June 28 - FAST Classic @ Brooksville

[Loren]

I'm gonna take a nap. Then a shower. Then maybe go out and get some dinner.

Then I'll review and post the results.

Meanwhile, y'all can discuss!

Great event in spite of the heat! My sincere apologies for laying out a course that so many people seemed unable to get through without hitting a cone (or 4) at an event where workers are scarce. I think we're going to start setting up a little earlier to allow time for pre-running the course so that adjustments can be made to smooth things out a bit as-necessary.

Thanks to all who put in extra effort for this one. You know who you are... the people who volunteered to work extra course work assignments in the heat. The people who stayed late and helped clean up. The early birds who helped set up. The people who tended to the 3-4 people who were on the verge of heat stroke. Thanks to all of you, you make FAST great!

[shakedown067]

Loved the course. The four cones where from me pushing the hell out of the car. Lol It was so damn fun having sticky tires again! I'll publish what few photos I took later. Family time!


http://youtu.be/yMtyQSzvGIA

This one I just find entertaining
http://youtu.be/5e7r-3ye8sY

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[Loren]

Results!

[Solar]

Great time today, but probably one of my worse days of driving. I blame Doug for letting me drive a modern car that's responsive and handles well, that threw me off my game.

I liked the course, but for the life of me I couldn't drive either slalom correctly heading out. I'd either enter it to fast and cream cones, or to slow and still cream cones. I was getting so disgusted with myself I was happy when my 7 runs were over. I need to get my passenger seat installed so I can take a instructor with me.

Doug, if you ever need anyone to drive your car, please let me know !

Oh and I want to thank Mark for the zip ties that helped me fix my battery mount issue.

[twistedwankel]

I don't care who you are.

My onboard thingie said = 100F and the Bank thingie said =102F. It was really hot today.

Dispite all that. We had a really great time with you all.

Those 2 you who beat me in my own car we will meet again.

Those ALL who beat me with "raw" time. We will meet again also.

Brian Kollar drives the crap out of school buses and WILL receive a picture of my "perfect weiner". He will frame it but he will never tell you he did.

Go Brian.

The Mayor

[jmdoc66]

I'm happy this was on a Saturday so I can recuperate tomorrow.

Riding in the first run then running in the second run helped alot. Thanks to the drivers that allowed me to ride shotgun.

I personally loved the course. Ms. Shelby really performed well today.

[Loren]

I'm sort of torn on the course. It was great fun to drive, and challenging to drive fast. Loosening 2-3 apexes probably could have halved the cone count. But, by the same token, if we weren't all driving like such greedy bastards today, perhaps we could have had more clean runs, as well? I was as guilty as anyone... I consistently clipped either a cone in the exit of the turn-around, or a cone in the last optional maneuver (which I took on the tight side).

Wondering... how many of the top 5 drivers went RIGHT on that option? Something tells me it may have been a little faster, in spite of being a longer distance. Man, I love a good option!

[shakedown067]

Well I would have loved three more shots (stupid car). Would like to have tried that left side again. I'm pretty sure Joe kept going left.


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[Jamie]

Those ALL who beat me with "raw" time. We will meet again also.

Another Gray-8 Challenge?

I thought the course was a great change from the momentum courses we usually see -- picking braking points and nailing them correctly made a big difference.

[nathanwilliams617]

That heat was brutal! However another awesome event, thanks to all who coached and allowed me to ride along.

Now, is someone missing a little black air pump, banana boat sunscreen, and two McDonald's breakfast biscuits wrappers?
I was last to leave and picked them up, I can bring them to the next event.

[AScoda]

I went right in the option. It was the more funner side.

[jbrannon7]

I went right on my first run and a rerun and found it was "drifty". I went left after that and found I had more speed at the end of the straight before the very tight part which I never felt good about, either trying to down shift as I braked for it or going thru it in third and then downshifting, but I had to down shift to get speed back to the finish. I really liked the exit at the turn around, I tried to set it up so I could get through it almost full throttle, same with those alleys on the front side. I had one run (45.9xx) were I tried to stay on the edge of grip thru that entire section but I clipped some cones some where. Some of the cones I hit I never felt and was surprised by them when I checked my times, a couple I just plain ran over going too fast. My only clean run was deliberately clean. Of course this is all from memory, video would probably show something completely different.

Joe

[rrath]

Even the SLOWest guy of the day had a good time!
Working the first group, I knew it was going to be challenging in the big girl, but not even that could save those poor cones during my runs.
The good news is, I finally got my lap recorder app working and this will be the last autocross with these stupid, wet fish the dealer called 'tires' during the sale. Looking forward to a wider, grippier July!

My most interesting run, with a bit of 1st to 2nd torque shift breakaway to kick off Vivek's "back to basics" instruction: http://youtu.be/LtKNBKmASH4
I like how my reaction is "WOAH!" and his is "easy."

[Loren]

My only clean run was deliberately clean.

This is a problem. Not just you, everyone does it. There's something about a non-points "practice event" where you get lots of runs that makes people just not worry about hitting some cones. "Oh, I've got more runs to clean it up." I heard at least two drivers tell me they made a clean run... that ended up being their BEST run... by making the extra effort to NOT hit any cones. As experienced autocrossers, isn't that what we're supposed to do on EVERY run???

I came up with a solution to the problem yesterday, but I'm not sure how people will feel about it. The idea? Cone limit. If we're doing 8 runs for the day, you have a cone limit of 6. (or maybe even 5) If you hit 6 cones before you're done with your runs, you forfeit your remaining runs. That puts a little incentive on NOT hitting cones that we don't presently have in an 8-run practice event. And, most importantly, it keeps us from running course workers ragged.

Looking over the results, this rule would have cost 6 or 8 people some runs yesterday. (but, if the rule had been in place, they probably wouldn't have hit so many cones!) Also, unless I missed somebody, it looks like no driver was cone-free yesterday. There were 4 or 5 who hit only one cone, however... and one of them was Ron Rice! (how did THAT happen?)

The only other solution would be to make all of the courses loose, easy and "sweepy". Personally, I think you guys should be up for the challenge!

I think it will work, because when we did the rain event at SPC a couple months ago, we used a lot of tall cones (that can potentially dent your car) and the rule was "any cone hit = DNF"... and even in the rain, there were extremely few cones hit! For that event, in 136 runs, there were exactly FIVE cones hit. So, it can be done. People just need incentive to drive clean rather than just trying to drive fast.

Thoughts?

[shakedown067]

Yeah, there certainly isn't a reason not to drive it in it deep and hope it sticks. And a couple of these cone walls where in higher speed sections where being just a tad off you smack a few cones. Two clean runs and two dirty runs for me. Personally I was attacking the cones as I found myself getting further and further away from them on the old slippery tires. So that's my excuse. Yesterday a cone count wouldn't have altered my driving due to what I was trying to accomplish, but probably would for future events.


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[BigBlue]

If I can do it, anyone can do it.

[twistedwankel]

Those ALL who beat me with "raw" time. We will meet again also.

Another Gray-8 Challenge?
.

Maybe? I've never run my stock 18" wheels and Rivals with this setup yet. July 12th is just around the corner. AND you can get a discount off a FAST t-shirt by doing both events I think?

Vivek and Loren "The Car Whisperers" gave me a number of new things to consider. Let's see who shows up. I'm always game for some autocross FUN.

[Loren]

Another thing I didn't take note of yesterday was exactly where the majority of cones were hit. I have my guesses:

1st and 2nd slalom. A lot of people have trouble with slaloms, and these (especially the first one) were slaloms that you couldn't just "charge" through. They took some finesse.

The lane changes. I'm sure there were some cones hit here, but probably not many. Am I wrong about that? Seemed like it was really easy and fun to drive.

The 90 exit of the turn-around. It was designed to have an easy path through it, but if you didn't set up for it by taking what may have seemed like an "unnatural" entry, you were likely to clip the outside exit cone if you didn't get greedy and clip the apex. I think this was one of the most common areas that people hit cones.

Lastly, the tight "Left side" of the finish option. It was fun and challenging... and if you missed your braking point or your turn-in point, you'd surely hit a cone. The right side was designed to be EASIER to drive, and probably not much (if any) slower. I was surprised that more people didn't take it.

Oh, and the outside cone wall before the rubble on the return side. Easy if you braked (or at least lifted) and set up for it. But, a lot of people got greedy there. That was a necessary element, though. Without it, you'd have built up even more speed before reaching that braking zone at the option box and it would not have been pretty.

[twistedwankel]

You know I did like that course alot even tho' I didn't drive it much.

If that turn around were just 2-3" wider I think trying to squeeze too much speed thru there is where I hit my one cone every time? I was amazed how many drivers kept hitting that offset cone in the first slalom

I don't know what others feel about it but I'd really enjoy doing that course again July 12th with a couple minor tweeks

[BrilloHeadBen]

On Loren's cone limit thought:

Yesterday chasing cones for almost two work sessions in the insane heat made me kinda grumpy and I liked that idea. Now that I've literally cooled off, I'm not so sure if we'll really need such a punitive rule. Yesterday may have just been that perfect storm of complex cone wall course, oppressive FL summer heat, many runs, and few course workers. Maybe just a kind reminder at the next drivers meeting will do the trick? If not, perhaps once you hit your cone quota, any further dirty runs are DNF'ed but you still get to run.