Those who've been around the NorCal SCCA Autocross scene have either raced against or crossed paths in one way or another with Jaime Mendoza of Radix Motorsports. BlackTrax is proud to sponsor Jaime and his endless dedication to his passion for racing. Here are a few words from Jaime about his 2011 season so far:
This season has been a busy one, still trying to fine tune the Integra from 2 years of changes and 2 years of what was learned in the CRX.
The season was started with the Integra on display at the San Jose International Auto Show, the perfect way to re-introduce the ITR after 2 years. The car was on display among 12 other cars from different venues of the SCCA organization such as Road Racing, Time Trial. Picture attached to this message.
The early season SF region Divisional was wet and cold with temperatures in the 50's for Saturday, tried using Toyos R888 tires to beat the rain but the large puddles were no match for the tires. Finished in 2nd place with a street tire car taking first, much better at pushing through the puddles, first lesson of 2011, street tires for very wet events. The sunny second day was much better but the rain/tire combination created a gap to wide to fill.
Video of Sundays sunny run
Took 1st Place in the San Diego National tour at Qualcom stadium. It was smooth event with no problems, cording the tires was the only concern, which actually did 2 runs later at a local event.
The first Pro solo was a bust, but a very good learning experience. Pro Solo is an autocross course with a tree light drag start, 2 cars side by side with opposing, but equal courses, one run in each side of the course back to back, then try again 2 more times, best times of each side are totaled together to make total best time.
A new element in the Integra, a very big lesson for changes to come.
Traction at the launch was a delicate operation. Too much throttle led to wheel spin until 3rd gear, not enough and it left a lot at the start. Traction and delicate throttle control have always been a technique that I had to learn, but this event taught some lessons in weight transfer, ride height and Flywheel weight to gear ratios.
I was able to improve the launch at Test and Tune, by increasing ride height in the rear to reduce the weight transfer to the rear. The test and tune is only for light launches, the rest of the course is not used. This change improved the front traction but hurt rear traction on corners making the car very loose for the first day. Sway bar changes helped for the second day but by that point it was too late and was too far behind to make up the time.
Video of the Sunday - 3D video of my best run can be viewed here. First test of 3d GoPro video recording, not the best media for autocross, not enough elements to make good use of the 3d effect
The Duel At De Anza event was a success as well as taking 1st place in the class and 6th fastest time of the day.
Changes applied from the previous events have helped and continued to show with the SF region round 9 event in Oakland with 7th of 160 entries and 8th in PAX. Video
Currently sitting in second in points for the San Francisco region with a few missed events this season and 7 events to go.
So far this season has brought big lessons and good results. Looking forward to the rest of the season and the new build.
Radix Motorsports partners are:
MFactory
Supertech Performance
Swift Springs
BlackTrax Performance
Bisimoto Engineering
Vex Motorsports
Craftwerx Concepts
Craftwerx Concepts
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Thank You
Jaime Mendoza
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