How should we start the recap about the Race of Indy? No not the big race, just the little SoloII practice day for R3. This was a non-point event held by the Indy Region.

We started out early in the morning for the drive to Anderson. Anderson is about 15 minutes north of Indy. The event was held at a closed GM plant. The location is very big but the surface is the worst we have to compete on. There are no holes in the asphalt lot but there are marbles everywhere. If you get out of the race-line or try to run a different line, you are in serouis trouble.

All of us arrived and so did Jim, our ZX3 co-driver from LSN racing. I will not write about the course issuses of the day nor how the day went. Jim pretty much told it how is in his article on the LSN site. To read his experience driving the R3 ZX3 give a click here.

Everyone was running Falken Azenis tires, seems to be the choice of tire in STS for the Indy region. Well our 2 year old 300 tread wear TOYO Proxies F4’s are on their last leg. To top the day off I came to the conclusion that our rear left KONI is defective. There is a "psst" sound along with a sagging in the rear left side. Normal driving is okay but under racing, the rear end was hoping around.

There was a ton of great competition as usual. We did not place well and have come to the conclusion that tires are in the future. We can not compete with the size nor the type of tire we are running. We are looking at the 205/50/15 Sumitomo HTRZ. The KONI should be replace by the next race along with tires.

The STS field was 24 competitors (my favorite number) for the day. Randy placed 12th and Jim got 18th. Aaron got 20th with the number 23STS ZTS. We have three placement goals for Randy this year in STS. Of course goal #1 is always to WIN! Goal two is to be in the top 5. If for some reason we can not be there, we will settle for nothing less than half.

Enough about that, as you can see things are starting to heat up. The FOCUS is a winner and so are we. We hate to loose and change is to come very soon to improve driving performance.

The one "Oh I Crapped My Pants" issue of the day was when Randy and Aaron almost being ran over by an out of control Audi on Indy’s very fast track. If you would like to see a cheezy reinactment of the situation just click here.

The next race is Memorial Day at Wayne High school where Randy is the Race Chair for the event. He was nominated at the last FWRSCCA meeting. Stay tuned for how that goes. There is also a Focus G2G in Michigan on May 25th. If you are going, we will see you there!

It was a great course in a great location, along with the best weather. Everything was perfect except Randy's skills. Yes, it is true, the performance of the R3 TeamFocus01 vehicle and/or driver was not there. His 1st run was the best and dropped off, way off from there.

Tire pressure, the Koni's, nothing seemed to work to fit the track. The car was tight and was finally loosened up on the last run.

There were four runs for the day. The TestNTune track the day before was nothing like the new setup for Sunday. The set-up for the TestNTune was thrown out the window. We got the car dialed in on the last run but was driven like the car was setup on the 1st run. If there was one more run, we would of moved up.

All in all it was not R3's day. Randy placed 10th out of 24 cars in STS. Aaron' s car was setup great from out of the gate. He his working hard on his skills and he placed 15th. We are very please with his performance of the day.

"We will get 'em at the next race!" - R3

Thanks myFordPerformance.com!

Our Focus Central three piece pulley sytem arrived! We look forward to the install for the DYNO scheduled for May 25th.

05.01.02

If you have been tuning in for the past week, you have notice a little something coming. Allow me to introduce the newest RandyRyanRacing TeamFocus driver. Welcome Aaron Meyer and his 4-door Infa-Red ZTS. Aaron brings the STS ZTS Sedan to compete in his rookie year as a SCCA SpeedFreakz member.

We have gotten a lot of inquiries about the ZTS and how competitive it really is in Solo compared to the ZX3 and others. Well we are here to tell you in the forth coming months how well it can or can not do.

This weekend launches the first race for TeamFocus_02. Please give Aaron a warm welcome and we are looking forward to his season competing with Randy in the Fort Wayne Region SCCA SoloII. Randy may have some seat time in the TF_02 so he can give his feedback on the performance of the economic sports sedan.

There is a huge race this May 5th at Grissom Airforce Base in Peru, Indiana. These are the same grounds where the Divisionals and Nationals have been run. If you like a big course, you need to come out and compete. Saturday May 4th, is a TestNTune day. There will be an AutoX course along with a skid pad to test your suspension and tires. Make sure you stop by and say hi. The links above will point you to the festivities along with online registration.

Due to circumstances beyond our control at randyryanracing and that of our Ford Dealership, we will be unable to attend the SCCA SoloII race this Sunday, April 14th in Detroit.

The Intake Manifold on the TeamFocus car has a melted burn hole through it and needs to be replaced. This hole is causing a vacuum leak. The car has been at Ford since Wednesday. The manifold did not arrive until late this afternoon and the Ford dealership can not install until Monday. We should get the car back on Monday and the dealership is picking up my rental charges for the inconvience.

Keep a click on randyryanracing.com. You will see a reschedule to race in Detroit. We will race in Detroit later in the season! Thanks again for all the support and we will see you at another race. We will let you know how the new intake works out and have pictures of the "holy intake".