THSCC Forums

Well, I had a freaking blast this past Wednesday and Thursday at VIR Full. Another well run event for THSCC and the Z club! I was sorry to see the Ferrari had a serious off, but I think otherwise it was a great event and no one got hurt that I'm aware of! And it sure as hell beat being at work!

While I was disappointed in the rain on Wednesday, it was actually good to drive in the rain and on a wet course. Made you drive smart and smooth out your inputs. My instructor Steve commented on my “radical” inputs and said I needed to slow them down. There are just some places that autocrossing and track don’t mix.

I had posted in the Tech forum about my disappointment in the brake pads on the car, but otherwise I was very pleased w/ the car and the handling. I think running the autocross alignment was the right move. Turns were smooth and neutral. I also have to give kudos to the RE01-R’s. Never lost grip like the Azenis did for me last year. Also considering the majority of the turns and rights, I was surprised at how well the tires looked after the 2 day beat down. They really held up well.

This was also my first run in yellow group and much better drivers on course. I did my fair share of pointing cars by. I just had no top end, but feel I did well in the curves. I also had my first opportunity to drive solo on my last session. Holy cow, how cool is that…. It gives you a taste of wheel to wheel, only in a polite manner. No instructor there to help you with traffic management, you’re on your own. I did look down at the speedo at the top of the esses….damn… hit a 100 in-between 8 and 9 and the car was behaving nicely. That just made my year! And to be able to flat foot the gas in 10! I would have never in a million years thought you could have gotten away with that.

I also have to say kudos to Peter Krouse (sp?). What a great class room talk. I liked the string theory for the steering and pedals and how to apply ever increasing gas in turns 4-7. I tried that and the car seemed to like that steady increase better than the gas/brake/gas I was doing earlier.
Anyway, to sum this up, what a great event!! Hat’s off to everyone that made this happen!

EDIT:
BTW, is there anyplace we can buy photos? I forgot to stop by photo place in the paddock. What are our options here?

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

Agreed, great event. I had a lot of fun and kept the car in one piece. A nice farewell to motorsports for a couple years while i'm down under.

^wow, no brakes before T10? I don't know/see anyone pulling that off. If i were you i'd brake there now anyway to build a "proper" habit because you'll need to for sure as you get faster through the esses. I'd hate for you to fly up the esses one day and remember to brake for T10 as you sit in the grass.

I was watching yellow a bit and you and Stephen and the THSCC crew were kicking butt.

Photos: www.fandsenterprises.com

We bought a CD of everything for $60. Great bargain, considering how many shots he got of us and the fact that almost every one was good. Nice people, too.

I had a great time just need to learn to use the gas pedal a little more.
My instructor was awesome and patient with me even though it took me a while to stop watching for cars in my rearview mirror!!!

Thanks for a great event.

Christine

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2008 Subaru Forester 2.5XT Sports

I couldn't sleep last night until I got a pen and wrote down EVERYTHING my instructor told me, the way the car felt at different spots on the track, driving in wet conditions, All the small points and larger themes of the classroom presentations and skid pad exercises.

Another great event, lots of lessons learned.

I had a rough afternoon on wednesday, I was sloppy in my first session (no focus after the drive) and I felt slow and paranoid in the rain, although later was grateful that I got to experience these kinds of conditions early in my education ... then missed the third session after a BRAND NEW clutch cable ($20 part!!) stretched beyond its firewall adjustment...and I was left with changing it out, at the last minute..grumpy and ill.after making 3 different adjustments.. finished up as yellow was coming back in..

Thursday, besides backing into a plastic trash barrel warming the oil first thing in the morning, was seamless. Started noticing my own mistakes, and fixing them the next go round... but would screw up in another section of the track.. I felt really good about what I took away. This game is more "mental" than I ever thought it might be. The level of focus and preparation is starting to become clear to me, there is much work to be done.

Thanks to all who make these events possible..

till Rockingham
-jake

Thanks for the kind words! The esses were a blast. As for braking, I did in the first 3 session and then Steve the instructor said, "....just lift a little here and then roll into the gas." Damn if that didn't work. Right after 9, just a lift and watch for the butt end of the gator like Peter stated in class. Used that as my turn in point and into the gas. Right before the crest of the hill it was full throttle. Who knew that a car would stick like that! Crazy I tell you, CRAZY!!

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

Absolutely excellent use of vacation time!

We got to VIR Tuesday night, and I couldn't sleep until I could visualize the turns (topo maps and youtube rock!). The rain on Weds morning was a hard way to start a first track session - already a ton of inputs to remember and stacked on a severe lack of traction made getting anywhere close to the (low) limits very scary. Second and third sessions were a LOT better, and I started to get the feel for what was really going on, and found the limits of my stock Pagid pads too. Worst part of the day was my mis-management of fuel, bringing my third session to a close 5-10 minutes early, after some serious fuel starving after the first couple laps. Note to E36 owners - just fill it up - I was starving from >>half tank, and going down a quarter to a third tank each session.

Second day was simply spectacular. I started really SEEING things, got to experience more traffic management, got my corner speeds up, and really started feeling the limits of adhesion. No offs for me, but had a couple moments when a C4 I was catching in the corners got two off at the top of the esses - whoooaaaaa nelly.

In all, I had a blast. I knew this track stuff wasn't just point and shoot, but I wouldn't have believed the absolute mental drain it took to make it work. As for my own personal development, there were some pros and cons to being an autoxer - I really had to slow down and smooth out my inputs, but "self talk" got me through all my inputs, and by the end of day2 was making it around at a reasonable clip without instructor input.

The skidpad was a good exercise if for no other reason but to prove just how understeer happy my car really is, and how easy it is to recover from power-on oversteer.

Big thanks to Denis for some great instruction, Peter for some great classroom sessions that, along with drilling in the stuff we should be doing, also made it a point to make sure we knew what NOT to do.

Finally, a HUGE thanks to Brad, Stacy, Mark, and the rest of the crew for putting together a GREAT event. I'm hooked. When is CMP?

Oh, and Malia got a couple rides on Sunday too. She'll likely be back to VIR, and behind a wheel, next year.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

Please, please, get in the habit of always braking before T10. Eventually you will get faster up the esses and eventually you will need it! I was exiting T9 at 117 MPH indicated and exiting T10 at about 98 MPH -- a 20 mph differential. Maybe there is more speed in T10, but I doubt anyone can do T10 at 105+ without downforce.

But I could be wrong...

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

X eleventy billion

There are enough stories of "bad things happening" in 10 that IMHO, for a HDPE, I think its good to respect 10 with some brake action.

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

See Bernie Baake for more information!!!

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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

There's a fairly large number of people I know who have totalled cars in T10.

It's been a few years now, but I'm pretty sure all I did in the ITC car was a lift for 10. Of course that car struggled to make 90whp and cornered like it was tethered to the ground. We didn't have any downforce on that car because it killed our speed down the straights. Mike, that car was similar to the ITA car you had for a bit - just down about 30HP and stuck with a 4 speed trans.

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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)

First post!

I'm still thinking about T1 braking, snake, T10, oak tree apex, roller coaster, hog pen, oh...and everywhere in between.

Thanks to Stacy, Brad, Mark and crew for such a great event.
Everything was done well and clear for a first timer.

Peter for classroom was very helpful to say the least. Joel W. in-car was patient/encouraging and Mike W. gets biggest props of all for helping me get my car ready. It's much more comforting at 125 knowing "eagle eyes" (except for the front pan ) has seen/wrenched it.

I can't wait to do another event.


Craig Piepho

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97 M3/4

CMP is LESS than three weeks away!! Please sign up ASAP if you want in.

We will be doing the wet skid pad there as well... they have a brand new ROUND skid pad and it should be much easier to keep wet than VIR's was.

Thanks for the kind words guys... the most important thing is that you all are having a good time AND learning something every time you go out. It's what makes our events and our drivers some of the best in the country in my not-so-humble opinion.

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Stacy King
Midlife Crisis Participant

My understanding is that they did it just like the Tire Rack's skid pad, which is to say it's got a sprinkler system that you just leave on the entire time you're using it. That way it stays at the same condition the entire time for everyone. So yeah, uh, it's easy.


--Donnie

Great to read all the comments about how much fun everyone had. And Rodney, if I am EVER in the car with you on full and you don't brake for 10....I'll just open the door and bail. Certainly less harm can come from that! Even in my weeny little CRX I do a significant amount of braking. I'm not at all shy about using the gators exiting 10 so am carrying, for that car, significant speed through 10.

Indeed this sport is draining mentally. That's why Peter and I and Karl when he does class room pound it into everyone's head to stay hydrated! Only way to keep on top of the mental curve. I like to point out in class room that seldom, if ever in your life do you need to concentrate, with out a break, for 25 to 30 minutes at once. Doing a session on track obviously requires that which is why its so draining. But it does get better the more you do.

Hope to see everyone out at the newly configured CMP!

Ron