PCA SDR

Thanks to the autocross team for a good event on May 15. The rain held off until the awards ceremony and everybody got four timed runs despite the mid-afternoon delay.

A few comments...

Nice to see more experimentation with the open course elements. I really loved the maze and Chicago box section as you approached the finish -- it was visually pleasing and really something that you could attack hard if you were willing to take the risk. Some elements were tricky to figure out the correct line, but that's a good thing in my mind -- you should have to think and experiment a little bit.

Congrats to Erik Kinninger on the TTOD and I want to know what that guy eats for breakfast.

I held TTOD status for about 10 or 15 minutes after my first timed run, but I never really believed it would hold up. Of course in an effort to improve upon that time, I coned my next three runs. I guess that's what happens when you have the mindset to drive faster -- I should have been concentrating on driving smarter. Erik and Tom Tweed ended up relegating me to my third #3 TTOD in four events this year.

Thanks to Marc Larochelle and Ryan McClune for helping me make the best of a really long course working assignment. <-- Ryan

Finally, big for Blake Douglas for his first class win and first top ten overall time. All he needed was a little push, which I was happy to provide.

As an experiment, I created a robotic Greg Phillips and placed him near the starting line to take photos of everyone during their timed runs. I uploaded the best two of four pictures that Robot Greg captured of everyone.

https://goo.gl/photos/WYf5DS1sVA1Q43uB6

For the next event, I'm going to try to use a motion-activated trigger, so Robot Greg can take action-shots of everyone on a strategic portion of the course.

It was a great course that really had me thinking well into timed runs.

Excellent work by everyone involved, particularly the timing folks when things started to go south.

I love the robotic Greg shots.

Marcus, let me know if I can help with setting something up on the course for action shots.

I have been thinking about this for some time but haven't really opened my mouth yet. It would be great to position a motion-activated camera behind a "tail-happy" area of the course and set things up for 10 second video clips.

Ryan, thanks for the offer to help work on Robot Greg v2.0. I'll PM you.

I also found myself experimenting well into timed runs, since I still wasn't able to find that extra 2 seconds (!?!) that Jack had on me in CC10 this time.

I guess that helps prove that the track was challenging for most people to figure out, including the guy that came up with the layout. I enjoyed seeing and hearing even more discussion than normal about strategies for approaching some of the different elements.

It was a little more challenging than the last one in April, and I saw a few people get lost this time too. However, I also heard feedback from many people that said they enjoyed both the challenge and the freedom of the more open style, so we'll continue with this hybrid format for the next one.

I was playing around with Harry's for the first time yesterday. I forgot to fully lock down my camera mount, but it was still fun.

I got a reasonable look at one of my practice runs.

https://youtu.be/YsSevhxkjtU

Thanks to Andreas for giving me some good feedback on the ride along.

Great Track!

The right hand sweeper at the top required some commitment - drifting to inches before the cones on the left and taking the single green cone on the left side. Carrying all that speed and placing the car to the right of the track to set up and commit to the Chicane.

The sequence leading to the end was also great. This and the last autocross had great finishes - setting up and accelerating through the finish with plenty of straight away left to come off the gas and slow down. I hate the courses where you have a sharp 90 degree turn followed by a 5 foot "acceleration zone" (like at BMW two weeks ago!).

Funny how we can drive a course all day, and take a few more rides in the passenger seat, and not notice something.

Before watching Ryan's video, I would have sworn that we didn't have the 3-2-1 large cone braking markers going into the single cone pivot turn at the far end of the course. I think it's because literally EVERY time I drove or rode through that section, including the parade laps, I was looking ahead to the green pivot cone. The big cones on the left were just filed under "those cones don't matter" in my head and I never paid them a moment's thought.

I guess I figured out my braking point some other way, and it seemed to work for me. But it's definitely a reminder of the power of looking ahead -- once you've decided that certain cones are not relevant, you really do tune them out entirely.

Nice Job on the track layout Marcus! Great fun and a challenge.

Does anyone know if the results will be posted?

Thanks again to everyone who makes these events so great!

Tom

Wow what a Day! Marcus, the track was awesome, ever more challenging than last month's. I really liked the fast up-hill sweeper, which lead into the "thread the needle" single cone slalom. I felt like every section linked into the next one very well. I'm sure others will agree it was visually challenging. Overall I think you guys did a great job at designing a different style track.

I've been telling my Dad lately, that even after driving all his Hot rod 911's over the years, It has been the seat time in my SC that has taught me even more about corner speed, and has helped me learn how to get every ounce of speed out of the car. I also have to give my Dad a huge thank you, for allowing me to drive with him in his cars over the years. The need for speed started at a pretty young age though. Here's a pic, from the 94 SD Porsche parade.



I can still remember tearing around on my Big wheel, and sliding out in our driveway at home, on its solid plastic wheels. Wonder if they make these in adult size now?

Dad was also cool enough to allow my brother and I to race go-karts growing up, We raced them locally for about 5 years. The go-kart foundation was a huge help in teaching the fundamentals of driving on the limit, and being very precise in kart placement on each corner. Here's a pic from about 11 years ago, Local PCA Racer Frank Powell and I used to battle extremely hard, but always clean Frank is # 52, and I am #74.



Many great races and memories were had in the go-kart, Those foundation skills were extremely helpful for when I was old enough to get my drivers license and start auto crossing my stock 87' 944 in 2006.

I honestly never thought I'd be in TTOD contention in my 911 SC, However with my comfort level in the car going up each event, and Dad's years of experience setting up old 911's to handle well, This Last Sunday was the perfect combination of everything.
Here is my TTOD run in car Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7oZdRFrDYg

Something I have noticed in the club lately at the driving event's, is the level of competition! I feel like the top ten is tighter than ever! Not sure if I will get any more TTOD's in my SC, the last three events I have done, I can see and feel people getting a lot Faster! Jack Brennan is going like Bat out of hell, Chris Riordan has made huge improvements in his driving, Jeff Norman has come out of no-where and going really fast, Terry Barnum has been driving better than ever, The Miata boys WT, and Robert, are just off the charts in what they can do in those little cars, this list just goes on, and it's just awesome to be apart of these events lately

OK, one last shout out to my Student, Eric Marc-Aurele, he has completed one SDR driving school, and this was his second autocross. From the get go Sunday morning he was driving his Base model Cayman, with extreme precision and exceptional car control, throughout the day we worked on steadily building speed, and using all the room the track had to offer, without hitting any cones. He was great to work with, and I know he left the event Sunday grinning ear to ear.

Erik Kinninger
1981 911 SC

What a fun event!

The track was really fun, the greatest challenge for me was staying on the gas into and through the giant sweeper. I chickened out every time! Something for me to work on.

Marcus, I'm glad you set up Robotic Greg, I like the shot where I'm accelerating from the line and the car is squatting a bit. I also get a kick out of seeing the additional cone mark I picked up between the two runs.

Jack, the braking markers weren't there at the start of the day. I saw Mark adding them to the track on one of my practice runs. I think I gave him a bit of a scare, he ran back and tripped on one of the cones.

Erik, thank you so much for your instruction. I had a great time with you and am really pleased by your very kind words. I can't believe how fast you are.

Thank you to everyone involved in putting on the event. I have had such a blast with the club!

Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback regarding Sunday's AX. Marcus Kramer and Andrew Simmons, together, continue to come up with creative challenging track designs that contribute to the AX Team's goal of making this year's and last year's AX seasons, the best ever. And thank you to all the members of the AX Team that make the event run so efficiently. From Registration to Setup to Tech to Timing to Equipment to Logistics to CDI's to Instructors to Corner Workers to to to .....
Much appreciation,
Mark

Awesome day gentlemen thanks to all of you!

My mind could barely keep up ... during timed runs there were multiple sections where I was telling myself "just get thru this without being stoopid ... it's too late in the day to be experimenting and you're tired" ... and yes I speak to myself regularly .

Just luv'd it ... just got a chill thinking about it again.

Best to all!

Sean

"Erik K
I honestly never thought I'd be in TTOD contention in my 911 SC, However with my comfort level in the car going up each event, and Dad's years of experience setting up old 911's to handle well, This Last Sunday was the perfect combination of everything.
Here is my TTOD run in car Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7oZdRFrDYg

Erik Kinninger
1981 911 SC

Erik, Great driving and I love the video. That driving style looks vaguely familiar to me.

For those of you who have never had the pleasure and visceral experience of driving an early 911, this is how it's done. It's a delicate balancing act where you are constantly dancing the car around with steering and throttle inputs. Some delicate, some not. Well done, Erik!

Thanks Mark!

First, to the Auto-X team -- another stellar event, from the layout, to the event management, to cool heads under pressure from the timing team, and to everyone who contributed to making it a great day... Kudos! and Thanks!

And Erik, I meant to ask you, what was the delta between your practice runs on the RE-11's and your timed runs on the RE-71's? Great note and video, BTW -- your commitment in the SC is an inspiration to all us folks driving older 911s!

Can't wait for the next one!
Charles