Optima Search for the Ultimate Streetcar Event

My USCA weekend. Lets just start with "What a Weekend!" Im floored! So exhausted from driving all day both days but had a blast doing it.

The previous weekend I had made the decision to make changes to my spring rates. So I made some calls and came up with a spring rate that made sense for my car. Ordered the springs and they showed up on Thursday. I had them installed by Friday afternoon and was ready to roll. As a result though, it raised my ride height, thus moving my camber curve and changed my alignment. Add to this, I had purchased new tires this week as well. So I really didnt know what to expect from the car.

First up was the speed stop challenge. If you dont know what a Speed Stop Challenge is, its a very small but high speed autocross with a sudden ending into a box the size of a 2 car garage. So you launch as hard as you can to gain as much speed as possible, hard on the brakes for the u-turn, a quick chicane, and then slam on the brakes into the stop box. If you slide thru the box, your time is tossed. Right out of the gate the car felt good but needed some tuning. I had a friend there who was pretty experienced in tuning the Ridetech shocks who helped me dial in the car for what I needed it to do. After making a few changes, I dropped my time a full second. Next, because there was soo little traction on this surface, I connected my line lock so I could heat up the tires before each run. This helped a little more. lastly, I finally figured out how to run the course, This knocked another second off. Unfortunately, this was the last run for me. I know I could have knocked another 10th or so off with a couple more runs. I ended up 3rd in the GT-Vintage Class for SSC.





Next was the autocross. This course was pretty spread out. It starts with a quick left hand and then snakes out to a u-turn, snakes back across over some off camber sections and into another u-turn, then an open slalom, hard right into a box, then wide slalom, then TIGHT slalom, then thru the finish line. The end was rather painful. I did OK at this but not good enough. My best run got a cone penalty of 2 seconds. It was hard to do this mentally as by the time our group was on track, the rubber and tar was starting to stick to the tires so every once in a while a chunk would get stuck to a tire making you think you hit a cone and the quickly it would fly off where you can see it out of the corner of your eye. The first thought is "what just flew off of my car". Not a good think to be thinking while trying to dodge cones for time. I ended up 10th here.





Time for the Road Rally. This is where you show that you truly have a street car and not a race car. How does it handle being in traffic, can it run for 40 miles strait without issues, no tickets... Of course I drive the Mav regularly without trouble so this was not a problem for me. We Drove out to the karting complex to do some kart racing and then back to the track. Coming back I got a chance to enjoy my favorite upgrade. Headlights! I recently purchased a set of truck-lite LED headlights and installed them. The change in light was soo dramatic. With the old lights, not only could I not see at speed but I worried that others couldnt see me either. With these, its not a problem. In fact, I'd pull along side late model cars (BMWs, Mercs, ...) and compare light output. These put them to shame. They are really impressive. Better than that, they are truly plug and play. No relays, ballasts, or conversion pigtails. The only drawback is that they stick out from the bezel an extra 3/8". It takes some getting used to but isnt bad.




Day 2, we're back at the track for road-course fun. I've been on a road-course one other time but I was virtually alone. This time, I would be with 12 other people so I elected to run in the Novice class. We got 5 15 minute sessions on track. I ran all 5 but due to the car running hot (230*), I would call it quits a few minutes early. Included with the fee for the event, you were given the option to run with an instructor. If you've ever paid for a driving school, you'll know that this is well worth the price of admission to this event. I chose to go with an instructor on one of my turns. He helped me a lot with finding my way around the course, turn-in, apex cones, exit cones, braking. I saw immediate improvement. The instructor had nothing but praise for my car and was beside himself with how well it handled. Over the 5 runs, I managed to drop my time down from almost 55 seconds to 46 seconds and was getting faster. 44 is not too far from reality for me. The fastest times were 39-42 seconds from other more track oriented cars and drivers. I went off track once but not because I was in over my head but because I missed a shift and couldnt recover in time to safely make the turn. There was a run-off section right in front of me so I chose to safely decrease speed and go into the run-off area. This beats spinning out of control into that same run-off any day.



Chasing a Nissan GTR and a Hellcat Charger in this video.



Over all, I finished 7th out of 19. Im very happy with that considering the first 6 all had track experience.

Some random photos

Drove to work today


Official making sure my head is on straight after being off track


The grid before going on track


My garage space for the weekend






The Mav really likes it here

 

sounds like an awesome event. you have a truly admirable car...

if you can find the time, can you post details on how to install the led headlights? they'd be street legal over here, but are indeed pretty pricey.

 

They install exactly the same way a stock replacement would. Unplug the old one and plug in the new one. Same plug and everything. No modifications what-so-ever.

 

Too cool! Great looking and performing Maverick! Can you provide some information on those headlights, like where to get them and what part number?

 

if they stick out 3/8", do you still mount them to the buckets with the stainless trim rings?

 

should be these:
http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&productId=92025

 

Order them online. Truck-lite 27270c

The stainless trim rings ride on a retaining ridge molded onto the headlight body. Its the 0.50" ridge in the photo below. Fits perfectly.

 

Thanks for the information!!!

 

Do you have the part number for the retaining ring? So all I need are the lights and the retaining rings, correct?

 

the retaining is part of the headlight itself. there are no other parts to be ordered. Just the headlights.

 

Thanks for the super quick reply!

 

VERY impressive, Chris! Way to represent!!

 

Man that looks like a lot of fun! I guess I had better get off my butt and in the garage so I can try it.

 

man that looked awesome. ill have to look into doing it when they come to fontana!

question for all. what go pro camera angles do you guys like most?
or do you guys just like a verity of angles?

 

I have a couple favorite with in-car being the least. You just don't get that sensation of speed there. Top of the car is the best for this and shows the course better. Side of the car rear qtr shows how close the cones get.

I'm going to work on a splitter soon so I can have a splitter cam as well. That's a fun angle.