Da Groj

Well that was a fun day. I seriously need to thank everyone for helping today, from Chris Baron and others helping Matt with course setup when the second setup guy no showed (not picking on him) to newer members helping Loren ride around the course in the afternoon to collect cones and everyone in between. It was literally a typical FAST event where everyone and I mean everyone helped each other out all day. I could not ask to be part of a better autocross club, I love all you guys and the help is much appreciated.

It was a ridiculous course that was not that technical at all, but was fun to drive fast around. I think sometimes a course like that here or there is good to have. It really didn't make any sense, but it was a blast and there was some seriously good runs put in by some of you guys out there. Congrats to Mr. Swayne, Greg A., Loren, Curtis K in a stock first gen miata throwing down a killer time, Howard for FTD, and everyone else that was going crazy on that course. It was fun to watch.

Thanks for Doug Adams for another great FAST lunch. And thank you to Matt Brooks and Ed C. for taking the trash at the end of the day. You guys are awesome.

Also to anyone thinking of being an event chair or co-chair please do not hesitate to volunteer. With our group of FAST guys it really is a fun and rewarding experience to see YOUR event (with a lot of support) come together and be a success.

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did and I hope to see you all after a safe and happy holidays in the new year so we can ring in 2013 FAST style.

Thanks to you Chris for leaving your sickbed and coming out to play "downwind" with those nasty lung germs.

Everyone was learning how to not overdrive your course in at least 5 places and kill their times.

Happily there were no leftovers once again!! Awesome.

Matt Sullivan and I succeeded in putting the Hankooks to rest with .6-.8mm = 1/64"- 1/32" @ the deep spots = officially heat cycled to death after 7000 miles and 100+ FAST laps in 1.5 years. They were so bald and flat they didn't want to do anything but go dead straight all the way home. The last 3/32" was not awe inspiring like the first 6/32" were. Be advised. When bald they will let go and drift like a set of 15 year olds on a skateboard but remained intertaining all day.

Thanks to everyone for being happy today!! Merry Christmas. Hope you got a candy cane or a Christmas Cookie from FAST!!

My Christmas present in is the back seat of Wankel awaiting mounting:)

twistedwankel wrote:
My Christmas present in is the back seat of Wankel awaiting mounting:)

I'm sure I've got a zinger for this one, but I'm too tired.

Great job, everybody! See ya next time.

Thanks for the awesome event Chris!

Yes, Chris you did a great job today, and considering you weren't feeling well, way to hang in there!

Fantastic day, will post more later .......

Thanks to Chris and the usual (and unusual) cast of helpful folks! Great event!

Oh, and thanks for donating that generator, Doug! It's a great addition to our inventory.

What? Oh, right... the results.

Chris, don't underestimate the difficulty of this course. It wasn't all that difficult for those with enough experience (or foolish fearlessness coupled with raw talent) to get through it smoothly without lifting off of the gas as much as possible. But, the results reflect that not everyone has that experience. While the course was a "power course", it clearly took some skill and finesse to get it right. A drag-strip, it was not!

Easy to drive, not-so-easy to drive fast!

Loren wrote: While the course was a "power course", it clearly took some skill and finesse to get it right. A drag-strip, it was not!
Easy to drive, not-so-easy to drive fast!

14 1 S4 97 Kurtis Clauser 97 Mazda Miata 44.168

Apparently Kurtis didn't get the memo about needing power. He does seem to respond to footlongs tho'. Maybe he's like Super Dog? Lets feed him some milk and see if he drives like a pussy next time.

I'm sure I didn't state that well enough. (however, I didn't say anything about "needing" power)

It's a "power course" in that if you had power, it was USEFUL and not HARMFUL. (assuming you were able to modulate it... unlike Mr. Rice...) That, in no way, negates the usual requirements of course-reading, racing-line-following, looking-ahead, thinking-ahead and smoothness... among other things.

In other words, "if you're fast, you're fast". But, some courses can make you even FASTER if your car has great acceleration. This was one of those courses. Other courses reward better grip or transitional response without giving you much space to make use of power.

Track was fun I just could'nt get in front of it seems like i was always late

Loren wrote: Ed, you really should have just showed up this morning. Like Steve said, it shouldn't be hard for the guy who tows the trailer to get a car to drive.

I tried -- spouse blocked. Arrrgh.

twistedwankel wrote: Matt Sullivan and I succeeded in putting the Hankooks to rest with .6-.8mm = 1/64"- 1/32" @ the deep spots = officially heat cycled to death after 7000 miles and 100+ FAST laps in 1.5 years. They were so bald and flat they didn't want to do anything but go dead straight all the way home. The last 3/32" was not awe inspiring like the first 6/32" were. Be advised. When bald they will let go and drift like a set of 15 year olds on a skateboard but remained intertaining all day.[/i]

Which model Hancooks were you using?
I had some RS3s that I used out at Sebring that seemed to lose significant grip before they were totally worn down.

buddy bodean wrote:Loren wrote: Ed, you really should have just showed up this morning. Like Steve said, it shouldn't be hard for the guy who tows the trailer to get a car to drive.

I tried -- spouse blocked. Arrrgh.

If you need a drive, hit me up. I owe you!

Great event. Thanks to everyone who made it happen!

Regarding "power course". I discussed that with Mark Jones. One time Howard told me that a power course is defined by multiple, tight slow spots followed by a lengthy distance of flat-out gas pedal. All the power and torque really helps on a course like that, he explained. It made sense.

However, it also makes sense that on a course like yesterday, power helped a lot because the straights were so awesomely fast! Which is a nice change. It spiced it up a bit. It also explains how a Camaro ran such a sweet time. He must be a great driver to drag that beast, kicking and screaming through an autocross at mach speed.

< Awaiting Loren's rip on rotary engines >

Lof8 wrote:

twistedwankel wrote:

Which model Hancooks were you using?
I had some RS3s that I used out at Sebring that seemed to lose significant grip before they were totally worn down.

RS-3's built about 2 years ago. I got them new but they were built about 6 months prior. (On Sale of course.)

Rosko wrote:It also explains how a Camaro ran such a sweet time. He must be a great driver to drag that beast, kicking and screaming through an autocross at mach speed.

< Awaiting Loren's rip on rotary engines >

Vivek is a great driver and that is not my father's Camaro:)

This was the first course I can honestly say we repeatedly found the "limits" of our end of life tires. That said, "140 slicks" were probably very advantageous for us on that course with no excessive heat build and definately no tread squirm. Would have enjoyed Matt's turbo coming out of that end loop!!

Loren told me Rotary is a world business social group and he approves of it.

twistedwankel wrote:Loren told me Rotary is a world business social group and he approves of it.

twistedwankel wrote:Loren told me Rotary is a world business social group and he approves of it.

I had a rotary engine car when I was three...scoot it along the floor for a few inches, and away it went!

Fun course, too bad I botched my last run. I was way too hot going into the 3/4 cross over and wound up doing what Doug asked me to do, which was eat the remaining tread up.

Doug I have to find the time to get the maintenance done before the next event and we can do the same thing with my RS-3s. Thanks again for letting me flog your car!

Sent from my DROID RAZR

Jamie wrote:[
I had a rotary engine car when I was three...scoot it along the floor for a few inches, and away it went!

[/quote]

Yes there is fundamentally something totally wrong with a motor that doesn't have to convert an up and down vertical/horizontal motion into a spin with 2 rotations per complete cycle and 100's of moving parts into a single direction.
Damned floppy triangled obital motion with 5 or six moving parts that fires 6 times every single rotation and orbits thru fixed gear at 1/3 rpms of the output shaft with hardly any friction losses, a horsepower curve that is a straight line angled UP and a torque plateau over 1500rpms to 9500 @ tailshaft and can be bolted together like turbine pumps for more power as desired. Hmmmm. All in the space of a used pony keg weighing 250lbs.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/how-w ... 19241.html

What were they thinking??? I've owned a baker's dozen and never done a valve job on any of them. There is a watch chain that runs the oil pump tho' that's mostly for doing 1/3 of the cooling. A perfume sprayer lubes the "compression rings" on intake so you don't have to put oil in the fuel. A 1.3 liter engine @ 238HP NA that weighs about 1lb/HP is hard to fathom BUT I drive mine just like Jamie did when he was 3 = push the pedal 3" and away it goes

It's a shame about that whole poor efficiency and crappy reliability thing, Doug.