport" suspension, it still is not up to par with it's brothers (Exige and newer Sport pack Elise). Furthermore i know from my friends who regurarly track their Lotus's that a proper adjustable suspension is needed to take full advantage of the chasis.

Ofcourse adjustability is a double edged sword... You have to know what you are doing. That's why some call it the "Black Art of Suspension Tuning". There is no magical recipe, one needs to adjust and fine-tune the suspension not just for the track, but also for the conditions and even the driving style. Having 3-way adjustable settings per each wheel + ability to adjust the height of the car means only one thing = i'm proabbly way over my head :) But that is fine..this is a great way to learn.

Steve was kind enough to send me pictures of the upgrade process. We also reached out to Nitron folks in UK, and got base-line settings. I was suprised how responsive Nitron was to. Working with Steve & his team has it perks,, they spent a good hour explaining and demosntrating the tuning mechanisms, diffrent knobs, etc as-well...

(top: stock, bottom: nitrons)

I also replaced my current seats with Tillett B5 racing seats from UK(carbon + handmade). But they only had one in stock, the passenger seat is on its way. Steve also went the extra mile getting the seat fit in the Elise, as there was some design flaws from Tillett factory which made it impossible to install... So they had to manchine a few parts for this! But now i think i'll be more connected with the car for the first autox of the season which is coming on March 31st :)

There was a few more upgrades to the car...but this is the time i have for now. Next weekend i'll be racing in 24 hours of Lemons with Team Sex Pistons @ Infineon, CA...so need to focus on that :)