GhettoRacer

lot of background work. I acquired 2 road race cars and one time attack car... my extra month stay in Japan threw my schedule off by 30 days. but isn't bad. my priority as follows:

1. Honda Cup series in SoCal (which I'm still in perfect position, because rest of the competitors has been slacking too lol, points is wide open).
2. Time Attack project cars (del Sol, and EF Civic aka project Tsukuba07).
3. One Lap of America in May (on schedule)
4. Honda Challenge series in NorCal (i'm only racing half season due to budget and schedule conflicts).

Picked up the Honda Challenge H1 car yesterday morning. Brought it to shop to dyno... 187 whp on dynojet. Decent, but not where it is suppose to be. I could rush and race this weekend but I decided ot play it safe and going to go over the car once over myself. Better safe than sorry. Since I'm not running full season of H1 anyways, missing this weekend is fine by me. Luckily there is Ferrari Challenge this weekend for me to go check out. Lot of cool historic Ferrari's as well as Challenge cars and the bad boy FXX. Should be a fun weekend.

Bonster

Did you get an Acura Integra? Wait, is that H4? I can't remember the classing rules. Donna Gilio will be your biggest challenge if you're in her class. She's kickin' butt and takin' names. She's CRAZY. If you're lucky, she'll blow up another engine or hit something and you'll finish ahead of her, lol. Don't get me wrong -- Donna is a decent person -- she's just really HARD on her cars! With her kind of money, I reckon she can afford to be, though.

Bryan Watts

More proof that you aren't a racer...you may pretend at times, but you aren't. A real racer wouldn't stay in Japan and miss a race. A real racer wouldn't skip a race he has a car for in order to go watch a bunch of other drivers go out and do something he claims to be passionate about.

I'm heading to bed...raced today, racing tomorrow, and again on Sunday. Enjoy watching the Ferrari's...

Bonster

I'm jealous, Bryan, and downright MAD at myself for procrastinating the way I did. I had all my stuff packed up and ready to go today, but as usual, nobody was there to do the annual tech for my logbook (my fault). I should be in my motel room right now, jittery and waiting for the warm-up session, q'fy, and race tomorrow. Never again will I be this dang lazy. Go kick some butt tomorrow!!! My 'chi' is with you! (lol).

SundayDriver

Have fun Bryan. I decided to do some major upgrades to my car and (surprise) parts took way longer than I expected so I have a lot of work and will have a late start to the season. But I will have tunnels - that should be a real hoot as I suspect it will get me slightly over 3 g's in the fastest corners. I better start my neck exercises.

cooleyjb

Bull

Which races do you plan to attend in the two Honda Series? Are you going to enter either of the May races?

I would suggest that you need to become much more focused in your plans. Two race series where you will get a late start due to "budget and schedule conflicts", yet you are spending time and money on the One Lap and putting money into cars for "Time Attack" events. A serious racer, looking to develop a pro career, needs to be singularly focused on competing in a significant series where his accomplishments will stand out. Your "schedule" above looks like a plan for year 13 in your activities of the past 12 years.

GhettoRacer

hahaha, need not worry... i know what i'm doing... as i've said i don't care enough about club racing to try to make every race. even if you become the champ it doesn't necessarily get you anywhere. look at Andrie H. he looks dominate in NorCal Honda Challenge H1 for last 2-3 seasons... but when he raced World Challenge couple times he was behind mid-pack... not sure if it's the budget or the driver. but by club racing standards his car is very well prepped and he is no slouch.

so what does that say? there is a HUGE gap between club racing and pro racing. you might be on top in club racing but that means nothing in pro... you don't see people knocking on past Honda Challenge champions to offer them testing. that isn't to say past class champions are good drivers.... i hope my point makes sense. in any case i didn't plan on racing the entire season of NorCal H1 anyways, so missing another weekend doesn't mean anything. i would've made this weekend except the car only dyno'ed at 187 whp when it should be more around 210 whp. i also would like to go over the entire car myself to better sleep at night.

GhettoRacer

it's far easier to get magazine coverage with time attack than club racing. that is a fact. i believe i'm in the current issue of Honda Tuning due to running del Sol in the Feb. Redline/Modified Time Attack even though I placed 4th and missed podium. the general "fast & furious" consumer/crowd can relate/notice time attack stuff more readily than club road racing... i'm simply going the route of what i think is best for my eventual pro racing dream's path.

thanks for the reminder on staying focused though. you're absolutely right, sometimes it looks like i'm too ambitious and trying too many things. my parent thinks i shouldn't even do AKMEE Engineering stuff right now, and do only racing this year. but to me they compliment each other... remember the old saying, win on Sunday, sell on Monday?

Bonster

If you are referring to my post about club racers versus pro racers . . . I think Donna Gilio would make a great pro driver. In fact, I would not be at all surprised if it's in her plans for next year or maybe the year after. On the other hand, she might be more like Bob Bradfield, who has won the ITA series championships for the past five years. I'm surprised Bob isn't going pro. Might have something to do with him owning a bicycle shop (that's where all those free bicycles come from at Thunderhill). It could be that folks like Donna and Bob don't have the time to run all over the country for pro races. And don't forget Justin Hall. He went pro a couple of years ago -- and took the series points in SM -- in his FIRST SEASON as a pro. So it can be done, but it takes a lot of seat time, a lot of tuning, and a lot of money. Donna, Bob, and Justin have all three.

Bull

The "general fast & furious consumer/crowd" is not the audience you need to attract in order to do serious pro racing. They won't hire, sponsor, or develop you. The people you need to begin to pay attention to you will look for one thing....RESULTS...and they won't be finding them in those magazines only.

We have a guy in our Club Region who started out doing DEs, lots of them. He then moved up to Club Racing and did very well....in fact, after he won 13 races in succession, he moved on to Porsche Cup racing. In 2002, he finished 1-2 with a guy named Kevin Buckler in the Cup races. That earned him a call from Porsche Motorsports, and they offered him a ride with Buckler and a couple of young guys from Porsche named Bergmeister and Bernhard. His name is Michael Schrom, and if you look it up you will find that he, Buckler, Bernhard and Bergmeister won OVERALL at the 2003 Daytona 24 Hours race. He never attended a "Time Attack"!

Bonster

Dang . . I only WISH I was that good! I'm afraid of Porsches, though -- those fast little cars will just prove to the world how SLOW I really am (that's for Mike, lol).

mglobe

But Bonni,... you're a member of HWFMR. You are supposed to be slow.

Bonster

Oh, I love the slappy penguin. Porsches make me nervous. That's all. If I go fast, I might have a hefty bill to pay. If I go slow, I can't show up at the bar later on. Don't leave your keys in the car, Mike. In keeping with the HWFMR tradition tomorrow at Sears, I PROMISE to do a two-minute lap. Will a 1:54 disqualify me? Love you guys! No matter how fast I go, I'll still be slower than (most) Porsches. Anybody got an Audi R8 for rent? hehehehehe. I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow. Have a great Monday!

mglobe

uh I kinda know what you mean. My car is so much faster than I am that I sometimes think I should have a slower car for the track.

Have fun at Sears. Go fast, just not too fast.