Recently, Lien from FRSport had some time to street tune my 240sx convertible, Kandi. She feels MUCH faster now. I obtained a set of 17×10 Enkei RP-F1′s (only 17 lbs!) and 245/40R17 Bridgestone RE-01r’s all around. The acceleration & turning response just from lighter rims is definitely noticeable, not to mention the stickier tires.

Between those upgrades, the much needed seat time, and the very slightly better CST (California Street Touring – basically, “run what you brung” with street tires of 140+ treadwear), I’ve recently moved up the rankings from the low 200′s all the way to 148 in the last event with CSCC / SCCA.

My buddies and I also attended the 2009 Pro Solo event at El Toro. Donny from FRSport & I competed in XP (bumped to R1 – Race Tire Index) class with our RE01r’s, hahaha. We had our “battle for 2nd to last place”, which turned out to be a complete blast. Pro solo’s are about as fun as autox’s can get, with the Lone Pine Time Trials coming in at a very close 2nd. It was very fun launching against Donny on Sunday.

I’ve also attended several events before that and the event directly after. The most recent autox had a practice slalom & figure-8 for testing & tuning during rest periods. Absolutely AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, something got screwed w/ my DVR setup & I don’t have any video from my February/March/April events . It’s more or less the same stuff, though . I’ll definitely work on getting some quality video this upcoming event – a bunch of friends and I will be working the Motorsports Z Autocross event, which gives us a free practice the day after. Stay tuned!

Chris & I headed out for the SCCA CSCC AutoX event on September 13, 2008. Super fun, ran into a few other autocross buddies there. Chris took out his stock 350z, still burning off the crappy performance whatever they are tires he currently has on. Not much has changed to Kandi at this point other than retarding timing slightly from last time.

During the straights, the car just didn’t want to move, especially after a few runs. I began turning off the car & letting it sit in between runs – felt a little better.

The course, as always, was very fun. Before lunch I was able to get within .2 seconds of Chris’ time, but he pulled away by almost a full second by the end of the day. Couple of my runs are shown in my gallery, runs from much faster people & some pictures available at the solo2.com forums.

Not my fastest run, but video of Chris & me being silly @ launch time (higher quality version available directly on youtube – couldn’t embed it):

I also attended the championship on Sunday. The car felt much better going the opposite direction – the fewer number of runs couldn’t have hurt either. This time I wasn’t last place!! WOO HOO! 2nd to last, ftw! I’m still super far off from being competitive anywhere, but it’s still fun.

Picture at championship event taken by Mako Koiwai.

Next practice/championship is October 11-12, 2008 – can’t wait! Got a couple surprises up my sleeve this time around.