The first time we used the Garmin for a trip, it sent us down a dirt alleyway and past a methadone clinic evidently because it was a couple hundred yards shorter distance than the main streets...
Back to the event:
On Sunday we ran the practice event which consisted of the Pro solo course with 2 offset cones added at the start. A CP car blew an engine on the right course covering it in oil, so we only ran the left course. To get a more informed opinion of the car's setup I asked Kevin Deitz (last year's CS champion) and Mark Daddio (the one true AX alien!) to each take a run with Donna as a passenger. Kevin ran first and went a full second faster than JR's best left side PS time and only .3 sec under his SS ZO6 practice time. Next Mark bested that time by .1 sec and said afterwards that with a few more runs to better familiarize himself with the car (neither had driven a GXP before) he felt he could have gone 3/4 to a full second faster yet! (When Daddio says he could go XXX faster, you can take it to the bank, he doesn't blow smoke.)
When asked about how the car handled and felt they both said "AWESOME!". Kevin said leave it alone, Mark suggested a one click front shock and 2# rear air pressure change.
With me as "ballast" Donna was able to come within .3 sec of Kevin's time, and I was .6 off her time, so we figured we were ready for Thurs.
Then the mistakes piled up!
First, Donna was made Chief of course for Tues Wed. This is second in command after Chief of Operations, and turned out to be a full time non stop 7AM-7PM job both days, as well as most of Monday. It exhausted her each day, kept her from watching runs on T,W and concentrating on coursewalks and getting her head in the right frame for driving.
Second, I found out during the practice the holes I had drilled in the FG trunk floor for shock adjustment access were technically not legal, so to avoid any possible wienie protest I found a Lowes and bought some epoxy to seal them back up.
Third, I filled the holes and changed the tires from the practice tires to the new set, as well as doing all the final car prep by myself on Wed. Usually we do this together and each has certain responsibilities during that time.
This turned out to be the biggest mistake!
Unfortunately, ASL was to run in the 2nd heat and AS in the 5th and final heat, usually open runs before Ladies, so I could not test the car and give Donna any feedback before she ran like I usually would. We had arranged for Alan Dahl to codrive with me to also give Donna feedback expecting we would run before her.
The nights were much colder after the front that had brought the showers went thru, so it was still quite cool when ASL pulled to the line Thurs AM.
Donna promptly spun on her first run on the cold tires and didn't get to build much heat in them for her second run.
Being cautious on her second run she got a clean but not fast run but the car was still loose going into turns which we again blamed on still cold tires. Her third run was looking good until the last turn before the finish where it got sideways and cost her significant time gathering it up.
When Alan went out for his first run he also promptly spun in about the same place Donna did. Once again we said "cold tires" and unfamiliarity with the car (Alan also has a GXP but it is not as developed as ours and most of his previous events had been wet.).
Fourth mistake was when I forgot to turn off the traction control on my first run resulting in a very controlled but slow run. Alan's second run was better but he carried 2 cones. His third run was clean but about a 1/2 sec off the leaders as he was being cautious, and still was complaining the car felt "twitchy" on turn in. Since Kevin nor Mark thought it was twitchy, we figured it was just the differences between his and our car that made it seem that way.
My second run was really my first and I definitely wanted to get a clean run on the board so I was extra cautious and slow. My third run was going much better as I decided to hang it out, until I came off a large right sweeper and tried to turn back for the following slalom. and the car didn't turn back but snapped around in the original direction.
I didn't understand what happened.
Found out the reason Friday morning while rotating the tires, the left front hub had loosened. This is a known issue with the Soli since it does not have front spindles, the bolts attaching the hub to the aluminum upright have a tendency to loosen under the heavy loads we put on them. I normally check them every tire change, but had failed to do so when I changed the tires by myself (BIG mistake!). It must have started at the practice and got worse each of Thursday's runs. Tightening it back up made the car it's normal stable self on Friday.
Fifth mistake was Donna getting so wrapped up in the technical aspects of running the "perfect" line, she forgot to drive fast her first two runs on Friday! She finally realized it just before her third run and picked up 4 seconds but it was too little too late and only moved her up one place, one out of trophies.
Alan went out on his first run and put up the first of only a few 43's but with a cone. His second run was a clean 43, but 1/2 sec slower than his first run when he tried short shifting 3rd. He badly overdrove his 3rd run and slowed even more and picked up 2 cones as well, ending up in the 10th trophy spot.
I coned my first run, ran a clean and safe second run that was 2 sec off the pace, then coned late in my 3rd run, giving up after that and finished 53 out of 60.
Our biggest "highlite" if we look for a silver lining is that our car was the second highest finishing GXP in AS and ASL with the quickest taking 2nd in AS and 1st in ASL (beating the GM performance group entry in open).
Not too bad for a car that had basically one month's development time!
To paraphrase a popular quote: The Solstice GXP's "death" has been highly exaggerated!
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Needless to say, I ran a little wide during that attempted maneuver.
I'll remember to never, ever visit a car site again that you might actually post on.... I guess that leaves me with only a few. - AB
