Yet another Sanford Autocross thread

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 8:50 am

I just wanted to thank everyone for a great event, event chairs, staff and competitors. We had a *really* ambitious agenda, and while I won't claim things were perfect, we met my goal of getting out of there before dark.

Nothing beats sticking my head in the bus to inquire about the final audit and instead of seeing people working feverishly, they are "analyzing" times so they can set their bracket dial in.

For those that left early, we ended up with a total donation of $1650 for the V-Foundation. Not too shabby!

I wish I'd had more time to spectate, I don't think I actually watched more than 3 runs all day (other than my own behind the wheel).

This event was cool enough I think we might need to *auction* the right to chair the event next year, with the proceeds going to the V-Foundation!

Scott

David Spratte · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 10:13 am

I wasn't able to stick around for the bracket race, so no comment there other than it sounds like it was a blast.

As far as the regular ol'auto-x: I had a blast. From run and work point of view things seemed to go very smoothly.

I'm glad I managed to get it together for at least one run in the afternoon.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 10:26 am

David Spratte wrote:

I'm glad I managed to get it together for at least one run in the afternoon.

...and to beat me by .001 of a second! Bastard!

David Teague · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 10:41 am

I had a good time, glad I am competitive with Mary now since I have some good tires... of course still slower than Carl... and it did not help that I coned away a 50.2 run that would have netted me 1st in HS because of a dumb mistake.
I am learning that Hoosiers are defiantly a different animal than the victor racers, especially old victor racers. The defiantly have a better turn in, and seem to also work well with high slip angles also.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 11:01 am

David Teague wrote:

I had a good time, glad I am competitve with mary now since I have some good tires... of course still slower than Carl... and it did not help that I coned away a 50.2 run that would have netted me 1st in HS becuase of a dumb mistake.
I am learning that hoosiers are deftinaly a differnt animal than the victoracers, esplically old victorracers. The definalt have a better turn in, and the seem to also work well with high slip angles also.

David did you have the same spelling teacher as Mark V.? :wink:

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 11:09 am

Even though I blew up yet again (most likely trannsmission this time) I had a good time. It was fun just to get out there and run. - AB

David Spratte · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 12:06 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

David Spratte wrote:

I'm glad I managed to get it together for at least one run in the afternoon.

...and to beat me by .001 of a second! Bastard!

You can call me that all day long. I'm okay with it.

I've watched the video from that run. It's not pretty. The camera/car is pointing at the bus through the finish cones.

But what are we going to do about Jim and Dan? :twisted:

CosbyWood · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 12:11 pm

I didn't go, but I went by!! The fam went to Asheboro Saturday and Sunday to visit the Zoo. As we passed through Sanford, I saw one of the CSP Miata's leaving (this was around 3) and Jen saw an old hurst. She liked the hurst and I was admiring the Miata when she realized where we were and what I was looking at. The she said, "Oh, isn't your autocross thing today and tomorrow?" I was almost in tears. She has begun to remember when and where these events are when I tell her.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 12:20 pm

David Spratte wrote:

But what are we going to do about Jim and Dan? :twisted:

Grin and Bear it I suppose...for now. Ryan and I are still sorting out the CRX suspension. When we finally get the combo right maybe we'll have something for them.

This having to actually drive the car really sucks. I was much better when I was an AWD hack in the Talon. :wink:

David Teague · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 12:53 pm

Vincent Keene wrote:

David did you have the same spelling teacher as Mark V.? :wink:

Nah I just don't re-read what I post... I fixed it.. happy!!

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

scottjohnson wrote:

Nothing beats sticking my head in the bus to inquire about the final audit and instead of seeing people working feverishly, they are "analyzing" times so they can set their bracket dial in.

I gotta mention -- I worked audit with Todd for a while during the 4th heat. It was AMAZINGLY cleaner than the last time I had worked audit a few years back. I'd say 2 things are kicking so much ass:

1. GRID AUDIT! It works wonders!!!
2. The in-order runs from the new T&S software makes audit a breeze.

I think there were, what 10 audit fixes from a data set of about 600? Not bad at all. I think those were all cones not entered into the computer.

Another interesting thing that has changed from the past -- the times on the raw sheet aren't always "the gospel" now. Todd said that if there is a simple mismatch (like transposed numbers), he defers to he computer time, since those come in automatically from the box and can be assumed to be more accurate. Cone count and DNF on the raw sheets are always believed.

Big thumbs up to our T&S folks. Everyone should stop to appreciate how truly amazing it is that we have such good data integrity. Not many complaints about "My time is wrong!!!" are heard these days. That's great.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 1:24 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

Big thumbs up to our T&S folks. Everyone should stop to appreciate how truly amazing it is that we have such good data integrity. Not many complaints about "My time is wrong!!!" are heard these days. That's great.

I agree that we have a first class operation, run by first class people, like Todd and the rest of T&S staff. :clap:

They are so well organized that I don't even have to think about monitoring that portion of an event as AX VP. Great job guys and gals!

I'd also like to mention that all of the planning and hard work Mike W. and his helpers put into the new bus/trailer project is really nice. Packing up on Sunday was a breeze since everything had it's place and it's well labeled if it's not obvious. Everything works like a champ. Great job and a big thank you goes out to all that helped, especially Mike.

BTW Mike, if the bus and trailer flipped over...the timer display board would survive w/o a scratch. Man that joker is packed tiiiiiite!

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 2:33 pm

MikeWhitney wrote:

1. GRID AUDIT! It works wonders!!!
2. The in-order runs from the new T&S software makes audit a breeze.

Agreed!

Quote:

I think there were, what 10 audit fixes from a data set of about 600? Not bad at all. I think those were all cones not entered into the computer.

10 errors would actually be a bad day back in the TS98 days, but I have no doubt that as the T&S folks get more comfortable with AXware we'll see that number go way down. We had a number of "AXware virgins" (including me) sitting at the laptop on Saturday.

Quote:

Another interesting thing that has changed from the past -- the times on the raw sheet aren't always "the gospel" now. Todd said that if there is a simple mismatch (like transposed numbers), he defers to he computer time, since those come in automatically from the box and can be assumed to be more accurate. Cone count and DNF on the raw sheets are always believed.

Actually that was the case with TS98 too. The times came right from the timer, so they were pretty credible. Missed cones and DNFs were the usual problems.

Having finally spent some real time using AXware now, I think it was an excellent choice. The ability to pre-stage drivers is a huge advantage, and of course the HTML reports are a godsend!

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 2:35 pm

I had a good time. A few years ago the Qty of slaloms would have freaked me out, but at this point I think I have figured out what I need to do on slaloms so it was fun. I am sure I left plenty of time on the course however.

I thought it was interesting to run the groups different. I am used to running 2 and 4, but doing 1 and 3 was interesting and liked the switch. I assume this was an event chair preference?

Any comments about the grip level? I felt that the grip level was actually pretty good myself. I am using the unshaved Falken 451, so after three events and two Evolution schools, maybe I am just now wearing them down into the good "Azenis" rubber.

I worked the 4th run group and it looked to me that people were going much faster (or was it my imagination?) Was it really faster out there at the very end?

I know some people like to give the Sanford site a hard time, but I love that place!

Chuck Frank · **Posted:** Mon May 23, 2005 5:41 pm

It was a great event! I thought it less gritty than some other events, possibly from all the rain washing the grit away? The challenge was a good change of pace and it was great that so much money was raised for such a worthy cause.
Sunday's test and tune was AWESOME! A great course was set up that made the changes we tried more meaningful. I wish we could have run one more session. I really really enjoyed that course even tho I let Donna take most of the runs while I analized the adjustment results.

Now if we could only get the powers that be to pave the area between the runway and the taxiway... What a site that would be!

THSCC Forums

Yet another Sanford Autocross thread

Who is online