woo hoo, SIR time trial

[Tessie McMillan]

Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas, advice and help regarding the recent
suspension mods to my '88 80 Quattro. The Jamex strut tower brace, stiffer
urQ tower mounts, and toooooootally radical negative camber settings made
my car a blast to drive this weekend at SIR! Our Alfa club hosted a time
trial, and I was able to set a 1:53 for this 2-3/4 mi. track. So fast time
of the day (in a 2000 'Vette, set by my ex-BF) was in the 1:30s, but hey!
1:53 is pretty darn decent for my 3500 lb. Quattro! ! !

Yanking the back seat, spare wheel, and trunk out had its weight benefits,
too; I actually managed to spin the car on my warm up lap. Kind of
an expensive way to warm up the tires, but what the heck! &:-). First time
since I've owned the car I've been able to get it off-kilter! A friend
who races a Mustang with SCCA and a GTV in SOVREN used a tire
pyrometer to help me get control of my tire pressures on the Yoko Advan
A032Rs. (You know, the ones I was b*tching about recently?) When I got
down to about 36/34 (cold -- I only knew the hot pressure at the time)
and the car quit feeling like butter, his measurements were verifying that
the temps were even across the tread with just a tiny bit hotter on the
inside. Hey I managed to keep all my tires on, with wheels mounted in the
locations they were in when I drove the car to the track. None of this
lunch-time wheel swapping, even though I had the presence of mind to take
my floor jack and stands with me this time. And the wear was incredibly
even. Heck, I'm even satisfied with the Yo-Mamas now. Also with the back
out, I can listen to them quite easily; they sound like an airplane
taking off.

The car was *so* responsive and quick (well, relatively speaking, we're
talking about an 80 here), it was like driving a totally different car. A
friend rode with me for a session who had never ridden the track at speed
and he nearly tore the door handle off on the first couple of laps. The
car had much more acceleration and braking ability and it tossed well,
and I think that surprised him.

Chris Darringer from San Francisco drove up to Seattle just to participate
in this event. It was fun meeting him and introducing him to all of my
Alfa friends. I am hoping he will post to us about his experience and
will convince you all what a wonderful track SIR is. And hey! He even tore
out his back seat too! ! &:-) Since we had a wet track in the morning, he
even got a chance to experience the motorcycle chicane, which is oh-so
fun! (A little off-roading here, a little off-roading there...)

What a fun day!

Tess
in Seattle WA USA