THSCC Forums

As of about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, weather.com had the heat index in Danville listed as 112. Ambient was 102. With apologies, should it be that hot again for one of our events, I'm not coming.

Weather aside, great event. I really enjoyed the course that James and Kevin put together - it was a lot to think about. I really dig courses that make drivers decide for themselves what lines to drive, where to go fast or slow, that sort of thing. I didn't drive it especially well, but that's okay.

I managed to do a decent job of staying hydrated throughout the day. On Saturday I spent most of the day with a G2 or a water in my hand, and on Sunday, put down, I'm guessing, about a dozen pints of water. four or five of which had Gatorade powder mixed in. But I forgot one kind of important thing: I forgot to eat. I guess with my stomach perpetually full of fluids, I never got the "hey, I'm hungry!" message. It wasn't until the end of the day that I realized my error. Thanks to Chris and Eric for the Clif bar, and to Dr. Steven for the granola bar, by the time I got home, I was feeling a bit better. I'm pretty beat today, though.

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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)

Thanks for all the help, everybody, especially on setup day from Rodney and my co-chairs Liz and James. Lots of work, but well worth it.

And thanks for all the comments on the course. I enjoyed it, too.

Even though it was 150° we had a lot of fun yesterday (and the day before ).

I love pivot cones, and I love STi.

Now I just want somebody to explain to me exactly how giving up that much speed at the re-entry of the crossover rewards you with more speed at the exit. It looked extremely slow at the entry and no faster at the exit to me.

Looks can be deceiving. But, hey, if you want to keep going the slow way around options features, feel free!

It's still early but it looks like the 5lbs of water weight I lost on Saturday swapping the "pimpy double-adjustable Konis" for some "old busted single-adjustable Konis" was the right call. Apparently shocks can be deceiving as well 'cause the car has never quite been the same since we put the doubles on before Nationals last year (disregarding the horrific state of the suspension bushings at the time.)

I'm going to have to learn how to drive the stupid thing again but, as far as I can tell, "Handling by Stay Puft" > "Handling by Mr. Clean." In this case anyway...

Jim

So you don't know why it's faster?

Does anybody else know who can explain it in detail?

I do but I'm leaving it as an exercise for the reader.

It really wasn't that bad going to the inside as long as you took a fast shallow entrance and did an e-brake half-pivot around the first pair of double cones. It worked for me anyway...

Jim

Well I guess the rest of us all drove like crap too, considering you finished 5th in Pax.

At least you didn't go the wrong way around the optional on the crossover THE FIRST TIME THROUGH like my stupid ass did on THREE of my runs. Wow, the heat makes it hard to think. . .

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

Kevin, for me at least, giving it up entering the crossover, let me go through the slalom with enough throttle to be in boost on the sweeping exit. Had I entered fast and exited slow, I'd be puttering all on the way to the next element. Your STI has much less lag than mine and your 2nd gear isn't as absurdly long as mine so you probably didn't notice.

Granted I was driving Steve Carter's car because mine is busted....it was clunk/pop fest 2010 the whole way home...I don't think there is any oil in my front koni's right now . Mad props to the hydration Doctor for letting me drive his car!

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

i'm right with you Karl, feel like crap today too. But that was prob because Sunday made day #2 in the heat. I was hydrating properly, all the right signs I was. I just think it takes its toll on you after awhile, even if your doing it right.

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2005 Mazda RX8 STX 11

NCR Solo Chair & Cape Fear Chapter Coordinator
http://www.ncrscca.com

Dang - I hadn't looked at the results yet. I guess I shouldn't complain too loudly then. Big congratulations to Jim, Matt, and Kevin for getting on the podium in X. Matt, in particular, has the hot hand lately. And speaking of the hot hand, big props to Jennifer Bedell on P1 in CS, along with FTS!

My standing in the overalls genuinely surprises me. To me, the car never felt particularly good yesterday. We were on some of Keith Vail's old tires up front, and our 2009 Nationals tires out back. Most of the time, when I was driving, it was a festival of understeer. The shocks were already set for "maximum loose" by then, so I took Eric's advice and added some air to the rear tires. The balance got better, but only because I had taken grip away from the rear. Making changes to the car by making the end that's working well work less well is never my first choice, but I suppose it inspired a little more confidence. Or, perhaps every car feels like it's understeering after driving Donnie's AP1 in DC.

More thoughts on the course. I'll never describe pivot cones as "fun," but I'll certainly acknowledge "challenging." I feel like I was doing them well yesterday, but going for anything more was tricky. As you can probably guess, we go to 1st gear for them. Get too crazy with the throttle and either the rear tires catch fire, or the front tires catch fire. It was tricky, so I tended towards conservative, waiting to crack the throttle open until I was more or less straight.

As regards the return trip through the crossover - my contention was that going "inside outside" meant I would drive a shorter distance. It also made for one less steering change in direction, which is always good.

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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)

It just looked to me like you'd lose a car length or more at the entry of the crossover doing a 90° vs. a sweeper, and then still couldn't get on the gas enough at the exit to gain that distance back. I didn't hear anybody getting on the gas early there. Maybe I just didn't get a good look at somebody doing it right, just the people who were giving up too much speed.

My technique on the fast (minimal drift) run was just flying back into the crossover on the outside, riding the limit of grip around the first cone, then getting a little bit behind the second cone, pulling the handbrake as I passed through the double-coned exit gate, and giving it 100% throttle & a little countersteer to try to track out into the middle of the next gate. Same thing on the first trip through from the start, except I pulled the handbrake on the entry and the exit and went easier on the throttle.

I wanted to try the tight entry/ less tight exit when coming back through at some point, but I didn't want to pull the handbrake to get in there fast, then hit some gravel and snap toward the spectators, so I just saved that for the runway and taxiway where it was safe to do so. And on my last trip onto the taxiway, I did hit the gravel on the outside of the turn with the rr tire, and had to just countersteer and stop the car, as I didn't want to try to save that and go off the cliff.

Yesterday I discovered the secret to surviving the heat. I wore a white synthetic long-sleeved shirt, and kept it wet. I even put some ice in the zipper pocket. I also dipped my hat in cold water. It made a huge difference.

PS I love pivot cones!

I imagine you do, from the way you owned them!

To be honest I hated the 90 degree turns as did my Mustang. However, after driving it I came to appreciate them as something different though. I wanted a big sweeper there, but we always have a sweeper there, so sometimes it's nice to do something different. So, I'll stop my bitch'n now. Thanks to everyone who put up with the heat to make the event happen. In the end I had a lot of fun and most importantly Stephen and I whipped Art's ass.

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

Like Kevin, I found "fast in / slow out" on the way back through the sweeper to be faster - at least 1/2 second faster for me. Unfortunately, I waited until my last lap to try it, then barely tipped the far end pivot cone with my rear tire, my only cone of the day. Of course, it's hard to argue with Jim's results using the "slow in / fast out" route, but I attribute that more to the Alien factor.

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Keith Q.
2008 Top Gun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmX8XuZ_DCo&NR=1

Looks like you should have taken your last two runs after all for a chance at your first FT Stock, instead, you got beat by a girl.

Congrats Jennifer! I didn't realize yesterday that you had done as well as you had. Both top ten raw and pax, very nice. Seems THSCC is becoming even more so the land of fast autocrossing women these days.

As for pivot cones, I certainly wouldn't say I enjoy them, but feel I at least execute them fairly well most of the time so I don't hate them. Knowing this was a Kevin Allen course, I'm surprised he didn't find a way to have more of them.

As for the fast in/slow out debate, my gut instinct told me that would have been better for me in my car. But I've learned over the years to trust those more knowledgeable than myself over my gut instinct and just do what they do.

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'07, '08, '11 Autocross VP
'06, '10 Mike Dishman Cup
'21 MX5, '13 Corvette GS, '92 Corvette 383 c.i. 413whp/390wtq, '03 Expedition