Payback VS. Blue Balz With Hot Shoe Mary Pozzi

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I'll go into more detail tonight when I get home tonight. This iPhone typing sucks. Haha

i aLmOst miMicked yoUrskILz inmy lAst pOSt.

[SLO_Z28]

This was as close to a tie as there can be IMO.

[Track Junky]

Congrats to all of you, that is awesome!!

Just go's to show what a good suspension tune will do for a car. I figured BB was going through some growing pains and thats why I gave the edge to Todd.

A little more track time into BB and I would have probably figured differently.

[Cris@JCG]

I think Todd was drunk when he was replying to the thread..

I just got home.. tired from a great weekend of events... I will type up a re-cap of this weekend events tomorrow..

I want to thank Mike Maier, Steve & Brian Hobough, Rich Burma, Mike Hamrick from Wilwood, Dave & Mary Pozzi, Kyle Tucker from DSE for all the help they gave me this weekend to keep the car running thru out the event..
@ times I just wanted to load the car on the trailer.. We are close to getting the shaken out..

Also meet somebody new @ the event.. Guy Ankeny.. shock guru! I will be working with him closely in the next few weeks on a few upgrades.. Thanks Mike Maiers for the introduction!

I just remembered.. Mike Norris! He saved my ass on the eratic idle issue we were have with engine.. as soon as we fixed this we got the power steering work again..

Todd- As always great to see you buddy! I will let you have this one.. YOU WIN!!! But just this one.. This was BB first big event & one Auto-X event.. No excuse on my behave.. I call it a learning curve...

Originally Posted by Vegas69

Mary likes my car as is, Brian Hobaugh said my car is a better short course car but has more power than blue balz. Here's the deal, your car needs to be tuned to your feel and skills. Here we have two excellent drivers that disagree on the best car. We didn't have the shoot out. We don't have times yet unfortunately but I'm neck and neck on autocross with Mary with me behind the wheel and I was faster in the sPeed stop challenge only .3 behind Kyle Tucker. The road race is undetermined but mt car wAs making great power but my trans is going in the dumpster. Missed a third shift on every lap. I heard top ten but far frOm my best. Bottom line, chris conceded the autocross win to me and I won the speed stop. Mary was the negotiated driver on the autocross. I have a good chancemon the road course even with my shifting problem. I have to say that Chris and Inhad a blast this weekend giving eachother hell. Blue Balz is a fantastic car and it was driven by Mary,Hobaugh, Maier, and Kyle Tucker this weekend! TO be in the same breath is great. Let's see where the times lay before declaring me the winner. Either way, we both win.

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

I'll go into more detail tonight when I get home tonight. This iPhone typing sucks. Haha

and I'm sure the typing was extra difficult after the shotgunning beer extravaganza last night before your 1am post. lol

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Flash68

and I'm sure the typing was extra difficult after the shotgunning beer extravaganza last night before your 1am post. lol

That explains why he was slurring his letters

[Vegas69]

I actually tried to erase it but the site wouldn't let me. I also had a showdown with Rich Bermea this weekend. Rich wanted to race me beer for beer so I stepped up the game and showed him how to shotgun a beer. I didn't win but it was a hell of a lot of fun and we even got Matt Acala to slam one. All I know is there was a lot of beer drank, some apple pie, and one hell of a lot of bull **** flying around that place last night. What a great time.

Chris, I was amazed at your resilence. You are one driven soul. On top of that, to let all these insanely fast drivers beat up on such a beautiful car.. We both learned alot this weekend. Specifically, that a car needs to cater to the actual driver. Mary just happens to like how my cars set up. It's alot like her car.(Except for the steering wheel) Having Brian Hobaugh drive my car was awesome. It was clear to see that he has a completely different driving style than Mary. He wanted me to tighten up the car for him. I'd really like to see what my car is capable of making some tweaks to make the car to his liking. He said a slightly larger front bar would probably do it. I think stiffening up the front end a hair would of made him happy as well. I have to thank Mary for driving my car. She showed me that my car has better brakes than I thought for autocross. Really, she showed me how to brake and I know I'll be faster from here on out. Thanks Mary. She also recommended a set of Ridetech triples for out back. I'm still running the Alston single adjustables back there. I would like to upgrade eventually.

Here's the deal guys. Brian made only 3 runs in my car and laid down a 39.8xx. I'm pretty sure the winner of the entire event in the Autocross was in the 39.xxx range. He laid down a high 38 in Blue Balz. With some more runs and a chance for me to tweak the car for Brian, I really think it would be neck and neck with Brian in the car. One interesting thing Brian mentioned and I warned him about was my engine braking. With my big block and aluminum flywheel, it's a different animal than the LS stuff. He remarked that it would upset the car and that's the main reason he wanted it a little tighter.

In the speed stop challenge, just so you guys that weren't there know, they changed the format this year. It starts with a drag strip tree and you drag race for about 100-150 yards, make a 180 back through a slalom, then slam hammer it/slam on the brakes into a tiny little box. My car makes big power and I was able to get out on everybody I raced as long as I got a reasonable start. I ran a 21.8 and I believe Kyle Tucker was in 2nd or 3rd with a 21.5 for the day. I was able to edge Mike Maier on Saturday with my good buddy Chris Robinson riding shotgun. I didn't think I had a chance. That was a thrill. Mike is a cool cat and that is one bad ass car and driver. I was also able to edge the Speedtech Nova on Sunday. Jay Weir is one hell of a wheel man as well.

I was really disappointed in my road course performance. That's really where I stick out my chest normally. On Saturday, I left the set up in the car from my previous SCCA autocross where I found some speed. It translated into a super loose car. I spun out 4 times and nearly put my car through a fence. I decided to go to my buttonwillow set up for Sunday with a slightly softer rear shock setting due to the dirty track. It brought back memories of Buttonwillow. The car handled beautifully. I was able to down shift without upsetting the car and rotate it through the corners. Getting it into 3rd gear was a different story. I missed a shift on every lap. And when I mean miss a shift, I'm talking taking a couple seconds to get it back in gear. My right hand is sore from trying to jam it in gear. The engine just revs so damn fast in 2nd gear with it pinned. Bottom line, the 600 is going down the road and the car is getting cut to fit a 56 mag. I've got to have a reliable transmission on the road course. Finch said I was top 10 over a few sips of the Apple Pie. Not sure how but that ZL1 can make up for lost time.

Clearly I'm running illegal tires for the event and it does help my performance. Going back to 200 treadwears definitely crossed my mind coming across the desert today. I really wished I could compete in the Speed Stop shoot out at the end of the day. It's just tough for me to justify taking a sorted well balanced car that I've spent years getting to my liking and startingn over with a new tire that is required once a year. I run 6-8 SCCA events a year and a couple road races. Two sets of wheels just isn't in the budget.

For me, it's about the people, then the racing. The folks that show up to these events are the best group of people I've ever known. There are a handful of drivers that can win and I'm not one of them. I think Chris and I proved that you can be fast with a 3600 lb car.

Thanks for taking me on Chris.

P.S. My car has more power. ha ha ha

[chr2002ca]

I can't say thanks enough to Todd for letting me ride along on Saturday in Payback. The 2 blasts down the SpeedStop challenge against Mike Maier were insanely fun. Todd is humble about his driving, too humble. The guy flat out nailed these 2 runs and is a much better driver than he gives himself credit for. You and Payback did a kickass job out there. Congrats to you my friend.

[73CPCAMARO]

Thank you very much to Todd and Cris for allowing me to drive each of your incredible cars. Like Todd said, each car is set up different and handle different from each other. Both of these cars are fast and were a pleasure to drive. Here are some points on each car:

Payback:

Tons of power that is very linear. The power is easy to put down and modulate. Torque is beautiful and running 2nd gear on the autocross is a no brainer. It has all the power you will ever need. I wanted to go into 3rd gear, but Todd advised me of the issues he was having on the road course and said to ride the limiter a bit. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't shift to 3rd because I would not have wanted to stop! The brakes were easy to control and it stopped on a dime. The steering was light and quick and the car would go exactly where you steered it. In fact, I was really suprised how well it handled the back u-turn. Of all the cars I drove, my car before I grenaded the transmission, Mike Maier's Mustang, and Blue Balz, Payback easily got around the tight, sharp turns the best. As I told Todd, give me a course with a lot of u-turns and sharp corners, and I want Payback. Not only does it get around the turn the fastest, it will then launch off the corner with amazing grip. The biggest obstacle for me with Payback was the high speed instability on transition and when I lifted after chicanes coming back to the finish. I was at the top of second gear, not sure what my speed was, and when I lifted and started to brake (I left foot brake), the rear end immidiatly came around on me and I was not able to make the left turn. In fact, I did this two runs in a row. I had to be traveling completely straight when lifting to stay under control. This issue can be corrected with some shock adjustment and/or spring change. It may be getting too much weight transfer and unloading the rear of the car. Because of this, I had to slow down more than I wanted at the end of the course and I lost too much time. If it was not for that part of the course and the rear end coming around on me, the times would have been much closer. With more practice, I now I could knock about 1 second of my time and I would have been a high 38.xx.

Blue Balz:

I did have a slight advantage with Blue Balz as I drove this awesome car last week at Marina at the American Autocross twice. From the very first moment I sat in this car last week, I can't stop thinking about it. The interior is perfect. It has the feel of a better than new car. The ergonomics are just about perfect. The first time I autocrossed this car, I felt completely at home. Mary gave Cris some advice on some improvements and I gave a couple of my own and they improved the car a bunch.

So, at RTTC III, I had two previous laps under my belt to get the feel for the car. As with Payback, get the car rolling and then dump it into 2nd gear for the remaining time on course. Blue Balz does not have the bottom end torque like Payback. Once the RPM comes up a bit, Blue Balz has all the power you need. What I love about Blue Balz is the ease I have of just hammering the throttle and driving the heck out of it. The car is extremely easy to drive fast. Slalom type transitions is its strong suit. I like a slightly tight car. My driving style demands that. When it comes to entering a tighter turn, I use my left foot brakes and entry to rotate the car. Mike Maier and I have very similar driving styles. The only thing Blue Balz needs to do better is rotating on the over 90 degree corners. It is much better than it was last week. Blue Balz did have an issue with the brakes after they got cooked on the road course. I had to pump the brakes before each corner. I probably lost up to .5 seconds due to poor brakes. I got down to a 38.6XX on my last run and I don't think there was much more in it due to the brakes.

To sum it up, both cars are a treat to drive and are at the top of their game. It comes down to driving style and matching the car to the driver. Fix Paybacks issue with the braking and rear coming around and get Blue Balz to turn in just a bit better, and both cars would be just about perfect.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to drive these bad ass cars!

Brian

[fleetus macmullitz]

Great write-ups on some of the top PT cars.