Hackster's Need for Swede 😁

[hackster]

Well I drug this old turd all the way from Portland to Fontana to run in the Optima event.

It was a haul, 1006 miles one way and we did it in one shot down and back. Drove down there on Thursday and home on Monday.

I first ran an Optima event in 2016 at Thunderhill and boy have things changed since then.

My buddy Kevin and I decided months ago that we wanted to hit it up so we made plans way back then. I havent follow the series much at all but had a great time a few years ago.

We got through Tech on Friday and got our run groups and the stickers installed.



This is his s10 and its a bad ass machine.



We opted for garage spots with the weather forecast. It was well over 100 on Friday and Saturday and 98 on Sunday, we were very glad we got them.

A few of the cars in my GTV Class











I was seriously outgunned.....

I had a great time, the car did great on Saturday but I was off the pace of the slow cars and way off with the fast cars. I had a tough time getting over the nerves and the car was loose all over the track. Saturday was just autocross and D&E. Sunday was speed stop and road course.

I was much more on my game on the speed stop and had a great time running it.





Road course not so much. It was so hot, I was hot but the car was really hot. I could only get in a lap or 2 before the coolant temps were too high. I saw 235 on the first session and 240 on the second session and called it quits for the day.

Clearly I need to do some cooling upgrades.

We did the road rally Saturday night about 30 miles in LA Rushour traffic. It was 104 degrees out. It was less than pleasant but got some cool pics.



Kevin was awarded the fast first timer award and got his $$ refunded for the event. He is a killer driver and the truck just flat works. its 2900 lbs, about 400 wheel hp and has 315's squared setup.

I got the participants choice award from Anderson Composites and a super cool plaque from Optima for it.

I had a blast, disspointed with my driving and the results but I had fun.

The Fuel system modifications worked like a champ, zero fuel slosh or fuel smell in or around the car.

I did develop a small fuel leak at the fuel rail from a loose fitting, snugged it up and seems to be all good now.

Car is going to just hang out for a little bit. Going to figure out my next steps from here. Its been a great summer, the car has been all over the west coast and I think most of the bugs have been worked out.