Autocross November 8 - Results

[martinreinhardt]

The results are now posted. Let's hear the excuses Thanks Doug sending me the results so quickly.

Results: http://results.pcasdr.org/event_standings.php?time_format=1&database=&event_date=2009-11-08 and the BRI http://results.pcasdr.org/event_bri_standings.php?time_format=1&database=&event_date=2009-11-08

[Jackie C]

I don't think there was a single problem with the timing today! Special thanks to Kim for redesigning the track finish, and mc ing in the trailer as well as driving wicked fast.

[mrondeau]

Thanks to the AX team and all of the volunteers who helped put on a great event. In spite of the track reconfiguration(s), everything ran smoothly and we were done well before sundown. Great job everyone!

[Mmagus]

Thank you to the instructors for making us better, faster, stronger than we were before! (Especially mine!)



It was a fantastic event TONS of fun! Some of us privileged folks even got to compete in the Corner Worker Enduro.

Mark
The Fastor Pastor

[ttweed]

Special thanks to Kim for redesigning the track finish, and mc ing in the trailer as well as driving wicked fast.

Kim was really fast yesterday--8th TTOD in an LSS Boxster is a great result! And another street-tired Cayman in the #5 position proves again what capable autox cars they are (Hassan Zaidi in #786 is shown as "unknown" in the results, but I remember his white Cayman from working corners in timed runs--he had the numbers stuck on the bra low on the front bumper, making them very hard to read).

My excuse was that my steering wheel nearly fell off in the first practice session. I had to run up to Lowe's and find some longer machine screws to deal with the stripped threads in the hub in order to make my timed runs and only got 4 practice laps.

I'm sure I left some time out on the course, and one of the places I am still wondering about was the slalom. It seemed like which side to enter it was a toss-up to me--I tried both sides in the few practice laps I got, and decided that going to the left of the first cone felt better for my car, as I didn't have to give up too much going around the first cone, and could get on the gas earlier for the uphill section by almost straight-lining the last cone to the next gate. I could see during corner-working that a lot of others chose the right side, and it definitely looked like they gained a little on the entry, but had to wait longer to get around the last cone to get back on the throttle. I'd be interested in hearing why people chose the side they did and whether they found it was faster that way, or pretty much of a wash, one way or the other. I noticed that Mr. Bill, the track designer, chose the left side like I did, but the majority (at least of those I saw) seemed to go to the right. How did Eric take the slalom (I missed his timed runs)?

Good job by the whole autox team for sure! I never got to experience the "roundabout" and I'm not sorry about that--it looked torturous to me in the track walk. My only minor beef with the reconfiguration was the narrowness of the opening chute up to and through the first turn. That apex cone in the first righthander was a killer for a lot of people! I think Angela Avitt hit it on every single pass in her timed runs. You had to be very precise through that section, and it was easy to fall prey to "irrational exuberance" and earn a penalty.

TT

[mrondeau]

I liked the track a lot. It was a thinking man (or woman)'s track and gave you a number of options throughout the track on how to drive it. I liked the 1st corner. It rewarded precise entry and penalized rough steering and throttle inputs. I entered the slalom on the right hand side. I was able to carry my speed almost to the first cone before braking and was able to go full throttle after the 4th cone and still make it throught the rhythem section without letting up. The hardest part of the course were the two major braking sections. Both of them were in rough, uneven, downhill, off camber sections with painted lines across them. Made it very easy to lock up one or more wheels. It was interesting to watch the different lines cars ran between corner stations 4 and 8 as well. That was a flat out section in my car and the left hander at the end of that stretch was faster than most people seemed to think. There were lots of places to lose time on the track.

Great driving by Hassan and Kim on street tires!!

[LUCKY DAVE]

I was entering the slalom on the right.
This made the approaching straight longer and made the braking zone all in a straight line, capitalizing on my car's best abilities (power and brakes) while minimizing the car's weakest feature (slow-ish turn in). It also had the benefit (for my car anyway) of making the slalom one cone shorter because my target (entry point) of the slalom was the second cone, ignoring the first cone. In my case, I had enough grip to floor it from the next to last cone until the next corner.....without having to slow to stay "between the cones". I tried the slalom the other way, and I made too much speed into the next section (I had to slow down) negating any advantage of a faster exit from the slalom.
It's the usual trade off question: Is it better to be faster here....or there?
The answer always depends on the car and driver combination.
btw: Eric was entering on the right also.

[Kim Crosser]

I initially was taking the slalom to the left of the first cone, in order to straighten out the exit. Then I tried it on the right (splitting the 1st 2 cones on the entry) and found that the remaining slalom cones were spaced far enough apart that I could just plant my right foot on the floor all the way from cone #2 of the slalom until I got into the turns on the rhythm section on the hill. That got me an extra 5 mph exit speed from the slalom. Full throttle to just short of cone #1, hit the brakes just enough to get set around #2, and even before passing #2 get back on full throttle past cones 3-5.

I really liked that track. It felt like in many of the corners that when you got it right, you REALLY knew it (and when you got it wrong, you also really knew it!). With three serious pitch-and-catch corners (including that big downhill left-hander), there was some fun sideways time out there.

Hassan is really flying in that Cayman. He impressed us from the first - Jackie Corwin, Keith Verlaque and I all had him as our student at some point and he picked up everything really fast. It was obvious he was going to be passing us all shortly, and a 5th TTOD is pretty impressive.

I have to mention something hilarious (and weird?). I wound up instructing two other LSS drivers during the day. In timed runs, they both finished with 1:23.81 exactly, for a tie for 2nd in LSS. Exact ties in class are pretty rare, but exact ties in class for two students of the same instructor???

[Amail]

I initially took the first cone on the driver's side to lengthen the braking zone, but found that the entry to the course after the last cone was almost like a cone itself. The Lean Machine™ doesn't have the grunt to build up serious speed from the bottom of the rhythm section, so I needed to start earlier.

I gained 1/2 a second slowing earlier into the slalom so that I could put the pedal down sooner going up the hill. Good thing too - Jerry was nipping at my heels at the end of it!

[Bill Behun]

I tried the slalom both ways and it seemed for me with a LEAN MACHINE (like Andy's car) I could found it tippy getting around the last slalom cone and into the course chute when I took the first slalom cone to the right. Couldn't get on the power when I wanted.

When I put the 1st slalom cone on my right, I could really dance around it and the second and as I started around the third it was full power on and almost a straight into the chute and power/dance up the hill. If I had more horsepower I think I'd have found the other way faster as I wouldn't be able to get on the HP as soon as I did.

Thanks to all for a well run event. Things went smoothly (except for the pavement), the trailer got loaded well and quickly, the timing ran smoothly and we beat the sunset.

[Niraj]

Thanks everyone for a great event. First time out and I had a blast! Can't wait till next season!!

[hmeeder]

Well I would say that I agree with all of the above.

During timed runs I was stationed at the top of the slalom and got a great opportunity to witness plenty of both variations. For the most part the "leaners" and for want of a better word "less fast" cars tended to enter on the left, whereas the more aggressively suspensioned and faster cars tended to the right.

I can say that I experimented throughout the day with both sides of that slalom and it wasn't until halfway through the 2nd session that I settled on entering on the right.

What I found was that entering on the left forced you to slow down just a touch earlier and increased the length of the slalom to 5 cones+ (everyone had to wiggle just a little to miss the left cone on re-entry to the track.) By settling the car sooner and modulating the throttle throughout the slalom you got the car into a smooth, rhythmic flow that felt really good and didn't upset the car, a definite plus in a softly sprung vehicle. Some think that they got into the throttle sooner, but I felt it made the line into the next corner tougher than it needed to be.

Entering on the right, however, allowed you to accelerate all the way to the first cone (put it on the driver's door and use it as a braking marker) short stab of the brakes to set the nose, wrestle a little bit to get it around the 2nd and 3rd cones and by the time the 4th cone was on the passenger door roll back into full throttle and ignore the 5th cone completely with the goal to not clip the re-entry cones on the right. It wasn't quite as smooth as the other entry, but if you could do it without pissing the car off too much for those center 3 cones it; shortened the slalom, you were on the accelerator longer at the beginning and on it sooner at the end. It also set you up better for the right/left combo just up the hill.

Hands down faster, but not as pretty.

BTW, Bill: Thanks for abandoning that skidpad turn early in the day! I have run them before and I find them to be gimmicky, rarely is anything gained from it (either speed or learning, for me anyway) and they tend to slow down the entire process (the fact that it was made of approximately 127 cones would only exacerbate that) and finally, it eats tires like nobody's business. No LSD means spinning that inside tire around the whole thing. I was willing to give it my best shot, but I can't say that I was sad to see it go either. My $.02

[Dallas]

Hey, Kim - Thanks again for the ride-along and the coaching ("Faster! Faster! Aagh! Brakes! Brakes!"). It was fun to ride along and see how much performance someone really good can wring out of a 986.

Any rumors you may have overheard about the rest of the LSS class planning a one-way trip to the desert for you - so one of us might have a shot at the #1 slot someday - are absolutely false.

I was seriously bummed that I creamed a couple of cones on the last lap - I really wanted that 1:23:18 lap to be clean!

I have to mention something hilarious (and weird?). I wound up instructing two other LSS drivers during the day. In timed runs, they both finished with 1:23.81 exactly, for a tie for 2nd in LSS. Exact ties in class are pretty rare, but exact ties in class for two students of the same instructor???

[UKAYMAN]

Kim.. Mark.. Thanks for the driving compliments. I was watching you guys earlier in the day throwing the car through the last left hander before the finish line. I bucked up the courage to push it through there aswell. I guess it paid off

Thanks to all for putting on another good show. Its not just the driving part which makes these events so much fun. Its been a really enjoyable year competing and hanging out with everyone.

Niraj.. Well done on your first AX. Do you feel you're hooked already?

[Dallas]

Yeah - I would have radioed in for a change of clothes and a razor at the gate, but I'd already asked for more waiver forms and wristbands...

Some of us privileged folks even got to compete in the Corner Worker Enduro.