July 16 at TBD - Season Finale - Finished one for the books

[twistedwankel]

What a lucky day. Okay guess I'll give a hat tip to Loren for limiting us to 4 runs so we could ALL have dry runs today.

Note that on way North a 1/2 mile up from the TBD they had a gully washer and a mile up there was a power truck fixing a downed wire. Yikes.

I can't believe no one has posted yet. Too dehydrated? I had my worst overall finish 48th of the year. BUT Matt with a passenger no less was able to beat me by a full second on his 3rd run. Well done Matt. You can drive quite well in a well aligned car.

Loren, Ben both beat me so I ate the lunch Loren bought me. Soraya wasn't so lucky I beat her.

What can I say about David and Drew in the new Ford. He finished in the top ten. He did beat me by over 2 seconds but Matt he only beat by 1 I didn't drive well and was wishing I'd brought the Rx8 with sticky tires and no torque instead.

TONY finally won a first place sticker in S0. It took him all season and a new car but he put down a couple really great runs. Congrats to Tony.

It was a great season ender. I don't know how the #2 and #3 points ended in M2 as there was a lot of competition between Joe, John and Big Blue. Fun watching them.

I also don't know who won the points for #1 and #2 between Jamie and Philip. They were both low in the 33's.

Thanks to everyone for a great points season. I know I got another t-shirt and that's what it's all about. FUN.

Doug

[jev61]

Doug, you must have gotten too hot in the sun this afternoon. You let a Camry get withing a second of your Corvette, maybe it is time to try the Crown Vic.

[garage west]

Going into this one, I knew I needed to beat Ron to take 3rd place in M2 season points.

The part I forgot was this: Joe Brannon could not finish higher than second in class or he would bump me out of the third place spot.

Joe Brannon took first in class today on the last run of the day.

Fun course, fun people, fun cars, etc! Thanks for another great season of autocross!

[tdinfl]

Another great FAST event. Interesting shorter course and the usual challenging TBD traction. Really enjoyed learning a little more about the new ride, and trying to get a little FASTer!

Congrats to you too Doug, you swooped me for 2nd in season points. I appreciate you racing with us in S0 this year, it was nice to have someone else to get beat by Ken with every month...

Have a good one, see you all next season!

TD

[twistedwankel]

Doug, you must have gotten too hot in the sun this afternoon. You let a Camry get withing a second of your Corvette, maybe it is time to try the Crown Vic.

Joe, I told you before you left I was concerned about your awesome Cam Ray time!! Well done. I definitely drove poorly today. Must have been the grapes at lunch.

[CaptainSquirts]

Attended my first season and had a lot of fun. Don't think I've run into anyone that wasn't friendly. Hope to do it all again next season, still have a lot to learn.
Here my last lap of the season which would've been my best time. My frustration at the end might display on how bummed out I was understeering into a conewall at the finish.

Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY3bTDcWx4w

[Lava Speed 05]

Thanks again for the ride Doug, that vette is a hoot to drive but I'm not 100% comfortable in it yet. Almost doubling my HP and torque in a bigger car made me hesitant to really push it on the asphalt.

In M2 Drew and David drove the RS, wouldn't that be an S1 car as well? That might affect the year end results for other drivers.

It was a fun quick course and I wish I had more experience in Doug's car or had my car ready so I could really attack it.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[jbrannon7]

When I walked the course I thought it would be a slow course but it turned out to be a flowing fast stay off the brakes kind of course, of course there were a couple places where you needed to slow down but not to many. It seemed the rain was all around but left us alone.

[jev61]

but it turned out to be a flowing fast stay off the brakes kind of course

A grip, weight dependent sort of flowing fast stay on the brakes kind of course.

[twistedwankel]

Congrats to you too Doug, you swooped me for 2nd in season points. I appreciate you racing with us in S0 this year, it was nice to have someone else to get beat by Ken with every month...TD

Had Dave run his S3 Z car in S0 he'd have finished 2nd instead of me making you and I a dead tie of 58. I still would have won 2nd with more 9's. You have the largest number of 6's ever recorded in fast? Next year with some Rival S like Ken found to fit his GT3 can be a different story. He finished 4th at the Tour as I recall. His co-driver finished 1st. Whoa.

Tony, always a fun time racing with you. You are a fungi

[twistedwankel]

Here my last lap of the season which would've been my best time. My frustration at the end might display on how bummed out I was understeering into a conewall at the finish.

That was cool to watch and no rearend slidding around!! Looked to me like you four wheel drifted into those cones. That was cool too but the nozzle was too tight. Damed Loren.

[Loren]

Loren, Ben both beat me so I ate the lunch Loren bought me.

I need to learn to work these "bets" so that I actually get something when I win, I guess!

Used to have a running bet with Treekiller Jeff when we were co-driving a few years back. Loser buys dinner. That was pretty sweet, I had a lot of tasty burgers. I didn't win all the time... but, enough!

[Loren]

My frustration at the end might display on how bummed out I was understeering into a conewall at the finish.

Classic! Thanks for sharing your first year of autocross with us, it was fun to watch... reminded a lot of us of what it was like when we started autocrossing.

[Loren]

In M2 Drew and David drove the RS, wouldn't that be an S1 car as well? That might affect the year end results for other drivers.

The driver's in M2 allowed it. (they shouldn't have, but they did) Not going to change it after the fact just because they regret their decision to allow it. We all know that if David had shown up in his "class-appropriate" car and his "good" tires, he'd have turned even faster times.

[Loren]

That was cool too but the nozzle was too tight. Damed Loren.

There comes a point where I just get tired of moving cones, especially the same cones. The setup crew set that whole finish section up just slightly wrong (we're picky, and the map doesn't always show sufficient "nuance"), so we started out by moving every one of those cones to get a little further from the fence and straighten the finish. Then we walked the whole course and tweaked a bunch fo stuff. Then Drew drove it with me riding shotgun. That's when we learned that Philip's instinct on the final turn was correct... it was likely to put a spinning driver into the fence on the inside. So, we hooked the outside wall to give a bunch more room to make the turn without "forcing it", and we moved the inside wall in both to get it further off the fence, and to sort of match the other side. We did that "on-the-fly", and then Drew drove it again, and it worked.

AFTER all of that, I was walking the course one last time to look for issues, and found that we'd actually made that chute 8 feet wide near the finish lights! So, we massaged it some more, and the final result was 10 feet wide. Could have gone and moved all 20+ of those cones yet again... but, I didn't feel like it. Yeah, it was a little bit of a pinch, but for a straight finish, it was fine. If you can't manage a 10-foot-wide lane from time to time... get the hell off of my highways!

[Carracer]

I had a blast, unfortunately luck was not on my side so I'm congratulating Jamie on the championship!

I was happy with my best time but I felt I left too much time on the table and I didn't hit a cone all event? What's up with that! But after watching the video I feel better. I think a 32.9XX would have been possible if I nailed the first section and got closer to the cones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHKTU1lQQEU

Pictures will be posted later than normal I think.

[twistedwankel]

If you can't manage a 10-foot-wide lane from time to time... get the hell off of my highways!

I didn't hit anything all day long but I was SLOW everywhere - not 4 wheel drifting in the right places - more like having brain fade.

The course was fine. The finish I did RIGHT but it didn't help all the other mistakes.

[jbrannon7]

In M2 Drew and David drove the RS, wouldn't that be an S1 car as well? That might affect the year end results for other drivers.

The driver's in M2 allowed it. (they shouldn't have, but they did) Not going to change it after the fact just because they regret their decision to allow it. We all know that if David had shown up in his "class-appropriate" car and his "good" tires, he'd have turned even faster times.

As I recall Drew made 4 runs in his Crusty Blue. I think he just rode with David and maybe did an "instructor" run in the new Ford. I am sure he will speak up.

I think the finish was my favorite part of the course, drifting slightly towards the outside wall leaning hard on the left rear tire and the tension of expecting cones to go flying but they didn't.

[Jamie]

But after watching the video I feel better. I think a 32.9XX would have been possible if I nailed the first section and got closer to the cones.

Nope -- still don't think so. Some interesting differences between us, though. You held first far longer than I did -- I was in second before reaching the second corner. (I have to stop short-shifting....) And if you braked anywhere in the back turn, it didn't disturb the car -- in fact, I think you braked less through the right-hander into the slalom than you think you did. Other than the extreme lean, and some corrections in the back loop, you were smoother than usual, too (what's up with that?!) Nice run. Don't think it'll be a walkover next season, though!

[twistedwankel]

In M2 Drew and David drove the RS, wouldn't that be an S1 car as well? That might affect the year end results for other drivers.

The driver's in M2 allowed it. (they shouldn't have, but they did) Not going to change it after the fact just because they regret their decision to allow it. We all know that if David had shown up in his "class-appropriate" car and his "good" tires, he'd have turned even faster times.

So did the voters vote to say Matt couldn't run my S1 16 year old Vette in M2? It has 5 less HP and the same torque as a Focus RS Rally car. Just askin'.