July 2nd Post Event

[Loren]

Fantastic course, if I do say so myself. Thanks for coming out to play with us!

Results: http://drivefast.org/results/results-archive/

[aw614]

Couldn't keep up with the festiva today! Thanks again to Soraya for letting me drive the Fit. I think if I could have gotten used to the sight lines in the front I could have had a clean run. It's really well set up.

here was my fastest time at 47.604
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFSNGf ... e=youtu.be
I really liked the mini practice course I got to try before the 2nd run group began. Decided to try left foot braking on it and felt comfortable enough to use it on the course. I still need to get a hang of it in some areas, but practicing it helped. For 2nd gear only courses I think I can get a hang of it.

I always practiced left foot braking when I drive an automatic car, but could never really get comfortable in a manual on the street with downshifting and mixing up the clutch and the brake. I'll have to try it on one of those 2nd/3rd gear type courses.

[AScoda]

Thanks again for lending me your car today, Phillip.
I can see how you do what you do with it, but the learning curve is brutal.

[Carracer]

Thanks again for lending me your car today, Phillip.
I can see how you do what you do with it, but the learning curve is brutal.

Thanks, it was fun getting some pictures of my cars on course ( full photo album will be coming tonight ).

My best run of day 45.564, 2nd out of 50 overall. It had a great start, I was slow getting through the element before the turn around, good turnaround but I got late on the next elements, and then a good finish. The car had high 44s but I just couldn't get it all on one lap.

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

[Native]

Thanks for a great event all! The course was challenging and fun, with a good mix of speed, dexterity, and stategery. Nice. Everything flowed well, even with a little bit of rain (we got very lucky ). 50 drivers got 7 runs and lunch and we were done, packed and with full results posted (thanks, Loren) by 1:45 .

I'm pleased with how I drove today (for a change). My first 4 runs got progressively quicker, then for the 5th run I took on a passenger and threw off my rhythm, and I never got it back. I coulda been quicker... itsallgood.

See ya'll at the next dogtrack event.

[Loren]

Let's talk about the "buddy system" for noobs at FAST Classic events.

We had 4 drivers who had less than 3 events. I believe 3 were first-timers, and one had done two prior events. My observation was that this worked well in that I didn't see ANY problems from it. Didn't hold up the event at all, and everyone seemed to have a good time. But, I honestly wasn't paying that much attention. (that was the whole point of doing a buddy system in lieu of our usual novice training... we don't want to have to worry about it as long as it doesn't hold up the event)

Any other observations? Particularly from those who were directly involved?

[puncturina]

A big thanks to Ron for providing fresh fruit treats for all in recognition of King Doug's birthday. Thanks for the rides and thanks to Matt for letting us take a spin in your car.

Really enjoyed the course, but never got all the parts together. Driving the kidney bean in the wet was a lot of fun too.

See y'all at the horse track soon!

[Loren]

Let's talk about this course, and what you may have done wrong on it. How did a slow car get around the course fast?



First of all, I'm guessing that a lot of people were simply over-driving it. One advantage that we have in the FASTiva (if you can call it an advantage) is that on a course like this, we can almost drive it flat out. In fact, that's what we try to do! If we manage to pull that off, then we know we've pretty much gotten all we can get out of the car less a tenth here or there for being a little off-line. But, I'd venture to guess that (being the only sub-70 hp car out there) it's the only car that could come close to doing that. Everyone else... consider that at no point did we hit the rev limiter in the FASTiva. That means that we never exceeded about 55 mph. Consider that ANY car accelerates quicker than the FASTiva, so you would REACH that speed quicker than we did, but to acheive the same time that I did on this course (55.9), you didn't need to go FASTER than that, you just needed to achieve and hold that speed. This may have been the downfall of many drivers. Pushing for more speed on this course may have simply given you more speed that you couldn't carry through the next part of the course. It would have been a delicate balancing act to hold the "perfect" speed throughout the course.

As for how to drive the course...

First, note the sideways start beam. Crossing the beam as far from the start line as possible would shave time! How much time? Well, how fast were you going when you crossed it? 20 mph? That's about 29 feet per second. Divide by ten... 2.9 feet = .1 seconds. If you tried to optimize your entry into the left turn for a nice late apex, you might have crossed the start beam in the middle and given yourself a 25-30 foot deficit from the guy who crossed as late as possible. There's a SECOND right there. I doubt optimal line on that first turn was worth anywhere near a second. So, I started parallel with the left wall, and hugged that wall as late as possible, then crossed the beam. Lifted completely off the gas and YANKED the car left, eased into the throttle and headed toward trying to get a good setup to late apex the next apex.

Late apexing the 2nd and 3rd apexes was fairly important because it could give you a proper entry into the "wiggle". (even in the slow-ass FASTiva, I was BRAKING a bit on the 2nd apex to stay on-line and get my late apex to ensure the next late apex) If you were late going into that, you'd have problems. Being in control and ahead of the game there was worth the effort.

Pretty neutral throttle through most of that sequence, maybe mild/moderate acceleration, just trying to keep up with the steering. But, definitely full-throttle as early as possible coming around the second-to-last 4-cone wall. Full throttle from there (in the FASTiva... maybe not quite full throttle if you actually have some torque) all the way to the turn-around!

VERY exaggerated setup to the right for the kinky bit leading into the diagonal wall. If you didn't get set up for that, you probably had a really hard time getting past the end of that wall without lifting or braking. Proper setup, staying ahead of it, and turning "confidently" would allow continued acceleration. (again, those of you with torque may not be FULL THROTTLE, but being partial throttle through there would have made a lot more sense than sawing at the throttle trying to be full-throttle, then braking)

Going through the straight chute, I was actually taking the second half of it at an ANGLE to the right. I didn't pull the car to the right for the turn-around, but I did let that straight angle to the right, which gave me another 4-5 feet or more to the right on entry... and a little more flexibility on driving the turn-around. "Tight is right"??? Not always. It's all about exit speed, which comes with proper positioning and NOT making yourself overdrive and plow by trying to take a line that's tighter than you can manage! Don't fight the car, work WITH the car. If it doesn't want to take a tight turn-around, you're better off trying to optimize your entry (or exit) so that you're asking the car to do something that it CAN do.

If you got a good late apex coming out of the turn-around, then the next apex was pretty easy... and then the left apex after that wasn't painful (but was challenging). From there, as early as possible, back on the gas... and stay on it until the big wall of pointers nearing the finish.

That whole section was about placement. A lot of people would come through there thinking of "now". As in "I'm in the right place for right NOW", this is the right line to be on for THIS. But, what you really needed to think about was that little 3-cone "decreasing angled slalom" just past Station 5. That thing was remarkably easy to drive if you were thinking about it WAY early and set up for it. Give up your proper line through the "easy" part that you could accelerate through in favor of thinking about how to get through the tighter part without having to slow down! I was able to flat-foot it through there. Again, I have no torque.

The last bit that was easily worth at least a half second, probably more like a half on the way in and a half on the way out was that whole finish sequence. First, you needed to set up for it. Did anybody notice that one of the really fast guys (pretty sure it was the Porsche that was in the 45's early in the day) actually kicked up some dirt through there? THAT is how far out you needed to set up for that, give or take a foot. You needed to get out toward the grass. If you did that, you could carry a lot of speed through there. I think if I'd had a couple more runs, I'd have figured out how to get through there without braking. I was braking for it, but probably a lot less than most.

The second half of that (worth another half second) was the 3-cone "finish slalom", particularly the very last apex. Almost everybody was yanking to the right around that last apex to some degree. (I did it myself on about my first 4 runs) It was easy to do. It looked and felt like a slalom, that's what you do. But, the finish gate was SO wide on the left side that you didn't need to do that at all. You could focus on accelerating, and just getting past that middle cone. So, it was a "right-left" sequence... not a "right-left-right" sequence. Much easier to accelerate through with confidence.

That's all I got. Not a difficult course, but definitely one that had a few challenges.

[friskyflea]

It's too bad the rain rushed things for this Classic, it was still a great time. Andrew and I swapped cars for one run - very edifying. As far as my driving, as soon as a problem occupies my head, it's going to show in my times; the tell-tale symptom is a global getting-behinditis on my part. The AC quit cold turkey and I'm thinking worst case scenario cost and how many and what weekends I could work to gather the funds and trying to do this without my schedule in hand, and what things would have to go on hold to attend to the AC issue. Say that 1000 million times fast and that's what was going on in my head Then the rain made it a non-issue; at that point all you could do was let go of everything and drive in the slop. I wish the camera had not stopped recording after about 15-16 seconds because I was squeee-ing as the car was slipping and sliding around like a pat of butter on a hot skillet: I love a cheap carnival ride and the Fit delivered.

Fortunately, with Joe's help, and with the AC sort-of-blowing cool-ish air, it was determined that the AC compressor is OK and the AC system is most likely low on refrigerant. Already stopped by Wally-World and picked a can with a really nifty gauge-thingie that I can't wait to use on Monday. Then Jamie engaged me in a conversation about interfering v. non-interfering engines and as a result of the ensuing Google search I learned both that the Fit has an interfering engine (boo!) but it has a timing *chain* ( ) so it won't bust and cause engine death, though it may need tightening - even found an audio clip of "timing chain noise" . And also learned that the valves are subject to adjustment. The surprises never end.

Philip, I can't wait 'til the day you get functional shocks in your car.

See you all at the horse track where I shall try to achieve a "no mind" state.

[Carracer]

Pictures from this event.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskDoPKvW

[Loren]

See you all at the horse track where I shall try to achieve a "no mind" state.

It's all mind over matter. I don't mind, and it doesn't matter.

[aw614]

I didn't know that Mazdaspeed 3 driver was Justin Tilus from Maxxis tire, until I saw the results. The name rang a bell from listening to a Slip Angle podcast a few months back.
http://www.tracktuned.com/feed/2016/2/4 ... axxis-tire

Fortunately, with Joe's help, and with the AC sort-of-blowing cool-ish air, it was determined that the AC compressor is OK and the AC system is most likely low on refrigerant. Already stopped by Wally-World and picked a can with a really nifty gauge-thingie that I can't wait to use on Monday. Then Jamie engaged me in a conversation about interfering v. non-interfering engines and as a result of the ensuing Google search I learned both that the Fit has an interfering engine (boo!) but it has a timing *chain* ( ) so it won't bust and cause engine death, though it may need tightening - even found an audio clip of "timing chain noise" . And also learned that the valves are subject to adjustment. The surprises never end.

From what I read on the interwebz about the honda timing chains (K series, but probably the same as other chain hondas), as long as you make sure the oil level doesn't fall below the dipstick the chain and tensioner should last 200k+ miles. Something VW can't seem to do, design a timing chain tensioner that lasts longer than a timing belt interval.

Yeah I had my valves checked last year on my car, they need to be adjusted when the engine is cold and you might as well do the valve cover gasket while you do the valve adjustment done

[AScoda]

I am going to call Phillip's car "Eileen"
https://flic.kr/p/HNkQoK

[friskyflea]

[friskyflea]

From what I read on the interwebz about the honda timing chains (K series, but probably the same as other chain hondas), as long as you make sure the oil level doesn't fall below the dipstick the chain and tensioner should last 200k+ miles. Something VW can't seem to do, design a timing chain tensioner that lasts longer than a timing belt interval.

Yeah I had my valves checked last year on my car, they need to be adjusted when the engine is cold and you might as well do the valve cover gasket while you do the valve adjustment done

That is what I read as well and I am religious about oil changes and paying attention to its level.

I'll talk to Tod about the valves when he comes back from vacation. That work I can work into my schedule instead of the other way around (adjust schedule to emergency need).

[friskyflea]

It's all mind over matter. I don't mind, and it doesn't matter.

It only matters b/c I have to sort out things from the perspective of a single person solution. Can't drop vehicles off as I don't usually have rides to/fro; can't take off work as I subcontract and the DVM is the one essential, nonreplaceable worker in a vet clinic.

The trick becomes to be able to have an off switch (or at least a pause button) on the rapid fire thinking.

[CaptainSquirts]

Only got to run 4 out of the 7 runs due to oil light flickering at idle "oil pressure idiot light sensor". Didn't want to risk anything so I just quit early. After much research looks like its common for the oil pressure sensor to go bad. Here's a vid of my 48.3 run.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7lGRmuyI7Y

[twistedwankel]

Fortunately, with Joe's help, and with the AC sort-of-blowing cool-ish air, it was determined that the AC compressor is OK and the AC system is most likely low on refrigerant. Already stopped by Wally-World and picked a can with a really nifty gauge-thingie that I can't wait to use on Monday.:

Make sure you keep that can in totally vertical position. Don't just lean it against something. Hang on to it. If any liquid gets into the compressor something very very bad will happen and you will fill your pants and become single minded!! Some of these "do it yourself" things should be free as the instructions suck and people hold them upside down or sideways not knowing any better. Then they are totally screwed buying a new compressor, etc. That's why they should be free as they cause $$$ damage.

You probably have a leaking o-ring or bad Schrader valve (like a tire) on high or low pressure side. A drop of alcohol will show bubbles and then evaporate. There is a tool to change those without losing all the gas. I have one for the low side. Most high sides are huge and required degasing to replace if they leak.

Wear safety glasses too.

You know everything in Walmart is made in China right?

[Loren]

Couldn't keep up with the festiva today!

It's that 63 horsepower. Furious Korean horses.

[Carracer]

Not my pictures but Turtleshark Shooter posted up some great run group 2 pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/turtlesharksho ... 9622751652