box240mod

first run, with low angle drifts was 60.604, 2nd run = crap heh off course, 3rd run-first real try got 59.981, 4th an rx7 got way out in grass and i stopped but didnt get a rerun 74.721, 5th run had good run BARELY got 2 cones in a slalom, 58.525 + 4secs penalty. fun one run i improved to 59.669. and fun run 4 i drifted whole course including a badass holyshit 3 40mph consectutive turns non stop (...maybe not that good, but definitly one of my best...) and apparently was deemed the 'drift man' by the announcer (no one else even attempted to). it was soo much fun. first time out in my sohc 90 240sx with stock susp, no strut bars, just simple aftermarket muffler taking 4th in novice w/trophy weeee. i am really stoked however becuase 2 other 240s where in novice class. both dohc both springs/struts/strutbars/intake/exhaust one auto one 5spd and i beat them both. both were cool guys and the auto really hurt the one guy but oh well. ive got strut bars in mail, hopefully lower me a few tenths.... im totally hooked.

RoadRacer

Good Job!

Patrick
www.trackvideos.com

S14 Racer

Hey that was deffinately a good day man, and a good first time out. Next time dont try to run me over, I had enough of that for one day's work.

This is Lloyd with the rby prl 96 auto. It wasn't so much having the auto that hurt but tweaking the suspension that hurt me the most.... Last week the car was running great, and was my first event. Then I considerably stiffened the front up. This coupled with no time between runs to do much more then adjust tire pressure, let alone reflect on the run screwed me over. I was on the verge of understeer most of the time and wasnt using 100% of the contact patch But in the vids there was 0% roll hehe I dropped the psi a cpl of pounds all the way around and softened the front stuts and got a 59 followed by 3 58s in the funnnies.

I guess I have to put some serious research into what I have on my car and tune it accordingly. Give me an email at S14-Racer@cfl.rr.com and mabey we'll meet up at vallencia or somewhere mid-month or next month. There timing was messed up bad as well, btw. My first run was a 59.8 then the next run I got a 60, but they said right after that that my first run was a 64.7 with an off course. The off course was correct as i missed the gate after the slalom, but how can you ret 4.9 sec of penalties, if it is 2+ per cone even and I didnt hit a single cone......Oh well I had fun, and am just out to learn my car for now.

Good first event btw.

PseudoRealityX

Hope you guys liked Saturday's course. It was pretty unusual for a GIR event, but the few comments i heard were all good, so im happy.

Hope to see you guys all at the next event, and maybe by that time, ill have the cast off and can really drive. I did get 3 fun runs in on Sat though

65 in a miata (went WAY off course through the gas)
56 in Leonard's SM Mustang Cobra (torque is cool)
56 in a DSP Del Sol (the seatbelt came off through the 5th slalom cone, but that car is fun!)

Gald to meet Lloyd and the others this weekend.

S14 Racer

It was ok, I really didnt appreciate the timing mistakes though. I am just out for fun, but if the time is off you cant really judge if you are improving. That is bad especially at my level.

That and the fact that you run back to back to back runs, kinda made it unfun (comming 3' from having my legs taken out from me while running full speed was kinda fun) for me for the day. I just didnt like it I guess because like I said I am new and had to go first grid. I didnt get to see how the more experienced drivers took the course and make note of it. Nor do I know my car well enough to know what changes to make in the 2 minute break between runs. All I got to do was drop a few psi in the rear one break, drop it a few in the front the next break, then smoke 1/2 cigarette the next.

Like I said I pondered my setup and what I could change as well as seeing that I didnt have to let off the gas on that 1 cone opt. slalom. So I dropped the psi a few and softened the front struts (to couter act what the other things I did the previous week stiffened) and I had 4 consistant runs 2 secs faster.

It was run well and it is a good location and I will be back there again. Just after I learn my car better, and know what I can and should change on the fly to improve my times. Hopefully I wont go first grid again next time too hehe.

See you next time I'm out there, and hopefully your cast will be off too hehe

Leonard

I can tell you this about running timing at GIR -- it can be very rough. Only one person can operate the timing software. They have a radio on with headset. They are listening to the starter call off numbers, 5 different worker stations callinging in cone penalties and off courses. Half the time, the penalty calls come in with just a description of the car (i.e. 'the red car'). The numbers are there for a reason, but alot of folks don't pay enough attention. You're checking every car that goes across the finish time and looking at their times to make sure every thing looks ok (no false starts/stops). Often, you'll get multiple people talking simultaneously on the radio and have to get them to retransmit one at a time. Whenever there is a rerun, you have to notify the person in grid that they get a rerun. And on top of it all, you've got people coming up and asking you what their last/fastest run time was, where they hit a cone, where they went off course, or arguing that they didn't hit a cone/go off course (keep in mind that you don't know who they are, what they drive and have staged 10 cars since they finished their run). And of course, my pet pieve -- the myriad of people who insist on gathering under the timing tend and talking and yelling and screaming. grrr!!!! bring your own shade and congregate there -- you only make it more difficult to be accurate! I worked three timing sessions this weekend (2 sat and 1 sun) and the first one was a bit rough. I'm used to FSF where we've got at most 2 cars on course and I can see the cars at the start to stage them in the software rather than the starter adding to the radio chatter (i couldn't imagine sebring where they get 4 or more cars on course). It's honestly one of the most difficult worker assignments to do.

Personally, I like having my runs in close sequence. There are a couple of reasons.

1. The course (and my mistakes) stay fresh in my mind. I actually prefer to be in the 2nd run group as the walkthrough is close in my mind and I have a bit of time to see where the 'trouble' areas on course are.
2. Tire temperature - once you advance to soft compound tires, you'll find that if your runs are spaced too far apart they cool down too much. Temperature affects pressure and stickyness. You can always carry a spray bottle to cool them down if they get too hot, but if they're too cold, they aren't going to stick.
3. Off time. I like having offtime without responsibilites (driving or working) to enjoy the event. You can walk around and look at cars and talk to people. You can watch other cars on course and see the lines they take and how they drive the course. You can even get rides from more experienced drivers and see firsthand how they get around the course.

Anyhow, I'm glad you had fun.

138MustangGT

BoxMod, you and someone else had the same number on your cars. I never found you to tell you what was going on, but I arbitrarily said that the two of you have 4 remaining runs when everyone else had completed three... the only problem apparently was that you ahdn't yet DONE your third run...

You were a novice so I don't expect you to know this, BUT... (hey if you trophied you CANNOT run in novice any longer) besides that, IF YOU DO NOT GET ALL OF YOUR RUNS... DO NOT GO PARK OFF SOMEWHERE ELSE! Keep lining up until you get all of your runs (and reruns).

Jesse, I think we've figured out how to make GIR different and more like a REAL autocross. Instead of a FAST Solo 1 and a half.

I'd like to specially thank Jesse for all the help he gave. Let me point out that all he did was 3 fun runs!!! and He worked BOTH days and designed the awesome Saturday course.

-Shawn

box240mod

regarding the trophy thing, i cant run in novice anymore ok but... im not in competition and i dont have a scca license so does it matter all that much? they'd never know if i had placed before anyhow... but its ok, i like the ability to say i could only run in novice once. just wondering about it.

BIG_Truck_Driver

as for the 64/69 time thing, the 64.?? that he called out was the correct time, the display has a bar that is stuck on it happens to be the top one on the 4 in your time, so it looked like a 69, but if it was a 9 the bottom line would have been on too. I'm sorry that noone explained that to you, but I'm sure if you had asked anyone that has been around for the past couple of events they would have told you.

unfortunately it is not a cheap piece of equipment and we do not want to break it worse trying to fix it.

w0rd

I have done timing twice at FSF and it was very stressful. You don't really get a chance to stop and take a breath.

Big up to Shawn and Jesse for the course designs. This was the most fun autocross I have been to. We should do this every weekend!

I got my first STS trophy on Sunday with a 70.0 for 2nd place.
And I got 3rd on Saturday with a 56.5.

-Jeremy