L'burg was a blast!

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 2010 9:51 pm

Thanks to Karl, Mary, Brice and Rob for weed eating the runway and setting up the course, and to everyone else who helped make it happen. I had a great time having Keith as a co-driver. I've already watched the videos and tomorrow I'll download the data and try to figure out how to get faster!
Again, thanks.

Matt McGrain · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:25 am

Definitely a fun event and the course was very cool. It reminded me a little of the Euro Thrash event with the third gear sections- especially before the turn around.

The most challenging part for me was definitely the sharp left after the "V" element. I almost spun on my first run and probably did a full turn off the wheel to save my run... FWD drift yo! I even worked station 3 (right there) and watched Mike, Art, Lee & Karl nail the braking zone smoothly setting up for the optional slalom with speed. Harder than it looked... :cry:

With 13 (?) people in our class, it's alway fun when a few Triad hotshoes show up and make everyone step their game up a bit.

I've never designed a course (sounds like fun), but after seeing Karl's photo on facebook of the runway, it looks like the weedeater was working overtime- so big thanks to the course designers!

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:36 am

who knew lawn maintenance skillz would be required of AutoX Veeps!

Laurinburg equipment now requires:
shop brooms
leaf blower
weed whacker

Thanks for all the hard work and effort to get the site ready, and thanks to Mary, Brice and the crew for setting up a great course. I liked how it really accentuated one's ability to get the braking right. For once, I didn't overcharge the braking zones which paid dividends, especially the "V" brake cone and sharp left hander as Matt mentioned. I think I could've been faster through the last quick right-handed chute before the final 3-cone slalom, but didn't want to risk overcooking the entry...as always, left room for improvement!

Thanks again!

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:41 am

it was a def a fun event, made me realize how much tires are different, after cording my 13's in wilmington 2 sundays ago I broke out the 4-5 year old 15's OMG sorry about the spinout on my first run.

Now to find some better tires for NCAC.

Thanks Karl, Brice, and Mary for setting up a fun course

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Thanks for the kind words. It was a lot of fun, and Laurinburg is a pretty cool site other than all the weeds. Grip is grip, and Laurinburg has a lot, so it can support high speeds which is fun.

I think our options open up considerably for course design if we can get ourselves enough length of cable to span from crossover to crossover. There is more good pavement down to the right of where we started, and there is some good pavement (albeit overgrown, but good pavement underneath) past where we finished. The course as originally laid out (before we got there and went "oh $#^%") was much longer; we kept having to shorten it to make the timing situation work. There was a lot more we could have done with it, I'd really like another shot next year. How much does another spool timing cable cost?

Also, I'd like to go on record as saying that all the whining about the bus is unfounded. The fuel filler neck being crimped is a PITA (takes a long time to fill up) but other than that its fine. I was able to go 65-70 (depending on whether it was uphill or downhill) on US 1 just fine.

For the record, I apologize to any of you who were stuck behind me on 15-501, but IT WASN'T ME that was holding things up. There was a truck in front of me that was going anywhere between 40 and 60 mph (and of course they would speed up on downhills, and slow down on uphills). In any other vehicle I would have just passed him, but I had absolutely no shot at passing a car on a two lane road in the bus.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:08 am

BriceJohnson wrote:

There was a lot more we could have done with it, I'd really like another shot next year. How much does another spool timing cable cost?

It's not the cost. IIRC, the limiting the factor is the range at which the cable will work. Unfortunately it's not unlimited.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:26 am

Vincent Keene wrote:

BriceJohnson wrote:

There was a lot more we could have done with it, I'd really like another shot next year. How much does another spool timing cable cost?

It's not the cost. IIRC, the limiting the factor is the range at which the cable will work. Unfortunately it's not unlimited.

I think Wes talked to the JAC guys last year and the solution was to run longer single strands instead of the daisy chain of multiple cords.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

There's also a couple of sections that are kind of boogered up that probably aren't helping things.

I just thought I'd ask. It would allow us to do a lot more with some of ours sites, and given how long and skinny some of them are, might be helpful to future event chairs if the cost isn't outlandish.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Weeds own that site. We've taken a riding mower and push mowers down there before because there is so much of it. Then weed whack, then spray with weed killer. I think those weeds like RoundUp as a snack... ;-)

Why not use the wireless setup for the timer? Club spent a lot of money on that thing. At Sanford it will work about half way across the site.

Stephen Westerfield · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:14 am

Graham Jagger wrote:

Weeds own that site. We've taken a riding mower and push mowers down there before because there is so much of it. Then weed whack, then spray with weed killer. I think those weeds like RoundUp as a snack... ;-)

Why not use the wireless setup for the timer? Club spent a lot of money on that thing. At Sanford it will work about half way across the site.

Wireless hasn't worked in years.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Stephen Westerfield wrote:

Graham Jagger wrote:

Weeds own that site. We've taken a riding mower and push mowers down there before because there is so much of it. Then weed whack, then spray with weed killer. I think those weeds like RoundUp as a snack... ;-)

Why not use the wireless setup for the timer? Club spent a lot of money on that thing. At Sanford it will work about half way across the site.

Wireless hasn't worked in years.

If anyone wants to take over gimme a call and I'll give you a brain dump on the issues.

JamesMilko · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 4:26 pm

I think the main issue with wireless is that any noise/loss of signal can cause the timing equipment to miss the signal that the laser sends down the wire. Smart equipment that could retransmit would mess with the time.

What about a repeater? We could put a simple repeater out there that would listen for the signal from the laser and generate a new similar signal towards the timing equipment in the bus.

What goes out to the lasers now? Ground, +X VDC and a signal return that is either set high or low when the beam is broken? If so wouldn't the repeater just be a voltage comparer and a transistor?

http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/Compar ... ration.GIF

The IC would be a LM311 or similar.

v-out leads to the transistor that allows +X VDC through when raised/lowered back to the bus for signal.
v+ is power from the bus
0v is the return to the bus
v-ref is v+ with a resistor to allow for some noise/loss. (In the circuits linked below v-ref is 1/2 v+)
v-input is the signal from the laser

Critiques from people who know what they are doing? And of course all of this relies on the assumptions in the 3rd paragraph.

/pretending to be an EE

RobLupella · **Posted:** Mon Aug 23, 2010 5:17 pm

Gwen Baake wrote:

Thanks to Karl, Mary, Brice and Rob for weed eating the runway and setting up the course, and to everyone else who helped make it happen. I had a great time having Keith as a co-driver. I've already watched the videos and tomorrow I'll download the data and try to figure out how to get faster!
Again, thanks.

That was all Brice and Karl doing the weed-eating. I was just a cone carrier for a little bit of the time. They did all the work.

I also want to thank my co-driver for getting me (finally after about 6 runs) to slow down through the Vee so I didn't blow the next element.

Rob

JenniferBedell · **Posted:** Tue Aug 24, 2010 2:51 pm

LOL I did notice that truck on 15-501, I figured he was driving you crazy too.

Thanks to Rob for his patience while I tried repeatedly to learn how to stop his car :oops:

. I think with a couple of re-runs, I might eventually have gotten the hang of it. I'm just relieved he was driving and not me when he had that beautiful spin after the V. :lol:

RobLupella · **Posted:** Tue Aug 24, 2010 4:21 pm

JenniferBedell wrote:

LOL I did notice that truck on 15-501, I figured he was driving you crazy too.

Thanks to Rob for his patience while I tried repeatedly to learn how to stop his car :oops:

. I think with a couple of re-runs, I might eventually have gotten the hang of it. I'm just relieved he was driving and not me when he had that beautiful spin after the V. :lol:

must remember to put proper pads on car.....must remember to put proper pads on car......

Yes, you need to get used to the Miata's ABRF system. (Anti-lock Right Foot). It has a propensity to lock the RF wheel. We were reverse balanced when you were driving. 100lbs in drivers seat and 200lbs :oops:

in passenger. It works best the other way around

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L'burg was a blast!

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