THSCC Forums

Seems we teach people how to hit cones...

West Course
http://www.scca.com/popup/raceresult.as ... 3&file=374
East Course
http://www.scca.com/popup/raceresult.as ... 3&file=375


DS:
David Spratte is 8th in DS, 0.3 out of first (yeah, 0.3 seconds is the spread between 1 and .

Jim Feinberg is mired in the back half of the field, with a cone on each run. Two of his 3 runs had raw times good for first place (his best run was 0.3 better than anyone else).

Bryan Hertweck is showing that the Crossfire might not cut it in DS (the BMW's don't seem to have anything for the Type R's either).

ASL:
Chris Peterson is in second, 0.5 back. Donna Frank is in 5th, also suffering from no clean runs (raw time good for second).

A-Stock is still running, so it's too early to say anything about Donnie, Eric and Karl.

WOW, D Stock sure doesn't look broke

1-6

Hype R
TT
Hype R
Cobalt SS
R32
Cobalt SS

Yeah, Cobalt SS. Didn't see that one coming.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

That guy in 5th in DS is a real douche.

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Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Well Eric is sitting in 4th in AS. Karl is 38th and Donnie is 34th. Jonathan Roberts driving the STI with Donnie coned a time that would have been tied for 1st but he is sitting in 33rd. The top 10 in AS are separated by about 6/10ths that is pretty damn close.

I am really bummed for Jim in DS. He also coned a run that would have put him in first.

Best of luck to all the locals tomorrow. Let's see if Eric can pick up some time and challenge for the lead. It also doesn't seem the S2000 CR is any faster than the top standard S2000's.

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2010 Honda Fit Sport
Couple of bicycles

DS is hard. Actually. . . any stock class here is going to be wicked. But damn .3? Really?

To be honest, I'm just happy to be in the dry on A6s at this point.

Last weekend was a lot less fun than today.

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Not spectacular just decent.
I'm not sure what I'm driving.
Maybe an ITR in DS.
Or half-assed STX prepped 330.

I didn't get to see Feinberg's runs thanks to my interesting work assignment, but I did see Spratte and he drove really well. Was cool hearing him yelling in excitement when he saw his time after that flyer, too.

Jonathan never coned out at Nats until this one. Guess it's just a matter of time in that regard. I didn't cone out but may as well have. We had to shift to third in two places today and I hit cones on my first run but shifted fine, then I somehow blew the shift in one of those spots and that caused me to hit a cone on the second, and then I missed the shift in an even worse way on the third but managed no cones. But I was coasting for a LONG ways and it just killed me.

Ugh. I don't think anything is wrong with the STi as Jonathan shifted fine. I just need to quit doing it with the car all loaded up. *sigh* Works fine in most of the other cars I've been running lately...

It's no matter, I probably couldn't have run within eight or nine tenths at my best today. Just been out of autocross too long.


--Donnie

Roger Johnson would rate Karen Babb's course low given the number of cone kills. Never seen so many cone outs at a national event. Donna would be .1 out of first and possibly higher after running her last run very conservatively then hitting the very last cone possible AFTER THE FINISH.
My co driver coned away a 3 rd place first day standing after he twice hit the FIRST corner cone, he ran over the base on his second run and it remained standing but spun out of the box. I thought for sure it was still in the box, but the corner worker called it out. Alan was the only AS car in the 39's on the first two runs. The Solstice can still run with the field.
I drove brutally after running .2 off Eric Stemler and .3 off Alan in the practice the day before. Conservatively on my first run but still with cones, DNF the second and spun thru the finish on the third...
Off to see what today brings on Roger's course, an interesting one indeed!

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

I believe after today's runs people will say it's the car to have. Yesterday's course was a perfect S2000 course. Today's is perfect for the Solstice. And even a perfect S2000 course wouldn't have found them very much ahead of the Solstice had people driven them to their potential.


--Donnie

I think the real evidence for that will be today. Yesterday's course was definitely a Type R course. Today's is very much like day 1 of last year, which I was 3rd only .2 off the lead.

When you need to shift to 3rd in the Crossfire, it's ability to compete drops unless you can be deep in 3rd. 53mph 2nd gear can be a killer.

Besides, he's got a brand spanking new '08 Z51 Vette in the garage for SS next year. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

Well, once again, 3rd gear was required in 2 spots on the course, limiting the effectiveness of the Crossfire. Bryan moved back to 22nd.

On a lighter note, Jim Feinberg was FTD by a big chunk and moved from the 30's into 12th and barely missing a trophy. Without day one cones, he would have beaten the field by over 1.5 seconds.

Spratte drove well and held down the 10th trophy spot. There were a TON of good drivers behind him within a couple of tenths, that's great driving! He's 2 for 2 on Nationals trips and bringing back a trophy.

A Stock is yet to be determined... Go Eric! - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

Well, Hahn won it in the CR, but it still looks like a non-CR can beat it, too. And I stick by my claim that the Solstice was the car to have on today's course. Stemler was only two tenths off Hahn's best time on his first run with one cone, then backed it up with no cones, then DNF'ed. *shrug*

Eric just didn't have a good day today. Looped it in his first run then just felt behind one run the rest of the way. Said he felt like the car had Hahn's times in it, he just didn't get it out of it today.

Jonathan felt like there was more in the Subaru today, too, but probably not within a half second of the leaders. I drove fairly well given no autocross in a while and was till nine tenths back from him. *sigh* Oh well, had some fun changing tires in the Topeka sun (just why the hell is the sun so much worse out there?).

Chris just couldn't quite put it together today, but still finished in the trophies (something I've never even smelt in Topeka!). But I did at least break one streak...up until this year I've always fallen on day two (from bad to worse). This time I went from worse to bad! Pretty sure it's my first time in the top half of the field...BARELY. *cough*

Big thanks to Eric for hauling my car to Topeka (and putting up with the breakdown on the way!).


--Donnie

Pretty much all I managed to do today was DNF, stall the car on course, and get so rattled that I never recovered. I very nearly skipped my last two runs from embarassment, but Eric talked me off that ledge.

Its been a rough week.

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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)

Don't feel bad Karl, I have been on that ledge before. Thanks for Eric and Jonathan for talking me off of it too The trouble is, Eric is so convincing you will be back next year.

After three times, I don't miss it. In 2011 I will try the doing National Championships thing again...from what I hear the NASA championship is going to be in our backyard.

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Jim Pastorius
2008 Silverado VortecMax
1992 Camaro CMC#92
2002 BMW R1150R

2009 3rd Place CMC Mid-Atlantic Championship
2009 CMC Hyperfest Winner

The courses overall were excellent, fun, and challenging. I'm not a big fan of the surface, but it was still a good event. More later on lessons learned and stupid stuff I did when I'm not massively sleep deprived. Karl's car was definitely good enough for the win. I had a real shot for the win as I only needed to get within 3 tenths of Hahn's Day #2 time, but just didn't have it in me that day. Maybe next year It's hard to have much more fun week than at Nationals even amongst breakdowns, rain, fever/sinus infections, etc.

Eric

Yeah well....I am a bit disappointed in my driving - both at the Pro and Nats. I will give credit where credit is due, though.....Barbara Leroy--Bahme (I know I butchered her last name) simply outdrove me on day 2 of Nats. Even if I was "on", I don't think I could have matched her time. Add to that giving up a .4 lead from day one thanks to a cone and I had zero chance of catching her. Donna had some killer raw times as well, but had the dreaded cone disease as well.

Ah well...there's always next year!!