The Menotomy Motorsports Honda will be in contention for points in both the New England Road Racing Championship (NERRC) and North Atlantic Road Racing Championship (NARRC). My reserved number is #18 in class ITA. This schedule is very abbreviated due to delays in car preparation.
 

Sanction refers to the SCCA region sponsoring the event. Checkout out the SCCA web site for more regional information.

Race Reports
Labor Day Double Regional, NHIS
FINALLY, my '87 Si was done enough (you never are completely done with race cars) to race this weekend at the New England Region SCCA Labor Day double regional at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Many thanks to Ed Sawyer and Serge M. for coming down to crew (including a master cylinder change Sunday morning). Serge showed up in his nicely painted first gen, otherwise referred to as "the parts car". (note to those who crew for racers - never show up to the track in the same make, model, and/or color of car being raced - it puts too many ideas in the minds of drivers who may break something) Ed and Serge got to go out on track Sunday evening in the "parts car" (sorry, Serge) for some track tours, too.

Thanks, too, to Ed and Hank Pacitto (HP Engineering, Narragansett, RI) for their advice and for coming through with that final set of brake pads Monday morning, and to Tom Kelly (Precision Auto Care, Holliston, MA) for doing the last-minute work on the car (harness install and window net) that allowed me to go racing.

Key concept this weekend - brakes are nice. The car had decent power (new top end, 150K miles on the bottom end), decent handling (24mm torsion bars, 400lb springs, Goodyear GS-CS tires), but terrible brakes. The master cylinder was original, and I was using stock-style pads. A master-cylinder, pad, and rotor change helped some in Sunday, but the new Metal Masters on Monday really helped. I'll be looking into Carbotechs or Porterfields for my next race.

The results: Well, I was slow, but not embarrassing. The car did well. All of the body panels are still in their original locations (the same cannot be said for some of my fellow competitors). With dry track conditions, my fastest lap time improved by at least 1 sec. every session (best time Sunday of 1:24.757 vs. the ITA winner's time of 1:21.258 in a Tahitian Green 2nd gen. Si). I've got a list of things to do to get me faster - other than much more seat time (cheapest and most effective), I need real brake pads, rear sway bar, more camber in the front end, a limited slip, etc...

Monday was a different story. The practice session was dry. I went out for 4 laps to bed in the new pads. I rotated the tires because the fronts went away on Sunday. The car felt GREAT. Best brake feel all weekend. I was ready to really push it during the race - then it rained. The race was declared wet, and we got to change tires. On went the full tread depth R1s. Back to the grid. I managed to pass several people, avoid a couple of melees, do a couple of not-so-graceful spins, but ended up almost lapping the 2nd gen that won in the dry. I survived with no real harm done to the car (I may have dented a header tube during one off-track excursion).

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