Post 11-13 SPC Event

[98bullet]

Broken record time...I loved the course set up alot..It was fun, had a really great flow and was well worth it..I hope that we can do more set ups like this in the future..

[rab]

I would like to thank everyone that helped lead this old fart around the event and let me work the grid and not run around on the course.

I had a blast and loved the course, only got lost on the first time.

Loren... thanks much for you tutelage you are the master... .

I actually accomplished a few things...

1. The old gals engine didn't turn into a mosquito fogger
2. I could see the track (didn't get lost in the cones) many thanks to the track designers...
3. I wasn't overall slowest time of day.... I think an old guy in a stock class hoveround wondered out onto the course.

The timming issue gave me an extra run... and time to compose and think about the next run

Again thanks to all for a great event!

[Loren]

Loren... thanks much for you tutelage you are the master... .

Good instruction requires a good student! Glad I could help.

[twistedwankel]

I would like to apologize to Jeremy's Mom for referring to him as being known as an "alien" driver in the presence of a young ethnic lady course worker and getting a confused look. I will refer to Jeremy, et al, in the future as "extra-terrestrial" drivers to avoid further confusion.

No one accused me of "over thinking" at the Sunday event

Truly enjoyable/challenging/FAST event with many things to laud. Especially Jamie and Brian.

[Loren]

I just spent way too much time on this:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1095" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Read and learn, folks!

(and thanks for the photos, Greg!)

[muddy]

I have to admit that I had an attitude about this course (and still do, because it was hard for novices to follow), but it really was a fun course to drive! Or maybe I'm just enamored with my "new" Miata?

Jamie and Brian put on a well-run event, as always.

Oh, and Ron and I have been discussing some potential ways to reduce the timing problems. Much of the problem today, we believe, was due to the distance of both the start AND the finish from the trailer. Our directional antenna can handle ONE of the timer heads being quite a distance away, but that requires the OTHER one to be closer. In this case, the start was about 200' and the finish was close to 300'. Anyway, we continue to learn the quirks of our timing system and we're working on it!

Edit: And I'd also like to thank Jeremy's Mom.

During the last run group we had a lot of problems, until I suggested we switch the lights around at the start. I don't know if having the sending unit 20 feet closer made a difference, or if it was the sun causing the problem. We had just one timing malfunction after the change, however.

[98bullet]

yeah the timing issue gave me 2 reruns..Didnt hurt my feelings..

[Tim_M]

As everyone else has stated-another very enjoyable event.

Definitely liked the loop format-bit more difficult to navigate, encouraged looking ahead!

Mr Wong: thanks for the images! Almost looks like one of mine has flames/sparks coming from the front brake? Those new autocross pads grab well...

[cpages2]

I actually loved the course we ran. It was a great challenge to think "Christ did I do the loop already??????"

Loren, whats is done to your car? You seemed planted like hell out there and your time is amazing

- Mike

[garage west]

Loren, whats is done to your car? You seemed planted like hell out there and your time is amazing

- Mike

It's piloted by Loren. Dude's got skills.

[Loren]

Loren, whats is done to your car? You seemed planted like hell out there and your time is amazing

Thanks, Mike!

I can't give away all my secrets! John's partially right, though. The smoothness behind the wheel helps a lot.

The main things I've done to the car since buying it a couple months ago are a set of KYB AGX shocks (used, bought 'em from Steve Frank, he's been autocrossing on them for 2-3 years!), a set of 205/50-15 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec tires (also used, but not used up) and a decent alignment (done by me in my garage with hand tools). Fred (the car) isn't quite there yet, he's going to get better before I take him out of "stock class"... and then who knows? So far, my investment has just topped $1500.

But, as I always say, autocross is all about tires and driver. Those are the two most important things.

[cpages2]

Loren, whats is done to your car? You seemed planted like hell out there and your time is amazing

Thanks, Mike!

I can't give away all my secrets! John's partially right, though. The smoothness behind the wheel helps a lot.

The main things I've done to the car since buying it a couple months ago are a set of KYB AGX shocks (used, bought 'em from Steve Frank, he's been autocrossing on them for 2-3 years!), a set of 205/50-15 Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec tires (also used, but not used up) and a decent alignment (done by me in my garage with hand tools). Fred (the car) isn't quite there yet, he's going to get better before I take him out of "stock class"... and then who knows? So far, my investment has just topped $1500.

But, as I always say, autocross is all about tires and driver. Those are the two most important things.

Next event I would love a ride along with you and maybe if you can ride with me and give some pointers. I learned a lot from my first auto-x!!! My background is mainly all rally so I had some experience coming into this but I have a lot to learn still.

One thing I noticed was how much the back end wanted to come around. First run tire pressure was just way to high, I lowered it about 7lbs and next run it wasn't like driving on ice, but she was still sliding a bit. I think I need to work on my cornering as I felt a lot of the sliding was me trying to cut closer then I should, versus following a smooth line.

Another thing I feel is my steering movements aren't as smooth as they should be. All of this is probably bad habits from off-road racing as I am (most of the time) trying to pendulum/bell turn the car or OK with sliding in dirt. Just need to work on these things, but input from an expert would be awesome!!!

Tires/Suspension have to be done next!!!! I will say this, I came there so nervous I was going to fail in every aspect but ended up doing much better then expected and had a blast doing it.

- Mike

[twistedwankel]

[quote="LorenThe main things I've done to the car since buying it a couple months ago are a set of KYB AGX shocks (used, bought 'em from Steve Frank, he's been autocrossing on them for 2-3 years!)quote]

Even a newbie corner worker noticed ("What's wrong with that car?") the extreme lean thru the slalom where your car looked to go from bump stop to bump stop. Do the KYB's only work in rebound like Koni's?

Anyhow what you said x2 about smooth driver and tires

[Loren]

A miata on stock springs rolls a lot when pressed, it's just what they do. But, I was running without a rear sway bar and the shocks were not set full stiff. So, it could have had a little more roll.

Fred is still a work in progress.

[Loren]

Next event I would love a ride along with you and maybe if you can ride with me and give some pointers.

No problem, just find me.

[jreid1000]

Loren, whats is done to your car? You seemed planted like hell out there and your time is amazing

- Mike

My car is very fast when Loren drives it!

[Loren]

Safety Stuff

I hate to be Mr. Negative, but I guess somebody has to, and the more I think about it, the more I think this stuff really needs to be said. All it takes is one dumb thing to happen and we can either lose our insurance, have our rates hiked to where we can't afford to put on events, or lose an autocross site. So, bear with me...

Two incidents were brought to my attention this weekend. One I actually witnessed myself, and in hindsight, feel that it should have been handled with a firmer hand. The other I heard about last night, and also feel that it should have been handled more strongly.

First and foremost, while we have an assigned "safety guy" at each event, it is EVERYONE's responsibility to be his eyes and ears. If you see something that doesn't look safe, be it an underage kid roaming the grid, someone's tire that looks like it won't make another run, somebody in the hot area without proper shoes (yes, closed toes are required!), something that looks like it might be a potential car fire, somebody crawling under an unsupported car on a jack... whatever it is, ACT on it. If you don't feel it's your place to try to rectify the problem directly, look for me, Steve, the safety guy, the event chairman... anybody who looks like they've been around for a while, it will get taken care of. But, don't just turn a blind eye to it, please!

The first of the two incidents this weekend was the car that spewed coolant all over the course (no biggie, it happens). When repairing it, someone saw fit to be under the car supported by a jack. I spotted this from a picnic table 250 feet away, so surely a dozen or more people who were closer HAD to notice it!

They had an air tank under the car as their "safety", but I'm sorry an air tank is not a jack stand. And before the "we didn't have a jack stand" excuse comes up again, I'm pretty sure someone made a run to the store to get parts to fix the car. Right? Remmber, if something goes wrong, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE. If that car falls on you and you get hurt, we've got insurance problems to deal with, and I wouldn't be surprised if we lost the site over it. The chain of questions would probably skip all the way to "why was work being done on the car here", and to eliminate their own liability, the school's legal department would either come down on us with "any car that needs work must be towed", or more likely "this is too much liability, go away".

So, if you need to work under a car at an autocross, find a jack stand. Can't find one? There's a Wal-Mart across the street. Need a ride? Come find me. I'll even loan you $20 to buy a pair of jack stands. There are NO excuses for being under an unsupported car on a jack at a FAST autocross. None.

The second incident was the car that blew smoke profusely all around the course, and then had smoke coming from under the hood for another 5 minutes in the grid. When questioned about it, the story I heard was that they refused to open the hood to let anyone look, insisting that it was okay. Well, I'm sorry, but just like we have the right (responsibility) to do a tech inspection on your car to ensure your safety and the safety of everyone else at the event, we also have the right (and responsibility) to look at your car if we suspect there is something wrong with it... such as IT MIGHT BE ON FIRE. For anyone who can't deal with that in the future, be ready to head for the gate. If we think your car is unsafe and you won't let us verify it, we have to assume that it IS unsafe and get it out of the event.

This is all about liability and "due diligence" (look it up if you don't know what it means). In either of these incidents, if someone had gotten hurt, or property damaged because WE allowed it to happen, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE.

Let's all watch the club's back, okay?

[cpages2]

Well said!! I know I am a novice at Auto-X and this was my first FAST event but being a new person I saw plenty of things that shocked me on Sunday.

I am not here to call people out or point fingers but I will say this. The GRID area needs some clean up IMHO, at one point it looked more like a parking lot car meet. Lots of people lacking wrist bands walking around and hanging with their friends near their cars (I even saw someone have to back down lane to pull into another row because so many people were standing near a car they couldn't fit in lane). I know when I was coming in from 2 of my runs I had several people standing in the road so I had to wait till they saw me and moved and once someone walked in front of me driving back without looking.

Just my two cents

[76-TR6]

Well, I would like to start by thanking everyone involved in making the event a fun one; also like to thank my mentors - I had a list somewhere … ; “Bimmer Joe” for sharing his shade; the Academy; and my car – Wilson.

Jokes aside, thank you “S2000 Bob” for trusting the newbie and doing a “ride-a-long “in my car. Special thanks to white Miata #25, Todd (?), for letting me ride along. BTW, Todd should have had a couple of seconds removed from that run considering he was carrying a “heavy anchor”, like I heard someone say at the start line. Sorry Todd… ... lets see: a second/100 lbs... then maybe 2.3 secs would be fare...

A couple of persons asked me for my times and all I could say was that I was having fun! Maybe this will change at some point, but for now, just keep the double loops, slaloms, and straight ways coming. Yeah!

Robert

[Loren]

People who don't own Triumphs don't understand. If you're DRIVING the car, it's an awesome day!