Chico Race Works-powered Hyde wins SCCA Solo2 autocross!

[JekylandHyde]

Well, we finally got Hyde out to his first event of 2006 and it was a win in SM2 at a NEPA-region SCCA Solo 2 event. The car that placed second was a Noble M400. It's a very beautiful, crazy car. 0-60 in 3.5 second and 100 mph in 8 seconds. It has a twin turbo V6 with 450 HP.

Here's a photo of the guys car that was there today:


Hyde felt great autocrossing today which is something I almost never felt about this car. The stroked engine was giving me neough down low that I never really felt laggy and the new suspension and alignment is really making the car turn in well.

As part of Hyde's winter work we added a front traction bar from Full Race. This thing is awesome. I had swapped Hyde over to manual steering quite some time ago and between that swap and the large sticky tires, the thing could be a bear to turn. Now it is truly awesome. This bar and the new alignment have aided turn in so much.

The new alignment settings where based on setting recommended to me on MR2OC with adjustment suggested by NoShoes. I am really happy with my current set up. As long as the hillclimbs & road courses feel just as great, this will be my alignment of choice. I've never felt Hyde perform so well when being pushed before.

Unfortunately, I have some getting used to with the new longer and wider front end. I was hitting an unusually large amount of cones today - especially at the psuedo-slalom start.

My fastest (without cones) was a 33.5 and the Noble ran a 33.975.
The brother of the Noble owner also raced that car in SM2 and hit a low 35 (IIRC).

Unfortunately my brakes felt like crap by the end of the day again.
We really need to get this brake situation figured out.

The last time I checked the PAX scores, Hyde was 10th overall.

Todd, (ttreet on mr2oc.com) was also racing his turbo MR2 in another class.
Here are 2 pics of his car:
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/images/xxx_ttreat_1.jpg
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/images/xxx_ttreat_2.jpg

Here some photos of Hyde:
I'm ready, let me at it ...
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_4.jpg
... there goes a cone ...

... there goes another cone (foreground) ...
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_8.jpg
How close can we get?
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_7.jpg

The rest ...
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_1.jpg
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_2.jpg
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_5.jpg
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_6.jpg
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...ackville_9.jpg

Here's a video of Hyde:
This was not my best run & yes, I suck at autocrossing. Criticism is always welcome! About 22 seconds in, off to the right you will see ac ourse worker returning from setting upa cone I knocked over. Hyde got really twitchy under pwoer at the finish and I took out the cone directly in front of the timing beam ... you can tell I was not happy about that
http://www.jekylhyderacing.com/image...CCA_043006.wmv

That was Hyde's first event and first win of the season!

[Drifting Dane]

Holy shit Jeff! beating up on $110K nobles now?? (The M400 is one of my favorite cars btw) I have had the pleasure of sitting in one, but never to drive it >< congrats!!!!

brakes and clutch and youll have a disturbing machine (again, be careful please!)

[Zero turbo]

really nice Jeff keep it up .Man I have never seen one of those noble M400 not even in mags.Looks good .

[Gairloch]

Congratulations, Jeff! It's gotta feel really good to have a success like that right out of the cannon. What do you have coming up next?

Can I ask what alignment you're running?

[MR2Jedi]

all I can say is WOW! your Vid was fun. like sitting next to you.. I have never heard you sound so enthusiastic about Hyde before...Glad things are coming together they you want them too. I think it's gonna be an awsome year for you Jeff.....Best regards

[JekylandHyde]

Thanks everyone ... we get some of these little issues revolved and I suspect Hyde is going to be winning a lot of different events.

As for our next event, we have been busting butt to make the Redline Time Attack event in 2 weeks ... it's not looking good unless the new twin-disc clutch gets here (crosses fingers).

The alignment specs (set up for higher speed corners, not autocrossing):

Front:
Camber -1.3
Caster 4°
Toe .2 in

Front:
Camber -1.6
Toe .4 in

[Gairloch]

That's very similar to mine. I just had it set to this before my first HPDE of the season a few weeks ago.

Front:
Camber -1.5
Caster 5 (I am running this much in part because of damage that was discovered during alignment.)
Toe 0

Rear:
Camber -1.5
Toe 0


Do you find that you have any odd tire wear because of the toe, especially in front? What's the purpose of running that much toe? I decided to try 0 toe as an experiment. It's kind of darty for freeway driving but I love how responsive it is on the track.

You're running 275 rubber in back right? What kind of tire are you using? Do you find that the ass end steps out on you or does the car seem pretty neutral?

[JekylandHyde]

I have always ran a faactory spec alignment so I have no idea on tire wear yet.

The extra toe in gets rid of that darty feeling.
I don't want to be darty at triple-digit speeds on a hill climb,
but I will take the quicker turn in from the caster.

We went with more toe in in the rear becasue when the car puts power down it wants to toe out.

Road racing I am running a 265 in the back.
The 275s are the drag tires.


Hyde handles neutral-to-slight-understeer, but I can instigate oversteer with throttle.

[Gairloch]

That's very interesting. I was running on some pretty crappy tires at Blackhawk and was having problems with oversteer. I'm going to be using new Hankook RS-2 235s at BIR over Memorial Day weekend, hope that helps reduce that.

[andyb16]

Way to go, Jeff!! Those Nobles are serious cars. Good luck this year, I'm sure youl keep us all entertained!

Andy.