Feb 16th Is in the Record Books

[Loren]

Now, these guys are newbs, and I don't usually assign newbs to setup because we need more experienced people to get the job done.

I should clarify that newbs (and anyone else) are always welcome and encouraged to come help with setup on a volunteer basis. What we limit is how many people have setup as their actual work assignment. Come, help, learn... "be the course". (insert Zen emoticon... apparently, we don't have anything like that in our emoticon collection)

[Loren]

Oh, BTW, I just updated The Points. A few ties, and a few more class-jumpers. Hmmm...

[twistedwankel]

Obviously, doing this sort of thing comes across as pretty uncool to the masses! I'm sure our event Chairman, Doug, would have cut him some slack if he'd have just asked. But, it doesn't appear that he did... and so we ended up expecting him to be present to work when he was not.

That's all I got.

Which simply proves FAST has really decent/considerate leadership. I think perhaps requests for "special treatment" might have to fall in the "tuff shit" catagory in the future for other than workaholic FAST members. If I (or my wife says) I cannot devote the whole day to an event I don't go. I think it is apparent that there are enough motivated people to fill the available slots who for the most part would never consider bagging out without finding a volunteer worker in their place.

Maybe the requested worker assignment box on application should be reconsidered beyond first come first served? I do what I'm told unless I'm dumb enough to be Chair or Co-chair on event day. Yeah I'm dumb enough to do that. I repeat: "Less than 24 hours filled every available slot and for four weeks most of those people became invisible for additional critical work assignments". Those who stepped up have my total regard. People with G4 ipads do not.

Ian's brother (who showed up tardy for setup but worked hard) inquired via email on his behalf as to his run work assignment 2 days prior to the event and I informed him run 2, work 3 course. Nothing more was said. It is what it is? Loren, you are way too nice. People take advantage some times.

[nc4me]

Had fun today! Felt I drove pretty well and goofed off a lot with everyone as usual. It was nice seeing people step up to pull double duty, but it is a shame it's needed. I know of at least 4 people that did including myself. I personally don't mind, I just feel bad for other people that needed to. I think a novice even stepped up and pulled double duty as well. Kudos to that guy !

[Solar]

Now, these guys are newbs, and I don't usually assign newbs to setup because we need more experienced people to get the job done.

I should clarify that newbs (and anyone else) are always welcome and encouraged to come help with setup on a volunteer basis. What we limit is how many people have setup as their actual work assignment. Come, help, learn... "be the course". (insert Zen emoticon... apparently, we don't have anything like that in our emoticon collection)

I might be reading this wrong, and I was pretty tired this morning,(Steve and I were there at 6:50am) but John Stephen did show up "on time" for set up. Yes he was a little late, (said he got lost) but he was the third person at the trailer after myself and Tim that morning. He started loading up his car with cones and dropping them off where needed. I didn't know at the time he was one of the "set up" guys, and once I finished unloading the trailer, I didn't realize he was even out there helping Tim. It wasn't until I started helping with the set up that I realized we already had both of our set up crew out there.

[snookwheel]

Video of Stalker run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi4YxjY5G6o

And a spin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BiTaWbFhQ8

[Jeremy]

Video of Stalker run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi4YxjY5G6o

And a spin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BiTaWbFhQ8

I guess you don't have a locking diff? You laid down a pretty impressive one wheel stripe at the turnaround.

[snookwheel]

[I guess you don't have a locking diff? You laid down a pretty impressive one wheel stripe at the turnaround.

Its got a torsen differential, are you sure it was my stripe?

[Jeremy]

[I guess you don't have a locking diff? You laid down a pretty impressive one wheel stripe at the turnaround.

Its got a torsen differential, are you sure it was my stripe?

Yep. I am no expert, but it might not be working.

[snookwheel]

I'll have to check it out, Torsens generally work until they totally fail, being gear driven. Not a gradual slipping type of issue. I am not a Torsen expert by a far stretch..... anyone who is, let me know your thoughts in the car setup topic threads. Thanks.

[Loren]

I might be reading this wrong

You sort of read it wrong, but you got a big part of it right. There is John Stephen and there is Ian Stephen. Both requested a setup assignment, but only John gave a reason for NEEDING that assignment, so I tried to oblige his need. (without otherwise "disrupting" the event) As far as I know, John showed up and did what he needed to do.

Ian was the one who requested, but DID NOT GET a setup assignment, (just like the 20 or 30 people who requested Timing or Grid or whatever and didn't get it) and then later blew off his 3rd run group work assignment.

Young folks. What can ya do?

[Loren]

I'll have to check it out, Torsens generally work until they totally fail, being gear driven. Not a gradual slipping type of issue. I am not a Torsen expert by a far stretch..... anyone who is, let me know your thoughts in the car setup topic threads. Thanks.

I'm not expert either, but a Torsen is a "limited slip"... which implies that there is "some" slip. On a tight turn like that, it sort of makes sense that if you're keeping traction on the inside wheel, you could potentially get "a little" wheel spin on the outside wheel.

You can definitely tell it's working from the driver's seat. Open diff with as much torque as the SuperStalker has... that inside wheel would just light up and smoke and the tach would zing into the stratosphere. With the Torsen, you might get a little spin, but it's still controlled/restrained, not spinning out of control... and "some" of your torque is still going to the wheel that's got grip. (instead of all of it going to the loose wheel, as with an open diff)

I've Miatas with and without Torsen (even the same car with and without), there is no mistaking the two. Even the distinctive "chatter" that you get from a Torsen from a half-aggressive launch around a 90-degree turn... that's one wheel slipping a little bit.

</tangent>

[snookwheel]

That makes sense, Thanks. Hopefully it's a non issue, I imagine I would not be able to launch very well if it wasn't doing its job. I just gave it a redneck test and left a pair of solid black streaks down my driveway.

[Jeremy]

http://i.imgur.com/ndjuvnf.jpg

That big black stripe was from your inside wheel. It happened early on. I want to say your third run.

[Vz28]

With both wheels reasonably equally weighted the Torsen will always do its thing unless something internally is broken. If you unload the inside wheel enough (or it gets air) that picture is what will happen with a traditional (no helper springs/clutch) Torsen. There is no applied torque to transfer to the outer wheel. Speaking from experience on the Camaro - plenty of torque, stock diff had Torsen T2, same occasional inner wheel spin at the same exact spot, but usually when the u-turn was in the other direction due to stock suspension setup. I am using a clutch-type diff now and no such problem (until it wears enough, that is).

[Vz28]

Just wanted to add: good event. I was slower than usual but not for lack of trying. One day I will buy new tires, but that day is not today nor tomorrow.

And a quick reminder to courseworkers/all: PLEASE be aware of your surroundings when chasing cones and, if another worker is chasing them, please act as a spotter. There could have been a slight situation had I not lifted towards the end of one run, and I later confirmed no red flags were waived. I saw the red flag being tentatively held up at that station as I passed by. Instruction on this needs to be clear, and I will remind everyone at the next event I attend. Be safe out there! Thanks!

[Loren]

Thanks for the insight, Vivek. I had a worker wander out in front of me right after a started a run, too. (I guess he was headed from the trailer to Station 1, saw a cone down and didn't realize that the starter had started a car) I just stopped and waited for him to realize that he'd just done something dumb.

Unfortunately, no matter how careful we are to stress worker instructions in the driver's meeting... some people still don't listen. This is why we try to always put an experienced "corner captain" at each station to provide a little OJT. Of course, even that doesn't always work! Our number of relative "newbs" has grown to outnumber the number of "experienced" people, that doesn't help.

Our driver's meeting script is pretty thorough, but could stand to be rewritten to suit the way that most people want to read it. (certain topics are separate on the script, but the readers often want to try to combine similar topics... such as "red flags" are discussed in the section about "driving" and the section about "course working", inevitably as soon as the word "red flag" is mentioned, whoever is reading wants to cover EVERYTHING to do with red flags, which then messes up the flow of the script and causes them to have to skip sections later)

[rojeho]

Vivek is spot on, Torsen is great when both sides are evenly loaded, but it shows its weakness when there is a lot of roll and one side gets unloaded.

Top 10 day, she may not power out of a sweeper (yet), but that Z3 sure can transition well. The wind also must have brought in the bad clutch voodoo, because ours gave notice that it won't be around much longer.

Two constructive suggestions for future events. First, when setup is setting up, leave a few extra cones at each worker station. This was the second Brooksville event in a row that my station was involved in a car taking a cone or two for more than 100 feet before letting go. Second, station 5 for 3rd run was grossly understaffed. We had the corner captain and one runner, and that didn't work. The distance was long, and cones were hit the full length. I was 50 yeard from the fire bottle and 100 yards past the bottle was my runner. We had no way to communicate. Two or three times I saw cones hit that he didn't see and there was nothing that I could do about it. Even after I got help coming across from the other side, we still were so far apart that I couldn't communicate with either one. Also an apology to the few that got to exprience the altered slalom. My runner put the cone into a permanently painted square about 20 feet away from the chalk mark. After a couple of cars I noticed that the spacing didn't look right and called timing to stop the cars.

[Vz28]

Loren, just to be clear I think the driver's meeting and our meeting/motivational speaker is very good as is. We all make mistakes or are distracted from time to time so I know how that goes. Maybe just a little more emphasis on situational awareness and looking out for your fellow worker would be helpful since we would all hate to see anyone get hurt.

[Solar]

. Also an apology to the few that got to experience the altered slalom. My runner put the cone into a permanently painted square about 20 feet away from the chalk mark. After a couple of cars I noticed that the spacing didn't look right and called timing to stop the cars.

Yeah I was one of the drivers that got the "altered" course, I should've stopped and pointed it out, but honestly I had a major mind meltdown all day on the return part of the course, so I thought for a moment that I was somewhere else on the course. It wasn't until I got back to the grid that I asked the drivers after me if they noticed something "amiss". By time I went to report it you already had noticed it. No big deal for me, and I think the other drivers knew you guys were spread thin.