THSCC Forums

All in all, good weekend. It was unfortunate we had the computer issues that we had, but while there was much debate about what would fix it, I think the problems will be corrected in short order. For those not used to running with Tarheel, this was not a typical event as far as how smoothly they run. I'm proud to be part of a club where there are usually too many people trying to help fix a problem instead of not enough.

Given some things I've experienced personally lately as far as autocross was concerned, a 70 second course was probably exactly what I needed. This one definitely lived up to its name, Split Personality. For those not there, the course gave you tastes of fast, but would end that pretty abruptly with places you needed to be slow. It was probably the single most technical course I've run outside of anything at Nationals. It was extremely challenging in that it required a ton of patience. Set yourself up for the next feature at the exit of the one before, and you're fine. Get greedy and you're DOA. Kudos to the event chairs for all the work that went into setting up a course like that.

I'm also always impressed with the novices at these events. Not because they're so fast necessarily, but because they're willing to ask for help. The only way they remain so willing would be because we as a club make them feel welcome and make sure they know that it's okay to ask for help. I know I always try to make time for a novice when asked. I really wanted to say "sorry, but I'm way past my lunchtime" once yesterday, but I knew Christine would still be there after one more run and some discussion. And she was...

Speaking of that, thanks to Christine and company for lunch *again*. I can't tell you how much that helps me at an event like this. It's so awesome not to have to worry about bringing food for lunch. Snacks are easy, but I just hate trying to bring a decent lunch for some reason. I guess because I'm bad at it. Fortunately, she isn't. In fact, she's quite good at it.

Good job, everyone. It's nice to get a few decent runs in. Now if I can only figure out how to do it before runs 8 and 9, since it isn't often I run an event with a format that will give me *that* kind of opportunity.


--Donnie

70-80 second course good
nice transitions from element to element good
sweeper coming onto the runway good
finish good
lunch good

randomly spaced slaloms not-so-good
using every cone on the bus not-so-good
more than the normal # of offs not-so-good

for me, the goods outweighed the bads, so i call it a fun weekend...thanks to everyone that made it happen

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05 MCS

Thanks for the kind words. I actually have to work today, so this will be brief. So far, I agree with everything that's been said. Personally, the only thing that would have made me enjoy the course more is a clean and fast run.

Obviously Murphy is alive and well, and he came to town early for the US Open. Hopefully he's just following the PGA tour and this was unfortunate timing on our part - to be present when he was in town.

I want to thank the event chairs, staff and the competitors for showing a lot of patience this weekend, we certainly couldn't have finished things without a lot of cooperation.

Just in case we thought that we were done and close to perfect, this event was a reminder that we still have a lot of things we can optimize. The good news is, we've been getting a ton of great suggestions and feedback for future events and actually have some tangible things that we can grasp and fix.

Maybe next time Murphy is in town we'll just kick his ass!

Scott

Tina and I had a good time. Oddly enough, I didn't think the course had that much of a "split personality". It did have some slow spots (offsets for example), but we have had events in which elements were much tighter. Overall I think my average speed was quite high.

The widely spaced slalom after the "P" was freaky. I just never have been able to exit a sweeper and then remain flat on the throttle and accelerate while going through a slalom.

I did have a high cone count and I think a lot of that was due to being just plain tired on Sunday after the long day Saturday, and I was also just pushing the limit on how close I could get to the cones all weekend. I guess the slow parts are where I did hit the most cones so maybe the split personality part did bit me. I can't believe I hit the cone with the pointer right after the start and before the first slalom as many times as I did,

I want to thank everyone that helped put this on. I know that it was a tough day for the officers and those running the event on Saturday and I wanted them to know that Tina and I appreciate the hard work that it takes to run the club as well as run a two day event.

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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.

I really enjoyed the course. First couple of runs were painful, but once I figured out that I needed to slow down in a few spots it really made the course a blast to drive. I just wish I could learn that I am supposed to avoid hitting cones. I seem to forget that when I'm driving.

Also, THANK YOU to everyone for being patient and helping out this weekend.

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In need of car.

I just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone in the club, and especially those that did extra work this weekend. We were stretched way thin on workers and somehow we made it work. I was basically looking at 15-18 people to work the course each heat and with 11 work stations (which I found out was more like 13-14 work stations on Sunday) everything got covered and we still had someone announcing at least 75% of the time. A good number of folks worked twice for us on Sunday and that really helped a lot. Thanks again!

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Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra

The course, I enjoyed it. It was challenging to say the least, but very fun for me. Thanks to Graham and Rob for all the hard work they put into it. We seem to be getting the CRX better sorted out, even though that b*sta*d Feinberg is still two seconds faster. Maybe we need nitrous or something to catch him.

Special thanks to everyone who helped out this weekend. We had our share of problems to go around, but nobody gave up and we delt with them. Everyone else, thanks for your patience while we tried to fix all the problems old Mr. Murphy created. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Well we ain't dead yet! Stay tuned in Danville where our brand new lap top will be making it's debut. Mr. Murphy will not be pleased!

PS. I know of at least one thing that worked perfect all weekend. Rob Harvey's "new and improved" wireless PA and FM broadcast system. It rocked all weekend. Great job Rob!

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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)

WOW, where to begin.

With all that happend this weekend, its tough to decompress. I am so beat.

First off thanks to all the people that pitch in and help out. While Murphy did show up this weekend, we didnt give up. As Chris Peterson said "We just have opportunities for improvement" Another thanks goes out to the averge joe cone shaggers. Your job this weekend was NOT easy either, especially on Saturday.

I have never seen a course name so fit the course as the one this weekend. I absoulutely hated it Saturday and loved it Sunday. The whole weekend I could never put together a complete run hitting all my marks. If I could just cut and paste the best sections of several runs I would still probably be slow

Thanks to everyone and we will see you in Danville better than ever.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

As far as courses I've driven, this was certainly one of the most fun, if not the most difficult. There were sections for high-horsepower cars, and sections for lighter, lower-powered ones (wokring station 9, watching Miatas just flick the rear end around the cones in the "three sisters"). Coming from my silver 330i, this first event in my STi was kind of scary in the high-horsepower parts, considering how they really rewarded keeping the throttle down (truly a combination of power and courage!). I usually run with Triad (closer sites), but the amount of help out there for novices and non-novices alike was really wonderful. Thanks to Brian Herring and Marcus McRae for helping me learn how to drive my AWD hackmobile!

Other pros:
Christine's Lunch
FM transmitter (especially the announcer in the middle of the day on sunday!)

Please sir, dont feed the animals....

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

I want to thank Graham and Rob for setting up a course.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

We should make Randy our full time anouncer!!

Thanks to everyone for a great course and hard work!! Maybe next event I will have learned how to drive with my new setup.

Also, I think we should all congratulate Brian on hitting 11 cones in one run. That was something truly special.

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Silver Honda
Green Ford
Blue/White Suzuki
Red Triumph
Grey BMW

"Never let life be shaped by fear of its end"

No, you're a towel!

Results for the event are up due to the late night work of Tonya Mauldin. All the PAX classes are included in this as well!!

Be sure to thank all the T&S workers at the next event. Except Todd, kick him in the ass.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

that course reset the bar for my own personal favorite. the speeds, the technical parts, and the overall flow was so much fun. of course it took me two days to figure it all out, but it was awesome. thanks

I doubt the course workers were describing the run using the word "special" at that time.

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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)