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Y'all lost me on which one you're talking about, but it seemed fairly straightforward to me that the first slalom should be taken easy entry and the second one hard entry.

There wasn't much to be gained by going hard entry on the first one, but there was much to be lost making it happen. There wasn't a ton to lose going hard entry on the second one, but there was a ton of speed to be gained with that direction since the exit could be cheated and went into a section you could keep accelerating through for a while...


--Donnie

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My Blog

Alright, you guys are talking about the slalom before the "lane change," right? Where "lane change" is defined as the three pairs of five-cone walls? If so, I think I went the hard way into that slalom. The lane change was full throttle in my car, or at least nearly so, so getting out of there fast was pretty important.

Even on corded front tires, my car was pretty hooked up on that course. It was gripping okay, and the balance was pretty good, it just didn't turn in with quite the same level of ferocity that I'm used to. With another shot at it, I probably could have done a 60 flat; the 59.whatever I did was plus three or four, so that raw time isn't exactly real. On fresher tires, I bet there was a 58 in the car, maybe even faster than that.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

No reason to get crazy, now.


--Donnie

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My Blog

The hoosiers are cooked, they ran most of last season too. I figure a new set will be worth at least 2 seconds. But this time it was mostly an inability to do anything but spin the inside front under cornering forces. That section of the course seemed unusual for most of our courses (*) in that it could be taken under hard acceleration but also involved hard cornering at the same time.

After the runs, the tire surface looked like they'd been hooking up, but they didn't deliver that in traction. Not in the final part of the course, anyway -- certainly through the chicago box and to a lesser extent up to the second optional slalom on the runway, they were sticking quite well. It was the combination of acceleration and cornering in the final section where I really couldn't get the traction working.

Remember, I'm not only on Stock suspension, but completely stock roll bars and shocks. The only thing about the car that's not as delivered from the factory is the alignment. Isn't the main reason you don't move down to Stock your suspension setup? If you couldn't put down power better mid-corner than I can, you'd be seriously under-prepped for ST.


(*) I'm not criticizing the course. It didn't suit my style, or suit the car, but the course was a good one and I enjoyed it too.

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

That made me chuckle a little bit...

If the stock Si babyhauler can lay down a 62.xx a fully prepped AP2 with fresh shoes should be able to beat it by 4 seconds, right?

I'm psyched to see what y'all come up with for Greenville (barring any baby/work emergencies). That venue has grown on me and definitely rewards not overdriving, something that I haven't figured out how to do there.

Well, Eric did a 59.something in Donnie's somewhat ill handling, freshly built AP1. Chris did a 60 in my corded tire AP2, and I managed a rather dirty 59.6. Replacing corded front tires with new ones, getting down to a 58.something didn't seem impossible to imagine to me, but it doesn't matter now.

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Handling mods include Konis and a 22mm rear sway bar as well as wheels that are 7" wide instead of 6.5. I AM seriously underprepped for ST.

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

But seriously overprepped for Stock.

I know, it's only a rear bar and wheels away from stock, but...

I bet that rear bar and front shocks make an enormous difference. This is the first course where I can really see why you would love your suspension mods so much. I mean, I've watched you drive and your car looks much more poised, but this is the first time I think I understand the magnitude of the difference.

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

Exactly why I think a 58.XX was in the ballpark

Let's don't all get our panties in a wad. I was talking about the "or better" part of the 58 thing. That sounded like we were going from people doing dirty 59's (and Erik's 59 was a 59.9, IIRC, with one cone) to being able to do 57's. That's getting in the stretched ballpark, IMHO.

Sure, something in the 58's may have been possible on an ideal S2K (and probably was), but 57's? I think we're way too far away from that to make THAT leap. All I was saying...


--Donnie

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