S&M Racing

July 1st, 2001 (NeOhio-SCCA)

Matt was away at a wedding or something for this week, so I joined up with fellow 'teg driver John Wagner and his caravan for the 90 minute jaunt up to beautiful Akron, Ohio, for some cone-dodging on the lovely Firestone lot. Akron is home to ITRCA founder and website-maintainer Brett Setliff, and he tends to beat up the local GS competition pretty thoroughly. We had one of each in the ITR column, and a couple of black ones came to spectate as well. The lot is one of the largest and most interesting I've ever driven on...it's shaped like a big fat L, and it has what whitewater rafters would call standing waves; it's rippled. These elevation changes make things really intersting...sideways, they mean your turn is either on camber or way off, and head on, they mean the front might catch a little air if you've got enough hustle, or the tail is going to be really light right when you need it to stick. The pavement itself is very grippy, and the course was a nice mix of 2nd-gear straights, a slalom, a few tight 90-degree turns, and a series of S curves. About 4 cars before my first run, the sky opened up in a biblical sense, and it quickly became a water-rally...we did all 5 runs sequentially, and the first two were preceded by torrential downpours. By the fifth run, the lot was an unpredictable mix of standing water and almost-dry patches...I prefered the predictability of the consistently-wet lot, and my times reflect it (third run was the best; not raining, but far from dry). Still on my trusty stock Bridgestone RE010s, I ticked off some of the locals by stealing valuable points with 2nd place finish, and I was within striking distance of first, which went to a roll-caged and race-rubbered FC RX7, whose fastest and winning run happened before the rain started (so I can pretend I was a big winner, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes). The R was drifting beautifully, and actually drove itself in a few places; I have no idea how it straightens itself out right when you need it to, but it does. My counter-steer of a near spin at the end of the slalom resulted in a perfect drift around a pivot cone, and made me rather giddy. After a few more bouts of rain and some terrible winds, it eventually dried out and became a very nice day, so the later guys got a dry track. I took a gob and a half of pictures, there were many cool cars in attendance. Results can be seen HERE, I will definatley go out of my way to return to this lot, hopefully for a run in the dry.

Again, the pics are in no particualar order, other than what I named them. I'm behind on the webpage, so I'm not taking the time to do several pages...better go watch an episode of friends, this could take a while. As always, if you're interested in getting origonal pics, email me at s@sandmracing.com and I'll see if I can dig up the 1600x1200 original.

At the drivers meeting we were told "Drug use is not allowed before, during, or after the event". So much for doing lines on the straight...i think i did see some workers sniffing cone-chalk in the far corner though.

it's pretty wet :)

This guy's pic is on the NeOhio homepage

Right now, the word "slalom" doesn't look like a word to me. I hate that.

love those SSR Competitons

Sure, let the AWD guys run in the dry...

Type R baby Brother!

aah, the hustle and bustle of those about to race

The first Celica GT-S I've seen run...Honda vs. Toyota is kinda like Chevy vs. Ford, but with less "Calvin peeing on the other brand's logo" stickers.

This is one hell of an automatic...it was loud and angry.

these don't show up on radar.

a sweet stripped and repainted old-school prelude.

Run, Forest, run! Get those cones!

Tried to take a few pics from the safety of my hatch, but the wind soon thwarted me.

Pack 'em in.

the end of the slalom was an evil 90 degree left-hander.

Aah, Ohio. Actually, Pittsburgh got even more clobbered, tons of wind dammage back home..glad i missed it.

My ITR and John's GSR were lookin hard. His car has some pretty sweet mods, and we learned on the way in that his car accelerates EXACTLY the same as a Type R. Gotta love mods :)

I was kickin up some major filth on my runs, so much for a clean car.

Goin down!

I had dirt on my roof, and my spoiler, and all over the sides...

Thanks to John W of the red GSR for taking a bunch of pics of me, despite the crappy conditions.

despite the slick conditions, the RE010s managed to get some lift action on the rear wheel. Go Bridgestone! Wait, they own Firestone...Firestone Lot...my god, it's magic!

i'm lonely.

damn, i look good :)

wet car.

John was still learning how to frame the digicam shots at this point :)

ready to go!

I'd like to thank the little people...

John did some ass kickin in ST, but in the end a GS-R sedan edged him out...in my heart, the GS-R Sedan is still near and dear :)

lights on for safety!

mmm...exotic...

Wait...that means free...these cars are free!?! Sign me up!

All the convertable guys scurried when the rains came, nobody likes a moist interior.

Hey wait, that's not Karen Rafferty!

This beautiful specimen didn't end up running due to the rains, but I saw him a week later at Nelson Ledges, be sure to check out that report when you're done here.