Mark, more from Annie about the S2K . . . . (archive)

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Better late than never, right?
Just returned home after a thankfully uneventful trip home (last year we ran over a freshly killed antelope carcass on the way to Nationals and got a whole in the radiator on the way back from nationals in my Type R - so uneventful is good!)

To be competitive in a S2000 one will need both adjustable shocks AND a very very very large front anti-sway bar. Jason Keeney and myself both have the shocks, but not a big ol' bar like Gary Thomason's. My understanding is that Jason, your car, other than the bar (and Hoosiers), is set up virtually intentically to Gary's, right?

Gary, my codriver Ron, and myself have discussed setups via e-mail and at many events. It's pretty clear that without both the shocks and bar it's pretty hard to tame the car. Shocks do wonders for the oversteer, but you'll also need the bar to tame the inside wheel spin problem.

And on Topeka's sticky concrete and courses with nasty offsets, it was a problem. Basically it's impossible to put power down coming out of most corners with one wheel spinning. It killed us. On asphalt in mild temperatures, the Mugen bar (31mm) is almost enough. For nationals, huge problemo! The car absolutely stopped in tight corners since you couldn't get power to the ground - and the north course was full of them. I watched Gary's lines and Ron's lines and they were virtually indentical - except when I heard the all to familiar sound of wheel spin.

Gary has said repeatedly that he normally does NOT have a problem with inside wheel spin. To put it into perspective, even HE was getting frustrated with it in Topeka!

I believe most of the cars ahead of Ron (the Boxsters, specifically) have adjustable front bars. GH Sharp, who was picked to win by Sports Car Magazine, does not, and didn't even trophy. And GH is a truly great driver, too.

And as for my performance, I drove like crud. I let nerves get to me a bit. The weekend before nationals (on asphalt) I beat the third place gal (my Team Butt Heat counterpart Anna) by over a second. She drove the north course incredibly well and almost caught up to me. Oh well. Only my second year autocrossing, second year at nationals, and second time in second place (I was second place in GSL last year behind Katy Endicott). But to come in second to Rita Wilsey, who normally runs in the open class (and can WIN the open class), well, I'll take that! She's like a five time national champ or something. She also drove very well. Gary didn't want to have two drivers in the car for the open class so he asked Rita to run ladies. Both Rita and Gary are wonderful, and both drove extremely well. As did a few other S2K drivers (Jason, although you didn't place as high as you'd like, you did drive great! Sure got Ron's attention with your quick scratch!).

A few other notes - it's not representative to compare the ASL times with the AS times. Although there was no rain, conditions did vary quite a bit - Friday AM I ran in about 60 degree weather, and AS ran in 80+ degrees. I walked the course before my runs, and again with Ron before his runs, and we came back to the pits with rubber actually stuck to the bottom of our shoes - it was sticky and hot out there! HUGE difference to shivering and sitting at the line with the heat on! Also keep in mind that SS ran in the second heat, and it was still very chilly - wasn't until 3rd heat that it really started to warm up in Topeka on Friday, from my recollection... so comparisons there may be a bit shaky as well. At least AS didn't get rained on half way through first runs like last year!

The 200+ wheels number is for Volks. From Paul Brown (AS MR2 Turbo driver who has connections) I believe...

And I believe there were more past national champions in AS then there were trophy positions, so it's no surprise it was VERY competitive!!! I'd say the best class out there right now - biggest variety of competitive cars, and great talent!

And as per the SCCA SEB at the Town Hall Meeting at Nationals, the S2000 is proposed to be in BS (formerly class 3) with the other current AS cars once the SS class gets split. That can always change...

gotta run - super busy getting out from all the mounds of work on my desk... lemme know if you've got questions, and I'll do my best to answer them...

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