One Lap CRX: fourth overall??

Andy looks like he's SQUARELY in 4th barring any incidents, and is starting to breath down #3's neck.

T.J. wrote: The GT-R team just ahead of the giant killer CRX has a guy I briefly met once on the team. In fact, he is the guy who mounted my A048 tires for me when I lived in Hunstville. That's kinda cool.

Yeah, that's Eric, a good friend of mine. You can definitely tell who's driving the car by where it places. The car's owner is quite a bit slower, where Eric usually finishes second when he's in the car. The lead car has something like 300 hp over their GTR, plus tons of other mods. "Eric's" GTR is mostly stock.

Andy however is doing a phenomenal job in the CRX.

They survived Mid-Ohio, still 4th overall. There was a post from them with the quiet little "Hope the engine holds together" statement that makes you think.

I rank this performance way up there in the annals of motorsports history. Bill Elliot coming back from 2 laps down to win at Talledega under green may be a wee bit more impressive, but this is close to second.

And just a plug for my friend Eric who finished on top of the second Mid-Ohio event.

Streetwiseguy wrote: They survived Mid-Ohio, still 4th overall. There was a post from them with the quiet little "Hope the engine holds together" statement that makes you think. I rank this performance way up there in the annals of motorsports history. Bill Elliot coming back from 2 laps down to win at Talledega under green may be a wee bit more impressive, but this is close to second.

Don't count those chickens yet. Says the motor's down on power.3 more timed sessions that power actually counts on.

In reply to tpwalsh:

I'll bet a small team of GRMers with a cherry picked could swap a motor into that CRX in less than 2 hours at night in a parking lot, in time for those timed sessions!

Whose in??

SVreX wrote: In reply to tpwalsh: I'll bet a small team of GRMers with a cherry picked could swap a motor into that CRX in less than 2 hours at night in a parking lot, in time for those timed sessions! Whose in??

If I wasn't 500 miles away, sure. Though how many of us are familar with an EF K swap? Shouldn't be that tough, but it's still a rare config. I'm sure GRM could source another K24 without any trouble.

The Atom has closed the gap with Andy pretty significantly.

Closed the deal. GTR, GTR, GTR, CRX. Nice job, I'd say.

Andy did a great job! Also props to two of my friends that finished in 2nd and 5th places overall. The fact that they had far more hp than Andy makes his feat all the more impressive. And I'm sure he did it for far less cash outlay as well.

plus none of them needed butterfly bandaid/stitches

Thanks for all the kind words, folks. It truly was an epic ride this year.

The motor was sick before we started. Down 15 psi on compression with a little piston slap. I usually screw together my own motors, but this time paid a pro shop to build me a race-prepped shortblock for extra reliability. But it came with a massive oile leak out the back, so when it was installed just prior to the event, it came right back out. With no time left for a fix in went the sick motor. And lots of planning on towing coverage and friends along the route so we could ditch the car when it failed and get a rental to finish the event. In a way, it actually made things easier as we were already resigned to the fact that the car could potentially fail on us.

Of course, then came the first couple of tracks where we finished deep into the top 10...so the anticipation/dread got a LOT worse. Also had some fuel delivery hiccups that we think are fuel pump/regulator based, so we were stopping for gas at half-tank to get keep the pump cool. 30+ mpg meant that was every two hours.

As the week went on, the datalogs showed the motor wanting less and less fuel, and the MAP sensor reading kept getting lower. Going up the hill on the pro course at Mid-Ohio I could tell it wasn't all there. And the bottom-end noise was getting worse. By this time, it was also drinking a quart of Redline every day. I refused the temptation to pull the plugs for an exam because there really wasn't anything I could do about it. By the time I fired the car up cold the morning of the dry skid pad, it was a very unhealthy slapping going on.

We can't wait for next year. Love...this...event.

Great job Andy. Your excitement for this event is infectious, it makes me want to hop in something that runs and sign up.