Da Groj

Well, that was another great day with all the gang at FAST. Who ever called in that weather request deserves a big hand. I love fall in Florida!

The course was a fun challenge. If you didn't watch the return side, it would bite you, and hard. Let's just say that being behind wast a good option. You not only had to look ahead, you had to think ahead even more.

I got to spend the rest of my day out on some fun two-lane roads as I made my way from Brooksville to the 'Land of the Rodent' for a couple days fun with the family. All in all it was an awesome day.

Thanks to all the people that make these events great. See all of you at the next one!

garage west wrote:Good times. I only got my ass handed to me by one of my co-drivers, so that's kinda nice.

That was another great day all around, it's fun knocking the rust off my driving, other than last week at Desoto, I haven't been to a real autocross since June.

At the drivers meeting Loren warned us about getting behind on the return stretch and he spoke the truth. Exiting the turn around if you entered the first element to fast, you were pretty much screwed. My first two runs I had a hell of a time getting my car to turn through there, once I figured out what speed to exit the turn around I could get through there pretty easily.

Fun day for sure !

yamaha731 wrote:So I was pulling on to the runway this morning when my rear motor mount bolts fell out and disappeared so like any sane autocrosser would I stuck a screwdriver in it held ok for 4 runs but on the 5th from the motor moving around so much the shifter linkage fell apart and the exhaust pulled out of the header so it was pretty loud on the way home. Any had a great time can't wait for the next one.

Did you find the bolt? I hit a large bolt with what looked like a spacer when I was coming back onto the runway after the afternoon registration... I gave it to Loren, I don't know if it was saved.

Lava Speed 05 wrote:

yamaha731 wrote:So I was pulling on to the runway this morning when my rear motor mount bolts fell out and disappeared so like any sane autocrosser would I stuck a screwdriver in it held ok for 4 runs but on the 5th from the motor moving around so much the shifter linkage fell apart and the exhaust pulled out of the header so it was pretty loud on the way home. Any had a great time can't wait for the next one.

Did you find the bolt? I hit a large bolt with what looked like a spacer when I was coming back onto the runway after the afternoon registration... I gave it to Loren, I don't know if it was saved.

That was probably it I had now idea where it fell out I just noticed it when I was 1/2 down the runway

Spectacular time!
Loved the course also.
Congrats Mike 1LE !
Ok, my car, oh man so proud of her. My raw time of 49.740 +1 on my 5th run was so close, I barely nicked a cone on the way up...
So I'm done tweaking the car for a bit and back to focusing on the driver, and squeezing all the time I can out of this current setup.
I think we could have ran at least 48.7.
Good Times.

jmdoc66 wrote: Damn 1LE.

It sure is a nice car. Of all the cars I've owned, hard to believe the 1LE and I get along so well

Carracer wrote:EARLY SESSION Pictures, Nothing "professional" or edited it at all but some of them turned out OK. I'm just posting all of them so some are VERY bad.

Great pictures! Nice to finally see the 1LE in action.

AScoda wrote:Mike always seems to get me by ½ of a tenth of a second. I have successfully whittled that down to a mere ¼ of a tenth of a second.

Think it's time for new tires I'm amazed what you can do with that foxbody Drew! Great job!

nathanwilliams617 wrote: Congrats Mike 1LE !
Ok, my car, oh man so proud of her. My raw time of 49.740 +1 on my 5th, run was so close, I barely nicked a cone on the way up...
So I'm done tweaking the car for a bit and back to focusing on the driver and squeezing all the time I can out of this current setup.
I think we could have ran at least 48.7.

Thanks Nate! Still amazed I was able to pull that time out on my last run.
G8's looking real nice with the new rims/tire combo! You just need a good test day to get use to the new setup...then it's going to be a 3 way battle for the win in S3!

Glad everyone had a great time. I'm definitely jelly. Don't horde your videos, guys. Might be a short while before I can get back out and I need to live vicariously through you in the meantime!

Carracer wrote:EARLY SESSION Pictures, Nothing "professional" or edited it at all but some of them turned out OK. I'm just posting all of them so some are VERY bad.

Nice shots, Philip! It's always impressive how a well-taken shot captures the action.

Shifterracer wrote:It sure is a nice car. Of all the cars I've owned, hard to believe the 1LE and I get along so well

It's incredible what that performance trim does to the Camaro. I just watched one of those MT "vs" videos where it upstaged the brand new 2016 Mustang GT Performance Pack. Let's just skip ahead to the 2020 MY, so I can get a 2016 1LE.

nathanwilliams617 wrote: Ok, my car, oh man so proud of her. My raw time of 49.740 +1 on my 5th, run was so close, I barely nicked a cone on the way up...

Now you're looking fierce while you show me what our cars can do!

A big thank you to John and Ron and Loren for making my Saturday fun after what was a pretty shitty Friday night!

I learned a few things... I learned that RS3s like WAY more pressure than my Yokos. I learned that I don't like tiny little steering wheels...

It's really amazing how different similar cars can feel. John's car and mine are nearly twins but they feel worlds different... That's my excuse for not going faster.

Carracer wrote:Thanks to Joshua for letting me drive his car!!!!. Considering I haven't done many events ( this was my 4th ) it didn't cross my mind that someone would let me drive, let alone at a points event. It was really awesome getting a chance to drive a car that's set up. It was a joy to drive. Made me feel better about my driving. Thanks again!!!

No problem, it also helped me to try and push harder, but I ended up sucking more too. Driving other setups and other cars is a lot of fun for sure.

Loren wrote:

yamaha731 wrote:So I was pulling on to the runway this morning when my rear motor mount bolts fell out and disappeared so like any sane autocrosser would I stuck a screwdriver in it

Wait... what?

We've been busting our butts trying to do better tech inspections to keep drivers and workers safe on course... and... what???

Really??? I wasn't there but this is just wild.
Chris, and everyone, next time something like this happens, and it will, PARK THE CAR and find a ride with someone else. It took 4 runs but eventually it all came apart and broke the shifter and your exhaust?? I don't know CRX anatomy really well (read: at all) but it sounds like you got lucky. What if it jammed the steering? Or stuck the throttle open? Not a safe thing to do, for you or the courseworkers.

I agree next time I will park the car but that said it was the rear motor ( it has 3) mount and the screwdriver was jammed in there so it would not come out it just aloud the motor to move to much witch caused the exhaust to separate and shifter linkage to droop. I was still able to drive it home with out any issues (just a little loud).The screwdriver still in there and never moved. I assure you it will have bolt in there and the exhaust will be fixed before the next event. I will go throgh the car and see if I can find anything else thats loose.

yamaha731 wrote:I agree next time I will park the car...

... I will go through the car and see if I can find anything else that's loose.

Good plan x2.

Yep.
Thanks, Chris!

Inspecta wrote:No problem, it also helped me to try and push harder....

I learned the real meaning of "push harder, suck less" when trying to help Les start the Solo Vee...his battery had given up, so it literally meant "push harder, and don't let the rear tire suck you down to the pavement when the clutch pops."

Finished up a video of Sophia and I beating up the course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0-6ZWSfegg

Not perfect runs, but they got the job done.

rrath wrote: It's incredible what that performance trim does to the Camaro. I just watched one of those MT "vs" videos where it upstaged the brand new 2016 Mustang GT Performance Pack. Let's just skip ahead to the 2020 MY, so I can get a 2016 1LE.

The new generation Camaros are proving to be very impressive cars indeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg1fY1fVYNk

Never in my life did I think I would see a result like that. When the Z28 was release for nearly $70K last year I thought they were crazy, but maybe not so much. I kind of want one now.
The 1LE suspension is very similar to the Z28 no?

It was a great day, fabulous weather, fun course, car didn't break, tires were made of rubber instead of plastic i.e. I didn't spin it 4 times. This car is going to be insane with some fresh rubber. Sorry to have bumped you down a spot Mike, but I am cheating, sort of, though I have less than 100 hp.

Jamie wrote: I learned the real meaning of "push harder, suck less" when trying to help Les start the Solo Vee...his battery had given up, so it literally meant "push harder, and don't let the rear tire suck you down to the pavement when the clutch pops."

Sorry about that Jamie, should have warned you. Not sure if the on-board battery is getting weak or the lack of a charging system just doesn't allow for much more than 5-6 starts. Next time I'll just have my battery booster box in grid and use that to start it every time.

lddavis91 wrote:

Jamie wrote: I learned the real meaning of "push harder, suck less" when trying to help Les start the Solo Vee...his battery had given up, so it literally meant "push harder, and don't let the rear tire suck you down to the pavement when the clutch pops."

Sorry about that Jamie, should have warned you. Not sure if the on-board battery is getting weak or the lack of a charging system just doesn't allow for much more than 5-6 starts. Next time I'll just have my battery booster box in grid and use that to start it every time.

LOL, get one of those little solar chargers and stick it on your helmet.

Joe

lddavis91 wrote:Sorry about that Jamie, should have warned you.

Don't worry about it...was just amusing when I saw the "push harder" placard Scott installed on the dash.

I ran over my own left ankle bump-starting a Honda three-wheeler back in the day. Ouch.