May 7th Mother's Day Eve event is ALL over.

[jev61]

I'm planning to loosen up the spring pre-load on the NB and raise the ride height a little so it won't be so inscrutable. Maybe that and some wider tires might make it easier to drive.
Dave

More rear suspension travel should help. You can also try a smaller rear sway bar, or no rear sway bar at all. You can also adjust your ride height so the rear pinch weld measurement is lower than you front measurement, known as reverse rake. All of this will make the car more forgiving and more predictable.

[ImpostorDan]

Awesome event, and fantastic weather! Thanks to the Mayor for driving an unfamiliar car and letting me slide in there for a sticker! Was really fun driving my new car, but it will take a while to get to know it. Here's a video, as usual appreciate any coaching/comments.

https://youtu.be/oPWcXGZy6sM

Can you just run a studio mic to your engine bay for the next event? Oh yeah, driving's good too btw...

[tdinfl]

Thanks for the great pics Dan and Philip, even the ones with the cone lodged firmly under my car. Dan, you even got a few pics that show the cone marks all down the right side door, my first run had a few issues...

I like the sound of the exhaust mike, and you can't hear me swearing with it on!

[ImpostorDan]

So I had sugar plum visions of crossing the line with a bit of slow mo offset steering a la Philip @ the dog track. I quickly realized my destiny was to be "that guy" (or a Matt/ Ron replacement) and gave it the driver's meeting two pedal push - secured myself an array of cone marks - rear bumper included! Was timing being nice at +2 cones considering I carried at least one body through the finish?

Great weather, great folks, and the course is absolutely a keeper too... my saving grace is that while I succumbed to the fastiva, I still beat the Mayor - so I got that going for me...

[Native]

Philip, Dan (and Carl) and all the other autocross-paparazzi - the pix y'all take are terrific! Thanks very much. I always go through them,enjoy them, and keep a few here and there. Keep it up!

[Native]

So I had sugar plum visions of crossing the line with a bit of slow mo offset steering a la Philip @ the dog track. I quickly realized my destiny was to be "that guy" (or a Matt/ Ron replacement) and gave it the driver's meeting two pedal push - secured myself an array of cone marks - rear bumper included! Was timing being nice at +2 cones considering I carried at least one body through the finish?

Yes. Figured 4 seconds of penalty was sufficient. No one protested.

And you succumbed to "well-driven" Fastiva. I didn't give you any trouble.

[Blue_Heron]

More rear suspension travel should help. You can also try a smaller rear sway bar, or no rear sway bar at all. You can also adjust your ride height so the rear pinch weld measurement is lower than you front measurement, known as reverse rake. All of this will make the car more forgiving and more predictable.

Thanks for the tips, Joe. What I'm thinking is that I'll increase ride height so I can reduce spring pre-load without hitting the bump stops. I want to make it a little sloppy so I can read the car, and then dial it back down as I get more comfortable with it. I've got the Ginormous Racing Beat stabilizer bar in the front and a stock bar in the rear. Given the stiffness of the front bar, I don't know how much body roll I will get when I loosen up the suspension as planned. Maybe the front/rear movement I'll get on acceleration/deceleration will be enough.

I'll be asking your advice as I go along if you don't mind. You've helped Tyler quite a bit, and thanks for that.

[twistedwankel]

So I had sugar plum visions of crossing the line with a bit of slow mo offset steering a la Philip @ the dog track. I quickly realized my destiny was to be "that guy" (or a Matt/ Ron replacement) and gave it the driver's meeting two pedal push - secured myself an array of cone marks - rear bumper included! Was timing being nice at +2 cones considering I carried at least one body through the finish?

... my saving grace is that while I succumbed to the fastiva, I still beat the Mayor - so I got that going for me...

Some day I'll figure out why folks take any Miata which is virtually impossible to spin from the factory and turn it into an ill handling Mod beast spending shit tons of money on it in the process? When you studied this course did you pass all the quizzies? If you didn't it would explain why you had trouble with your testes on race day. You got that right...well driven FASTiva beat a lot of us and 28 non FN drivers kicked my butt but only 10 of them were driving S cars It's all good. I almost got a sticker even driving too slow and clean because 3rd place Sam coned every single run being Ken's tire warmer in the FTD car.

**Starting next season FAST will be selling subscriptions for PlayStation versions of each course two weeks in advance so you all can practice spinning out for style point stickers. They will look like this:

[Loren]

Some day I'll figure out why folks take any Miata which is virtually impossible to spin from the factory and turn it into an ill handling Mod beast spending shit tons of money on it in the process?

This goes for most proper sports cars. Having been through the same gyrations, myself, I often ask the same question!

It's one thing to mod the shit out of an ill-handling car to make it do things it's not supposed to do. Quite another to try to improve upon a car that was engineered to be a great handling car from its inception.

Sports Car + Shocks + Tires + Alignment*

If you can't kick ass with that, the problem is not the car.

* If you feel the need to mod your sports car, THIS is the one area you should focus on... what mods are required to get the alignment that you need to optimize the contact patch of your tires for better grip and even tire wear?

[jev61]

* If you feel the need to mod your sports car, THIS is the one area you should focus on... what mods are required to get the alignment that you need to optimize the contact patch of your tires for better grip and even tire wear?

This part right here.

Get the alignment you need to optimize the contact patch for grip and wear, then balance. It took me a full season to learn this important lesson because I wouldn't follow the advice freely available about how to do what Loren is describing.

Hardware will not replace software unfortunately, but you knew that already.

[lddavis91]

I just looked at the results (and wasn't paying close attention during awards) but good gracious Les, a 41?! Well done!

Thanks, fresh, just scrubbed in, Hoosier autocross compound tires are a glorious thing as particularly are 275 section width such tires on a 1600 lb car. Thanks again Doug for letting me abuse that car again, its a lot of fun and has me questioning my autocross car future. For now though, a new carb has finally been ordered for the WheeDub and hopefully it will finally be running 100% soon and bringing me some FTD stickers from my own car.

The 41.2XX run:

https://youtu.be/Khc4CINu-tw

[friskyflea]

* If you feel the need to mod your sports car, THIS is the one area you should focus on... what mods are required to get the alignment that you need to optimize the contact patch of your tires for better grip and even tire wear?

This part right here.

Get the alignment you need to optimize the contact patch for grip and wear, then balance. It took me a full season to learn this important lesson because I wouldn't follow the advice freely available about how to do what Loren is describing.

Hardware will not replace software unfortunately, but you knew that already.

And if you are on a budget that prohibits swapping parts or vehicles like they're underwear...

Sports Car + Shocks + Tires + Alignment + Seat Time... plus save yourself experimentation and listen to the advice of folks who have worked it out already (i.e. ride on their $$$ past mistakes) what an exotic concept

[Greg]

I'd like to go on record and say I'm sorry for what was witnessed. I have a bad case of suck.

[BigBlue]

I'd like to go on record and say I'm sorry for what was witnessed. I have a bad case of suck.

No need to apologize. None what so ever.

[cwgn4]

Images of afternoon run group 2 are posted at https://flic.kr/s/aHskA2TLBz

[Carracer]

Images of afternoon run group 2 are posted at https://flic.kr/s/aHskA2TLBz

Wow, you got some great pictures! I just couldn't find a spot on the course that worked. Either the sun was wrong or I didn't get any action.

[cwgn4]

Thanks, Philip. The two 3-image sequences of you & Jamie near the end are interesting.

[Jamie]

Carl -- you mean the contrast with Philip dragging his (flush) door handles?!

[cwgn4]

Jamie, I like to find a shooting perspective that captures the car and driver working hard, and stay with it for a rotation of the entire field whether it's an autocross or Indycar race.

One year at the St Pete GP, I was getting my prints signed by the drivers as the teams were lining up to enter the pits. The crew members of several teams took great interest in the shots, evaluating their setup versus the competition.

That's why I posted the 3-shot sequences, to give you both a look at the competition under identical circumstances.

[CaptainSquirts]

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

Man this is straight impressive. Couple of spots I'm thinking to myself when watching this is "Ok take your foot off the accelerator, take your foot off the accelerator!" and you somehow keep the car and line under control.