12/6/2008 - Last FAST of the Year

[Loren]

My ScanGauge showed a consistent 55 mph top speed for all but one of my runs. I assume that was at the end of the slalom.

I think this course was about as fast as we dare to run. Not "too fast", but right on the ragged edge.

[krebstar]

Well, my tire is holding air. It had a slow leak when I left Brooksville. But, it looks like that was caused by a wad of paper in one of the valve caps that was forcing the valve open. I cleaned that out and I'm keeping pressure. I'm not going to run on it for long, mind you. I bought a portable air compressor just in case.

Scott, I guess I'll be seeing less of you . Also, take the disc out of the trailer

[Rosko]

As ever, another fun event. I liked the course. I had one shining moment when I completely forgot to loop around and go back for a second pass to the turnaround.

On one of my runs I got red-flagged. The worker nearest me came up and said, You're doing pretty good. You're at about X.X at this point, and about X.X at the turn-around. I was super confused because I wasn't sure if I really saw a red flag or not, and was doubly confused by the worker. I drove away wondering how he knew how fast I was going. I didn't think about it after that, but now I understand!

To the guy who gave me that info; Thank you for giving me some input. Now I'm sorry I didn't ask you to clarify.

[ComposiMo]

To whomever was running the radar gun... did you by any chance log the speed of that yellow S2000 on the turnaround? I know i was sloooow, but i'm still curious as to what it was (especially compared to the Yaris... lol! )

thanks!

[Native]

So one of the corner workers was using a radar gun at the same time he was supposed to be cornerworking? :shock: I guess the drivers' meeting reminder about no cell phones needs to include no radar guns, too...

[Loren]

Good call, Steve.

[WAFlowers]

You could argue that, in order to use the radar gun, the corner worker had to closely watch the car (to keep the gun focussed on it).

I'm not suggesting that we allow it, but before jumping on it let's stop and consider why we say "no cell phones".

If I understand correctly it is primarily a safety issue. We need the workers to focus on the car in order to be sure to not be where the car is going if the driver loses control.

As a secondary issue we need drivers to watch for downed cones, call them in and reset them.

So if someone is focussed on a car (in order to monitor its speed with a radar gun) in what way is the worker not paying attention?

I'm just playing devil's advocate but I will admit that allowing such a thing is splitting hairs and could set a dangerous precident.

[Loren]

Cell phones are a distraction, plain and simple.

A radar gun is more akin to a camera. When you're focused on what you're looking at through a camera lens, you miss other things that might be going on around you. That's why we don't allow workers to use cameras, and why we require photographers to have a spotter.

Nah, I don't think a course worker needs anything more than a radio or a flag in their hand... maybe a bottle of water.

[ComposiMo]

So if someone is focussed on a car (in order to monitor its speed with a radar gun) in what way is the worker not paying attention?

Watching the front of the car (where the radar would be pointed) versus watching the back of the car are two VERY different things... i can't even count the amount of times that i've watched two workers at a corner looking directly at the front of a car completely miss a cone that the car they are watching actually hit.... it happened at least once that i saw at Brooksville actually. When you are working, you need to watch the back of the car to take note of moving cones, and not marvel at the slip angle the car is acheiving while sliding through a gate...

If the guy was out there and not an actual corner worker, that is one thing... if he was supposed to be working the corner, then i agree that a radar gun shouldn't be in use by that individual.

[Tim_M]

Had a great time and excellent course...the length was very welcome.

I especially enjoyed a healthy slalom...gave time to 'practice' one's technique.

I'd post a video, but would rather not be publicly critiqued!

I will say the dynamics of AWD are pretty cool! Much more difficult to spin although I came close...

Those S2000's are impressive and Aaron in the MS3 had a great run!

[Native]

Not only are corner workers supposed to watch for cones, they are supposed to watch more than one car at a time if more than one car is on course. And, they watch each others' backs. If a car needs to be red flagged, say due to the car before spinning or somehow blocking the course, it's the corner before that that needs to be on their toes to flag the driver. As was said above, you can't do that if you're not able to pay attention, that is, not be distracted, by cell phones, radar guns, UFOs, whatever.

A radar gun used as a photog would use a camera - safely off course and with a spotter - no problem, mon.

[Alizarin]

I'd post a video, but would rather not be publicly critiqued!

I will say the dynamics of AWD are pretty cool! Much more difficult to spin although I came close...

Nothing wrong with a critique of your video. I'm actually curious to see how it looked from inside. You and I have almost the same suspension setup.

I promise, my video will be up soon!

[Loren]

Public critique is good. That way everybody learns from everybody else's mistakes.

My mistakes:
- Too much throttle through the turn-arounds in my early runs. I didn't really fix that problem, but it was less of an issue after some shock and tire pressure adjustment.
- Not trusting the car enough to let it carry the speed that it could through some sections. (yes, I could have gone faster)
- Being too lazy to take the spare and tools out of the back of the car... every little bit helps when you have 108 hp.

I'm sure there were others, but those are the major ones that I knew about. Basically, I needed to push harder and suck less. Go figure.

[vertigyn]

Here's my in car videos for the 6 runs:
http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z15/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... T%20AutoX/

My best run of the day:
[img]http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z15/ ... n75896.jpg[/img]

[aparke]

Ha! Elliot, that son of bitch beat you in your own car! (humbling, isn't it?) Thanks for the vid. Always fun and sobering to watch the faster guys.

Those S2000's are impressive and Aaron in the MS3 had a great run!

Thanks, Tim...but I certainly have A LOT to learn when chasing a Yaris proves to be more than I can handle Yellow_Colorz_PDT_37 ...too bad I don't have a video to post to get some professional critique. Glad you had fun in your "4x4"!

[Loren]

Elliot, that's a really smooth run. I'd have to watch it a few times to find anything to nitpick about. If you were on race rubber, you simply need to trust the tires more and do everything you did exactly the same, just at a higher speed.

I'm starting to think that there's something to this whole notion of "push harder, suck less". There aren't many autocross problems that can be solved by one or the other.

[vertigyn]

Thanks for the compliments guys =) Yeah - I'm still getting used to the race rubber - only my 2nd time on them. I think there are some cones I can get closer too as well.

Fortunately, although Jeff beat my time in my car, he took out 5 cones in the process That made me feel a little better!

[Anonymous]

Elliot, that's a really smooth run. I'd have to watch it a few times to find anything to nitpick about.

I agree. Good run.

The only things I did differently is at the lane change right before the far turn around. I went into that wider so I was able to accelerate through the whole thing. I was at full throttle before the lane change all the way to the turn around. It made that section really hairy. You should have been fighting to keep the rear tires under you going into the turnaround. Seems like you coasted through the lane change and then gave a little stab at the throttle.

And on the backside of the loop, I late apexed the first offset, and gave up speed there, so I got more speed in the next 2 sections. Appears you could have set up better and been looking ahead more in the big offsets after the turnaround on the back side. Probably at some point during your run you forgot to keep looking ahead. This section you should have also been fighting oversteer. Instead it looked kind of tame.

[vertigyn]

Thank you Jeremy!

[Anonymous]

And just to rant a little, and maybe it's just me being a stickler for Roger Johnson, but in Chapter 2 Section 7 he pretty clearly states that a single, lay-down pointer cone is an apex, while multiple lay down cones are "directionals." Not just this course, but multiple ones in our past have used single pointer cones to indicate direction, but not apex - I think that's confusing to people. Ok, I feel better now...

Quoted from the handbook...
"The purpose of a pointer cone is ONLY to indicate the inside of a turn
(usually near the apex) - use them sparingly"

Pointer cones don't have to be THE apex. They just have to be on the inside of a turn. What fun would it be if we told everyone where the apexes were?

There were a couple corners on this course where the apexes weren't where you thought they should be. That's part of the challenge. I personally love pointer cones. On a slalom course like Brooksville, I prefer a single cone with a pointer over a gate almost every time. Gates make a site like Brooksville turn into a sea of cones very quickly.