I saw Emilio posted. I thought he might have spilled some beans about this weekend.

Oh well. I will.


One one of the greateat to ever do it..
A reigning two time national champion...
is coming out of retirement...

To drive my POS, reclassed, rubber bushed, hustler-level-poverty build of a PTE car this weekend.

Sonny lands in Ohio tonight. I'll pick him up and we'll head straight to Mid Ohio. He'll race the Pro Course tomorrow while I TT. Sunday, we flip roles for the Club Course.

Sonny has has been wanting to drive Mid Ohio, and I want a second opinion on the car from someone who knows how it should feel. If things go well it could be a pretty amazing weekend for 949racing and Team Dan Howard.

 

Aww yiss.

 

If I knew it was Johnny I would have hunted him out. But hey, I won PTE (because everyone else with a prepped car retired). Miatas look mean as **** with side pipes though.

 

2 time, not reigning
Still, Sonny can drive and has mastered the Team 949 Ninja driver art of learning a new track in one session.
Did you guys figure out how to do separate entries to score 8 Hoosiers?

I will be disappoint if large shiny hardware is not winned.

 

Saturday:
Dan:
TTE Win
.8xx off Kohler's TTE record.

Sonny:
PTE pole.
PTE fastest race lap.
PTE 3rd.
Sonny was MOTOR'd on the start, like I have been all season. He was unfortunate enough to have two full course yellows, and therefore two race restarts. So he got MOTOR'd three times and just didn't have enough time to make 3 3rd->1st moves.

Weather was pretty good for TT session 1, but I just wasn't in rythum enough to snag Kohler's well built points-car record. TT session 2 was up 20* and slow. 1:41.8 was my best of the day/weekend. Record is 1:40.9.

Today we change to the Club Course and Sonny will TT while I PT.

Big Ohio thunderstorm last night and scattered rain all day in the forecast for today. Fingers crossed for dry, but green, track.

 

I won TTE on my birthday yesterday with a 1:41.8x! In my first timed session in the car I was within a second of the record(1:40.9x), but it just got way too hot, way too quickly before session 2. With fresher tires(and a goofed setup gamble) in the second session,I only went a tenth of a second faster.

Sonny qualified on Pole after just 5-6 warmup laps at Mid Ohio in a car he'd never seen before. That should be a huge pat on the back for myself, Darren and the science of 949 Racing for a well setup and capable car. Sonny had a fun race with Stuart and Michael Nueman(my NEMISIS this year) and finished on the podium in his first NASA race since 2013. Hell yea dude!

Sunday:
We left the car exactly as it was after Sonnys race Saturday and I cruised to a very quick warmup time, earning me a front row spot(top 15) for qualifying.

We had a bit of a gamble with the prime-conditions Time Trial session butting right up against Race Qualifying at ~10am. So we set the car up for TT/Sonny. We weighed the ballast and were very particular about the fuel quantity added.
Sonny had time for 2-3 hot laps before he had to come in early so that we could swap me into the car, pull ballast from the trunk and add some fuel in the paddock.

Well, he had issues with a certain TT3(four classes "faster") car being a rolling roadblock for a couple laps and ended up needing a 4th and 5th lap.
Eventually he got clear track, threw down an angry flyer and came in, late. He came in only 7lbs over minimum weight, so our prep was extremely successful.

I didn't make it to my grid spot in time for qualifying so I missed out on my front row spot and had to start the qualifying session from the back. I don't mind doing this at all, it's actually worked out really well for me all season.
I rolled out dead last, left a HUGE gap to the 944 in front of me and clicked off two flyers before being the first one off track. Brad Adams(habitual early qualifier) was behind me on the scales for the first time all year.

Good enough for Pole Position. �� Woo!

After I got done with qualifying, I learned that Sonny had posted a 1:42.4! We had to wait ALL day until after the 5th time trial session before it became official. Nobody went faster, so Sonny scored the win in TTE and the new record for "Team Dan Howard"!

I started my race from Pole, got a great start, maybe my best of the year and led from start to finish. Ran a 1:43.3 on lap 11 in the race while ~50lbs over weight and with 20* hotter ambient temps compared to Sonny's lap. I felt super happy with that.

Saturday:
TTE win
PTE pole
PTE podium, 3rd

Sunday:
TTE win
TTE record
PTE pole
PTE win

Awesome.

 

 

Finally got some wifi at our hotel in Kansas City!

So here's some photos.

1999 "CARB Legal" PTE setup.
Racing Beat intake and catback.
Stock ecu
Stock header
Cat




Fresh Bronze 6uls



Start wave with the Thunder Roadsters.



Proofz of successes.

 

Looks like a chance of changes for 2017

nasaforums.com ? View topic - UPDATE ST4/TT4 and other for 2017

 

Yep, will be interesting to see if they leave dyno reclasses the same but the points cars finally get roped in.

 

I've seen Emilio get name dropped twice in two days now... LOL

""Think of what someone like Emilio Cervantes would build for ST5-6 and think if that's the standard you want to everyone else to be chasing or not.""

 

If only they held all cars to that standard in PT.

 

I finally chopped up the video from last month.

TTE Club Course Record video has no audio, sorry in advance.

Pro Course 1:41.820, new PB. 1st place, lap 5, 2nd session.

Club Course TTE Record 1:42.474. Sonny Watanasirisuk driving.



Prep for NASA Western States Championship begins soon.
Bushings, ECU, and a fresh engine will be the last steps to a points build conversion.
I expect as much speed gain from proper camber and setup as I do the extra power. The ballast will all in the passenger floor.

We all know how it goes by now:
Intake +1
ECU +3
Exhaust +3
Xida +5
Giken +3
205/50/15 R7 +3

 

What are your thoughts (or anyone else's) on the intake +1 vs header +2, since you're only at 18 points currently? If they are about a wash on power, at least the header takes some weight off the front.

 

If you have a point left, gut the muffler.

 

Header would remove more weight, yes. But I think the intake is responsible for more overall power and curve shape. It would be pretty funny to pop the hood to a stock airbox though.

Bonus is that the intake point gives me hood louvers as well.

So your question is actually header +2 vs intake AND hood louvers +1.

 

23) Any modification to the BTM exhaust piping and/or catalytic converter (includes muffler modification or replacement) +3

Already taking the +3 for modified exhaust.

Options for the last point are:
Front lower subframe brace
Invert the shocks
bumper cut
vortex generators
20lbs of weight reduction
intake manifold

 

I've inquired on the NASA forums if they'll change TTD/E to avg HP instead of max HP since they have a proposed weight to power increases.... 15:1 for D and 17:1 for E.

 

Y'all wanna take bets on a change of PTE* @ 2430lbs for the NB1?!

 

Honestly, it's super dumb to change balance things for 2017 when the rules are being revamped in 2018.

That said, it's a sucker bet. Of course it'll happen.