Da Groj

nc4me wrote:I have to thank Brian for suffering through the same condition I had today.

Thank Federal Tire.

I'm going fishing.

Great results from Sophia today...besides a class win, she turned some just plain good runs in her car. We captured some interesting video (thanks to Bob T letting me borrow his camera mount) doing back-to-back runs in her car. You have to look very closely to figure out who drove which run in this video.

http://youtu.be/heDrsn7S57k

The Queen of Smooth indeed!

First you second Sophia ?

The more videos I watch the more I see how bad I drove the course today. My line was terrible for everything but the first slalom.

Should have gotten Ben or someone to ride with me and slap me real quick so I did a better line.

Braked to hard into the kink after first slalom, too tight on the turn around, bad entry into the kinks, didn't drive straight through the links like I could. Bad line coming out of kinks messing up the rest of the course. It's amazing I did as good as I did.

Learning to "read" a course is one of the many skills required to be good at autocross. Also one of the hardest to pick up. But, if you can see it... you can learn it.

Season Points have been updated. 3 Points into an 11-event series, nothing is decided yet... but it's getting interesting!

Had a blast! Once I figured out how to stay on course! I wanted to thank Loren and Chris for letting me ride shotgun. Also, thank you Ben for ridding with me and driving my car!


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First event on the new Z2 *Spec... Still getting used to the new found level of grip and the different feel. These tires make a LOT more noise than my old Advans, so that was kind of weird. I think I hit more cones today than I did in all of last season!

This video is of my best raw time (48.3). Looking at the video I see 3 places where I screwed up pretty good... There was definitely a 47.xx in the car if it had a good driver... as evidenced by the fact that Drew got in my car and matched my best time in one run!

If I'd swung wider at the two-cone-pointer-slalom after the expanding slalom I wouldn't have hit that cone.

The entry to the curved cone wall at 0:44 was kinda sloppy. Could be tighter to the cone and further to the right against the wall.

I could have carried more speed around 0:53...

I need to start thinking more about my lines, and then somehow remember what I planned to do once I'm out on course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqrbPUfhnuI

I love watching all this videos! It's really helping me see where I can be improving. I "feel" fast out there, heck, even spun out BUT I'm so slow and can't figure it out until watching these runs. It really helped out when Drew drove my car and I couldn't believe how he was handling it! In fact, I got me a little naseous for the rest of my runs lol

I also realized that I'm still "street" driving. I'm not flooring the throttle OR the brakes. I think I'm being aggressive but I'm really just driving chaotically. I also have only had my car for a couple of months after driving minivans for 14 years...so I'm still getting used to the handling and turning and my spacial orientation. I'm still having issues pulling into parking spots and how tight the corning is and I don't have to sweep way out like I did in the dodge caravan lol. Yesterday was a lot of "testing" for me to see exactly where my car is in relation to the cones and I apologize to all the cones harmed in my learning lol

Keep posting vids! I'm a copy cat learner so seeing the speed and lines with other drivers has been great help!

I'm also going to try to get my coilovers put on for the 6th....we shall see!

Solar wrote:

nc4me wrote:I have to thank Brian for suffering through the same condition I had today.

Thank Federal Tire.

I'm going fishing.

I'd like to thank Brian for officially putting the "El Kabong" on buying low end race tires with any hope of being "Speedy Gonzales"!!

Loren wrote:Season Points have been updated. 3 Points into an 11-event series, nothing is decided yet... but it's getting interesting!

M2 shows a tie for 1st. It was 2am when you did that again wasn't it.

Sleep = the thing one does best while trying to fit between two cones at speed?

Yeah. I actually was falling asleep doing it, so I stopped. Then I picked it up again later. I bet M2 was my break point!

Edit: Fixed.

That was fun, I just wish I had more than 3 hours sleep going into it.
When doing course work it seemed one particular cone wall ( across from work area 3 ) was a pain to setup because it lacked a safe place to stand that wasn't a difficult angle to spot if a cone was hit or not.

Thanks to everyone that helps run the events, and big thanks to Drew and Greg for helping me find time in my car. I figured my car was good for 53.0XX but after my first run was a 56 then a 55 I knew I was really in need of help. It felt like I was wasting time and just wasn't feeling the track or my car nearly as confidently as I was at the 18th event.

I started acting like a true autocrosser and started blaming the tire pressure

Drew drove my car and that showed me what I just wasn't "getting" today. Then I tried to copy him and drove right into a cone wall thanks to some jerky steering inputs.

Greg rode with me and let me use his camera for my 4th run. I tried to remember everything Drew told me and listen to what Greg was telling me. It all started to click again and I got a 53.2 On my last run I tried to make up for lost time and I could feel the car had a low 52 in it. I was on track to get that but I messed up the turnaround and the goofed in a few more spots on the way back.

Can't wait till next time

really really liked the course.....the tires didn't start to come around till the 4 round and and by then I just had a hard time trying to figure what they where gonna do.....any ways still a great course a loads of fun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAggXyI_a5U

Here's a couple more vids that showed up on Facebook:

Sean Shenck 48.336:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... RrBbRpZ0b8

Les Davis FTD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... RrBbRpZ0b8

Greg's Go-Pro Fail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... d5zQ95kG38

Philip Petrie's best (Greg instructing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... NMdLDx8eeU

Loren wrote:Here's a couple more vids that showed up on Facebook:
Philip Petrie's best (Greg instructing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... NMdLDx8eeU

Wow, I didn't see this on facebook ( I really need to use it more )

I finally can see my driving So glad Greg let me use the camera.

Based on my limited experience it looks like I need to be smoother overall with smaller input like I was told, I was messy and late getting into the section by work area 3, and I was late setting up for the last turn.

Also I think I need to work on "Brake earlier...and less." Need a sign to remind myself...

Definitely could see a second left in the car under my best time. It was really my driving holding it back more than last time. With the shocks it should be more competitive in S4.

This one's for the Mayor...a new excuse for my collection:

Carracer wrote:With the shocks it should be more competitive in S4.

Buy them and bring them over. No excuses!

Inspecta wrote:

Carracer wrote:With the shocks it should be more competitive in S4.

Buy them and bring them over. No excuses!

After that I'll need to go back to complaining about my all season tires

Well actually, I now think at 31 PSI and watching Drew drive the tires can "grip" more than I thought. Not great but it had better feedback at the low PSI. Not sure how that works.

I think part of my problem was the tires gripped more than the last event, making my shock problems more obvious to me and that messed up my timing.

Jamie wrote:This one's for the Mayor...a new excuse for my collection:

Wow. 8 times around the world and fantastic oil pressure. Love the "in the pink" gages.

Go Jamie. I've never had any vehicle more than 160k (yes a used 99 Miata). And probably never will.

The Mayor

Miatas after 1994 have a "fake" oil pressure gauge. It uses the same sensor as an oil light. Trips at 7 psi. You either have oil pressure and the gauge reads in the middle, or you have less than 7 psi and the gauge drops to zero.

But, a well-maintained Miata engine is good for 300,000 miles or more before it needs a little head work. The bottom end is stout!