THSCC Forums

Yea Les, I can precisely put a car wherever and whenever I want on an auto-x course. That probably explains why I hit cones on 3 out of 4 of my runs.

But seriously, I do think that going CW was slightly faster and I'd wager that if I went CCW, I would have had to move my braking point back by much more than 10 feet. How much? I obviously don't know for sure but I'd guess it would be at least in the neighborhood of 30 feet and possibly more. By going CW, I was able to cover that distance at ~55mph which is nearly impossible to overcome by any amount of extra acceleration on the exit.

Let's assume that going CCW was faster for a moment. If it was significantly faster, going CCW would have been a no-brainer. I think we can both agree that the difference was probably minimal either way. I'm guessing it was less than 2 tenths based on analyzing similar features in the past. If the goal of a run is to execute every feature perfectly, I am having a hard time figuring out how going CCW was easier.

If I were to come screaming into that gate with massive trail-braking around the right-hander and then force the car to back to the left to go CCW around the wheel, I don't think I could have pulled it off without a lot of practice runs. The car is certainly doing a ton of extra work and when you throw in the transition onto the sealer while trying to grab 1st gear, it sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

By going CW, I was able to have a nice straight braking zone and had a much better chance of getting that right in only 4 runs. Granted, none of this takes into account if you have issues going around a pivot with the driver on the outside of the turn. On the other hand, that sounds like a great opportunity to practice that weakness and can only make you a better driver overall.



Jim

Hmm... "America's finest sports car" vs. "Japanese econobox". There are also "Japanese sports cars", like, umm, you know. Of course, you've tried Japanese sports cars before, and to give credit where it's due, you beat the particular Japanese sports car that I'm thinking of last Sunday. Still, how long are you going to hang onto the C4? You've had it literally for MONTHS!

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Art McDonald
Premier Amateur #518
2008 Dishman Cup
Pivot Cone Snob

Rodney is a waxer (but in a good way)

Thanks Judie, Stephen and Michael. That course was one of the most fun ones I have run in a long time. Definitely a course I could have spent 10-20 runs on.

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http://www.greywinds.com

Yes Art, I'm familiar with Japanese sports cars, I happen to daily drive one that I've owned longer than any other car ever. I'm also rather familiar with Honda taillight design as you, Mr. Feinberg and others have show me theirs on more occasions than I care to remember during my Corvette driving tenure.

That comment was intended in jest and I guess I should have put the quotes around those terms as you did. Referring to the ITR as a "Japanese econobox" is just a jab at the car's Civic origins. I realize that other than in the strictest sense of the term, it is a sports car and regardless of semantics is a pretty damn high performance automobile. Also calling my Corvette "America's finest sports car" is quite a stretch as it is at least 16 years and 2 evolutionary steps away from that, not to mention that whole Viper thing. As for keeping the C4, I hope to be able to keep it for awhile, but with this economic outlook I might be trading it for a Vespa in '09. Can I autocross a Vespa????

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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

So were any results recorded for this event, or was it just fun runs?

There were results recorded. Our wonderful webmasters were out of town this weekend and have been catching up on everything and haven't had a chance to post the results yet.

They told me yesterday that they will be posted soon.

BTW - That was a FUN course. Kudos to the Westerfield Three for designing one of the most fun courses I've driven in a long time!

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Todd Breakey
STS 42 - 1992 Sunburst Miata
Dammit!
"You souldn't play leap frog with a porcupine. You might get hurt." - Eliza

Clockwise, for the same reasons Karl and Jim state. If I'd been in the Trans Am I'd have been tempted to try it at least once the other way to get a better launch, but in FWD HS it seemed a no-brainer to me. No way could I get enough power down on the exit to make it worth giving up so very much braking distance, straight heavy braking, and entry speed.

Also, as I recall taking it clockwise meant that the distance between the wheel and the next gate was a little shorter on exit while the car was going slower (especially noticeable in FWD HS). If there's a choice between fast-longer/slow-shorter and fast-shorter/slow-longer, then the former also tips the balance to clockwise.

Now if the wheel had lead into a much longer flat-out section, I might also have considered anticlockwise, but the distance between the wheel and the next non-flat-out element was too short to reap enough gain from the higher exit speed. In this case I thought it was better to treat the wheel as a Type II finishing a fast section than a Type I beginning a slow section.

Brilliant course, by the way. I enjoyed it immensely, possibly my favorite ever course. Awesome end to the points season!

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Martyn Wheeler
AXing Kit's '05 Mazda 3, #29 HStock
(when The Gonzo Symphonic allows)

I also used CW on my entry to the wheel. It just seemed like it would be possible for light low hp cars to keep up more momentum through the wheel and break later rather then breaking earlier to make it around ccw. Although at the time I didn't really get the CW and CCW so if you asked me during the event I probably said left.