So I thought I was going to take my STR NC to Nationals...

... but then I finally tried co-driving my husband’s FR-S at a local event last weekend. I love my NC and all, but with the FR-S now sporting a front swaybar and some RE71Rs, it’s not only become the more competitive car for its class, but I’m starting to like driving it even more. It’s definitely not as sharp and straightforward to drive as the NC, but it sure brings a lot more balance and flexibility to the table.

Saturday’s run, 2nd PAX / 6th raw of 50.

In spite of it being my first two events with the FR-S in its current form, I managed to land within 0.12 and then 0.31 (PAX-adjusted) seconds of a multi-time national champion (Ron Williams in a STX Mini). This has me thinking I can probably do a bit better than I can with my NC, which realistically is a mid-pack car in its class at best, on account of it being neither fully optimized for its class nor an ND.

Sunday’s run, 3rd PAX / 7th raw of 48. Those botched turns at the end are likely what kept me from doing as well as I did on Saturday. I had another run after this one, but spun it in the middle slalom.

I was hoping to at least give the NC a nice send-off with a trip to nationals before I started entertaining the idea of potential replacements next year, but I just think I have a lot more to gain and learn here by running the FR-S.

Anyway, here are some bonus fun runs in a BMW M2 (B Street) for your time. It was silly.

It really did wind up driving a lot like the FR-S, just with much more power. My 3rd run, if not for the cones, would have only been 0.5 (PAX-adjusted) seconds slower than the FR-S.