Who's making the move to STU?

Brendan

New wheels and tires are on the car. I went with the Advan A052 in 275/40/18. The only 200tw tire I am somewhat interested to try would be the Nexens, but I don't know if I will make it that far. I haven't done any objective testing but I really enjoy the Advans so far. Like many have noted, they run wide. I took a side by side during the swap.

IMG_20190719_201604 by brendan sobers, on Flickr

Both tires are 275 section width, but the BFG is on the factory 19x10 and the Advan is on my new 18x10.5. The bfg had a bit of stretch on the on the 10 while the Advan is bulging on a 10.5. Hopefully Yokohama continues to expand the size range as I would be interested in trying the Advan in 35 series, but the 275/40 works just fine. Turns out you don't need tiny sidewalls when you can run as much negative camber and caster as you like. Definitely looking forward to seeing some of you guys at nats and having more technical discussions on here, but enjoy some of my homemade wheel and stu prep z porn :3

_BES2844 by brendan sobers, on Flickr

_BES2841 by brendan sobers, on Flickr

_BES2845 by brendan sobers, on Flickr

_BES2846 by brendan sobers, on Flickr

Video of my first event on the new wheels and tires below. Coned away my ftd but the delta is getting smaller. Still need to work on my driving and continue optimizing the car, but there is a lot of potential.

Zewerr

The Nexens are very cold blooded. On a hot summer day and with two drivers, they are difficult to maintain optimal temps. Luckily, the don't just suddenly get greasy. They gradually fall off. As a single driver, or someone in colder climates Nexens can be a fantastic tire. At least they are on the STI that I won Nats in, last year, and the ProSolo championship the year before that. They might allow a little too much slip for a RWD car, but I'm not sure. My only experience with them is a year and a half on them with an AWD car, and that car freakin' loved them. They also have fantastic contingency payouts.

I am interested in trying the Yokes. With 19s, though, I'd have to go down to 275s, something I've been contemplating to expand my options.

The last few weeks have felt great in the car. I got the Packwood Tour win. We ended up running the STI the following weekend for the Packwood ProSolo, winning Bump class because STU only mustered up three of us, even though I made my Z available for people to fill. This weekend had two different events from two different series at two different sights (both runway sites - Sanderson Field and Bremerton Motorsports Park). The car felt great both days. Unfortunately, Saturday's course was one that gave you great times if you were on top of the cones. Unfortunately, I was on top of too many cones, and had to add distance to just get a decent clean run. I ended up uploading my fastest scratch.



Today went better as I was able to keep it mostly clean and ended up fourth overall PAX behind those with squishy indexes.



Also, non-Z related video is the only footage I got from the Pro in the STI. This is round two of the Super Challenge where I was eliminated. Both the STI and the Z are fast STU cars, but both do it in extremely different ways. The STI promotes a very aggressive style with steering and throttle inputs to keep the car rotating, allowing you to throttle out of trouble. The Z would punish you if you drove like this, requiring much smoother throttle inputs and less flicking. With how well my car is doing these last few weeks, I am extremely annoyed I'm not going to Nats this year with my car. I think John Hale's going to be the one to beat, this year. If I went and was on my game, I think it's a pretty good chance the Z can come out on top.