The wannabe ST

The rulebook for Sundae cup was originally called "spec fit" a few years ago. They switched it to sundae cup in the recent years to get more cars involved. Some people chose to bring in miatas, civics, etc. but they would be decently ahead of the fits so they have small modifiers to even out the playing field. They also have a penalty for double wishbone suspension. The fit is generally the car to go with for the class, it gets zero penalties an is not hard to get it to a perfect or near perfect power to weight for the class.

Well this feels cool to be able to show.
I should be getting the time trial license at the next event. I just need to talk with the director for time trials. I should be just a dyno session and form away from the license and competing.
does anyone know a spot here in SoCal that can give me 3-5 dyno pills for cheap? No tuning required. That’s all I need to get my average horsepower. Don’t really want to spend a lot of money to strap my 100hp car on to a dyno lol.

^^^I always thought that NASA had mobile dynos that they brought to the tracks to check on the spec type/limited cars?

They do. And they will dyno my car and fill out the form for me, for $120. But, they said their priority is checking compliance on cars before forms. and this weekend at big willow they were pretty busy. They recommend I do it offsite if I want to guarantee my form being done on time. So I'm seeking other options, especially with instructing it may be hard for my schedule to line up when the dyno is empty.

Just got an email this morning to confirm I am now a Continental tire ambassador for the rest of 2024. I will be receiving a buy 3 get one free discount code soon on the Extreme contact force tires that I will share here on the forum. I do want to disclose I will be getting a portion of the sale if you use the code. Despite getting a financial benefit from this, my goal is to give the forum unbiased information on the tire and its performance. since I've driven this car mostly on federal rs pro, and the rt660 those will be my comparable bench marks.

I did confirm that they do not have plans at the moment to make a 16" size for the ECF. Sizes that may interest some members:
205/50/15
225/45/15
225/40/17
225/45/17
Please let me know any questions you may have on the tire, If I cannot answer it, I will reach out to my contact and get that information

I would have gone with the 225/40-17 ECFs, except that I was fearful of them rubbing, even at factory ride height, against both the front suspension, and the fender lips/bolts/etc. due to their 9.4" section width combined with their diameter/height.

They do get very high ratings though, and seem to be one of the best as far as longevity combined with excellent steering response and feel, just like the Yok AD09s I did go with, mainly because they offered their tire in a fully usable/acceptable, and known to fit size (215/40-17) for our rides on 17s.

I'm hoping this can be a great tire for getting seat time. I will ask about a 215 width tire option in 17". Hopefully they can get that one as an option.

How about a stock tyre size for those on 17" and lowered?

i'll send a question about these to inquire

They would probably just do a 215/45-17, because; Miata/MX5.

We really need more 215/40-17s!

Thanks.

I sent an email to my continental contact regarding all the current questions. I’ll update when I have a response.
but for now. If anyone is interested in trying one of the currently available sizes. Use code
“ITURRALDEVIP” at trackdaytire.com. That will get you one free tire on a set of continental ECF. The code will also have small discounts on other tires on the site. But the free tire is only for the continental

Finally got to knock Laguna off the bucket list of tracks I need to hit.
spent my first half of the day instructing. One of my students let me drive his brand new 992 Turbo S and another let me drive their M3 competition.
after lunch I got to do some laps in my own car. I did a total of 3 sessions and got my lap time down to a 1.54. The sundae cup record is currently a 1.52 so I’m definitely off pace. A lot of it is more commitment in turns 5/6 I can feel myself not using all of the track.
I also only did one single 1.54 lap which I am not pleased with because I need consistency. It was also very hard to get a clean lap. I constantly had to give point bys. I was in advanced due to instructing and I had to share the track with various cup cars and even a formula 3 car.
but overall it was an amazing day of instruction. The owner of Fast toys racing club paid for my hotel, provided food and paid me for instructing for the day.
most amazingly. My car drove over 5 hours away from home. Drove on track and drove over 5 hours back home. This is a win any day in my book.

Just got off the phone with my Continental contact.
News #1 - I asked about potential interest in the tire sizes mentioned. He told me that they noted the sizes and if they get enough comments and/ or mentions of these sizes they will strongly consider. I mentioned 16" sizes and they said those do not sell well but with enough demand they would so I threw those sizes out there as well. If these sizes do get made, I was informed it would not be until early 2025 which is the only downside, but this does give me a chance to give you all real world data on the continental tire. I have at least 4 days of driving in NASA competition I plan to do later in the year on these tires.
News #2 - My set of 205/50/15 tires is on route to my house. I ordered a set of 15x8 +35 KE motorsports wheels to slap these tires on.

THANKS for your suggestion efforts with Conti , as yes, I know that most of these tire manufacturers will not even consider a given size unless it is guaranteed to literally FLY off of the racks, to the point of them being on perpetual backorders.

I am making the trip north to Phil's tomorrow to have my 215/40-17 AD09s mounted up on a set of 17x8, summer street use only, KE Motorsport Pro T12s (they look so close to many tarmac rally wheels, besides being, light for 17s, flow formed and heat treated, that I could not resist!).

I'm sure there are a lot of us out there who run stock size tyres on our cars rather than have to buy another set of wheels so that certain tyres will fit.

Another track day completed today.
I got a 2.12 doing buttonwillow 13CCW. I didn’t expect the track to be so much fun going counter clockwise but it was awesome.
my student that I was instructing today let me drive his 6k mile GR Corolla too.
only pic I got from today:

^^^Did it live up to all of the hype, or were you not able to drive it hard enough to make a fair judgement on that?

It’s a very fun car. I can see why many people go from the fiesta at to grc. This is my second time driving one but I definitely pushed harder with this one. I got a 2.09 with only 3 laps behind the wheel and on oem ps4s tires.
I can’t see myself buying on personally. Especially with markup.
very fun car, I don’t understand the people that say it has a tendency to understeer. It’s fairly easy and manageable to trail it into a corner and power out. I was power sliding it fairly easily.

Day 2 here at nasa at buttonwillow.
no driving for me today. Just instructing to save tires.
but car is going on the dyno as I type this.
would anyone like to guess the power to the ground lol.