THSCC Forums

sat: http://vimeo.com/13638945

sun: http://vimeo.com/13641403

the first lap of sun is particularly eventful - travis bangs into me exiting 4, al taylor pulls off a batshit insane pass behind me in the lower esses, and my contact lens pops out so i have to drive with one eye!

Nice videos! I have watched the first and am now watching the second.

I liked the last lap pass on the Sat race.

I noticed the bump drafting. What is the agreement between competitors regarding when it is acceptable?

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

if the lead car gives you the signal to bump, it's cool. if they wave you off, not cool. if they give no signal, it depends. this weekend i bumped both evan levine and brian jones, and received bumps from al taylor. we're all from the SE region where bump drafting is SOP so i didn't hesitate whatsoever. had i caught up to a MA driver that i didn't know i probably would have backed off, even though the majority of drivers are happy to receive a bump.

very entertaining dude.

Sunday, well that area looks so familiar. been there done that. everytime you went thru there i said to myself.......... he's goin off..........

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

hogpen has always been my nemesis, and i drove it even worse than usual all weekend, very mad at myself. plus i was turning in too early half the time in other turns, failing to adjust to the car and conditions. for this event i set the front toe to 0 (normally i run closer to 1/8" out) so it understeered quite a bit which wasn't helping matters.

Watching Sunday race....

That was a scary/ballsy pass the guy in front of you did at the top of the uphill esses on the 911 at 3:44. He pulled out so abruptly that I was thinking he was going to go off! I think he was really luck on that one.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

that's evan levine, he and i were just discussing that pass via IM earlier today. he admitted that it was a bit scary

That was great!

I love the bump drafting with the thumbs-up.

Are you back on the better Toyos? Is the noise at the limit just a characteristic of the RA1/R888s?

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One of those LeMonHeads...
91/95 Miata, 02 Focus SVT, 01 Ford F250, 09 Suzuki SV650SF
rusty 84 C4 Vette, tiny piece of the General Lei
Irish Sport Horse - 1hp NA!

depends on how you define "better" but we're on ra1s now. they seem to make more noise at vir than at other tracks, perhaps the track surface is smoother or something. i also noticed less squeal when i had more front toe out (and therefore less understeer).

What's the signal that you want a bump? Something involving a fist

_________________
"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

Here's my race from Sunday. It's my 2nd ever. I was unable to record my Saturday race.

http://vimeo.com/13774772

It's not near as good as my Saturday race was. I had a better qualifying on Sunday and told myself I was going to hang with the pack on the start...just keep it clean. Al Taylor was the car in front of me doin' the bump and grind in T2. I decided to back off a little and stay wide. I was pretty sure I could handle T3 wide - didn't work too good.

When it came time to exit the snake, the car just didn't seem as strong and I couldn't seem to keep up.

I had got talked to bumping my tire pressures up from what I had run all weekend. Besides feeling down on power, the car felt like it was on 4 bars of soap. Anybody who knows me knows I don't care for loose, but it was what it was - deal with it.

I have days where I'm not too shabby with Oak Tree, and I have days where I act like I've never driven it before. This day was the latter. I was starting to catch up with the guys that passed me in T3 on the off. I felt that if I could nail a good fast run out of Oak Tree I could catch their draft and start working for a pass. I think that decision symbolized a loss of patience, hence the spin in Oak Tree. I'm just glad I didn't hit the wall.

The only real racing I got to do was the last 2-3 laps. The double pass in T1 was pretty cool. I saw Jones coming in the rear view mirror and baited him by staying track left. The T1 braking zone was full of marbles on track right and he was comin' on like a freight train. A little extra braking in my anticipation paid off and I was able to cut under him and make it stick.

Lessons learned this weekend. Being able to drive isn't the same as being able to race. You have to develop race craft just like you do driving skills. Don't change something on your car for right before a race(like tire pressures), unless it's critical to making the race. Patience. If you start overdriving, you just set yourself back even further(didn't I already know that?). Stay on the track! Needless to say, offs are expensive position wise. Again, patience. When you're racing door to door it's like utter chaos, but you got to keep it in check. Chuck Franks must be right - loose is fast. I turned my best time of weekend in this race. Went from high 2:26's on Saturday to a high 2:23 on Sunday.

This was my second time driving the E30 at VIR Full. The gearing is a little funky compared to what I'm used to with a Miata. Turns 3 and 16/Hogpen are too fast for 3rd and the exit is too slow for 4th. I kept playing with different combos. Hopefully I'll find the right combo with my Traqmate data.

Next Spec E30 race is October - I think the weekend before our next HPDE at CMP.

Oh yeah, big thanks to Rob Lupella for showing up Saturday and loaning me his camera mount(forgot to pull mine out of the Miata).

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“I feel safer on a racetrack than I do on Houston's freeways.” - A.J. Foyt

Kevin Butler
Mobetta Autosport Spec E30 #612
2003 C5 Z06 Corvette
AFR Miata, SM2 61, '93 w/200 SC'd RWHP - soon to be resurrected
Waaaay too many other projects....

nice write up kevin, congratulations on completing comp school and competing in what had to be three of the nastiest track days on record.

btw - whoever ended up with my spare fuel pump hasn't contacted me about payment ($202 replacement cost), i gather he was a friend of yours?

so Kevin, "must resist the urge to Finker" is your new mantra then huh?

on the gearing thing, try up-shifting to 4th just before you turn into 16. it works in the E36.

_________________
BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............