With Nationals approaching Labor Day week its time to start the prep work. This will be my first time, but by thinking ahead I should be ready both mentally and with the car.

First step to take is annalyzing the driver and the car.   Is the car setup right or still in need of adjustment.   Nationals is only a month and a half away so ordering parts and tires now is important.   Do the tires have enough tread or broken in properly.   There is still a Divisional and ProSolo on the National’s site if needed to break in a new set.  The Driver is just as important as the car.   Mentally preparing by taking the Dail In or Test-N-Tune course to learn how to setup the car and drive will greatly improve times and the feel of the car.

Next, need to make sure to sign up and take advantage of every contingency qualified for http://scca.com/event.aspx?hub=3&event=15171.  If I place in a top position and find that I left a new set of tires or cash sitting on the table becuase I didn’t register would not be good.

Last, making sure I have all the right tools and gear for the event.  Bringing plenty of water, sun block and rain gear will ensure that the event goes well  and help maintain focus for when driving on course.  The most important thing to take away from the event is to have a good time, make some new friends and improve driving skills.

Professional motorsport is a cold, hard place. If you want to run with the big dogs, you can’t just build a car in your mom’s garage and show up, right? Wrong. One guy did just that. Here’s his amazing story.

How A $500 Craigslist Car Beat $400K Rally Racers

tarsust is sponsoring a few drivers for the 2010 SCCA solo season. Below is a list.

tarsust would like to wish them the best of luck on their 2010 season. If you would like to be considered for sponsorship, please send your proposal to sales@tarsust.com

Regards,

Jon D. Simmons
sales@tarsust.com
402.478.8778
tarsust.com

Das Drehmoment Ungeheuer is a collaboration project between a few locals to build a budget friendly yet fun and fast track toy that could still auto-x. Das Drehmoment Ungeheuer means “The Torque Monster” in German, it’s ok to laff now Viper owners

Progress is slow, but steady. If you’d like to follow along please check out our project thread on R3Vlimited.com

Das Drehmomentungeheuer: A HPDE Hooligan for shenanigans.

Thanks – Jon

One of the first things to realize when it comes to car control and attending your first event is that things need to be linked together. You are not shooting down a straight, going through the braking area and then turning the corner. You need to imagine the entire course as a fluid trip and find the fast way from one element to the next. It is always easier to start out slow and learn to speed up then to develop habits that you need to “unlearn” later. This is not to say the Solo racing is not aggressive because it is, and once you “get it” meaning the flow of it you will ramp up the energy to combine fury with smooth.

A common mistake for beginners is to make the car extremely stiff right off the start. This places far more pressure on you as a novice because the car will react faster than you know how to. In this situation you will always be behind the car (slower) and take much longer to get it right. The softer set up will be slower than a properly driven set up car, but a poorly driven stiff car will always be slower than a well driven soft car. The tires will not have as much time to communicate with you before loosing traction when a car is stiff, and they will take a “set” faster making the available slip angle (steering angle or sliding angle of the tire) much smaller thus the window of grip will be reduced for you to “learn”.

Check tires often so you can see how the changing temps affect the pressures. This will help you learn how to “tune” the cars handling without having to change parts right away. You will also be able to optimize overall grip of the existing suspension. Don’t mistake the markings on the sidewalls (scuff marks onto the sidewall of the tire after a run) as always the need to add air. Ask yourself if you caused it or the tire did. Over steering when you have lost grip will cause this and the hardest thing to learn is that you are are causing it and not always the car. You need to get the feel for when you have lost grip and “stop” turning the wheel, this is the way you let the grip catch up. This is one of the absolute hardest things to learn about car control and when you master it you will be amazed what can be done with a car.