Let's talk about this course, and what you may have done wrong on it. How did a slow car get around the course fast?
First of all, I'm guessing that a lot of people were simply over-driving it. One advantage that we have in the FASTiva (if you can call it an advantage) is that on a course like this, we can almost drive it flat out. In fact, that's what we try to do! If we manage to pull that off, then we know we've pretty much gotten all we can get out of the car less a tenth here or there for being a little off-line. But, I'd venture to guess that (being the only sub-70 hp car out there) it's the only car that could come close to doing that. Everyone else... consider that at no point did we hit the rev limiter in the FASTiva. That means that we never exceeded about 55 mph. Consider that ANY car accelerates quicker than the FASTiva, so you would REACH that speed quicker than we did, but to acheive the same time that I did on this course (55.9), you didn't need to go FASTER than that, you just needed to achieve and hold that speed. This may have been the downfall of many drivers. Pushing for more speed on this course may have simply given you more speed that you couldn't carry through the next part of the course. It would have been a delicate balancing act to hold the "perfect" speed throughout the course.
As for how to drive the course...
First, note the sideways start beam. Crossing the beam as far from the start line as possible would shave time! How much time? Well, how fast were you going when you crossed it? 20 mph? That's about 29 feet per second. Divide by ten... 2.9 feet = .1 seconds. If you tried to optimize your entry into the left turn for a nice late apex, you might have crossed the start beam in the middle and given yourself a 25-30 foot deficit from the guy who crossed as late as possible. There's a SECOND right there. I doubt optimal line on that first turn was worth anywhere near a second. So, I started parallel with the left wall, and hugged that wall as late as possible, then crossed the beam. Lifted completely off the gas and YANKED the car left, eased into the throttle and headed toward trying to get a good setup to late apex the next apex.
Late apexing the 2nd and 3rd apexes was fairly important because it could give you a proper entry into the "wiggle". (even in the slow-ass FASTiva, I was BRAKING a bit on the 2nd apex to stay on-line and get my late apex to ensure the next late apex) If you were late going into that, you'd have problems. Being in control and ahead of the game there was worth the effort.
Pretty neutral throttle through most of that sequence, maybe mild/moderate acceleration, just trying to keep up with the steering. But, definitely full-throttle as early as possible coming around the second-to-last 4-cone wall. Full throttle from there (in the FASTiva... maybe not quite full throttle if you actually have some torque) all the way to the turn-around!
VERY exaggerated setup to the right for the kinky bit leading into the diagonal wall. If you didn't get set up for that, you probably had a really hard time getting past the end of that wall without lifting or braking. Proper setup, staying ahead of it, and turning "confidently" would allow continued acceleration. (again, those of you with torque may not be FULL THROTTLE, but being partial throttle through there would have made a lot more sense than sawing at the throttle trying to be full-throttle, then braking)
Going through the straight chute, I was actually taking the second half of it at an ANGLE to the right. I didn't pull the car to the right for the turn-around, but I did let that straight angle to the right, which gave me another 4-5 feet or more to the right on entry... and a little more flexibility on driving the turn-around. "Tight is right"??? Not always. It's all about exit speed, which comes with proper positioning and NOT making yourself overdrive and plow by trying to take a line that's tighter than you can manage! Don't fight the car, work WITH the car. If it doesn't want to take a tight turn-around, you're better off trying to optimize your entry (or exit) so that you're asking the car to do something that it CAN do.
If you got a good late apex coming out of the turn-around, then the next apex was pretty easy... and then the left apex after that wasn't painful (but was challenging). From there, as early as possible, back on the gas... and stay on it until the big wall of pointers nearing the finish.
That whole section was about placement. A lot of people would come through there thinking of "now". As in "I'm in the right place for right NOW", this is the right line to be on for THIS. But, what you really needed to think about was that little 3-cone "decreasing angled slalom" just past Station 5. That thing was remarkably easy to drive if you were thinking about it WAY early and set up for it. Give up your proper line through the "easy" part that you could accelerate through in favor of thinking about how to get through the tighter part without having to slow down! I was able to flat-foot it through there. Again, I have no torque.
The last bit that was easily worth at least a half second, probably more like a half on the way in and a half on the way out was that whole finish sequence. First, you needed to set up for it. Did anybody notice that one of the really fast guys (pretty sure it was the Porsche that was in the 45's early in the day) actually kicked up some dirt through there? THAT is how far out you needed to set up for that, give or take a foot. You needed to get out toward the grass. If you did that, you could carry a lot of speed through there. I think if I'd had a couple more runs, I'd have figured out how to get through there without braking. I was braking for it, but probably a lot less than most.
The second half of that (worth another half second) was the 3-cone "finish slalom", particularly the very last apex. Almost everybody was yanking to the right around that last apex to some degree. (I did it myself on about my first 4 runs) It was easy to do. It looked and felt like a slalom, that's what you do. But, the finish gate was SO wide on the left side that you didn't need to do that at all. You could focus on accelerating, and just getting past that middle cone. So, it was a "right-left" sequence... not a "right-left-right" sequence. Much easier to accelerate through with confidence.
That's all I got. Not a difficult course, but definitely one that had a few challenges.
). 50 drivers got 7 runs and lunch and we were done, packed and with full results posted (thanks, Loren) by 1:45 . 
Then the rain made it a non-issue; at that point all you could do was let go of everything and drive in the slop. I wish the camera had not stopped recording after about 15-16 seconds because I was squeee-ing as the car was slipping and sliding around like a pat of butter on a hot skillet: I love a cheap carnival ride and the Fit delivered.
. And also learned that the valves are subject to adjustment. The surprises never end.
