THSCC Forums

This will relate more to the drivers at the T&T and especially less experienced ones.

I preach and preach about braking early, that you can never brake early enough. I even share what Mr. Aro once told me during course walks; stop where you think you should be braking and take 15 paces back, that is where you want to brake.

On the 2nd and 3rd runs on the timed course, I hit the final slalom near perfect, being able to catch third gear right after that off-set gate to the right. I was exiting that gate around 58 mph. Turned raw times of 61.8 and 61.4 on two year old Hoosier S04's.

On the next two runs, I decided to bring the braking point in about 10 feet. That is it...only 10 feet. My times dropped to the low 62's. Almost a full second faster. But I was running the first 2/3 of the course faster. I saw the shift light glowing for a long time coming into the slalom on those runs, so I was going close 61 mph into it. Plus I saw the light come on twice on the taxi way on those runs.

Getting greedy for 10 more feet cost me close to 2 seconds...

Just something to think about next time you see a slalom leading into a nice fast section

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Jim Pastorius
2008 Silverado VortecMax
1992 Camaro CMC#92
2002 BMW R1150R

2009 3rd Place CMC Mid-Atlantic Championship
2009 CMC Hyperfest Winner

I was helping Norwood & Chris Lanier yesterday on a few ride alongs in their F-body. BTW, they have a *few* more ponies to corral than you do Jim ) I told them that if you brake too soon (isn't that rare!) you can always get back in the throttle. If you brake too late...you're screwed.

Another thing I noticed when coaching yesterday was they were looking 6 feet in front of the car. As soon as they were told when and where to look they both got faster. BTW, I rode with Eric P. on a few runs Saturday and was reminded of just how far you can look ahead when you're good at it.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

Jim talked to me about this yesterday. I was able to nail that section in my fourth run and bagged a 63.3. I managed to shift into 3rd smoothly that run before I cleared the slalom.

Then I started thinking too much for the rest of my runs. Got behind in the slalom. Collected a 64.x and then a 63.7 and 63.8.

Now I just have to teach myself to not spin the front wheels as quite so much.

And for the record, the Hankooks are better than. . . okay the stock runflats. And by better, I mean less expensive.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

You guys are slooooow. Just thought I'd point that out.

I figured you would saying something like that Since I had not walked the course nor pre drove the course I found it a good learning experience.

My calculations are rough estimates. But I guess I was covering about 8.8 ft per 1/10th of a second in that area of the course (before the slalom). So by braking later, I gained about 1/10th of second. But I lost one second through the slalom and into the finish.

We talk about slow in fast out, braking earlier, etc...I thought it interesting to toss some numbers behind it. For those. like me, without the extreme talent of Mr. Allen (and he reminds us of that fact as often as possible), it serves as a gentle reminder.

Another note, once I started to brake later, I continued to do so. I found it a lot harder to back up the braking point than moving it ahead

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Jim Pastorius
2008 Silverado VortecMax
1992 Camaro CMC#92
2002 BMW R1150R

2009 3rd Place CMC Mid-Atlantic Championship
2009 CMC Hyperfest Winner

Slow is relative, Mr Allen. I am sure the NCSU SAE car > *. (which never had a problem and was quiet!!! Nice car!!!)

I think the 'battle scarred' STi was running in the 59-58s when I wasnt sliding all over the course (for reference).

I agree with patience on the pedal out there. I tried to come out of the last slalom WOT, and wound up sideways for 200 ft down the back straight. I just learned to shift ealier and leave it in the bog zone to 'be faster'. Once I got into 3rd after the P-section, I never came back out, and I was in 4th in the last gate before the finish.

- dow

Yeah it never had a problem unless you count:

Dumping oil all over the starting area of the non-timed course not a problem
Dumping coolant/water all over the starting area of the timed course not a problem
Not working a damn lick on either course not a problem

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Hey, I didn't say I was fast, I just said they were slow. My (stock with front crash bolts ) STi probably could've run a 58.something if I hadn't been playing driftboy all day - but then we wouldn't have had as much fun.

I also got my drift on around that last offset before the finish - that was pretty exciting! Was in 4th @ around 82mph at the timer.

So did anybody other than Brian run a 58 or below in a real car? Les? Anyone?

I used up the last 1/3 of the tread on the RE070's this weekend - time to look for some more takeoffs...

Oh wow. My apologies. I didn't get to see THAT. All I noticed was that it was quiet in tech, and the clutch engaged well.

Woops!!!!

Sorry Ryan! Guess it was a TnT for them.

- dow

I managed to cord to the point of popping one of the race tires I had brought during my morning runs on the untimed course due to poor brake pedal managment on my part. So I never to ran on the timed course since I just didn't feel like punishing my street tires like that. But had I run on the course on fully inflated race tires, I'm sure I would have hit a 58 or below.

Ryan,

In that situation you can just tell them to go home. I watched one of your predecessors do just that when a visiting autocrosser refused to back away from the starting line while his car was drizzling antifreeze, after he had left a nice puddle on the course on his previous run. That day was the first and only time I ever saw Dick Rasmussen spin off course.... due to that puddle.

Art
Shift Lights are for Sissies

Art,

What a memory. When was that and what car and site? Did I know at the time that the spin wasn't my fault?

Since I've seen me spin off a "few" more times than once in 30 years of autocrossing I'm actually serious with the question.

By the way, I gave up on a shift light in the Formula car. Any light big enough to have a chance of being seen blocked my view of the course . . . and worse yet got in the way of pushing the car on grid, etc. Hence my reputation for hitting the rev limiter a lot . . . )

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

Have you considered a small light inside your helmet?

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

while slightly off topic, one of the first questions my instructor this weekend asked me was "when do you shift ?" i answered "when it sounds right" to which he informed me you can't hear anything in a racecar. so i had to check my tach more consistantly. so much to learn.

Okay, I've never been inside a "racecar", but I've never heard one that was quieter then my street car, which I have no problem hearing. What kind of racecar can you not hear?

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In need of car.