Well my first autocross and I got 62 seconds in ESP. jwtodd60 and jbrennen, how did you guys do? I heard 56 seconds but didn't see who it was. Heres's a pic of me.

 

jwtodd60 took the A Stock class win with a 55.742. I took 4th place with a time of 58.449. bluedot (Pablo) wasn't far behind with a 6th place time of 59.000.

On my second and third runs, I was entering the corners way too hard and was understeering like a pig -- even the P/A announcer was commenting on how badly my car was pushing. Basically, I was pushing about as much as you possibly can while still staying on course and not taking out any cones. It wasn't particularly the car, it was the driver. Damn lead foot.

For my fourth and fastest run, I slowed down my corner entries and was able to put down the power better on exit, although I still plowed a little bit through the last two corners. Probably had a nice 57.xxx going before I butchered the final two turns.

 

Sorry I got a 62.731. I didn't finally realize that I have to look ahead a little more until the last run. I also tried shifting to 2nd after the first left hand turn and just staying there. I am going to see if they will let register in STX next time. I've heard that letting the evo in this class is still up in the air but I'll see if what wdcr says. Good luck this sunday. I'll see you guys in September. I'll be in Ireland all of August.

 

I forgot to say that the prelim results are posted. http://solo.wdcr-scca.org/results/2003/072003.htm

 

I felt pretty good about my time, but I see I still got beat by two BS cars and a CS car. BS doesn't surprise me that much, as those guys have frequently been quicker than me all year, but CS is a little bit of a shock. I don't think I've been slower than a CS car all year, though I would have to check on that to make sure. On the other hand, I seemed to be a little quicker than normal relative to the 'vettes and such, so maybe it was just a case of this particular course favoring nimbleness over power more than usual. It will me interseting to see what the PAX numbers are once they get those posted.

And for what it's worth, my fastest time was the run in which I was the least aggressive. It was also the run I held first gear the longest ( I didn't go into second until I got into the slalom leading up to the far right corner of the course).

>>I checked and I have been beaten by CS cars at least a couple of times before. I feel better now...

JW

 

I was pleased that I beat 10 of the 13 Subarus running there. Just on principle, it feels good to beat the Scoobies. At the previous autoX, I only beat 9 of the 16 Subarus. So this was an improvement.

I would have finished 5th out of 15 in the STX class if the Evo were allowed there. Which was an improvement over the previous autoX, where I would have placed 9th out of 16.

Don't hold your breath for the Evo to be allowed in STX. Brian Garfield (the local novice coordinator and novice school organizer) told me on Sunday that he's driven an Evo at his novice school, and in just 3 runs he was as fast as he was after some 15 runs in an STX-prepped car. He won the STX class on Sunday in his Mini Cooper S. You would probably be able to register in STX locally, since I don't think they actually check your class until someone protests it, but you can expect to be protested.

 

Sounds like I missed a good event with a large EVO turnout. I will be there this Sunday though and hope to see you guys there.

 

I see it was Rob Leone that got you with his C Stock Spyder. He is a good driver (Philly Region) and his car is set-up very good Our times are usually very close to eachother.

 

Good to see you consistently improved and manged to shave 4 secs off your times by the last run. No cones too! And way to go jwtodd for winning AS.

 

I did a quick look at last year's National Championships and feel a little bit better about getting beat by a CS car, as last year's CS winner was actually 0.05 faster than the AS winner.

Seeing where Rob Leone finished though helped keep my perspective. He finished 28th...

JW

 

Great event... finally got to run in the dry with the car. Too bad I didn't check my gas before arriving though, as I started getting a little fuel cut on my 3rd run... then really bad on the 4th run... almost coming to a halt once.
One of these days I will get it all right. While I wasn't doing the "race line" which is theoretically the faster way in Autocross, I have to say that at least that FedEx course (only one I've run) was setup in a way where drifting made sense for many corners... still don't think it would be faster, but I was only finally getting the hang of the car on the 3rd run. I understeered heavily the first run as I keep forgetting how much more agressive you have to be with an AWD car to get it to drift... but the EVO actually steps out easily once you get it going and I did get a couple of good ones in the 3rd run... I tried in the 4th, but I just couldn't because it would cut out as soon as I started going for it.

Am doing Mazda on Saturday @ 10am (anyone else?), but won't be there Sunday... I am registered for the August event. See you there!

Pablo.

 

Were the C4s you guys were racing in AS on race tires? Were any of you on race tires?

 

I'm pretty sure the top 3 in AS were on R compound tires; jwtodd60's Evo was on Kumho Ecstas, and I'm 90% sure both Vettes were on R compounds as well.

Pablo and I were on the stock Advans.

 

I had the stock advan but I was thinking about getting some hoosier a3s03's. I don't want to keep chewing up my Advans. Anyone try the hoosier's yet?

 

As Jack said, I was on Kunho Ecsta V700s, 235/40-17. The second place C4 was on Nitto Drag Radials, not sure what size, but they were the same front & rear. The third place C4 was running Kumho Victoracers. The Boxter S was running Ecsta V700s too I believe. Don't know about the BMWs.

WRT Hoosiers, I am thinking about running those next year because I am toying with the idea of running some higher level events (Pro/NT/Divisional). Otherwise, I would stick with the Kumhos I think. They are a lot cheaper, wear better, and you can drive them to and from the event (check the forecast though, they won't be much fun in the rain after you get a few events on them!).

WRT Mazda RIU, I am running this afternoon (1:20 check-in time). Will be running the first heat at Rosecroft on Sunday...

JW