Da Groj

Yes, it rained almost all day. Yes, it was very wet. Yes, it was one of the most casual and fun events we've had in a while!

Thanks to everyone for pitching in where needed to make it happen. Thanks to those kind souls who let me and Matt take some runs in your cars.

Matt, BTW, earned the "hardcore-badass-mofo-of-the-day" award for not only attending this wet event... not only coming all the way from Spring Hill from this event... but RIDING HIS MOTORCYCLE all the way from Spring Hill for this event.

Results and more shortly...

Okay, here are the Results.

For those who weren't there, due to the light turnout and the rain, we took drastic measures and did things a little differenty.

First, we wanted to be sure the course was as safe as possible, so we moved all of the turn apexes in away from the hard perimeter objects around the course to allow an additional 20-25 feet more than normal. Then, we removed all of the cone walls on the outsides of the turns (except the finish turn) so that there would be many fewer cones on the course to hit. Of course, it was really wet, and we knew we couldn't mark the cones and expect them to stay marked... how do we keep people from hitting them? We used the tall cones that SPC has available (we don't often use them because if you hit one sideways, it can put a dent in your car!) for both visibility and the threat of minor damage, and we coupled that with an automatic DNF penalty for hitting ANY cone on course.

With the penalty for hitting a cone being a DNF and possibly a dent in your car, we were able to do away with our four worker stations and not require a bunch of people to be miserable standing out on course and chasing cones. Instead, we had a "mobile worker station" equipped with a fire extinguisher and a radio positioned where they could see the entire course and sprint out to reset any downed cone. (you'll notice that there were only 4 "DNF" cone-penalties in the results, so these guys weren't very busy) The only people who were standing out in the rain were the grid and start workers, and it was never raining hard enough to make their job particularly bad.

The whole thing worked fabulously! Our 17 drivers each got about a dozen runs each on average. We only scored the first 8 in the final results, but I think I may be one of only 2 or 3 drivers who got 10 runs. One driver bowed out with car trouble after 5 or 6 runs (low-mounted cold-air intakes and rain don't mix). And pretty much everyone else got between 12 and 16 runs. All that, and were were packed up and gone by 1:30pm.

If you opted to stay home for this one... what can I say? You missed a really fun event!

And to those who did attend, thanks again for helping out and being willing to do things a little differently.

It was worth the ride, and I must thank Ron for allowing me to flog his car a little bit today. Driving his car makes me want an NA even more than I did before, definitely fun to drive!

I thought I could have squeezed out a third place over all, but again I have to thank Loren, Drew, and Jamie for putting me in my place at the end...

Oh and did anyone get any decent video? I saw a couple fogged up go pros.

Well, I usually dread rain events, but all of the modifications made by the steering committee really made the whole event work well. Thanks.

I was only able to make a quick appearance mid-morning (Drew hope you got your electrical issue fixed...freakin' Mustangs...) and everyone I talked to seemed to be in a good mood despite the weather. And that is good.

That'll teach me to ignore a high-altitude air stream from the Gulf...I thought we were going to get more benefit from the high pressure bubble behind it. Don't tell my Met professor.... Always fun, though -- Sophia's first time pushing the car hard in the rain, so very good for her. And we learned her car does not do handbrake turns.

Lava Speed 05 wrote:Oh and did anyone get any decent video? I saw a couple fogged up go pros.

I have video of all of Sophia's and my runs...showed me I left too much room on the cones again.... Fogging wasn't a problem, but got a few dead-center hits from raindrops (pow!)

I also got pictures of just about everyone in the first group going through the "stream" -- will get those up later.

Oh, I bet those are some fun "splash" photos!

Leaving some room on the cones was good today, as we were trying to NOT hit them. I felt like the key to this course was settling into a good line going CCW around the "cluster" of cones as early as possible, and ACCELERATING through as much of that sweeper and into the next one all the way into the finish slalom. That's where the speed was.

Sadly, I took that cluster in the opposite direction on my first 6 runs before accepting that it might be faster to go the other way. (the difference was 3-4 seconds!)

I need to draw up a map of the actual course that we drove today. I think it's a keeper for future rain events.

Fun fact--the second fuse I put in before the trip home did not blow. Steve, thanks for the one you gave me, but it didn't make it through the lunch trip.
I found no short on the fan circuit when I got home, so I guess I'll blame the water, and keep an eye out for a new fan in case it's a new intermittent problem.

Great course and great fun despite my gremlins.

I will note that the ladies showed up today, despite the rain. For the rest of you who passed on the day, you missed out.
Next time, cancel your manicure, hike your skirt up, and HTFU!

AScoda wrote:I will note that the ladies showed up today, despite the rain. For the rest of you who passed on the day, you missed out.
Next time, cancel your manicure, hike your skirt up, and HTFU!

Yuuuuup. The open top Cobra guys get a pass. Anyone with a street car just wussed out and missed out.

Sent from my phone. Expect more errors than usual!

Loren wrote:

AScoda wrote:I will note that the ladies showed up today, despite the rain. For the rest of you who passed on the day, you missed out.
Next time, cancel your manicure, hike your skirt up, and HTFU!

Yuuuuup. The open top Cobra guys get a pass. Anyone with a street car just wussed out and missed out.

Sent from my phone. Expect more errors than usual!

Careful what you guys say about the no shows, some of us that didn't make it wasn't because of the rain.

Yes, I wimped out. I never have liked auto crossing in the rain. I had a plan for the day to make it a test n tune and the rain washed that plan away.

Joe

If anyone was wondering, this is a good representation of the course that we ended up running Saturday. I'm gonna keep it on tap for the next time we have to run at SPC in the rain.

Jamie just sent me his "splash" photos. I put them here:
http://drivefast.org/temp/

Check 'em out. This was the creek that ran through the middle of the course.

Love the splash photos!

By the way, the Z is driving fine now, she just needed some dry time . I'll be moving that intake up for sure!

Good plan, Alicia!

aliciamarie wrote:Love the splash photos!

By the way, the Z is driving fine now, she just needed some dry time . I'll be moving that intake up for sure!

Glad to see it resolved itself.

Drew how have your fans been? Looking at the one photo of your car from Jamie it looks like the water was indeed forcing right up into the area you had the short. Mustang hydrodynamics don't appear to be as good. Drew will just say he was going faster into the puddle, but we all know that's a lie... ;-)

Sent from my DROID RAZR

Drew do you have electric fans in your car?

Paul -Yes, electric fan.
Working perfectly. The fuse I put in when I left is still there. Drove up to Croom since and to Balm-Boyette last weekend, no issues.

Glad everything is worked out. I need to take a look at your setup because that'll be the next step for my fox.