Da Groj

You mean to tell me that I've had time to slowly tow the trailer back to Brooksville, stop for gas, slowly drive home so as to avoid overheating (sprunk a leak in a heater hose plug... because who really needs heater hoses, anyway?)... and y'all slackers STILL haven't started a post-event discussion??? Damn, this event musta sucked!

Okay, I know better. Totally a good time! The course worked well. Sally's Mexican lunch was FANTASTIC! (I heard at least 10 people ask her where it was from... uh... where was it from again?) And the usual crowd of friendly folks willing to chip in and get things done really rounded out the day. Thanks!

Oh, and the results are up. They were up before we packed the trailer!

Fun day, great course, although a little hard to stop at the end but fun flat track in it like an Old Country Road

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Another great event, first time at the greyhound site so I don't know typical course setups, this one was good, lots of fun. The on and off camber (hills for lack of a better word) coupled with lower grip limits that you can achieve on concrete made for an entertaining day. Really enjoyed the contrast between this site and Brooksville, they are very different spaces and require very different course designs, I applaud another great design.

Eight runs was awesome, the efficiency was almost too rapid though, luckily it's relaxed enough to where I was able to skip the run order a few times to check tire pressures and drink some water before I ran again. I think just having two run groups instead of the 3 would have solved this by adding a little bigger buffer in-between each competitors runs...that being said, as a course worker I had no complaints, went quickly.

It was for sure a miata day, even more so a Mazda Speed Miata day, nice runs Drew. The same gearing that plagues the car on national style courses really helped today. (2nd gear rev limit is under 50mph, I think I recorded 46mph when I used my solostorm last). Even though I was on the rev limit in three places, which I ended up shifting to 3rd in two places, the short 2nd gear allowed for the car to really dig out of those three main corners that lead to fairly long straights/kinks/distractions entailing cones. Phillip put in some flyers too, taking 4th overall. Mike, was fast as usual, enjoyed watching him slide the FRS around while I worked. Had to bail a little early so I didn't see last runs, but thanks to everyone who made the day possible, had a lot of fun!

-Preston

Redstangone wrote:Fun day, great course, although a little hard to stop at the end but fun flat track in it like an Old Country Road

The finish was "interesting". You had 150 feet straight from the finish that you "could" stop in if you got on the brakes IMMEDIATELY and hard enough. I doubt that anyone was topping about 50 mph there. But, the trick was to NOT try to stop there. Just slow down enough to make the turn, and casually keep braking... you'd be stopped before you were 2/3 of the way around the turn. Even the FASTiva, which is notoriously twitchy under hard braking, had no trouble with it.

PrestonJ wrote:I think just having two run groups instead of the 3 would have solved this by adding a little bigger buffer in-between each competitors runs...that being said, as a course worker I had no complaints, went quickly.

Today was just about our minimum number of people to run 3 groups. We like to do it because it gives everyone an "off" group that they can hang out, ride with other people, chat with friends, whatever. "Old school autocross" stuff that we simply can't do when we run a 2-group event and are stuck either driving or working with no time in-between.

When we have a full-house at a Classic, we've got 48 drivers. 3 groups of 16. The pace is still a little quick... but, nothing like a grid of 12 cars where you barely have time to breathe between runs. Something between 42 and 48 is ideal for the Classic format.

Anyhow, glad you enjoyed something a little different! That's the main reason we use that site at all. Just to break up the monotony of airstrip courses.

Fun day, awesome lunch. Thanks. A little bit of video, this is the seventh run not the sixth as titled.
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.vance.7 ... 649934238/

PrestonJ wrote:Another great event, first time at the greyhound site so I don't know typical course setups, this one was good, lots of fun. The on and off camber (hills for lack of a better word) coupled with lower grip limits that you can achieve on concrete made for an entertaining day. Really enjoyed the contrast between this site and Brooksville, they are very different spaces and require very different course designs, I applaud another great design.

Eight runs was awesome, the efficiency was almost too rapid though, luckily it's relaxed enough to where I was able to skip the run order a few times to check tire pressures and drink some water before I ran again. I think just having two run groups instead of the 3 would have solved this by adding a little bigger buffer in-between each competitors runs...that being said, as a course worker I had no complaints, went quickly.

It was for sure a miata day, even more so a Mazda Speed Miata day, nice runs Drew. The same gearing that plagues the car on national style courses really helped today. (2nd gear rev limit is under 50mph, I think I recorded 46mph when I used my solostorm last). Even though I was on the rev limit in three places, which I ended up shifting to 3rd in two places, the short 2nd gear allowed for the car to really dig out of those three main corners that lead to fairly long straights/kinks/distractions entailing cones. Phillip put in some flyers too, taking 4th overall. Mike, was fast as usual, enjoyed watching him slide the FRS around while I worked. Had to bail a little early so I didn't see last runs, but thanks to everyone who made the day possible, had a lot of fun!

-Preston

Great runs, that 34.377 at the end was heartbreaking to the rest of S4

Mike Lawson, 4 wheels on the ground is overrated: Photo Credit: Chad Myers

Also that lunch was great, I had to use every ounce of willpower not to go back for 2nds, 3rds...

Great event in my opinion. Very smart way to use a small space and get a fun course. It's fun just to be back in the saddle again. Can't wait to do a few things like tires and a rear sway bar to make my car a bit more competitive. I also met a few new people today. All in all, it was a success!!!

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I just typed out a long post, got a notification that others had posted while I was typing, (I can't type) closed the notification and my long-winded post is gone.

So, cliffs note:

Drew beat me by a few tenths more than he did the last time we were at the dog track.

Preston almost surely would have paxed at the top (again) and he raw-timed me. (ouch)

Philip put it down in his less-than-ideal Miata.

Finding the narrow power-band when digging out of tight turns is something I just really need to work on in this car. (So I'm glad I got to run this course...I needed it) The car transitions like magic, but it requires a lot more gear-selection/shifting-skills than my old STU-350Z. Oh, and I need to run Tonda and I in different heats when we have small run groups like this. -Or, at the very least, remember the #*%$ water-sprayer. (We got too much heat in the stones in short order.)

That would have been so awesome if we hadn't added those cones after the finish. Still pretty awesome even with the tagged cone.

PrestonJ wrote:It was for sure a miata day, even more so a Mazda Speed Miata day

I was giving Matt the business for not showing up with his sticky tires. A Mazdaspeed podium would have kicked ass. He still would have had to at least get past Mike Lawson though, and you better bring your 'A' game for that.

Also, I think I topped out at 7 tacos. Maybe 8. Good stuff.

Carracer wrote:

180Miata.gif

What can I say - going through facing forward just got boring.

It has been a couple of months since I got to run and this event was a great one to come back to. A big thanks to all the planning and hard work that make it possible.

Another YAY! for lunch - great find, Sally!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the restaurant is Extreme Tacos. Indeed.

Everything about today went well, and thank you to everyone who made that happen. And a special one to Loren who did the other half of my trailer tow.

That course, I think, is the best one we've done at that site. I know I enjoyed it. Some excellent driving was going on out there today, and that spin sequence Philip posted above is unreal! I saw the last portion of that pirouette, but didn't grasp the full picture until a few minutes ago.

Thank you again, Bill, for the codrive. I think we can say "mission accomplished" on killing off your all-seasons. After your 8 runs and my 3, the fronts were good and chunked, and quick concensus of those around on grid was to shut it down. Good on you getting around that course today! You dropped 3 seconds in 5 runs - well done sir!

And thank you also to Travis, who let me take a few runs in his Camaro once we parked the VW. It's amazing how well those cars handle for their weight! And I see you put it together on your last run

Loren wrote:

Redstangone wrote:Fun day, great course, although a little hard to stop at the end but fun flat track in it like an Old Country Road

The finish was "interesting". You had 150 feet straight from the finish that you "could" stop in if you got on the brakes IMMEDIATELY and hard enough. I doubt that anyone was topping about 50 mph there. But, the trick was to NOT try to stop there. Just slow down enough to make the turn, and casually keep braking... you'd be stopped before you were 2/3 of the way around the turn. Even the FASTiva, which is notoriously twitchy under hard braking, had no trouble with it.

There's a pretty good likely hood that I was going more than 50

Without abs I still had no issues though but I came within 10 feet or so of the wall once.

Dave-ROR wrote:

Loren wrote:I doubt that anyone was topping about 50 mph there.

There's a pretty good likely hood that I was going more than 50

Without abs I still had no issues though but I came within 10 feet or so of the wall once.

Okay, I should have said "almost no one". Being in the top 6 with a turbo car... yeah, you were probably one of the few. I really don't know how fast I was going in the FASTiva. Suffice it to say "not very". Maybe 45ish?

I was doing 51.5 MPH and I can say with certainty Dave was moving a lot faster lol.

Today's course was by far the most ingenious use of the limited space available at the dog track! It has a nice flow to it and was a lot easier to follow in person than I expected looking at the course map.
I had a blast, couldn't quite make it into the 47s which was my goal after a few runs but had fun regardless.
It was great to catch up with everyone and I enjoyed a few passenger rides in the last session.
Oh and +1 on the lunch- great choice Sally

59.9 mph tops.

Of course. I made sure to lift to not exceed 59.9.

Great course and a great time as always. Thanks to everyone that gave Julianne ride alongside today. And thanks to Drew for escorting her on a few runs. She talked about how she could be faster the whole way home I think. And she's already looking at her schedule of IB, AP, and EOC exams to see if she can make it out on the 6th. I think she has the bug. S4 better stay on their toes. What else can be said, another great FAST event. One that just happened to have one of the better lunches we've had in a while. Nice job Sally. See you all in a couple weeks.