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Originally Posted by John Evans
How PAX Fared at the Solo Nationals
Getting to the Heartland of the Matter
Wow, the new surface at Heartland Park produced some interesting results. I am trying to get some specifics on the temperatures during the days there, to see if that will explain some of the unusual results. I can find no reports of precipitation. The surface was reported to be very slick, partially as a result of sand blown onto the asphalt. I'll list some of the surprises in no particular order. I will likely do some more work on this subject, but I just got the North American Pylon magazine with the ’06 Nationals results and wanted to share my initial observations. Due to the huge participation differences between Open and Ladies, I only used the Open classes for this study. In addition to using the top times of each Open class, I also averaged the top two best times in an effort to reduce the effect of a fantastic performance by a single driver. An important thing to remember here is that these are all great drivers in every class. If they were all put in the same car and given three runs, their times would be very close. Okay, now for the surprises:
1. CS beat BS, XP, GP, FSP and EM for raw time and tied AS. Kevin Dietz, whom many of us have seen drive, drove the winning Soltice in CS. I think the big tires (265s will fit on the stock rims)
may help explain the success within CS but to tie AS and beat all those others? Some drivers said the courses favored narrow cars. The CS class did run on Thursday and Friday when the courses
were cleaner. But wait, there is more.
2. Based on the top driver in each class, CS won PAX? Pigs will land at Stead before CS could win PAX at Stead. With the top two drivers averaged, CS placed second.
3. SM2 won PAX when the top two driver’s times were averaged.
4. Only one Miata in the top seven places in CS?
5. EVOs placed 1 and 2 in BSP, beating Harold Olsen in 3rd. Is a pattern already forming here?
6. BSP beat ASP in raw time.
7. Only two Corvettes in the top seven SS finishes, but SS beat ASP, BSP and FP in raw time. And with the top two averaged, SS placed third in PAX. But traction is the big issue. The Lotus
Elises and Porsches have more rear weight bias.
8. A Kart placed second in raw time. No surprise there except it only placed mid-pack in PAX. I had predicted the smooth surface at Heartland would allow the Karts to excel in PAX. They did run
Tuesday and Wednesday, the days when the course was the slickest.
9. The SCCA classes that run on street tires (STS, STX, STS2, STU) averaged slightly below mid-pack (10th, 22nd, 25th, 28th) in PAX. If we took their raw times, put them in a Street Prepared
class for which they would qualify and apply our region's Street Tire adjustment they would have come out as 14th, 18th, 29th, and 24th respectively, leaving them slightly below mid-pack -- on
average, exactly where they were. Street Prepared allows two changes that Street touring does not, that is throttle body change and removal of emissions equipment. These changes can affect
potential engine power which could translate to reduced times, but we are talking about very small increases in power and thus miniscule decreases in time.
10. FS was 31st of 35 classes in raw time. FS ran on the first day, Tuesday, in the first heat when the course was especially sandy.
11. EM placed lowest in PAX and was beaten on raw time by AS, BS and CS. Again it was a traction problem. EM ran Tuesday and Wednesday.
12. There was over seven seconds between top PAX and bottom PAX.
If I draw any conclusion from all of this, it is that the closest competition is within class. Raw times and PAX times are very dependent upon equitable conditions to be a useful indicator of driver performance.
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