June 14th - Tampa Bay Downs

[Solar]

Doug Adams
Addams Family
Gomez

Why did this not occur to me before?

<snap> <snap>

With his beard he looks more like Cousin It.

[Loren]

Yeah, but his personality is somewhere between Gomez and Uncle Fester! But, something tells me he's probably heard all of this before.

[Dave S]

Thanks for the ride along and good advice Tony. Great pictures Eric, thanks for posting them! Really great event, very challenging course. Well done!

[aw614]

Here are the pics I took from the first run group in the afternoon.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7995180@N ... 799840860/

Here were my runs from the AM, my fastest which I was doing better until the look around and had to brake hard and lost time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUNlKQulEeo
2nd run
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxgRlj8GmM4
and last run, I stupidly went to the wrong part at the end ugh! I couldn't pull it together in one run. I know where I could make my corrections, just gotta get faster in less runs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf8qylMktbI

[Loren]

And at least one "points conundrum"... If Les doesn't have confidence that he can finish 1st or 2nd, he might be better off not running:
If he finishes first, his drop stays the same and he gains 9 points. Scott can't touch him.
If he finishes 2nd, his drop stays the same and he gains 6 points. Scott can't touch him.
If he doesn't run in-class, his drop goes from 6 to zero and he gains 6 points. Scott can't touch him.

Never trust me with simple math.

For some reason, I thought Les had two no-show events and one 6-point finish as his drops. 0+0+6. In that case, not running the last event would give him three zero point drops and restore 6 points.

But, he actually only has one no-show event, a 2-point finish and a 4-point finish. So, if he skips the last event, his drops will be 0+0+2... he'll only recoup 4 points.

And if Scott finishes first, Les will lose by ONE point! Sorry for the confusion.

I think the only fair and equitable solution to this problem would be for Scott and Les to compete in the final event IN THE SAME CAR. It would be Epic.

[Getagrip]

A great event put on by FAST as usual. Challenging course with a sprinkle of sand to make
more challenging. Great venue bringing exposure to the sport.
My best run of 52.343 here. I had to tone down on my routinely heavy braking as ABS was kicking in way too much.
http://youtu.be/WsjUEWicPSI

[lddavis91]

I think the only fair and equitable solution to this problem would be for Scott and Les to compete in the final event IN THE SAME CAR. It would be Epic.

That is an excellent idea, its only fair, Scott? :-)

[twistedwankel]

I think the only fair and equitable solution to this problem would be for Scott and Les to compete in the final event IN THE SAME CAR. It would be Epic.

That is an excellent idea, its only fair, Scott? :-)

Scott did ask for codrivers of sand blowers for the AM session but no one showed. My blower has a cord so not alot of good out there other than the eating area?

[Rosko]

Thanks to everyone for another great FAST event. I don't know where I'd autocross if it wasn't for you guys.

I had never been to TBD. I love that slick gritty asphalt, so it was great. It reminded me of Zephyrhills airport. As I rounded the yellow cone, and through the puddle, and into that arcing left turn, I loved the exercise in car control. It may not have been the fast way, but it was fun!

This FWD thing is new and less than ideal on autocross day, but I learned something that Drew was talking about when he rode with me. You can induce perfect lift throttle oversteer quite consistently in a Focus ST. It's a useful trick. Thanks again to Drew for the tips (he's had some experience instructing in this car).

[snookwheel]

I think the only fair and equitable solution to this problem would be for Scott and Les to compete in the final event IN THE SAME CAR. It would be Epic.

That is an excellent idea, its only fair, Scott? :-)

[Goumba]

I like this photo. Why? Because here you see a fwd car, on street tires, on a slick surface, driven by a man with a busted up arm getting a TON of front grip. That requires a lot of discipline and patience. Something the buffoon in the silver miata wasn't exercising at all.

P6142968 by aw614, on Flickr

[shakedown067]

So who's hoarding all the photos?

[lddavis91]

So, its been a few weeks and my ego is healing and I realized I never bothered to take the video off the camera. I put all 4 runs in one video, so you could see the endless stream of suck. I call this masterpiece montage "Whole lotta suckin' going on" At least there are some good engine noises. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UZTPb ... e=youtu.be

[Loren]

You look like a driver who was expecting a lot more grip.

[lddavis91]

You look like a driver who was expecting a lot more grip.

The issue at TBD isn't the overall grip level, its the consistency of the grip. While I may not always follow a perfect line all the time, I'm pretty good at utilizing most all the grip that is available to me most of the time. There were a few spots at TBD where the grip is dramatically less then most everywhere else which is particularly challenging in a big heavy car like mine where grip is your biggest strength and therefore maximum utilization of it is crucial. Not that grip utilization is unimportant in a small/light car, but IMO its more important in heavier, higher grip cars. All the bumps at TBD are also in issue in a "marginally suspended" car such as mine, my spring rates are 1150/850 lb-in for perspective, I also run a special "extreme" valved non-adjustable Bilstein, I have some adjustable QA1s on the shelf I should probably swap to for TBD, bumps are not my friends in that car as you can imagine and they really exacerbate the inconsistent grip scenario. Had I a couple more runs I probably could have gotten it through my thick head where the particularly slippery parts were and adjusted, but expecting 6 runs at an autocross is a VERY unrealistic expectation, hell you only get three at nationals. I suck.

Oh, and BTW I saw you spin out and into the grass I believe in the very same spot I had the most trouble with grip, at least I didn't do that.

[Loren]

Oh, I sucked horribly on that course, too. I chalked it up to the stress of chairing a big event, heat, and just not focusing on driving. But, it guess variable grip could have been an issue.

I never made it to the grass. My spin was in the far corner making the walled-in left toward the finish. About the time I finally mustered enough balls to take it nearly flat-out, I realized it was off-camber... and lifted. Ben never has the camera running for the fun stuff!

[jbrannon7]

You look like a driver who was expecting a lot more grip.

The issue at TBD isn't the overall grip level, its the consistency of the grip. While I may not always follow a perfect line all the time, I'm pretty good at utilizing most all the grip that is available to me most of the time. There were a few spots at TBD where the grip is dramatically less then most everywhere else which is particularly challenging in a big heavy car like mine where grip is your biggest strength and therefore maximum utilization of it is crucial. Not that grip utilization is unimportant in a small/light car, but IMO its more important in heavier, higher grip cars. All the bumps at TBD are also in issue in a "marginally suspended" car such as mine, my spring rates are 1150/850 lb-in for perspective, I also run a special "extreme" valved non-adjustable Bilstein, I have some adjustable QA1s on the shelf I should probably swap to for TBD, bumps are not my friends in that car as you can imagine and they really exacerbate the inconsistent grip scenario. Had I a couple more runs I probably could have gotten it through my thick head where the particularly slippery parts were and adjusted, but expecting 6 runs at an autocross is a VERY unrealistic expectation, hell you only get three at nationals. I suck.

Oh, and BTW I saw you spin out and into the grass I believe in the very same spot I had the most trouble with grip, at least I didn't do that.

Here is a video by a friend of mine, Danny Kao, from when I AXd in the D.C. area. It was our first event at FedEx field after they sealed large portions of it, they didn't seal all of it so you went from grippy asphalt to what seemed like oiled asphalt. There were 239 drivers at this event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo33UPTXJUw

[twistedwankel]

Joe that was really funny to watch.
Thanks.

Another trailer queen at it's best.

[twistedwankel]

Oh, I sucked horribly on that course, too. I chalked it up to the stress of chairing a big event, heat, and just not focusing on driving. But, it guess variable grip could have been an issue.

I never made it to the grass. My spin was in the far corner making the walled-in left toward the finish. About the time I finally mustered enough balls to take it nearly flat-out, I realized it was off-camber... and lifted. Ben never has the camera running for the fun stuff!

I used to volunteer as Chair simply to take the heat off the very few who did it. It is really hard to be "competitive" when you are running around seeing to everyone else's needs/whims ALL DAY. I too spun into the grass on the second pass loop once on probably my 3rd run of the afternoon when I got a little tiny bit into the marbles with the rear tires with a passenger who thought it was fun as heck. I still got 3rd place sticker on 4th run:) It is what it is.

Wonder how much it costs to rent a couple gas leaf blowers? The morning group enjoys the "cool" air, home by 1pm and lunch so they could at least help Scottrade clean the track off for 15 minutes to help themselves?

[shakedown067]

Who can make a sweeper/plow mount for the front of my car?