(2009) NCC Autocross Event #5 - August 8 @ Sykesville, MD

[RedMS3]

...

I'm always happy to give rides. The course was pretty challenging, those darn U turns and the skid pad where tough if you made a mistake on your braking or turn in....

You aren't kidding...I pushed it a little too hard on the first U-turn during my third run and understeered quite a bit. Wish I wouldn't have done that since it was my fastest time of the day, but oh well. Our times were about 1.3 seconds apart and I could feel a world of difference between your run and my quickest. I understood what you were complaining about with your tall gearing in a couple corners, I feel the same with driving a high-boost car around some of the slower turns in 2nd gear.

It was a fun day and I think being more involved caused me to enjoy it even more! Nice music, btw. I know I've heard it somewhere...could be among my collection of Tiesto CDs.

[Jim Dunlap]

Photos are nice; thanks Katie (and others)!!

I just re-read the last few Pages of this Post. Am I missing the results? Are they posted somewhere that I'm not looking??

[Hater]

I will try to shoot the next event completely, hopefully lighting will be better.

[Biggins]

I understood what you were complaining about with your tall gearing in a couple corners, I feel the same with driving a high-boost car around some of the slower turns in 2nd gear.

Downshift? I know I dropped 1.5 seconds from my first run by downshifting and running most of the course in first gear after the slow turn. I'm always shifting all over the place at Sykesville.

[AG]

Photos are nice; thanks Katie (and others)!!

I just re-read the last few Pages of this Post. Am I missing the results? Are they posted somewhere that I'm not looking??

Autocross results are always available off the main site.
http://www.nccbmwcca.org/index.php?o...=55&Itemid=168

[RedMS3]

Downshift? I know I dropped 1.5 seconds from my first run by downshifting and running most of the course in first gear after the slow turn. I'm always shifting all over the place at Sykesville.

I have stayed in second gear after the initial shift for each autocross I've been to so far (excluding my f ups in the chicago box at the first event in Sykesville). I lose boost above 5500-6000 and in first gear, that means I'm shifting at 22-25MPH into second. I was in 2nd before the second cone in the slalom this past Saturday The slow turns and long straights make me teeter between 1-2 and 2-3. I made the judgement that shifting twice in close succession would cost me more time.

EDIT: Found out 5500-6000 in first is 25-30mph. I tend to short shift even more so (5000-5500, 20-25MPH) from 1st to 2nd because it's easy for me to miss the small window and go up near redline and/or hit the rev limiter, which usually causes me to grind 2nd.

[Car54]

Chris has a 4 speed auto...apples to oranges comparo.

[Biggins]

Chris has a 4 speed auto...apples to oranges comparo.

True, but Jason (with a 5-speed) downshifted on his last run too and dropped ~1.5 seconds (to beat me). Brian H and Kevin are the ones who told me to do all the shifting at the small lots to keep the power where it needs to be. It's definitely been much faster for me (and most of the low hp cars) at Sykesville, Manassas, Winchester, etc.

It's a hail mary for my car at the small lots with slow corners (that's my excuse). I'm going to give FedEx a try for the first time this year on Sunday... it's been two years since I ran with WDCR.

[RedMS3]

Chris has a 4 speed auto...apples to oranges comparo.

That is a bit different from a 6 speed manual...although I have talked to a couple friends who are running 5 speed manuals and they stayed in 1st most of the time to improve their runs.

Do any folks with 6 speeds downshift into 1st during these events?

Also, were there any events in the past that had higher top speeds? I'd love to finally get my car in 3rd gear so that I can take advantage of full boost because it's limited in 1st and 2nd to combat torque steer

[mcoupemindy]

Also, were there any events in the past that had higher top speeds? I'd love to finally get my car in 3rd gear so that I can take advantage of full boost because it's limited in 1st and 2nd to combat torque steer

There's a fine speed line between a high speed autocross and a time trial.

Typically, we need to ensure that the courses do not require speeds in excess of normal highway speeds (~ 65 mph).

[RedMS3]

There's a fine speed line between a high speed autocross and a time trial.

Typically, we need to ensure that the courses do not require speeds in excess of normal highway speeds (~ 65 mph).

Good call. Optimally, I should be shifting into 3rd by 50 MPH. Of course, more powerful cars will get to 60 quicker than I and I realize they're the upper limit for that ~65 MPH cutoff. Better safe than sorry. I guess this is a good reason why I should attend the driving school in October at Summit Point!

EDIT: Changed speed.

[Biggins]

Also, were there any events in the past that had higher top speeds? I'd love to finally get my car in 3rd gear so that I can take advantage of full boost because it's limited in 1st and 2nd to combat torque steer

Cumberland... I hit 80-90mph at one of their events a couple years back. It's just a haul to get out there.

http://www.nationalroadrally.com

[cohare]

That is a bit different from a 6 speed manual...although I have talked to a couple friends who are running 5 speed manuals and they stayed in 1st most of the time to improve their runs.

Do any folks with 6 speeds downshift into 1st during these events?

Also, were there any events in the past that had higher top speeds? I'd love to finally get my car in 3rd gear so that I can take advantage of full boost because it's limited in 1st and 2nd to combat torque steer

Not a BMW but, I shifted into 2nd on my last 2 runs, picked up 1.5 seconds at least, porsches are geared pretty low but, in 2nd it was still too low in the RPM to get any speed.

[Pete]

I stayed in 2nd on all of my runs last Saturday. Due to the understeer that I was experiencing, I didn't want to drop in to 1rst as my acceleration would have taken too much weight of the front end and made the understeer worse if I didn't control throttle. In this course I did bog the motor down a bit accelerating out of the U turns but it was as good as my car was going to get.

There are courses (layouts) which require my car to downshift in to first as the nature of how tall my gearing is.

When I had my E36, there are occasions where you can pick up some time by downshifting but it requires a delicate touch as you can make the car over rotate if you get your timing wrong. For the most part, 2nd gear is usually fine for most courses.

It's really course dependent and car dependent as some cars will have enough torque. Sometimes, the course is tight enough that you will need to get into first to stay in your power band.

[Jim Dunlap]

Know what I don't like? Getting distracted for a few minutes, then going back to my Post that I just spent some time on and finding myself timed out. Sometimes logging in again brings back the draft post, sometimes not. Maybe I'll figure it out "one of these days."

The short version of what I lost: After my poor #5 showing in S1 I was sharpening my hari kari knife with atonement in mind, but then I noticed that the spread for almost all of us was well under a second. Hmmm. Less than a hiccup. I'm hoping for a longer run next time. And as to what some others have said about gears, with the high rev limit of our M3s, re-thinking more use of 1st gear might well be appropriate.