April 15th Autox at Brooksville

[rab]

I had a great time at this very unusual autocross... still slow as a snail... but a great time.

as requested here is a vid of my off road exercise.

http://youtu.be/708YqjMxanw

Ok to bring back a little respect here is my last run.

http://youtu.be/kUyBa6nG1zg

Please laugh with me at the first one... and please give me any constructive critiques you may have on the second one.

[Loren]

Really hard to tell over all the wind noise, but could you maybe get on the gas earlier in some places?

The camera angle makes it hard to judge apexes. Overall, not too bad, could maybe be a little earlier to turn and later to apex in places. Brake later and less into the slalom. Only tire squeal I heard was at the pin turn... so maybe just not pushing hard enough in general?

"Push harder, suck less."

[aparke]

Yep, M1 was the cone eating club today. I'm pretty sure I hit more cones today than the last twelve events combined!

+1 ... It was awful.

6 runs. 13 cones. All dirty. I "felt" 2 of those cones. The rest were shocking. I don't know how I could go any slower, or make more exaggerated and wide turns to get around them. It was like the twilight zone.

If anyone was working the course in the 2nd heat, and remembers where the red RX8 was hitting cones, please tell me. And rest assured. I paid the price by working the slalom and running cones like crazy. Karma.

At least I'm happy with my best raw time. It was my goal.

Thanks to Dave for the use of his jack, Eric for the use of his compressor, Matt for his zipties, Gerry for the use of his tools, and Chung for sewing my car's under-plastic back together!

Good driving Loren, taking M1 on your first shot. If this is a sign of things to come, you won't even have to try that hard.

Right after the pin turn, you were hitting the first cone to start the slalom with your back right tire. You never touched the cones on your way to the pin turn, just on the exit.

Yep, what Tommy said. Chuck, you gave us a lot of exercise out at station 4. You certainly weren't the only car though.

Considering my car is old and cheap and has bad black paint, I don't really care about cone marks. Somehow I managed to avoid them the whole day.

[Jamie]

I want to thank everyone who came out yesterday and helped Steve and I put on another fun autocross event. Things seemed to flow smoothly, lunch was a very nice mixture. Dan said lunch must have been really good because a lot of people were turning down ice cream on a hot day.

I vote for Doug as lunch guy for life.

The course for the most part got positive reviews, but my pin turn didn't work out like I thought

If you ever do that again, I'm calling cousins in New Jersey and Myaaka City to pay you a visit. And don't bother looking for the rest of the horse.

The last bit I heard was that this driver was still requesting a rerun for stopping for the downed cone... I didn't hear whether he got it or not, but I feel that he deserved two things: 1. to be lightly admonished for backing up on course, and 2. a rerun for stopping for a misplaced cone....if he didn't get #2, I want to offer an apology, because he should have gotten that rerun.

What? Why on earth would we reward boneheaded behavior, and why would we apologize for not rewarding it? Especially considering this wasn't a novice, but an experienced competitor who should have known better than to drive against the flow of the course. Everyone was reminded several times during the drivers meeting that another car was in motion behind them. Survival, if not common, sense ought to prevail at that point -- go park and talk to the event chair.

I think Chris and Brian handled it very well. That doesn't get Brian out of the doghouse for the pin turn.

Good to hear Judy's doing well. Kudos again to every courseworker out there at the time -- they did great.

[Loren]

I'm not going to penalize a driver by taking away a run for being stupid. If they make a mistake that SO boneheaded to warrant "punishment", we need to ask them to leave. Otherwise... if a rerun was warranted, it should have been given. Cone was down, driver stopped, rerun.

The backing up issue was entirely separate from that, and it was handled. We all do dumb things from time to time. That's why course workers have red flags and are trained in how to use them!

[Jamie]

I'm not going to penalize a driver by taking away a run for being stupid.

No one took away a run or penalized the driver. There was a valid, recorded time. At worst there would have been a cone call (although it doesn't sound like there would have been in this case), which could have been discussed post-run.

We're of different minds.

[Loren]

No one took away a run or penalized the driver. There was a valid, recorded time. At worst there would have been a cone call (although it doesn't sound like there would have been in this case), which could have been discussed post-run.

Not to belabor the point... but, that run, while it had a recorded time, was compromised. The driver was distracted by a downed cone and got on the brakes before the run was completed. The time was not valid, and it was not the fault of the driver. Thus it should have been rerun.

The only exception I'd make to that would be IF the run had already been compromised by the driver. If he had already hit cones or DNF'd that run, then it didn't matter. No BS reruns on runs that you've already botched yourself! (though I know that happens)

We're of different minds.

Sometimes.

[Jamie]

We're of different minds.

Sometimes.

Enough that you should rethink exposing novices to me. Because I'll tell 'em driving against the course flow is evil, unforgivable, and if they do it for the sake of a rerun, I'll find them and let the air out of their tires.

Anticipating a corner station for May...will bring ice.

[yamaha731]

loved 90% of the course the pin turn was just to tight. I relly need some more practice but here's my vid anyways http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo0dkR24v-I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rosko]

My best run. You will forget that it's dirty <Jedi Hand Wave>.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdwJl8GZfh4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another run with a significant mistake after the chute. Hello Mario!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwUsL-WfSHQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Loren]

Nice run, Chuck! Very smooth.

[Rosko]

Thanks, Loren!

[Rawkkrawler]

loved 90% of the course the pin turn was just to tight. I relly need some more practice but here's my vid anyways http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo0dkR24v-I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My thoughts exactly on the pin turn...I felt like I could have had a full conversation with the corner worker as I slowly made my way around. On one run I attempted to add some extra power, but felt too much like a Ken Block Gymkhana video

[blacksheep-1]

Fire it in there and grab a handfull of parking brake with the wheels turned, it'll go around.

[Greg]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eunos89/se ... 484503330/

Much more to come, been really busy lately

[Loren]

This photo is awesome.

[snookwheel]

Fantastic pictures, Greg! You really have an eye for capturing the moment.

Scott

[Rawkkrawler]

Very cool Greg!

[Charles]

Fantastic pictures, Greg! You really have an eye for capturing the moment.

Scott

He even makes my car look clean..........

[snookwheel]

Fantastic pictures, Greg! You really have an eye for capturing the moment.

Scott

He even makes my car look clean..........

And it it's correct position! Just a little trash talk