June 2016 Newsletter

 June 2016

Sports Car Club of America – Yellowstone Region 108

 
 Dean W. Johnson’s “MyT13B” E-Modified Mazda RX-7
 
 Meeting Minutes

 June 2016 Meeting 

The June monthly membership meeting of the Yellowstone Region SCCA will be held on June 7, 2016.

Season Opener at Yellowstone Drag Strip

By the Newsletter Editor

The Region’s season opener featured the largest attendance for a YDS event–27 entries. A total of 256 runs were timed which provided the average driver with 9.48 runs! There were many new drivers in attendance and a wide variety of previously unseen vehicles. Most of the names in the top ten were familiar. At the “top of the heap” was David Greenfield in his Mitsubishi Evo. Winning a close (.022) race for 2nd was Orry Boettger in his VW Golf over John Bonnerin his C7 Z06. Brother Luke Bonner was .687 seconds back in his ZL1. 5th, 6th, and 7th place were filled with the Mazdas of Riley Kelly, Jason Hudson, and Thomas Wietecki. Steve Gruver (C4 Corvette), Woody Jensen (Honda CRX), and Zane Job (Nissan 350Z) filled out the top-10.

PAX scoring put Orry on top and moved Greenfield’s ASP Evo down to 5th. Other than that, everyone stayed in pretty much the same order. Jackie Bell and her Mitsubishi Eclipse finished 14th overall and 9th in the PAX scoring–enough to earn her a trophy in Street Ladies. Yea, Jackie!

 
 Jeremy Vansant’s RHD 1989 Nissan Skyline R32 was a crowd-pleaser as was the unveiling of Dean Johnson’s project car. The photos make the day look colder and gloomier that it actually was. The weather was actually quite pleasant and the rain held off until after we folded the tent. The event was capped off with trophies to the class winners. Quite a few Yellowstone Region t-shirts were also sold at the bargain-basement price of $15.00. We will keep our fingers crossed for similarly good weather for our next event at YDS on July 3rd.
 
 
 MyT13B’s Corner

From the Regional Executive

All things considered, the first event with my newly-restored RX-7 went as well as could be expected. The major problems that arose were tire clearance, overheating, a broken Panhard bar mount, and fuel issues. The rubbing tires required some re-contouring of the fenders. I replaced the radiator with another unit that was much cleaner inside. I repaired the Panhard bar mount with a 4-way adjustable extension to the frame. I will find out if I have resolved those problems when I attend the first Montana Challenge event in Helena next weekend,

As far as the fuel issues are concerned, I have not yet fully sorted out that problem. However, I anticipate that the next event will provide clues to narrow down the problem(s).

On the plus side, the car handles great and the improvements I made to the brakes are a blessing. Stop by and take a look at the car at an upcoming event!

D.W.J.

 
 
 Race Notes

From the Competition Chair

In the “good news department,” I am pleased to report that Jonathan McTaggart’s LS-powered RX-7 has come home to roost in the Yellowstone Region. Good friend of the Region, Riley Kelly, purchased the silver beast from Jonathan just prior to his move to Fort Myers, Florida. in the “more good news department,” Riley still owns his beautiful Shelby Mustang.

For those of you thinking about replacing your worn-out tires with the latest performance street tires, make sure to check out the “Street Tire Shootout” articles in Grassroots Motorsports magazine. The June issue tests to newest tires on a road course, and in the next issue, the tires will be tested on an autocross course. So far, the BFGoodrich g-Force Rivals are besting the Maxxis Victra GR-1s and the Bridgestone Potenza RE-71Rs. Tester and article author Andy Hollis sure knows his stuff!

T.M.S.

 
 
 The Finish Line

From the Webmaster

Many of your email servers apparently believed that the new newsletters sent from the inherent PHP WordPress mailer were akin to Nigerian scams or Viagra ads. Consequently, many were sent to spam folders or bounced. In an attempt to resolve that problem, we configured a new email STMP mailer plugin that makes it appear like it came directly from the Region’s gmail account. Delivery statistics are collected after each newsletter is sent, so I will report back next month.

The $300 Civic returned to the track at YDS after a long layoff for refitting. Team member James Reuss drew the short straw and drove the first run group. On the plus side, no tire clearance problems were noted and James finished all three of his runs–spinning only once. On the downside, we developed a problem with the throttle cable and the clutch adjustment that resulted in calling it a day. Dennis McCollough is confident that the two problems are easily solvable and final ECU tuning has been scheduled.

J.

 
Next Monthly Meeting

June 7, 2016
GH&R Law Firm
175 N. 27th Street, Suite 903
6:00 p.m.

 
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