46 replies to this topic

[Justin Casey]

Here's my video from Sunday's race with a field of 25 cars, many of which Teen Mazda Challenge Western Region drivers.

 

Finishing Positions for Sunday's Race:

1) Matt Cresci (1.6)

2) Brian Ghidenelli (NB - unsure whether a '99 or VVT car)

3) Justin Casey (1.6)

 

Enjoy!

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=a_9mfWMs-Wk

[Bench Racer]

Great job guys, you to Brian!! 1.6er's did you both have the max allowed by rules for intake air and wrap?

[Justin Casey]

Great job guys, you to Brian!! 1.6er's did you both have the max allowed by rules for intake air and wrap?

 

Thank you sir. Yes, as well as the new header modification. Another thing to mention is that Matt's car had a fresh engine rebuild.

My car has about 13 hours on it since the last rebuild. 

[Jamz14]

Everybody happy now? Parity achieved?

[ECOBRAP]

Great first race weekend in the rebuilt 1.6, thanks everyone that supported me over the course of the weekend. Still not enough data to say if the 1.6 needs more, nothing, or less, as I haven't even dyno tuned the thing yet (only just finished it in time for the race). Will be interesting to see how things play out over the course of the year.

 

Anyways, here is onboard footage of my pole position lap. Had a few 1:45's going but was only able to manage a 1:46 with traffic. Enjoy and let me know what you think of the new camera position/mount

 

 

Best,

Matt

[Rob Burgoon]

Everybody happy now? Parity achieved?

 

Och noooo....

[Ron Alan]

Great first race weekend in the rebuilt 1.6, thanks everyone that supported me over the course of the weekend. Still not enough data to say if the 1.6 needs more, nothing, or less, as I haven't even dyno tuned the thing yet (only just finished it in time for the race). Will be interesting to see how things play out over the course of the year.

 

Anyways, here is onboard footage of my pole position lap. Had a few 1:45's going but was only able to manage a 1:46 with traffic. Enjoy and let me know what you think of the new camera position/mount

 

 

Best,

Matt

Traffic? You do realize on that particular lap traffic only helped you? 

 

Never been a fan of cameras that jump around...but the view and what you can see is good. Forward, behind and your dash.

 

What happened to moving on to bigger and better things?  Dont reply...you know i'm messing with you!! Nice start to your season!

[Ron Alan]

Nice driving Justin! You are getting faster and more consistant every race! To bad that contact with Tim(no blame) broke his diff...I heard you guys had a great battle the day before! Noah drove the crap out of that rental but it didnt quite have what it needed!

 

 

Here's my video from Sunday's race with a field of 25 cars, many of which Teen Mazda Challenge Western Region drivers.

 

Finishing Positions for Sunday's Race:

1) Matt Cresci (1.6)

2) Brian Ghidenelli (NB - unsure whether a '99 or VVT car)

3) Justin Casey (1.6)

 

Enjoy!

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=a_9mfWMs-Wk

[ECOBRAP]

Traffic? You do realize on that particular lap traffic only helped you? 

 

Ronald the wise owl, take a closer look at my rear view mirror for a split second at the start of the video and you will understand

 

Here is my other video from the weekend of "bigger and better things", but only since you asked

 

 

Best,

Matt

[Ron Alan]

Are you saying I'm a hoot??  Cant catch everything...but you did have a 45 that lap and couldn"t close the deal!

 

Question is...the insurance on the Porsche was being paid for? You need to make that a full time ride if so!

[Jamz14]

Matt, I understand this is one data point. But you had no problem with singular data points in making the case that the 1.6 needed something before. I won't hold you to it knowing it is only one data point but give us your opinion. Why wouldn't this one data point not show that parity is achieved? You smoked everyone sunday. Were the cars not good enough to provide a valid opinion, the drivers not of the right caliber? Should you have been farther than the 300 yards down track from everyone? Did you need more in the car than these two wins required?

This seems to be a good time to ask you and others exactly what is it that you guys want to see in order to come to the conclusion that parity is here. You guys certainly know when it's not here so what's it going to take to know the opposite? The dyno only shows what the dyno shows. Can we dyno your handling? And if that is how your car ran without dyno tuning on a car you told us requires lots of tuning, well.... doesn't that say something?

I get the feeling people will become much more vague in their ability to spot parity now.

[Erik Hardy]

I think the only parity issue left to address is that red headed step child

[ECOBRAP]

I used multiple data points last year at a variety of tracks. If you read my statement above, I was not complaining that I needed more... I said I wasn't sure if we needed more, nothing, OR less (if we had overdone it). This is why the dyno is important, because if I gain 5hp when I dyno tune it then we will need to re-evaluate. That being said, my A/F and timing were good, so I don't think I will gain anything, but it still needs to be done.

 

This weekend was not a great data point for me because I got lucky with people going off and battling behind me, and as a result didn't do much wheel to wheel, which is where I have had the majority of issues with the 1.6. That being said, Justin did, and he is one great data point from this weekend. Also, I found it interesting that none of us could run the times that were set during the championship race last year, but hopefully that was just down to track conditions (the champ race was run at 9am vs our afternoon races this weekend).

 

That being said, if you're asking for my personal opinion, I think that things are looking very very good in terms of parity, so thank you to the SMAC for trying to give the 1.6 the little push it needed. Looking forward to more data, at more tracks, with all four different miatas, under different conditions!

[Jamz14]

I did read your comments carefully and never suggested that you said it needed more. Nor did I say that the dyno was nothing. I said that the dyno isn't everything. Yes you used multiple data points last year in making your case but never as a collective body. You used a one lap thunderhill example of someone pulling you off the corner to make your case once if I recall so I didn't know why this one race wasn't indicative enough for you to give an opinion. As far as everyone going off.......please. Saturday you ran nose to tail with Noah and Ghirdinelli (sorry Brian if I misspelled your name) for 20 minutes. That should have been plenty of time to make the same determination you made at Thunderhill. And did Brian go off on Sunday? Maybe he did. I didn't see the whole track. But you didn't point to the entire race when making the case for parity adjustments so Im not sure why you need the entire race to make an opinion now.

 

As far as lap times. Lap times have nothing to do with it and can't be compared from year to year or even within the day. What is important is relative to the other cars. I would be surprised if Brian hasn't built a very fine car. And there are some very fine RUSH cars you were driving against all day Saturday and Sunday.

 

And lastly. Why don't we determine in advance what will indicate parity instead of leaving it ambiguous and making the determination after the fact? Good scientific process dictates that you determine the factors for success ahead of time and then test to them. Not test and then determine how you feel about the results afterwards. Seeing how it races this years makes me think that as long as you are winning then parity is achieved, the moment you are not (if that happens), the car will need more.

[ECOBRAP]

I've said what I felt was worth contributing to the conversation, going to get less caught up in the forums this year

 

Thanks everyone for great racing and looking forward to the next one!

[Bench Racer]

I've said what I felt was worth contributing to the conversation, going to get less caught up in the forums this year

Smart move ^ Matt.

 

Previous to this ^ post I was rattling around in  my old brain how to complement Justin and Matt in their very mature posts for very young men. Great job guys and don't be baited into this parity communication. Let's all 1.6er's and others post results and thoughts from the bones that the SMAC has allowed to the 1.6 without using the parity word. At the end of the season (after SCCA Runoffs/NASA Nationals) let's attempt to collectively use data points from across the country at many tracks to determine the overall results for the 1.6. 

 

David 

[Ron Alan]

So looking at public data(racehero)both Matt and Justin have there fastest  laps at the end of the race. Would seem "heat soak" is not an issue.  Justin has the fast lap of the race. Brians car is a vvt...top car in all respects. I think he had a slight advantage up the hill and out of 11 power/acceleration wise...at least what I can see. No doubt the 1.6 does benefits from being 140lbs lighter!  

[Jamz14]

Thats what I thought. All the sudden people are going to be quiet. All the sudden they don't have they same ability to detect.

 

So put aside everything else except the one point of;

 

What are you going to use as a success measure? If you can't tell people that then you had no business telling them before that it wasn't on par. This question should have been determined before the new mods were given.

[Justin Casey]

Nice driving Justin! You are getting faster and more consistant every race! To bad that contact with Tim(no blame) broke his diff...I heard you guys had a great battle the day before! Noah drove the crap out of that rental but it didnt quite have what it needed!

Thanks Ron! It was really a mental game all weekend long. It didn't really help to find out that our tire pressure gauge was off about 3-4psi when we happened to borrow one sunday morning   .

 

Yeah, it was unfortunate that Tim's diff broke; he was consistent as well all weekend long with very old tires!

 

It seemed like the NB cars struggled a lot with this track in terms of maintaining corner grip in both high and low speed corners. You can also see Brian's car locking up the tires several times going into T2 towards the end. 

 

Overall, it was an awesome race weekend with satisfying results. I'll be looking forward towards the next!

[Bench Racer]

IF folks watch the Circuit of St Louis Sunday race posted by Brother Tom, on that Roval one can see some differences in the 1.6 versus the 00 car. Corners were interesting as were the two times late in the race as Tom reached Jim's quarter panel. For the Laguna race, Matt was flat gone with no interference from other cars. Justin and Brian had at it for a bit and Brian disappeared. From the Laguna race the differences in cars didn't surface for me to view. Lap times without all the per lap details to me do not show total value of a given lap.

 

I'm looking forward to the Mid Ohio Majors videos in a couple weeks. 69 SM on a 2.4 mile course should be interesting.