I had fun, too. Don't feel bad, Angela, it was definitely a "power course". I think I drove pretty much the same line on every run I took, the difference was that I made myself get on the gas earlier, brake later and just stay in it a lot more as the day went on. When you've only got 108 horses, you have to use ALL of them!

Oh, the format was okay... but after standing out on course for 90 minutes... even though it was only 11am when we were done, I was ready for lunch! Donuts and cookies were certainly better than nothing, but I was STARVING by 1pm.

With 30-40 cars, I'd rather start at a more normal time, around 10-10:30 (we didn't get first car off until 9:20 this morning, anyway), run half the car through 8 runs, break for lunch, then do the other group. We'd still be done by 2:30 without feeling rushed.

 

You seemed to do okay with it! What did you run? A 50.xxx?

I liked the turn-around. You didn't HAVE to take it tight, you had options. Ultimately, I found a line that turned it into a constant radius "skidpad turn". Held the same arc from turn-in (which was wide and late) through the apex, and held that arc WAY deep to set up for the beginning of the return-side. That was one of the places I made up some time late in the day by getting on the gas WAY early coming through the cross-over and STAYING on it all the way to the first decision point.

It was an "intricate" course, I'll give it that! And I agree with your notes about the finish. Way too much drama there. I never experienced any, myself... but it was definitely a "trap" for high-powered RWD cars, and it seemed to use the finish timer as "bait".

 

Yeah, 50.5xx, I did fine with it, just saying without a lot of patience there it was understeer city. I tried tight, didn't like it and went more to a constant radius wider line.

 

I just did the Spread sheet. Great Job Charles. you beat Danny..
50.592 to his 50.972.. you got FTD...

 

FTD on street tires, no less. Way to go, Charles!

 

I wish..... but unless the hand written times were wrong, Keith and the caged M3 in my run group both beat me.....

 

Yes you are correct.. I was only looking at the " other" class

Keith did a 49.912 but he was running R comounds

 

Still Charles to beat D. Shields ... seat time has def worked out for you. Congrats.

Loren ... that turn around really got the better of me and so did me mising my 2 - 3 shift to get to the turn around without being on the rev limiter like so many cars were. I did once or twice. I wanted to find that arc but wasn't doing to hot at settling in, concentrating and working with the car.

I agree about the getting on the gas a bit earlier. Its just that I started feeling bad for torturing my car the way I was. As payback the AC I had fixed Friday no longer worked Sunday afternoon. Bratz!

Though we are not out on the West Coast much anymore ... I need instruction on turn arounds. It is an area I want to improve in so I can see my times start dropping. So if you see me and think you can assist a FWD driver please hop in and let's go. Thanks.

And yes all the running ... wow I haven't had my chest hurt like that since Jr. High wind sprints ... it brought back the memory of "I have a doc note on file saying if my chest hurts ... that means no more for Angi." Thanks for covering for me out there while I got my heart rate back in order.

 

Turn-arounds are tricky. If it's laid out wide, usually taking a "tight" line is okay. If it's laid out narrow like this one was, you need to take it wider. You almost always want to take the entry wide and ignore the first apex or two, focusing instead on how to smoothly reach the exit.

Entering too fast is going to hurt. You'll either plow through the entry, or go off-line on the entry to carry the speed and then plow when you have to tighten the turn to make the exit.

Entering too slow is also bad, especially in a FWD car because you can't really add that speed while you're turning.

Best answer is to find that "just right" entry speed that lets you flow around the turn. I guess it's not as easy as it sounds.

 

BTW guys, results are up 2008 Autocross Results