PREPARATION-H.amfist 2010

By: Jake

It's that time of the year again. The SCCA Solo National Championships and ProSolo Finale are eminent and everyone is scrambling to finish their last minute projects to ensure every last thousandth of second is cut on the vast concrete of Lincoln Airpark. The Hamfist fleet is no different. This year only the SSM RX7 and STR S2000 are making that 13o0 mile blast to corn country.

Each ride has undergone ritualistic last minute corner balance and alignments. The S2000 got fresh differential oil, a fender liner trim, other general maintenance, as well a fresh set of shaved ______ tires (make will remain top-secret until race day).

Dave at Speed One (formally KDR Performance) strapped the RX7 to his trusty dyno and eeked out every last bit of power from the 1.3 liter rotary engine, upping the turbo pressure to 1.2 bar. The end result was 377 whp and 311 wtq. Then to shed some weight off the cars' hind quarters, the RX7 went on a diet at Speed One. The OEM fuel tank was hacked in half, minimizing the amount of gasoline required to race without starvation issues as well as dry tank weight. The car can now race with a mere 3 gallons in the tank. Sadly, the weight savings were offset by a gargantuan custom dual-element APR wing. The wing is a prerequisite to winning an SSM title at Nationals - the last 5 year's worth of champions were in big winged FD3S RX7s. Hopefully the added rear downforce will allow early application of the throttle out of turns and overall increased grip. The wing elements themselves were doners from an APR GT wing, however all the mounting hardware and risers were custom built by Dave Corsaro at his Johnson Scale workshop. Hours upon hours of precision measuring, cutting, drilling, and fitting had gone down without a hitch during this custom install until the inevitable 2:30am mistake occurred. In a state of utter exhaustion and frustration the wing was put on hold for another day. Remember kids, don't use power tools at 2:30am.

See you autocross fanatics in the field of dreams. Hope your last minute preparation went smoothly.