Hawaii's Solo II events are held on the second Sunday of the month (that’s the usual day, every month). In a Solo II event, drivers compete to earn the quickest time around a coned off course that consists of turns and slaloms, with a few straight paths to build up speed! You have four timed runs around the course to set your best time. If you hit a cone you are assessed a two second penalty, and if you miss a mandatory "gate" you will not be classified for that run (DNF).
Your car will be inspected for safety and placed in to a "class" of similar cars for competition. SCCA rules classify cars by their relative competitive abilities. There is Super Stock (SS) A Stock (AS) B Stock (BS) etc. To compete in the stock category, you are limited to a few basic modifications. If you do too much, you’ll end up in the Street Prepared class. My MR-2 competes in the A Stock classification.
The first time out, I worked on adjusting the MR-2 tire pressures. I needed to balance out the car’s tendency to understeer (see below). Most street cars are setup with quite a bit of understeer when they are driven at the limit because most people can deal with that better than they can deal with the rear end coming around. If the factory delivered cars that were set up with oversteer, every time it rained, our city streets would look like demolition derbies.
In any case, since my car is set up with "safe" understeer, I was having a hard time getting the car to go around the tight corners quickly. By increasing the rear tire pressures (relative to the front), I was effectively "stiffening" the rear of the car. This helped my car handle the tight corners better. (I guess I learned something from all those "virtual hot laps" around the computer racetracks.)
A SOLO II event starts off with a drivers meeting where they discuss the course and make announcements. The track is then opened up for walking. This step is very important because the layout changes every month. As I walk the course I try to notice where how my car will want to take the turns, and where I’ll need to start my braking. Since I’m only getting four timed runs I need to try to get a mental picture of the track so I can anticipate the turns instead of reacting to them. Driver "seat time" is the most important ingredient for getting good lap times. However, we don't want to forget about the car, I'll try to make small improvements to the MR-2 for each event…
| Understeer is a
term used to describe the way a car handles. Almost all cars from the factory are set up
to understeer (if you watch NASCAR they call it "push"). When a car understeers,
the front tires are not doing their job of turning the car. You continue to add more and
more steering input, but the car won't turn any faster and continues to push straight
ahead. This is a safe handling setup because if you enter a turn too fast, lifting off the
throttle or applying the brakes helps you safely complete the turn. The opposite is oversteer, this is far more dangerous for everyday street driving. In this condition, you turn the steering wheel and the front of the car tracks where you point it, but the rear comes around (in NASCAR they call this "loose"). If your don't make the appropriate steering correction, you will spin. You may have some experience with oversteer if you have a high-powered rear wheel drive car and get on the power too soon or too hard exiting a corner. |
