Da Groj

This was my first auto cross and I loved it!! Cannot believe I ran a 39.3 with my truck on the last run! Track was fun and look forward to future events. Probably need to go buy a car to be competitive.

Thanks again for a great event!

https://youtu.be/wYTFyGy3404

Video from Robert Thompson's best run, 1995 Ford Mustang. (39.214)

https://youtu.be/0pOPRXedvdg


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jbrannon7 wrote:

RedBRZ80 wrote:The funnal wall slalom thing before the turnaround sucked in quite a few novices. Great design, in that it looks like it's somewhere you can speed up, but it's really where you slowdown.

It did not just suck in the novices, I worked that station as captain and saw numerous veterans go way to fast there and mow cones or DNF. Would have been a great place to get some video for a bloopers reel.

I got bit by it on my first run. I knew it was going to be tight, but I tried to flat-foot it through there, anyway. Nope! The funnel wall was nothing but a visual element. What threw you off was the short wall of cones on the right that delayed your turn-in for what should have been an easy 75-foot spaced slalom. Steve is an evil genius.

ctsteege wrote:This was my first auto cross and I loved it!! Cannot believe I ran a 39.3 with my truck on the last run! Track was fun and look forward to future events. Probably need to go buy a car to be competitive.

Pretty respectable time for the tires you were on. You'll be amazed at what some seat time and a good set of tires will do for you. M2 is a tough class, wouldn't be easy to win... but, you could certainly get noticed!

jbrannon7 wrote:

RedBRZ80 wrote:The funnal wall slalom thing before the turnaround sucked in quite a few novices. Great design, in that it looks like it's somewhere you can speed up, but it's really where you slowdown.

It did not just suck in the novices, I worked that station as captain and saw numerous veterans go way to fast there and mow cones or DNF. Would have been a great place to get some video for a bloopers reel.

I instructed in the second heat, so my point of view was from passenger seat with new ones. I'm saying "brake" and they had right pedal down. But your right Joe.. great section for a running blooper reel.

This was a really fun course. Good job on the course layout Steve! I was pretty happy with my runs even though I hit a cone on my best ones but regardless improvement to me. I would post a video but audio didn't record so whats the point .

Thanks for the instructors run in my car Tim. Was told to give gas earlier on some areas but had a mental block till Tim showed me how it's done.

I'm really glad you all enjoyed the event, the course, and just so's you know, I dnf'd that same section that caught quite a few of us. No sh*t.

Thanks very much to Bill for allowing me to share his car. I always enjoy a good co-drive!

Also enjoyed everyone's effort and cooperation. A nearly-sold-out Open event, with 5 runs, and dead-on schedule all day. Clean up went quite quickly, too, due to much good help. Well done, all!

Loren wrote:What if I told you that the course for this event was going to kick ass? How do I know that? Because Steve Frank designed it, that's how!

Loren was right. I really liked this course. Thanks, Steve.

jbrannon7 wrote:

RedBRZ80 wrote:The funnal wall slalom thing before the turnaround sucked in quite a few novices. Great design, in that it looks like it's somewhere you can speed up, but it's really where you slowdown.

It did not just suck in the novices, I worked that station as captain and saw numerous veterans go way to fast there and mow cones or DNF. Would have been a great place to get some video for a bloopers reel.

The funnel wall bit me hard on my second run. I think Loren pointed out that the cone wall was just a distraction. It was a place where you had to ignore the distraction and look well ahead. The fact that so many of us had trouble with what should have been an easy element just highlights the diabolical nature of Steve's course design. What fun!

Dave

Great event, this one was. Ed and I had a great time, one upping each other. It took me the first two runs to get a feel for the course, including losing it and ending up completely sideways on the slalom going out towards the crossover I munched a cone recovering there, ha! I had so much fun, as per usual. Great to see the event went smoothly all day, even with the afternoon absences.

Loren wrote:Key West box is the one with basically two gates and a random cone in the middle, right? We do that occasionally. Pretty sure we've done it at an event within the past couple months. I remember using a green cone for the center so that it would stand out.

At the last PCA event Danny S told Mark L to never do another Key West box. Sharon took a piece out of their Porsche I think. My comment make the offset 3" wider than the rear track of a Vette or don't do it at all. I touched the center or outer final cone on the "wide side" of that maneuver before the finish 4 out of 6 times and in order to get thru clean had to Gymkhana slow right before the lights. All the other skinny cars drove straight thru it flat out. Not fair. Saroya even hit the center cone once She totally kicked my butt that day based on that one element.

I fully expect Mark to make good on his promise to have an entire course of Key West boxes their next event So long as he gives me that 3" I'll drive nearly straight thru the whole course like the others can treating it as a double gate. Doh. : - :

My opinion on what most people call a Key West Box:

Much like the original intent of the Chicago Box, it was just a way to "cheat" the SCCA's "minimum 45-foot spacing" on a slalom. Make it a "Box", it's not a "slalom", you could space it at 30-35 feet. It's not fun to drive, but you could do it. SCCA has since (long since) changed their rule to state that "any 3 or more cones in a more-or-less straight line is a slalom".

So, the Key West box is usually just a really tight offset slalom. It's either a "confidence maneuver", or a recipe for cone murder.

I'll do them on occasion, but you'll notice that when I do them, they're not impossible to drive!

Ah, here it is. I knew I'd done it recently. Twice in one course, one longer than the other. Can be a fun element if done right.

ANY autocross course element can be done wrong or to excess. What works and what doesn't comes with experience. That's why FAST has a course design review process that has at least 3 sets of experienced eyes looking at the course before we even set it up... and then at least two sets of eyes looking at it after setup... and an experienced driver testing it before we call it good. It's a lot of extra work, but it pays off!

That one was fun. It looked like it was a place to brake/lift but it worked foot to the floor style. I enjoyed it. Except the run the I figured out I could stay flat I forgot that I was now traveling faster and had to break earlier for the next element. Subsequently, I mowed over several cones. Oops.

Still, working on the pictures, they will be up today I think. I had a great time at the event but the course and I did not see eye to eye. I got lucky and found some speed in the turnaround I think and squeaked out a win. Big thanks to Jamie for coming back and following me home after the event when my car picked up some road debris.

JasonS wrote:Phillip gets some credit for my success today. Did the course walk with him and he gave me a lot of advise on how to approach several sections that worked out great.

MANY thanks

Thanks, unfortunately I couldn't user my advice.

ctsteege wrote:This was my first auto cross and I loved it!! Cannot believe I ran a 39.3 with my truck on the last run! Track was fun and look forward to future events. Probably need to go buy a car to be competitive.

Thanks again for a great event!

https://youtu.be/wYTFyGy3404

So you are the crazy guy with the truck! That was some great driving to keep it out of the cones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GJgPwU-7fw

It was really really fun especially having a skilled driver show me how my car can be driven.

Not sure if noobs are allowed to nominate, but in addition to that funnel going out, I think an honorable mention for the second cone on the back slalom is in order.

Was on station six for first work assignment, watched station five pick that thing up at least 20 times. Second work assignment, station five. Told my co-worker: "that's the cone to watch, you'll be resetting it plenty"...and indeed he did.

So after all that, guess which cone penalized my two best runs of the day?

Fun times, I enjoyed the course, wanted to get into the 36s but that did not happen.
My fastest run 37.193
https://youtu.be/kdXSCXlCHUI

And then the "almost take out Philip off road action"
https://youtu.be/9-by0ZCkpqc

nathanwilliams617 wrote:And then the "almost take out Philip off road action"

Nice!

Great job going off straight though. Glad Phillip and his spotter were unscathed.

Pictures.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/133057342@N05/s9Z47J

Big thanks to everyone that spotted for me.

Carracer wrote:Big thanks to Jamie for coming back and following me home after the event when my car picked up some road debris.

I'm sure I'm going to regret that soon. Probably this weekend....