Event #3 for 2013 and another double points grab. I was running in the afternoon again, and the weather was great. Well, except for the random 40-50mph gusts and large dust devils that wrecked the course a few times. I played with the tire pressures a bit, raising the front to 18psi and the rears to 17psi. That got a lot more grip out of the front than I've had in a while but the rears were now sliding around. She was a handful but with the front sticking better I was able to go faster than before. The fun was short lived, however, since after each run I could hear the exhaust note changing. I had a small exhaust leak, not that big of a deal, but the car started to lose power which was very noticeable off boost. By the end of the group we were pretty much hot-lapping the car, and after my 3rd run I knew something was off. I tried to get a 4th run out of her anyway since I was about 1.5 seconds off top time of day, but halfway through the run the oil light started coming on and I shut her down. I ended up with a 44.4 which should have put me in the top 10 raw times with my 3rd run, and still beat my nemesis by .3 sec which was good for 1st place.
The victory is bittersweet though, and I think the cam might be going as well as the exhaust gasket. There's now a rush to get the sti motor and trans in the bug before the next event in June. I don't think it'll happen by then but we'll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjRO2UR_-gQ