THSCC Forums

While I didn't think the course was particularly fun (at first), I did think it was a great learning experience. Most of the harder things to get right in auto-x'ing (line selection, being patient, not over-braking, etc.) were there in abundance. From my perspective, it could have probably been used to teach a clinic in the fine points of going fast. The more I ran it, the more fun it became once I started putting the elements together.

I'm certainly guilty of blowing through the "station five" section a couple of times. On my first run, I wasn't looking ahead and was thinking the next "gate" was part of a lane change. Imagine my surprise when I got to it and it turned out to be a right hander. Rather than smoke my tires under braking, I decided to just blow right through it and do it right on the next run. Of course, on the next run I proceeded to carry way too much speed in there not realizing how tight it was and blew right through it again. At least that time I made the gate immediately following it, for whatever that was worth.

Jim

In all I liked the course, though the tires didn't. I thought it would be awful in the Celica since it has two deficiencies:

1) Low end torque
2) Open diff with front drive.

I figured I'd just sit and do nothing on the exit of every turn.

As it was, I managed to keep my head out of my tail and drive a very short line though most of the turns, making it a little longer in a few points where I could carry good speed (very few).

As it turned out, in 2nd gear the Celica was so gutless that it wasn't spinning the tires out of the tight turns, that meant I could get on the throttle early and hard. By the time the car was straight enough to apply power either the engine was spooled pretty nicely, or it was time to brake again anyhow.

With a lack of low end power and the open diff, it is quite fortunate that the Celicas do excel at maintaing speed, that was a momentum course if there ever was one!

Scott

Interesting to compare the strengths and weaknesses of different cars.

For a stock Mustang on OEM tires, "tight" (if that means small radius) turns don't work due to the size of the car and the large turning circle. I needed an extremely late apex just to make it through the turns with any kind of speed. Note that Scott's tight line and my extremely late apex did do something else though, it meant we weren't pointing the wrong way as long as the guys that early apexed and had to turn back after they passed the pivot cones. I didn't have the open diff and no low end torque problem. Of course, even at essentially idle speed in second gear, coming out of a full lock turn would still spin the inside rear tire or even cause the rear to slid out. I even tried something I've never done before which was to push the clutch in for the tight turns even though I wasn't shifting. It "seemed" to help the car turn by not having the rear wheels pushing the already overloaded front tires either from idle rpm or slight speed maintaining throttle.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

It was me who was flat on my back. I was getting tired of picking up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station, running out to pick up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station,picking up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station, running out to pick up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station,picking up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station, running out to pick up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station,picking up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station, running out to pick up the cone, putting it back, just getting back to station, I suggested that Anders stay out there and act as the pivot cone so he could be self-righting but he did not like that idea. Oh yeah, many thanks to Les for taking at least one cone with him from Station 5 on each run

My first thought (and last) is that the course was not very fun. This is probably because it points out all my shortcomings as a driver. By run #6 I had finally figured out that I needed to brake early, I still am having a hard time convincing my right foot to do this.

Rob
90 Red Miata ES13

Yeah, I'm all about being self-righteous, but self-righting is not one of my best qualities. If you've been to my parties you know...

Anders

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Lina Racing: As Seen On Radio

Hehe. Glad I had Station 6. We started with no spare cones. By the end of the night I had a collection of almost a dozen! They were all delivered under cars (not just Les) coming from Station 5 What we really needed was a quick lift jack to expedite the cone removal process

We won't even get into having to put Rob's car half way up on the island to pry his cone out of the drive shaft

Graham