Da Groj

This was a very well designed course for fair and foul weather. Those of us who ran in the 3rd heat were in the wet all 4 runs. If you ran in the other heats consider yourselves blessed by the God of Random selection.

Steve and I were competitive for the first two runs then he cleaned up his act and scored two much faster runs. Hands down he thumped me by a whole second under slightly drying conditions. All I can say is I had 4 clean runs in wet conditions on nearly bald 4 year old tires. Totally cannot complain. Steve had two clean faster runs on those same tires. We both had fun all the same. Didn't look like there were too many AWD cars in our heat either. S2 really lucked out today 'cause Steve and I made a darn good team in the RX8.

Oh you might want to rethink calling Steve out with a small wager. He is very easily motivated

Thanks all for another fun uneventful event. Loren and Ron got the results posted before I got home.

Doug

Fun course, I drove like crap today. I'm sure Ron was more than happy to get those results up after edging me out on his last run and I was down about placing third...

I looked at the results and found a surprise that I didn't even trophy! Spencer edged me out by .085 in his M3 so I have to settle with one measly point. So much for a rally during these last few events after missing the first three.


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Loren quote. Station 2 is a "wiggle". They never look right on the map. But, there will be about a 4-5 foot path straight between those cones. You can't drive it straight, even in a Miata. But, it's just a "wiggle".

The straight path got reduced to about 2-2.5 feet, the left side cones were about 12 inches off the line and the right side was about 14 to 16 inches off the line. I had to tap the brakes for it, coast for 1 cone and then power out but Mark in his S2000 which is about 6 inches narrower was able to go thru there full throttle, I am not complaining, I enjoyed today course, but 1) if the alley had been 4 to 5 feet the course would have been faster for me and other wider cars and 2) if you were driving a narrow car like maybe an NA or NB Miata and you were braking there then you need to learn how Mark does it. It was fun to charge into that section and watch the course workers retreat.

Matt, coming in 12th overall is still not too shabby. M2 is a tough class.

It was worth being dragged out of bed to run in the morning and miss the rain

That 4th place still gets you 3 points Matt. I may have squeaked a bit of breathing room between you and me, but that's all. Plus we both have to worry about making up enough to catch our co-drivers. And, I owe you one for risking your digits to pull that cone out from under my car before my final run.

Thanks to everyone for helping make another FAST event another Great FAST event. You all should be giving yourself applause. I also thought it was cool to see another batch of rookies and first-timers mixed in with the returns of some familiar faces. I hope to see all of them more often. Good job everyone!

And with that, i'm headed to the pool for some post-race R&R. Have a great weekend everyone, and I hope to see you on the 17th!

Zoom zoom.
Beer and tacos.

An aggravating story. Jay Stannard in the R1 Lotus has to be the most deserving of sympathy today. He is on his 3rd highly recommended distributor and he only got one dirty cone run out of it before it failed. Whoa. Those things aren't cheap either. After spending 1/2 an hour putting his wheels on and prepping his car thinking it would be wet with no runs on slicks, then winning the weather lotto and running last in all dry cloudy conditions only to have your bubble burst. Pop. He is not a happy camper with that company. He is a great guy. Hope he gets it sorted out.

Reminds me of my only modern Race car and we put a rebuilt points distributor for $15 in it avoiding the computer system completely. Never had any issues. Just like the old days. Change your plugs and points every year, change to 20W oil and reset your choke for winter. My brother in law ran a 69 Pontiac for 45 years on the original set of points and condenser. The ONLY car he ever owned. But he had a van with a million miles on it for work. He's dead now. So is the van I assume?

I highly enjoyed today's course. I know my car had a 43 in it and I know where I left time just couldn't put it together. Hats of to Saroya (sp). Great driving. And a big thanks to the rain gods for helping ensure my 1st in class

Great event with a super-fun course. Goofy plaid hat is off to those of you who drove it well! Big thanks to all the people who make these events happen and happen smoothly. Good times at the FAST autocross!

jbrannon7 wrote:The straight path got reduced to about 2-2.5 feet, the left side cones were about 12 inches off the line and the right side was about 14 to 16 inches off the line. I had to tap the brakes for it, coast for 1 cone and then power out but Mark in his S2000 which is about 6 inches narrower was able to go thru there full throttle, I am not complaining, I enjoyed today course, but 1) if the alley had been 4 to 5 feet the course would have been faster for me and other wider cars and 2) if you were driving a narrow car like maybe an NA or NB Miata and you were braking there then you need to learn how Mark does it. It was fun to charge into that section and watch the course workers retreat

Sorry about that, Joe. A lot of course set up is happenstance and "yeah, that looks right". In this case, the setup crew put those cone walls right ON the line. (would have been impossible to drive without a downshift to first) And they way they had spaced the 4-cone walls, the easy fix was just to pull the inside cone from each one and put it on the outside. It looked good, and I didn't get out a ruler. You could "see through it", as intended, and I knew it would be drivable, especially since it was setup with increasing distance. (roughly 45, 48, 51, 54 feet)

I think it ended up being one of the most fun parts of the course. And, making it "less of a wiggle" for you, would also make it less of a wiggle for the driver of a narrower car. No free lunch. The only thing I can put on a course that will benefit YOU is a flat-out hairpin or other really tight turn that EVERYONE must slow down for, and YOU can dig out of. (but, even that won't save you from something like a turbocharged Miata that's going to be able to slalom better than you, AND dig out of that hole... wait, you're wanting to buy yourself an EVEN WIDER car?)

jbrannon7 wrote:Mark in his S2000 which is about 6 inches narrower

My info could be wrong, but I'm finding reference to the Rear Track on your M Roadster at 58.7 or 58.8", and the S2000 at 59.4"

Overall body width is stated at 68.5 for the M, and 68.9 for the S2000.

Perhaps the S2000 just looks narrower than it is? If my data is correct, you're gonna have to find another excuse for letting Mark whup up on you.

Okay, enough about that.

As Ron mentioned, great event in spite of the wetness. Apologies to those who got stuck running in the one rainy part of the day. (or working in it!) You just can't predict the weather.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss driving the FASTiva! It would have been great fun on this course.

You guys already figured out my secret.. oem driver weight reduction.

That course suited my car nicely gear wise I must say(which is its only issue sometimes due to lack of torque) but I also feel I drove maybe the best I have yet. I never imagined I could run with Ken in the gt3, I have to admit I'm pretty proud of that.

Working in the rain wasn't terrible, but watching the track dry up when the sun finally came up was fantastic. Thanks to all for another great event.

markzeronine wrote:You guys already figured out my secret.. oem driver weight reduction.

Your competitors are gonna start leaving sammiches and tasty snacks on your driver's seat to try to fatten you up.

Loren wrote:

jbrannon7 wrote:Mark in his S2000 which is about 6 inches narrower

My info could be wrong, but I'm finding reference to the Rear Track on your M Roadster at 58.7 or 58.8", and the S2000 at 59.4"

Overall body width is stated at 68.5 for the M, and 68.9 for the S2000.

Perhaps the S2000 just looks narrower than it is? If my data is correct, you're gonna have to find another excuse for letting Mark whup up on you.

Huh, we lined em up in grid end to end and his car looked much narrower, next time i will bring a tape measure. My excuse is I flipped my tires, first and last time, I could definitely feel the lower grip, the RE71s did not have my back today.

Just looked at the results, edged out Drew by .003.

Loren wrote:

markzeronine wrote:You guys already figured out my secret.. oem driver weight reduction.

Your competitors are gonna start leaving sammiches and tasty snacks on your driver's seat to try to fatten you up.

Don't threaten me with a good time. I eat like a guy twice my size

I rotated my tires and I could definitely feel the grip. My car has a tight, sexy, narrow caboose that slid deftly through the wiggle section that was seemingly spaced, just right. I feel bad for all the drivers of the other cars which were far too fat and had to slow down. My only regret is that it didn't rain on my run group, so the others could crush me mercilessly. I should have stayed up later, got less sleep and hit more cones.

AScoda wrote:I should have stayed up later, got less sleep and hit more cones.

Done, done, and well, couldn't get close enough or that would have been done, too. I'm here when you need me.

twistedwankel wrote:An aggravating story. Jay Stannard in the R1 Lotus has to be the most deserving of sympathy today. He is on his 3rd highly recommended distributor and he only got one dirty cone run out of it before it failed.

After BBQ, we dragged it back to my shop and swapped distributors...Jay swapped distributors and I held the light. Set the timing and he thinks it'll work OK tomorrow.

Pictures!
https://flic.kr/s/aHskWxEMxA

Big thanks to all my spotter!