Axis of Oversteer Porsche GT4 Attacking the SCCA Solo National Championship.

There will be an Axis of Oversteer Porsche campaigned in the SCCA Solo II National Tour and National Championships this year.  
It's the fourth Porsche for Adil Abdulali: after a Boxter S, a 997 GT3, a 991 Carrera S,  now it's time for the wicked Porsche Cayman GT4.

"In the past I have always chosen cars that were fun but not quite up to competitive snuff in their SCCA class"  said Adil  "but, I might have one now:  I believe the GT4  can take the fight to the 997 GT3, the top dog of the current Super Street class in SCCA Autocross.   Last year I campaigned an under-dog car in that class:  a 991 Carrera S which at over 3330 lbs and only able to fit 285 Bridgestones in the rear,  wasn't quite enough of a weapon.

The GT4 has the same tire issues, it runs the same sizes as the 991, but it being 250 lbs lighter and mid- engined would make it a winning package for Autocross. 

 To help the cause, I have Perry Aidelbaum and Rich Wayne, both National level competitors, co-driving to keep me honest and give the GT4 a fair outing at the big events.

Bridgestone is rumored to be coming out with a 305 size 19 inch RE71-R  by August so we won't have any excuses when it comes time for the Big One in Lincoln Nebraska."

All it needs are some Axis stickers on the side,  Go Adil, Perry and Rich.

SCCA Solo National Finals Video

It's almost impossible to translate US style Autocross into something visually compelling but this video does a pretty good job.

Fun to take part in, even just for the combined 6 minutes of driving over a week end, the competition at the national level is pretty fierce. For those not familiar, autocross, officially SCCA Solo , is essentially a timed gripfest run on gigantic parking lots. Competitors get three runs on each of two courses with the two best runs on each course added. A two second penalty is given for any cone hit so clean driving is essential. There are classes for almost any kind of car imaginable with very specific rule requirement for each class.

The main point of posting this clip though is to give a shout out to two Axis friends who became national champions this year: Radomin Delgado won A Stock with his #199 2007 Porsche Cayman S and, with the same car, Stephanie Chang won the A Stock Ladies title. Congratulations!

2010 SCCA Solo National Finals Results



end of post

Mike Skeen named SCCA Trans-Am Rookie of the Year

Well done Mike, 2010 SCCA Pro Racing Trans Am Rookie of the year!

Spec e30 must be a good school, check out Skeen's pole position lap in qualifying for the Trans-Am race at Road Atlanta , just before the Petit Le Mans last week end.

Bit more power than a BMW e30 in this case, He's driving some monstrous Corvette, I'm guessing one front tire has probably more contact patch than all four Spec e30 Toyos put together.

You can read the press release and see video from the race after the jump.









BRASELTON, Ga. -Newly crowned series champion Tony Ave, of Maiden, N.C., picked up his sixth career SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series victory on Friday afternoon at Road Atlanta, coming out on top in a seesaw battle with polesitter Mike Skeen, of Charlotte, N.C.

Driving the No. 4 Boden Masonry/Lamers Racing/McMahon Group/Optech/PME Chevrolet Corvette, Ave vaulted from third on the starting grid and into the lead on Lap 1 of the 36-lap race. His lead would be short-lived however, as Skeen reclaimed the lead on Lap 5 and appeared to be well on his way to victory in the No. 81 ECR Chevrolet Corvette.

Unfortunately for Skeen, disaster struck on Lap 26 when he spun after encountering traffic in an inopportune spot in Turn 10, giving the lead back to Ave. From there, Ave – who clinched the 2010 Trans-Am championship in Thursday’s qualifying session – cruised to an easy victory.

“We got the lead right away and the car seemed like it was running like it had been on the practice day,” said Ave. “But when I got into the Esses and every time I turned to the right it would just stumble and not run very good. Coming out of (Turn) 7 it would do that every other lap. He was faster because of that. Finally, he got close enough to me and he drove by me coming down the straightaway like I was tied to a rock. I was worried if it was even going to finish, and it kind of maintained about that pace.

“I drove it as hard as I could just to try to hopefully stay with him and then he had a problem. We had such a big gap on third that I just had to drive around. It was a testament to the team; Larry and Debbie Beebe, for letting me drive their car after I sold the one I raced with all year. We’ve had a perfect year with the Pro Motor horsepower and Lamers and everybody that helps us out. I can’t say enough for those guys and Bob Monette helps. I’ve just got a lot of friends that help us do it, so I’m glad it worked out.”

Despite the spin, Skeen recovered to finish second in the final race for Agee Racing, which is retiring from Trans-Am competition. The second-place result was the best of the season for Skeen, and it enabled him to win 2010 Trans-Am Series Rookie of the Year honors.

“We were just running along there and trying to save fuel, save the brakes, have something for the end and holding the gap to Tony,” Skeen said. “We came into (Turn) 10a, I was behind a lapped car and I just got onto the brakes a little bit harder than I usually do. I locked them up and that was enough to do a 180 and let Tony by. It’s disappointing. It feels like we got robbed. We were running up front and kind of controlling the pace and now here we are with another second place. We’ll take it.

“This is a tiny little team. Agee Racing has only does three races this year. We’re on a very limited budget, running an older car and doing the best we can. Every time we’ve been out, we’ve been fast. We set the pole here, we’ve set lap records earlier in the year and here, so we’re really happy to get the results we’ve had and go out on a good note with the car. I hope all the best for Agee selling the car and good luck to whoever runs it next.”

For the second consecutive Trans-Am Series race, Doug Harrington, of Kemah, Texas, was rewarded for his perseverance throughout the race with a third-place result in the No. 00 PinnacleAutosport.com Chevrolet Corvette. This time, Harrington capitalized on a mechanical failure on the No. 17 The Pita Pit/The Grotto at Capone’s Chevrolet Corvette driven by Bobby Sak, of Kalamazoo, Mich. Sak was poised for his first podium result of the year before the last-lap misfortune.

“It feels great,” said Harrington of his third-place run. “There’s something to be said about just trying to hang in there and stay on the track, make the race, let things happen as they go, not lose focus and not wear your car out along the way. It feels really good. I didn’t really expect to get here today, but I’m definitely excited about it and happy. My guys really did a good job of thinking about things and trying to get me set up for the track and for the way I drive. It seemed to work.”

Finishing fourth was Amy Ruman, of Kent, Ohio, in the No. 23 McNichols/Goodyear/Cenweld Chevrolet Corvette. Ruman finished fifth or better in all but one of her Trans-Am Series starts in 2010 and finished fifth in the final championship standings.

Simon Gregg, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., also closed out his year on a high note with another top-five result by finishing fifth in the No. 59 Derhaag Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette. It was Gregg’s seventh top-five run of the year and he finished fourth in the final driver standings.

Today’s race featured the new Trans-Am 2 and Trans-Am 3 classes, which raced on an exhibition basis in preparation for a full-time run in 2011. Bob Stretch, of Arlington, Texas, drove the No. 98 NewWheel.com Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the TA3 victory, while Jeff Dernehl, of Woodstock, Ga., was the lone TA3 racer in the field in the No. 03 Mazda RX-7 and finished 10th overall.

BRASELTON, Ga. – Results from Friday’s 36-lap (91.44-mile) SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series Round 10 race at Road Atlanta, with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, class, driver, hometown, car, laps and reason out (if any).

1. (2) TA, Tony Ave, Maiden, N.C., Chevrolet Corvette, 36.

2. (1) TA, Mike Skeen(R), Charlotte, N.C., Chevrolet Corvette, 36, -30.098.

3. (10) TA, Doug Harrington, Kemah, Texas, Chevrolet Corvette, 36, -49.225

4. (6) TA, Amy Ruman, Kent, Ohio, Chevrolet Corvette, 36, -51.516.

5. (7) TA, Simon Gregg, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Chevrolet Corvette, 36, -1:28.736.

6. (13) TA, Bobby Sak, Kalamazoo, Mich., Chevrolet Corvette, 35, -1 lap.

7. (5) TA, Glen Jung, Osteen, Fla., Mazda RX-7, 35, -1 lap.

8. (9) TA, John Baucom, Charlotte, N.C., Ford Mustang, 34, -2 laps.

9. (13) TA, Bob Monette(R), Alpharetta, Ga., Ford Mustang, 34, -2 laps.

10. (18) TA3, Jeff Dernehl, Woodstock, Ga., Mazda RX7, 32, -4 laps.

Time of race: 50 minutes, 05.029 seconds.

Average speed: 109.544 mph

Margin of victory: 30.098 Seconds

Lap leaders: Laps 1-4, #4 Tony Ave; laps 5-26, #81 Mike Skeen(R); laps 27-36, #4 Tony Ave

Fastest race lap: #4 Tony Ave, 1:21.341 (112.415 mph)

Fastest qualifier: #81 Mike Skeen(R), 1:19.321 (115.278 mph)

Spec e30 taught him well!

You're on board with Mike Skeen at Mid Ohio.

You remember Mike: Spec e30, that TV show whose name escapes me now and then onto Trans Am and Grand Am. Mid Ohio was his debut in the SCCA's World Challenge GT series (yes it still exists) and after qualifying the Carlisle Companies/Cragar Corvette a few thousands off pole, he went on to win the Saturday race and set the fastest race lap (1:27.296 ).

Cheers from Axis, Mike!
See more video after the jump

Axis trophies at TireRack National tour

Our own Mr. Vishnu Evo Adil staged a nice comeback on the second day of the Tire Rack SCCA NAtional Tour in Devens MA. Adil was running his Evo IX in Street Touring Unlimited.

Results here

Great performances by John Winchester and the fastest man you can lend your car to: Mr. GJ Dixon who in Chris Travis's Street Mod Civic went faster than "the Alien" himself, Mark Daddio by a huge 4/10ths Sunday almost making up his deficit from the first day. GJ was 2 whole seconds faster than the car owner even if to my knowledge this is his first time in the car! Awesome.



Adil's emails:

Saturday "...STU was rain in the beginning and drying out later. Ideal for evo but I could not fnd good setup. Corey 1st with 61.7, dan 2n4 63.3 nd me 3rd wth 64.3.
Notable event was John Winchester running his BSP Evo beating Daddio's SM EVO by 0.3 second. Daddio was shocked!"

Sunday "...really interesting event. ... I think STS and FS were faster than STU on Sunday when the whole day was dry and consistent.
The course had only two mild break zones and no straightaways but high speed sweepers and slaloms the whole way. Ultimate cornering grip and gearing was the key. Power did not help as speed was restricted but probably higher than 50 thru the entire thing except for two corners. ...
...The first day every run was on radically different surface...going super wet to almost dry. Had to change shock settings between each run and was on tires, wheels that I never drove efore. Corey was running same and helped.

Sunday had a course element that was amazing..visually and to drive..will have to diagram for u guys "

Read up more on Evos, autocross and all things rally car on holunfie .

Building an SCCA ITR Z3 Coupe.

We never post enough pictures of our own cars here, buncha lazy bastards we are. Shame too because BadBadM practically built his spec e30car from scratch in his garage after work, ThumperRay changed my whole diff in 15 minutes with one hand tied behind his back and Stee is building a spec Boxster...well, eventually he is.

So when Josh Sirota, an internet friend from GoDogGo Racing sent me some info on his current project, I though it would be cool to share:

JoshS writes:


I'm finally back in a Coupe! I was a very early M Coupe owner. Ordered the car in May of 1998 based on the photos I'd seen in magazines, and picked it up in September. I autocrossed it a few times and found it to be a great car in the wet but a fairly lousy car in the dry. But I didn't buy it to autocross it, it was just supposed to be a fun street car and it was!

That car went all over the country with me and my motorhome in 1999. These photos are from the top of Pikes Peak, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and somewhere in Minnesota.






Still, in 2000, I found myself at the SCCA Solo Nationals in Topeka, for the 11th consecutive year, driving, you guessed it, a borrowed 2000 M Coupe. It was in Super Stock then and both myself and my co-driver (multi-time national champion) Jeff Reitmeir stunk up the joint. The suspension on that car is not that great on sticky pavement.

I sold my car in 2002 for a new E46 M3. I wanted the latest and greatest stuff with more creature comforts and more horsepower. But what I discovered was that although I enjoyed my gazillion-way power seats, navigation system, 6-speed transmission and all of that good stuff, the M3 just never stirred me the way the Coupe did. I found myself participating more in the online Coupe forums than the M3 forums, even though I didn't have a car. I knew someday I'd be back in a Coupe, but it wouldn't be a street car. I'd been there, done that.

I started Club Racing with the SCCA in 2004. That first season I rented a 4-cylinder Z3 from TC Kline for Showroom Stock B. By 2004 the car was considered well past its prime for the class but I had an absolute blast driving it and did pretty well against the then-dominant '99 Miatas. For reference, I ran in the 1:51 range at Laguna Seca, which is really a great lap time for a car with only 139 horsepower.

I then raced at the National level in Showroom Stock (Mazda3) and Touring (Subaru STi) for the next two years. Had fun but was a little disheartened by how much time and money it really takes to run at the pointy end of the grid at the National level. Here I was, a guy with a car, competing against factory-funded teams with full-time race-prep staff! I did pretty well, especially in the Mazda, but I wanted a fairer fight.

Then, last fall, the SCCA created a new class called ITR (Improved Touring R). IT has been around a long time, it's often considered an entry-level class because many of the cars, especially in the slower IT classes, are very inexpensive to buy. In addition, the cars have to be at least 5 years old, which keeps the manufacturers from being directly interested. But for years the fastest class in IT wasn't all that fast-- the fastest cars were the E36 325i and even they needed a restrictor plate to avoid trouncing the rest of the class.

ITR is just a faster version of ITS. Most of the cars came with somewhere between 180 and 225 horsepower in stock trim. The prep allows for minor engine mods (slight bump in compression, slight overbore, balance/blueprint), but stripped interior, any exhaust system, and bolt-on suspension mods. ITR allows all cars up to 17x8.5 wheels.

One of the cars listed for the class is the Z3 Coupe. This is the Z3 version of the M Coupe I used to have. It came with the 2.8L or the 3.0L engines. But the 2.8L is classed with a minimum weight of 2800 w/driver, and the 3.0L has to weigh 3200 w/driver. Seems like a no-brainer -- 2.8s are easier to find, cheaper, and get to weigh 400 lbs less. There's no way that the additional horsepower in the 3.0 could make up for the 400 lb. penalty, so I went searching for a good 2.8L car.

It took less than a month for me to find my Coupe. It's a '99 Z3 2.8, and it had 99K miles on it. But it was very well maintained by an enthusiast. And to top it off, it was down in Santa Monica, only a 6 hour drive away.

Within a couple of weeks, I found myself disassembling the interior, to prep it for the roll cage. The cage went in with some other related fabrication. While it was at the shop, I acquired a large pile of parts. Once I got it back, I spent a lot of hours in the garage installing parts, and then finally took it to an SCCA pre-season tech day to have the scrutineers look it over and issue a logbook. Although they noted 3 minor issues (the most complex of which is that I still don't have car numbers, class letters, or the other required decals on the car), they issued me a logbook. I'm official!

Speaking of graphics: here's a photoshop of the current graphics plan. If anyone out there is up for it though, feel free to suggest other things. I'd like to do things that aren't too complicated, because I don't have the ability to design really complex patterns. But if you do, I'd appreciate the help!

My intention is to race the car with the original engine, software, andexhaust system, for this season. It won't be competitive, but it's a new class, so the turnout will be light initially. To be competitive, it'll take a freshly built, limit-of-the-rules engine, with a good header, no cats, custom software or replacement ECU, etc. I'll research that and get that done later in the race season.

Without further ado, here are some current photos and a list of the mods
to the car. For many more photos, see my photo gallery.

Interior/exterior mods:

TC Design custom roll cage
TC Design interior panels
Sparco Circuit seat
Evosport seat mount
Momo Mod80 steering wheel
Extreme Performance quick-release
Schroth harnesses
TeamTech window net
Longacre convex interior race mirror
BMW convex left outer mirror
OMP fire system
Kill switch
Deka AGM battery
A/C removed
TC Design towing eyes
TC Design/Jaffster delrin shift knob

Engine mods:

Conforti intake
Zionsville radiator
Dinan cat-back exhaust.

Drivetrain:

Kosei K-1 17x8.5 wheels
Hoosier R6 245/40-17 tires
BMW 3.73 LSD
TCK wheel studs

Suspension:

TC Kline/Koni coilover suspension
H&R front swaybar
Offset control arm bushings
Dinan rear camber/toe adjusters
Korman delrin trailing arm bushings
BMW Motorsports Gruppe N subframe bushings
Strong Strut strut brace

Brakes:

Turner Motorsports brake ducts
TC Design brake duct foglight mounts
Hawk Blue brake pads
Stop-Tech stainless lines

The Most Famous racing horror video ever!

"I was seventh" is an internet classic, I had been looking all over for it since watching it for the first time, years ago. Now, thanks to the magic of YouTube and BadBadM's quick thinking, here it is in all it's glory.

The backstory is all explained in the video itself, the choice of music is simply brilliant.

enjoy!