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Well, the 2020 racing season has come to a close for me. I can sum it up in one word: Wow. The decision to run this Probe turned out to be one of the best automotive decisions I’ve ever made. The car is fun. The risk level is low. The consumables are lower. Plus, it …
Well, this past weekend was the last regularly scheduled racing date for me for the year. I trudged 100 miles down the road to NCM Motorsports Park for round 7 of the Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car. I really enjoy this series, and if you remember from my post last December unveiling the …
Read More “2020 Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car wrap-up (NCM + OUSCI)”
Year three of the SCCA’s revamped time trials program culminated in the third Time Trials Nationals at NCM Motorsport Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, this past weekend. The relaunch of the program formerly known (or unknown) as Solo I three years ago was met with a lot of excitement and some predictions of doom. The …
Read More “A Probe visits the 2020 SCCA Time Trials Nationals”
So, after doing an HPDE at NCM, Optima events at AMP and Road America, and the DriveAutoX and UMI King of the Mountain, it was getting to be time to replace the brake pads on the Probe. I’ve never been very confident in the braking on this car. The previous owner had repaired some rusted …
UMI Performance makes some pretty sweet parts. I have their upper control arms and their tie rod adjusting sleeves on the Buick. The UMI arms solved my problem with the exhaust melting the bushings from every other arm I tried. They really are problem solvers. Sorry, Moog. They’re a cool bunch to hang out with, …
Put on your big boy britches, because we hit a big track this weekend. Round five of the 2020 Optima Search For the Ultimate Street car was at Road America! I’ve never been to Road America. I’ve run countless laps of the track in sims, and I knew it would be fun and fast. I …
Read More “Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car – Road America!”
So, the Optima DriveAutoX 2020 season had three points events, their first time running a points series. The year end points winner in each class nabbed an invite to UMI’s King of the Mountain invitational event. We got it. The outright win at the first event, and two solid performances at Trader’s World and this …
Round four of the 2020 Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car was at Atlanta Motorsports Park this past weekend. The Probe was in attendance, making it’s USCA debut. Let’s talk about Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP). This is a country club, but instead of a golf course, they have a race track. It’s carved out …
So lots to unpack here. DriveAutoX Round 2 at Traders’ World, just north of Cincinatti. I did not win. Not even close. Yet, still close. The SCN class was much more competitive than it was at UMI Motorsports Park. Eric Brown showed up with is SCCA STR prepped ND Miata, and just laid waste. It …
This past weekend I ventured to UMI Motorsports Park in beautiful Clearfield, Pennsylvania, for the first round of the 2020 DriveAutoX season. DriveAutoX is autocross from the same people that bring us the Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car. The series features simple rules, a small class count (just five!), and LOTS of runs. …