Feb 21, 2010- SPC

[garage west]

I'll start-- great event, thanks everybody!

[shakedown067]

Heck yeah it was. Had a killer time. Way to go Chris. It was a fast course, and had some nice fun tricky sections.

And here is a little in car action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIWtFd_Uvk

[Native]

Yeah, it was a great event.

Chris, along with everything else, you did a great job melding the school elements into a course of a different color. The slalom element was obvious, the big turn at the east end, if done correctly, was a beautiful skidpad exercise. It blended right in to the offset 90's, and into the finish, which even at fast-car speeds was plenty long enough to be at a full stop (if wanted) before the right turn by the grass to get back to the grid. We haven't had that solid of a 2nd gear course at SPC in a long time, and even though it was only 30 seconds or so, it was really, really enjoyable to go flying around out there.

I think everyone had a great time, the weather was wonderful, and lunch, OMG, I was full and time was up, but I still wanted more. Wilma's got an idea for next month if wanted... (Dan, Nick, consider it strongly... Yellow_Colorz_PDT_06 )

I want to offer a huge thank you to John, Wilfredo, Evan and Ben, and Bob (who gave us a hand even though he wasn't at the event), for helping put back the police course and load the trailer (almost in the rain). You guys were a great help and I really appreciate what you each did in addition to your regular work assignments earlier in the day. 8)


OH by the way, before anyone starts itching for results, Kenny had to leave a little early, and did not take the computer with him. He's been wonderful about getting results posted quickly, so be cool and keep an eye on the homepage for the posting.

[Loren]

Aside from a power glitch that took the timing computer out for a few minutes, I think it was a nearly flawless event. Can't wait to see the results... Yellow_Colorz_PDT_02

[PaboShon]

I had an absolute blast driving that course today. The speed of it was intense and challenging. And did I mention how much I loved getting ten runs in?

Good job Chris!

[jdr_racer]

WOW!! Where do I start??
1)Chris you did a fantastic job today w/ the event. It was really no surprise after the great novice school. Thank you so much for giving me some pointers and even riding along on a run w/ me even though you had your hands full w/ the event!!! You helped my drop a lot of time from my runs!!

2)Kenny-thanks for showing me the ins&out of timing and scoring! I really enjoyed working that w/ you, and it gave me a real understanding on how the cars are times through the course. Plus it was nice to talk Subies w/ you.

3)Bob-thank you for so much direction w/ the novice school and today's event! Also, I really appeciate your help figuring out proper tire pressures to get rid of my understeer.

4)Jeremy-what can I say??? You are DAMN fast!! Thanks for giving me a ride along during one of your runs. Plus thanks for the help during the novice school!

5)Eric-the two runs in your vette were an overload of the senses!

If I missed anyone I apoligize, but everyone was just great and it's so hard to remember everyone's name. I am still in shock we got to each have 10 runs. That allowed me to really work on my rhythm on the course. I am really happy how things went for me during my first autocross competition. I can not wait for March's event!!!

[nc4me]

Once again, thank you everyone for the kind words. I had fun chairing both events and it was nice to meet a lot of new people.

I want to thank everyone that stayed late to help reset the police course and load the trailer today.

Thank you Eric for pulling double duty today(tech and start for the 1st group).

Joe- Congratulations on winning your class today. It was fun riding in your car.

Most importantly, for me anyways, I want to thank Steven and Loren. Believe it or not the novice school was only the second event I've ever chaired. My first one was in November of 09 and I was flattered when Steven asked me to chair the novice school and race this weekend after seeing how the event ran in November. It really is because of the support and advice from both Steven and Loren that things went so well this weekend. They helped me organize and plan this right up to the morning of the school. They even had last minute suggestions that made the school a lot smoother than if I'd have been doing things on my own. Even for todays event. It's easy to run if you know that you have guys like Steven, and every other knowledgeable person within FAST(there's a lot of them), that you know you can count on to get things done. It truly is a group effort.

[Miata GT]

The events seem to be getting better and better. Another round of thanks to Chris for a great event!

[WAFlowers]

Chris (and the cast of thousands who assisted): awesome double event! I said it before and I'll say it again: it ran like a Swiss timepiece. Way to go!

[nc4me]

Nice vid Eric. Who was with you that yelled, "that was sweet"? Was that Joe? Whoever it was, I like their enthusiasm.

This is a good vid for everyone to watch, because it shows that if you got the turn off the straight correct. That it then becomes one nice smooth arc all the way into threading that first 90 after it. It shows that no matter if you have a large car or a small one, that if done correctly, it's possible. Even Kenny in the Impala SS was doing it.

[yamaha731]

That was the best autocross I have ever been to Thank you to every one who helped put the event on and all so to Drew for showing me just how hard I could push my car. I would advise all the new guys to have a fast guy drive your car and tell him to push it. You will be amazed how good your car really is.

[shakedown067]

Nice vid Eric. Who was with you that yelled, "that was sweet"? Was that Joe? Whoever it was, I like their enthusiasm.

This is a good vid for everyone to watch, because it shows that if you got the turn off the straight correct. That it then becomes one nice smooth arc all the way into threading that first 90 after it. It shows that no matter if you have a large car or a small one, that if done correctly, it's possible. Even Kenny in the Impala SS was doing it.

LOL. Thanks. That was actually Kenny with the Impala. I didn't hit that section every time like that, but I sure tried like hell. Thought for sure I was going to kill one of those cones at least once, but not a problem at all getting through. Some times you gotta "just put the hammer down and give it hell." That new asphalt certainly liked my tires too...as it looks like it kept a lot them for it's self...including a nice "chunk." Looks like I may have let a little too much air out.

[Loren]

Made 10 runs in my car yesterday. Took an instructor run in a Miata. Rode along as an instructor in I don't know how many runs. And sat in timing and watched at least 150 runs from the trailer. From all of that observation, I bring you...

Top 10 Mistakes Made At The February Autocross

• 10 - Worker waving red flag at the car that JUST PASSED him because that car dragged a cone with him. Why??? The car after him may need to be flagged if the course can't be reset, but there is no need to flag the car that hit the cone... and the driver isn't going to see you waving that flag in his mirror, anyway! He ain't gettin' a rerun and there is no safety issue = no red flag.
• 9 - Ridiculous amounts of wheelspin off the start.
• 8 - Braking too late.
• 7 - Turning too much, too late.
• 6 - Braking too late.
• 5 - Being 10 feet away from apex cones.
• 4 - Braking too late.
• 3 - Apexing too late in the one place that it was appropriate to apex early.
• 2 - Failure to look ahead and position the car for what lies ahead.
• 1 - Braking too late.

There were three truly critical turns on this course. Each of the right turns on the course. If you braked too late in the first one (end of the slalom), you would end up plowing toward the cone wall on the outside of the turn, being on the wrong line, and scrubbing off too much momentum in the process. Not having the momentum at the entrance to the longest straight on the course could easily take anywhere from half a second to 2 seconds off of your time!

If you braked too late at the end of the long straight (a very, very common problem), you had no choice but to turn in late and completely miss the apex of the turn. The proper line was to be set up for the turn, all the way to the left of the course (not in the middle!), turn in a little bit early and EARLY apex that turn, tracking out gently to the outside and holding the arc to line up to the chute through the "90 degree turn" on the exit. Done properly, speed was maintained through the turn, distance through the turn was minimized, and you could get on the throttle well before the "90" and really make something out of the "back straight".

The last one was the right turn before the finish. Braking too late here would simply put you into the outside cone on the gate before the finish. A lot of people tried to get a last jolt of acceleration after the left-kink before this turn before braking for it, which both gave them too much speed AND forced them to brake too late.

Fun course! 10 runs, and I don't think I ever got it completely right. It begged to be over-driven, and a lot of people did!

[Jeremy]

Worker waving red flag at the car that JUST PASSED him because that car dragged a cone with him. Why??? The car after him may need to be flagged if the course can't be reset, but there is no need to flag the car that hit the cone... and the driver isn't going to see you waving that flag in his mirror, anyway! He ain't gettin' a rerun and there is no safety issue = no red flag

I covered courseworking during the novice walkthrough since I knew there would be a lot of first time novices at this event. I actually try to do it every time, but sometimes I forget. It seemed that courseworking was actually above average for this event. Everyone seemed to be hustling for downed cones and the starter worked very well in conjunction with the course workers. I was kind of nervous about a high speed crossover so close to the start, but Eric and Phillipe did a great job. (sorry didn't see who worked it 3rd shift.)

Maybe we could spend some time tweaking the morning meeting info regarding coursework. Some suggestions would be to present that info first, so people aren't nodding off by the time it is presented (although Carl did a great job waking everyone up for that). Maybe also only have one person such as a safety steward, present this info for every event, that way we get some consistency in this area. I know in Ft. Myers they used to have a separate courseworking meeting led by the worker chief during the driver's meeting. It seemed to be effective in emphasizing the importance of this info.

[Loren]

Hehe, yeah, Chris and I went round and round a little bit about the start on this course. Ultimately, "safety" prevailed, and we came up with a compromise that worked very well, but still gave the flow that Chris was looking for. As long as the starter didn't start somebody at the wrong time, the course was good. (and that's almost always the case... a good starter is VERY important to the safety of the event!)

Driver's meetings... ugh. A necessary evil. You should have seen how awful and inconsistent they were before Steve and I drafted the notes that are currently being used! I'm all for revising them if someone wants to take that bull by the horns. Splitting it into two separate "briefings" isn't a bad idea.

Covering some worker basics at the novice walk is a great idea, too. Most everybody at our driver's meeting knows all that stuff, it's the novices that need it... and most of them do the novice walk.

I definitely agree that the corner workers were on the ball at this event. That one incident at station 3 just made me say "huh?" It all comes together with experience and time.

[Jeremy]

Heck yeah it was. Had a killer time. Way to go Chris. It was a fast course, and had some nice fun tricky sections.

And here is a little in car action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIWtFd_Uvk

After watching that I wish I tried some different lines in a couple places. I don't think I ever got the hairpin or the finish corner right, at least not in the same run.

I am not that good at fast sections going into tight corners. Is anyone though? Damn street tires and their lack of front grip.

[Loren]

Damn street tires and their lack of front grip.

I would like to officially be the first to tell Mr. "FTD by a margin of .8 seconds" to STFU about his "lack of grip". Yellow_Colorz_PDT_08

I wish I'd have gotten off my butt and gone to watch some of Jeremy's runs. I watched all of Eric's runs from timing and could see his very minor errors on his best runs. Really, all I saw was that he was 2-3 feet off of some of the apexes. This speaks to the notion of "position is more important than speed" from the novice school.

I'm betting that Jeremy's lines were tighter and that's what made most of the difference between his times and Eric's.

[shakedown067]

After watching that I wish I tried some different lines in a couple places. I don't think I ever got the hairpin or the finish corner right, at least not in the same run.

I am not that good at fast sections going into tight corners. Is anyone though? Damn street tires and their lack of front grip.

HOLD THE PHONE...you aren't good at fast sections into tight corners? Man I'm screwed.

I would like to officially be the first to tell Mr. "FTD by a margin of .8 seconds" to STFU about his "lack of grip". Yellow_Colorz_PDT_08

I wish I'd have gotten off my butt and gone to watch some of Jeremy's runs. I watched all of Eric's runs from timing and could see his very minor errors on his best runs. Really, all I saw was that he was 2-3 feet off of some of the apexes. This speaks to the notion of "position is more important than speed" from the novice school.

I'm betting that Jeremy's lines were tighter and that's what made most of the difference between his times and Eric's.

I couldn't agree more with all of the above! Two things I know I need improvement is looking further down the line (I can memorize the track too well) and getting closer to those stinking orange things coming out of the road. I only tagged one all day...

[Alizarin]

Aside from a power glitch that took the timing computer out for a few minutes, I think it was a nearly flawless event. Can't wait to see the results... Yellow_Colorz_PDT_02

Interestingly enough, the last run group had mostly 9 runs. Which is a little better than what it was at first, with only 5. I tried to do what I could but since I wasn't there for the issue, I'm not sure what happened.

With that, the results are up. I didn't put a blurb on the front page about it, but I'm sure Steve can think of something. I don't know what to say about the missing runs, so I hope nobody won their class on the last run.

[Alizarin]

I think my problem came from a few of Loren's list, and one that didn't make it. I was braking too late after the "front stretch", and turning too early for the finish. I kept forgetting that cone was further in than it was. And I think the big one was not keeping up with my tire pressure. The wear pattern shows the story, that I was progressively further and further from maximizing full traction as the day wore on. But I had fun giving people rides. In fact, that's the first time I've had that many people want to go with me. My first run was solo, and that was it.