04/25/2010 - Autocross School #2

[civicexracer]

AJ, feel free to borrow mine. One thing I've noticed with your driving is that you keep the car smooth at all times which is something I can't seem to do with mine. I've had Brian Hair drive my M3 and I'd like to see how you drive it.

thanks for the offer Mike, I'd love to take it for a spin some time.

I like keeping it near the limits, however more times than not I push it too far just like today. My car trades power for agility, but does not take kindly to sloppy inputs and after watching AJ drive on a number of ocassions I think it would suit him well, he seems to be a very smooth driver, it might be scary to put Brian behind the wheel.

LOL you may not be saying that after watching the video my little drifto fun in the civic haha. James can attest to that fun run haha.

Had a awesome time again, thanks for a great event. Thanks for riding with me AJ, learned a lot. See you all at Summit Pt!

Absolutely, anytime. You did great and caught on quick. Feel free to ask at events for ride alongs, that is if I'm not running the same heat as you lol.

My computers been acting up but I'll try to get my video up tomorrow. I'll give it a shot tonight but I doubt it'll happen...

[flohtingPoint]

LOL you may not be saying that after watching the video my little drifto fun in the civic haha. James can attest to that fun run haha.

Where you nailed horn coming through the last turn? Yea that was a blast =) Caught that video today while digging through my collection.


Edit: Here is the clip of me piloting the poor, beaten Chrysler 300 around the course. Enjoy.

[civicexracer]

Ahhh FINALLY got my computer running straight. Was able to watch everyones videos and got mine done.

Mike- Looks like you might have been pushing a little too hard but I think you nailed the slalom.
Edwin- What was your best time?? That run looked pretty damn good.
James- That start was epic lmao! I guess it only fits to yell like a Spartan in the 300 hahah

The first 3 parts of this video are the drills we ran. The runs I recorded are not the fastest nor show the best line, video taken just to show what we were doing. The 4th part is my test of the full course. Again not the best line or smoothest lol. Camera didn't record my 1st fun run. 2nd run was my best raw time of 51.9xx but coned in the slalom. The last 3 runs all had good lines and control but the tires got way overheated and lost major grip and steering response slowed dramatically going into the slalom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8zaBoa9_t4

[edfooliu]

best raw (i coned every run) time was 51.2xx; the video i posted was a 51.5xx. I had a much cleaner transition from the lane changes into the back slalom, but I never got into a good rhythm in the slalom--you killed me through there. Dropping down to 1st going into the box costed me a bit--you braked deeper and got a wider line with a later apex. I think the downshift paid off on the run up the hill, but I lost some time flinging it sideways at the top. Those are the most obvious differences, but I'll have to look more closely at the videos to see if we did things differently elsewhere. I really think my tire advantage was more than .7s, so I lost time somewhere...

[civicexracer]

best raw (i coned every run) time was 51.2xx; the video i posted was a 51.5xx. I had a much cleaner transition from the lane changes into the back slalom, but I never got into a good rhythm in the slalom--you killed me through there. Dropping down to 1st going into the box costed me a bit--you braked deeper and got a wider line with a later apex. I think the downshift paid off on the run up the hill, but I lost some time flinging it sideways at the top. Those are the most obvious differences, but I'll have to look more closely at the videos to see if we did things differently elsewhere. I really think my tire advantage was more than .7s, so I lost time somewhere...

Yeah I agree with all that. My slaloms could have been better but I've never felt such sluggish steering response so I had to adjust big time for that. The tires were fine every run up until the transitions at the end of the long straight. After that, they gave up and hurt me from the slalom on... I'm almost sure if I ran with my bridgestones I could have been close to breaking into the 49's.

[noelleslie]

I think we all really need to thank Sam Bell for his course designs.

They are not only great in and of themselves, but he was able to figure out how to break a great course in to three segments for the morning practice. That's like grandmaster level course designing.

I am beginning to wonder if we should do what SCCA does, and have a "standard" school course. I guess they have the same venue, whereas we do not, but it is really getting difficult to envision any better courses... but I have said that after each event this year realizing the standard has never decreased.

The standard course would be beneficial in gauging improvement over the year, and if we were ever to have an intermediate school when all of our newcomers are ready for more (probably gonna happen faster than some may think based on the driving level) then we could have an "intermediate standard" course.

Just a fleeting thought after watching AJ's videos that showed the morning and afternoon sessions in one big video.

Again, great job Sam.

[civicexracer]

+1 with Noel, thanks for the great, challenging courses Sam! Every course on Sunday incorporated some of the very essential aspects of autox needed to be fast and smooth.

[SamB325es]

Thanks guys, But I am still learning. Hopefully I can keep it up for the rest of the season.

It took me a while to figure out how to get three exercises, with entrance and exit, that would link together.

The next time we go to Waldorf it will probably be a very similar course and set-up.

AJ, thanks for helping out!

[flohtingPoint]

I concur with Noel and AJ, excellent course. After it dried up and the course was all hooked up during the 2nd class, I was quite upset at myself for leaving the Corolla at home.

[etherpool]

I concur with Noel and AJ, excellent course. After it dried up and the course was all hooked up during the 2nd class, I was quite upset at myself for leaving the Corolla at home.

You gotta get them wipers working!!

[noelleslie]

Speaking of people who really went all out for others:

Ron recorded the runs of students who did not have cameras. It took a lot of time and effort to gather, compile, and edit it. I get tired after merging just two or three of my own runs. He did a whole lot for other people.


Now many of you can see how you really did.

[MazdaSC]

Well I finally got around to loading my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLvbg5Efgdc wish I could have left a better example for those who I worked with, but I had a great time none the less and would do it again in a minute. I want to thank Jonathan, Mike, Sam, Noel, Doug and all of the students that came out and hope to see you all again soon.

James

[flohtingPoint]

Compilation video I made last night while looking at a lot of my footage I captured from this day.

[ronh21]

Speaking of people who really went all out for others:

Ron recorded the runs of students who did not have cameras. It took a lot of time and effort to gather, compile, and edit it. I get tired after merging just two or three of my own runs. He did a whole lot for other people.

Now many of you can see how you really did.

Thanks for posting that Noel. I kicked off the upload on my way to bed, so I hadn't had a chance to get it on here. I have three more "driver cam" videos. I'll definitely get the one with Christie and James uploaded. Unfortunately, I'm in the other two, so I'm not sure about those

[Speede S]

Thanks for posting that Noel. I kicked off the upload on my way to bed, so I hadn't had a chance to get it on here. I have three more "driver cam" videos. I'll definitely get the one with Christie and James uploaded. Unfortunately, I'm in the other two, so I'm not sure about those

Can't wait to see it! Thanks for taking the time to get it together and uploaded and for riding with me on the slalom portion of the school I appreciate it much


Christie
#201, mini cooper s