Great news. I survived a few sessions at Gingerman and doing unbelievably well in the autocross today, I was one proud guy. Sure got some things to work out, but I ran about 3-4 seconds faster than I imagined I would've in the autocross (comparing to cars I'm familiar with and how well they did).
At Gingerman, in the first session I was able to hit 110 on the straight with ease. Still getting used to the manual brakes, I was braking waaaay to early, but hey it was a shake down run
Second session I sat out as I was trying to find the squealing noise as it was back big time. We determined it was in the front accessories, not in the transmission like it sounded like before. So hoping for an easy fix I replaced the idler pulley...nope, looks like the brand new power steering pump has a bad bearing. Oh well, everyone got out of my way in the pits because it was so obnoxious to hear coming So, I need to address that.
Third session I went back out and got stuck behind some "touring" guys that obviously didn't listen to anything the officials talked about in the driver's meeting, grrrr. So, due to being blocked, never got a good clean track for even an attempt at something close to 8/10th's speed.
The autocross was my happy place. Pretty fast couse was setup with a few tricky spots. The first three attempts, somehow I managed to go on the wrong side of a gate, so those were DNFs. Then on a run that was going very good, another car spun and took out the timing light in front of me...so I got a do over lap for that. The do over was a good clean time and my last time was also good and even faster at 34.9
The car felt great, very balanced but with low rear grip (due to the used, hard tires I'm sure). It turned in very well and was very stable cornering. I don't know what to change
Couldn't be happier guys. If it wasn't for the power steering pump screaming when it got warm, it would've been perfect. It exceeded my expectations for the maiden voyage for sure. It's in one piece, drove it back on the trailer and we made the trip back safely.
A few cheesy pics for now, there will be some up that I can link to in a few days.
In the pit

getting ready for my first session behind Deb, with butterflies

on track in turn 2 (I know, kinda cheesy)