Sept 27 Post-event

[jev61]

In case anyone missed it, Results! are up!

Indeed, I was able to get then uploaded over dinner. Sounds like I missed a solid event!

Yeah, me too. That is what happens when you only think you are registered instead actually registering. M3 should be very thankful for the free gift of September, October will not be so easy.

[Solar]

That is what happens when you only think you are registered instead actually registering.

I felt bad that you drove all the way out there only to have to leave.

[dbeng]

As usual it was a great event!

I had an absolute blast getting a feel for the handling with my new tires and rear sway bar. For some reason I hit a plateau and kept clocking very similar times and making silly mistakes throughout the day, including two DNFs at the same part of the course. Ultimately I think it’s just down to not looking far enough ahead. So easy to say but so hard to put in action for some reason.

The highlight of the day was swapping cars with Philip for a run. My first ever autocross run in a rear wheel drive car was great fun, the Miata felt so stable and encouraged pushing harder– especially with Philip’s new wheel & tire combo. But driving the Miata paled into insignificance compared to the fun that ensued when Philip took the wheel of the Mazda 3 I have never seen – let alone experienced a front wheel drive car so sideways throughout the course. For it to happen in my car was an eye opener for sure – I couldn’t stop grinning the entire time. Philip –you can drive – period! We need to do that again!

It was a great day’s entertainment as always and lunch was really good, the pulled pork sandwiches were fantastic – thanks Doug.

Looking forward to getting back in action at Tampa Bay Downs.
Dan.

P.S. I forgot to mention - the only sucky part of the day was my A/C quit on the way home. Oh well, at least it's the end of September not the middle of July. Now it's time to decide whether to dig in & learn how to fix auto air - or give in & take it to a shop.

[dbeng]

Photos from Today's run.
Enjoy,
Jon, Tyler and Aaron

Thanks for the pictures Jon, you got some great angles & "behind the scenes" shots that capture the day very well!
Dan.

[Carracer]

What a fun day. Anyway, here are more pictures. As always, you're free to use them in whatever you want.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskkFBYFo

I got a few pictures of FWD cars 3-wheeling but I didn't expect to see Ken do it in his Porsche with the front tire!

I'm just glad I was able to be at the event all day. Didn't expect that. Everything went well and seems like all the rain dancing paid off and we had a dry event.

The highlight of my day was swapping cars with Dan. It was fun riding shotgun on his run.
https://youtu.be/_3vq1SmO_YE

When it was my turn to drive the Mazda3 I didn't realize just how awesome it was to drive. That might be my most exciting run I'll do all season. I've never driven a FWD car and now I'm a firm believer in fun-wheel drive. I didn't expect the car to oversteer. The first time it did it, I was trying to induce it because I was expecting it to understeer because I got a hint of it on the first element. But then the tail just came around.
The next time I thought I'd be nice and smooth, no sliding around. I turned the wheel and around the back end comes again . I think the steering ratio is a little different than my car and that was throwing me off. Also, I guess trail braking doesn't work at all in a FWD car. Lol. Dan I owe you at least another run in my car for that experience.

As for the rest of my driving, I'm both happy and sad again.

https://youtu.be/aBNRzfGD9RM

I don't think my time was bad it just wasn't ready for the pace that was set in S4. I was smoother this time, didn't kill the front tires, but I wimped out on the slalom. On my last two runs, I decided to see what it would take to get the car to want to spin in the slalom. I quickly found out I wasn't close to the limit my past six runs. I left at least half a second in it based on my video. I rode with both Ben and Soraya and they seem to have the "Attack!" mentally when in a slalom.

I'm still not quite trusting the car's amount of grip now. It seems like every time I think I don't have grip, it just keeps gripping. Oddly enough, unlike before, it seems like high speed grip is head and shoulders over what it used to be, and low speed grip is still very good, but not that insane of a difference.

Thanks again to everyone who makes these events happen, and congrats to Drew on his blazing time.

Photos from Today's run.
Enjoy,
Jon, Tyler and Aaron

https://www.flickr.com/gp/135773738@N05/821vL7

Great pictures! I love this one!

https://flic.kr/p/z8peRw

[Jamie]

I got a few pictures of FWD cars 3-wheeling but I didn't expect to see Ken do it in his Porsche with the front tire!

Sure -- that's characteristic of any car with all the weight towards one end, and the light end very stiff. I've seen track 911s get the inside front way up!

You can trail brake a FWD car...you just have to be prepared for the car to rotate. If you're not, it'll rotate until you catch up to it.

[Evan]

This event was pretty rough for me. It is clear that I drove like poop I am still learning my changed suspension. It certainly offers me more than enough rope to hang myself with. I found myself turning in way too early and coning like mad on 6 of my 8 runs. Apologies to all the course workers...

Footage of my fastest run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsCCnlSE9Y4

Not sure if I should move the swaybar to the middle of the two extremes or keep practicing like this.

[garage west]

This was a fun event. Highlight for me was watching Philip's uncontained joy at sliding Dan's 3 around from the vantage point of the center of the turnaround. Two huge grins in that car and it made me grin, too!
Way to go Drew! I was all set to blame my middling performance on clapped-out rubber, but you ruined it for me! I guess the tires just needed me to warm them up first.
Thanks everybody for another fun FAST Classic!

[friskyflea]

Also, I guess trail braking doesn't work at all in a FWD car.

Ooooh, but it does... that's how you get the hind end to rotate in a FunWD but you have to get it just right b/c those front wheels are doing everything. Mess it up and... well, it ends up like the hairpin turn I had when you rode with me and got wicked loss of grip/understeer mishmash-mayhem. You get very good at it if you drive a FWD in the snow - you have to...


When it finally dawned on me that *that* was what I was trying to recreate in my turns (thank you Endurocross!), my turnarounds became less sloppy. I just have to remember to think *snow* at the right moment, and drive like I'm on a down 1st calf heifer emergency call.

Maybe some of the guys with better auto-speak can describe it in words: I don't speak it fluently yet.

FF

[friskyflea]

FAST events are by far my favorite; Open or Classic it doesn't matter. They are always organized and when unplanned snafus appear a clever workaround is put in place. The crowd is a great bag of mixed nuts (the healthy kind). There is some serious driving going on; competition is the very enjoyable and doggedly pursued byproduct.

Thanks Jon & Co and Phillip for the pix! Love the candid shots.

FF

[Carracer]

Whatever I was doing it was wrong but so much fun! I think the different steering wheel size and maybe slower steering ratio didn't help me catch the slides before it felt like drifting.

[Carracer]

This event was pretty rough for me. It is clear that I drove like poop I am still learning my changed suspension. It certainly offers me more than enough rope to hang myself with. I found myself turning in way too early and coning like mad on 6 of my 8 runs. Apologies to all the course workers...

Footage of my fastest run:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsCCnlSE9Y4

Not sure if I should move the swaybar to the middle of the two extremes or keep practicing like this.

I nearly spun in the same spot on my last run, this course had a few elements that liked to come out and bite people.

Great course Steve!

[Imua]

What a fun day. Anyway, here are more pictures. As always, you're free to use them in whatever you want.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskkFBYFo

I got a few pictures of FWD cars 3-wheeling but I didn't expect to see Ken do it in his Porsche with the front tire!

Awesome pics! I love the three-wheeling shots. I sent the one of my Golf around to a couple friends "I dont always choose #3, but when I do . . thats how many wheels I keep on the pavement" LOL!

One of the shots of Chase had his RR up about 2 inches Talk about making an AWD into a 3W drive!

[Imua]

Also, I guess trail braking doesn't work at all in a FWD car.

Ooooh, but it does... that's how you get the hind end to rotate in a FunWD but you have to get it just right b/c those front wheels are doing everything. Mess it up and... well, it ends up like the hairpin turn I had when you rode with me and got wicked loss of grip/understeer mishmash-mayhem. You get very good at it if you drive a FWD in the snow - you have to...


When it finally dawned on me that *that* was what I was trying to recreate in my turns (thank you Endurocross!), my turnarounds became less sloppy. I just have to remember to think *snow* at the right moment, and drive like I'm on a down 1st calf heifer emergency call.

Maybe some of the guys with better auto-speak can describe it in words: I don't speak it fluently yet.

FF

All true, however, the VW Polo R WRC in the image is an AWD . . . I doubt a 2WD car could pull off that turn at that speed (putting flame suit on)

[friskyflea]

Sorry Denny, I have no videos of me driving front wheel drive econoboxes in upstate NY in the 80s... this was the closest I could find quickly online for demo purposes but I can assert that maneuvers like this did occur... just.
Though on similarly iced conditions
not on purpose
a lot more sideways
and barely not in the trees

*stupid college kid tricks"

FF

[chaso]

What a fun day. Anyway, here are more pictures. As always, you're free to use them in whatever you want.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskkFBYFo

I got a few pictures of FWD cars 3-wheeling but I didn't expect to see Ken do it in his Porsche with the front tire!

Awesome pics! I love the three-wheeling shots. I sent the one of my Golf around to a couple friends "I dont always choose #3, but when I do . . thats how many wheels I keep on the pavement" LOL!

One of the shots of Chase had his RR up about 2 inches Talk about making an AWD into a 3W drive!

Ditto. These pictures are excellent, Philip!

This is the only tripod stance picture I found, Denny, but it's the driver's rear. It's easily the best action shot I have of me in motion.

IMG_6554 by Chase Ros, on Flickr

[Dave]

Also, I guess trail braking doesn't work at all in a FWD car.

Ooooh, but it does... that's how you get the hind end to rotate in a FunWD but you have to get it just right b/c those front wheels are doing everything. Mess it up and... well, it ends up like the hairpin turn I had when you rode with me and got wicked loss of grip/understeer mishmash-mayhem. You get very good at it if you drive a FWD in the snow - you have to...


When it finally dawned on me that *that* was what I was trying to recreate in my turns (thank you Endurocross!), my turnarounds became less sloppy. I just have to remember to think *snow* at the right moment, and drive like I'm on a down 1st calf heifer emergency call.

Maybe some of the guys with better auto-speak can describe it in words: I don't speak it fluently yet.

FF

All true, however, the VW Polo R WRC in the image is an AWD . . . I doubt a 2WD car could pull off that turn at that speed (putting flame suit on)

Maybe not that full turn with just FWD, but I was able to take as many as six cones at once, sideways, in my Civic a few years ago @ SPC.

[Imua]

Sorry Denny, I have no videos of me driving front wheel drive econoboxes in upstate NY in the 80s... this was the closest I could find quickly online for demo purposes but I can assert that maneuvers like this did occur... just.
Though on similarly iced conditions
not on purpose
a lot more sideways
and barely not in the trees

*stupid college kid tricks"

FF

LOL! You mean the old "Hey, look at that car trying to pass me in reverse . . . oh wait, that's my own rear end!" I missed the driving in snow schooling when I was coming up with various FWDs in highschool (late seventies Rabbits and Scirocco's mainly) We didn't have much snow in Hawaii . . .

[Imua]

Ditto. These pictures are excellent, Philip!

This is the only tripod stance picture I found, Denny, but it's the driver's rear. It's easily the best action shot I have of me in motion.

Yeah, I'm still working on distinguishing left and right! In any case, awesome shot!