build diary

March 6, 2009: I knew this would happen eventually.
I was at the track today testing the Targa Miata, and Bill came along with his Westfield. Brandon had his bike-engined car as well. We didn't have any transponders on the car but I was playing with a Traqmate data acquisition system that will do lap timing and datalogging. After playing with the Miata for a while, I stuck the setup in the Westfield. Bill came back in with a 1:00.3 showing on the screen. Yes, 1.5 seconds faster than my existing lap record. After reviewing the logs, I think it's actually a 1:00.8 or so - but regardless. Consider the record well and truly smashed. This was on a day when the track was pretty slow, too, with low temperatures and a lot of dust blown on.
Yowza. Nice work, Bill. Since the Open House, the Westfield has received a new intercooler, a sway bar and a set of Nitto NT-01 tires in a 225/45-15 size on 15x8 wheels. Those tires seemed to be the key, as the car was glued to the ground and Bill could make use of the car's ridiculous power/weight ratio.

Brandon's car was looking pretty good too. Other than a fire when leaking fuel on top of the gas tank lit up. No harm done, but his to-do list now seems to center around sealing the leaking filler neck on the tank. Good plan.

Watching the two cars play on the track made me wish I'd brought the little orange beast. Sure, it would have been slower. But still, it would have been so much fun to play.

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