PSG '07 USNY Rallycross a Success!

Projectsologear hosted the third annual USNY Rallycross event in the quiet city of Granville New York. Tucked away in the upstate region of New York, an hour north of Albany the state capital, 35 rally enthusiasts came from all over New England Region to threw themselves in the dirt to see who can crawl out with the quickest time on the clock.

Mark in the '86 Honda Civic took First in 2WD Rally, Isiah took First in 2WD Street in his '00 Civic, Justin took 1st in AWD Rally in the Audi A4, and Nick walked away with 1st in AWD Street.

Event homepage has been update with results and the official PSG Media link is also included.

PSG wants to thank all of the people who came out to participate, spectate, and more importantly our sponsors for supporing our effort in keeping the rally racing sport alive in North America.

The event was proudly sanctioned by Rally New York LTD. and sponsored by Automotive Engine and Machine, North Country Imports, and Ruge's Subaru.

We look forward to coming back with another awesome 4th annual PSG USNY rallycross event. Note that there is a possible of PSG initiating a rallycross series in local CT. A possibility of throwing an indoor rallycross is in the negotiation process.

Keep yourself in the loop!

September FCSCC Event Results

On a scale from 1 to 10, this track was an 11. Chris Carris, the infamous butt-kicking driver of the fully prepped A-Stock STi worked with Chris Travis to setup a nationals-style course littered with slaloms and challenging gates. Of course, having setup the course (just being a little bitter here) Chris took FTD, but the fact that his FTD came in an A-Stock car shows his amazing abilities as a driver. I had to have asked Chris at least 20 questions throughout the day regarding his choice lines, tire pressures, rim offsets, and spacers, and he was more than kind enough to tolerate my persistent barrage.

Regarding our team of drivers, Phil walked away with a 1st place ESP finish, Gus did well in A-Stock placing 5th, Matt placed 2nd in rookie stock right behind myself, placing 1st. Henry kicked up his performance in BSP placing 2nd, and the fact that he hits so many cones shows that he's real close to achieving near FTD times and overtaking Leo Ficks's domination of the class. Since we compare our PAX times to see the fastest driver of the day, Jeff placed 1st in the PSG points event, Phil second, Henry third, Matt fourth, and Gus in fifth. See the table posted above to see the cumulative points total for this season.

So next month, there is going to be the final points event with an 'Autocrosser of the Year' runoff event in Kyle Bishops CRX, courtesy of www.bishopmotorsports.com and it seems anyone who could contend for their class championship gets to drive it! Therefore, since Matt & myself are neck-to-neck (still anyone's game) in the rookie championship, we both are contenders in the CRX. Should be pretty fun! Phil has ESP for points, however he became a member of the club mid-year, and his early-season points may not count. The officials may look the other way, however, which we hope they do. On that note, Matt is only 5 points behind me in the Rookie stock championship. I really look forward to our final battle of the 2007 season October 13th to determine the winner!

Submitted by Jeff, PSG SS

Evo vs. WRX Shootout - NJ

Arriving at the Event

Technically, the gates to the raceway opened at 9AM, but they were letting people in earlier than that, which would have been useful to know. We showed up at 8:30, didn't get through tech until 9:00, and then the first car off was at 10:00. Needless to say, we were a little pressed for time, and with tire swapping, I only managed to get one walk around the course. Also, on tech, they decided to tech the cars as they came in, instead of after they had been cleaned out and race wheels put on. Kind of pointless if you ask me.

The Course

The overall course shape was a big horseshoe. It began with a slight right-left jog, then continued with a right-left turn combo. Next came a shaper right turn, then left into a wide sweeper which brought you to the backstretch of the course. The backstretch was basically a big slalom, but was unequal in length and the cones were not in line. Finally, there was a right-left combo into the finish. Overall it was very fast, and you really had to flick the wheel fast to get through the turns well.


The Runs

Overall, we got 8 runs in the day because the NNJ SCCA crew ran things pretty efficiently and there weren't too many cars there (~60). On the first run, there were a bunch of cars that skidded out of the slalom into the beginnig part of the course, which was enjoyable to watch. On my first run, I did about the same thing, but managed to catch it before I got too out of shape. I began the day with a 36.5, but I figured I'd be little slow since I only got to walk the course once and I hadn't memorized the lines. The second run showed great improvement, and I was able to shave 2 seconds off my time (which would be my best run of 34.190). My next run was again in the mid 34's, but on my fourth run, I managed to squeeze into the 33's, but I hit a cone so the time didn't count. Interestingly enough, I felt very slow during this run and thought the car was pushing too much, but since it was one of my faster times, it just shows that I need to learn more about how the car feels! From there, runs 5, 6, and 7 were all back into the mid to low 34's, and I just couldn't figure out how to get back into the 33's. For my final run, I was determined to to get into the 33's again just to prove to myself that I could do it and it wasn't a fluke run before, and I managed to pull out a 33.75! Unfortunately, I hit another cone, so again the run didn't count. But I was still happy to know that I could still better my time on the last run of the event. As for the other PSG drivers, Jeff and Phil were again on top of their game. Jeff was trying to hunt down Chris Carris (who managed a 31), and was able to bring it down to a 32.8, finishing 5th for the day in class. Phil, who was co-driving the yellow Evo, got a 34.188, a great time since it was his first full event in an Evo, and he was practicing left foot braking for the first time! And yes, he managed to beat me again, by a measly .002 seconds! Henry was back in action in his Evo, and his mind preparation seemed to have helped as he was able to dip into the low 33's. After some new tires, Henry will be very competative. Gus and Omar were codriving Gus' Evo. For his first event, Omar did very well, improving his time by almost four seconds througout the day! It seemed like Gus was off his game, but still he managed to get into the 34's, a very nice time for the day. Other notable runs: Mark Daddio, second run of the day, pulls a 29.8 for FTD (the only sub 30 time for the day). John Winchester and Kevin Lau were close behind in their Evo, with times in the upper 30's. Chris Carris came out on top for the Subarus with a time of 31.6. Out of the top 20 drivers, 14 of them drove Evos. Maybe it's time to convert!

The Day in Summary Overall

I'd say the day was a success! The weather in the morning looked threatening, but at the event things started to clear up and it was sunny (and HOT!) out. We got all of our 8 runs done in 3 hours, and we didn't have any work assignments. We were all packed up and ready to go at about 2:00. Sadly, NNJ SCCA were not the friendliest of folk. When you enter and pay, they give you a time card with your info on it to fill out and present at tech. Then they take the card so they can enter in your car information and give you back the stub. Well when I gave them my card, they basically gave the whole card right back to me, but at that point I didn't think anything of it. When I came to the line for my first run, they kept asking me questions like if I had changed my number or my class because they couldn't find me in the computer. So they just manually entered me there on the spot and I took my run. After I came into park, one of the guys came storming up to my car and asked me if I had tech'd. I said yes, and he then wanted to see my time card. So I gave it to him, and he takes it and looks at me very angrily. He shows the part of the card that THEY SHOULD HAVE TAKEN and yells at me saying that I should have tech'd before I ran. I told him that I did, and this is what they gave back to me, and he just shook his head like he didn't believe me and walked away. It's not my fault they messed up, but apparently it's ok to take it out on me. Another example is the time calling. They never called any times for people that don't usually go to NNJ events, but acted like professional announcers when one of their buddies was at the line. And when they did announce someone they didn't know, they just used their car number, like we didn't have names or anything. At the end of the day when Gus and Omar were making up their final runs, they even went as far and told them to hurry up and not hit any cones so they could finish the runoffs. Seriously, there's no need for any of that, and it would have been nice to have times called out as well as cones so you could really know how you did. But apparently you have to be in their club to get that sort of treatment. Anyways, enough of the ranting. Overall, good day, lots of runs in a short time, but NNJ SCCA aren't very friendly.

Submitted by Matt, PSG STi

PSG will be representing at the 4th Annual EVO vs WRX Shootout August 25th, 2007

This weekend holds exciting expectations for the PSG drivers as they head down to Englishtown New Jersey to battle against the large masses of Evo's, WRX's, and STI's coming from all over the country for the 4th Annual Evo vs WRX shootout.

Speculations tell the PSG drivers that they will be facing local superstars, along with the fortunate (or unfortunate) opportunity to see national level drivers take it out on the same autocross course on Saturday.

The weather is looking as good as it can get, and those race rubbers will be mounted and smoked up. Wish us good luck! We are aiming to have all PSG Drivers finish in the top 10 for the day.

PSG Event #3 - A Long Day with Few Runs, though the Competition is Fierce as Ever

Perfect weather greeted 5 of the PSG drivers present for the July 22^nd autocross at Plainfield, CT, the 3^rd official PSG Championship event. After suiting up, walking the course, and analyzing the aging pavement, Gus Lin, Phil Makaronis, Matt Gleiner, Jeffrey Guerrera, and Henry Tran lined up and set off for what turned out to be one of the slowest days of Fairfield County autocross yet this season; after run 2, the course was shut down for almost two hours to repair damage to the tarmac, thus giving each driver only three runs for the day.

Coming in first by an extremely narrow margin was ‘Sensei’ Gus’s 2006 White Evolution IX, taking the A-Stock 2^nd place trophy but earning the 1^st place PSG title just out of reach from Phil Makaronis. Phil placed 1^st in E-Street Prepared, and finished behind Gus in the PSG ranks by a mere .012 seconds (PAX adjusted time). Coming in 1^st in Rookie Stock and 3^rd in the PSG ranks was Matt Gleiner, also earning rookie FTD, ahead of his Rookie rival Jeffrey Guerrera, placing 4^th in the PSG event and 4^th in Rookie Stock. Henry Tran runs extremely impressive times, but like Jeff, hit a cone on his best run setting his ‘with-cone’ time behind the PSG pack. Henry placed 6^th in B-Street Prepared and 5^th in the PSG ranks for the day.

Referring to the 2^nd PSG points event, Gus Lin aided Jeffrey Guerrera when Jeff managed to strip lug nuts, preventing him from passing tech inspection, however ironically enough, at the end of the day, Gus had a stripped stud that turned with the lug nut, preventing the removal of his V710! Luckily the PSG friendly shop owner Kyle Bishop, owner of Bishop Motorsports (www.bishopmotorsports.com) had offered to fix Gus’s car. After three hours of chiseling the lug and stud, the rim came off, and the necessary repairs were made to get Gus back on the road.

Phil Makaronis is, as usual, placing in the top of the ranks. Phil’s consistency is rather impressive, and his skills are quite obvious when observing his smooth driving habits.

Matt is either getting used to the ECU issue plaguing his throttle response or has managed to work around it; he continues to get faster and faster each event. Matt is also getting acquainted with his new set of Toyo Proxes RA-1’s, so from here, Matt can only get faster.

Jeff was extremely surprised when the times were posted, as his time would have put him in 2^nd in Rookie Stock, however a late and unannounced cone call was made, setting him into the 4^th place position. Another interesting note: for the overall Fairfield Rookie championship points, Jeff and Matt are tied for 1^st place with three events remaining in the season.

Though in last place in the PSG ranks, nobody in the PSG club would dare expect Henry to stay there, in fact, if Henry cleans up his runs just enough to prevent tapping cones, he could pull directly in front of the pack. Keep at it Henry!