NASA autox @ Cloverleaf Sun 4/17!!!

[lillitnn92]

well, i decided to drive down and show my support. so i'll see you guys there!!!

[Sijray21]

well, i decided to drive down and show my support. so i'll see you guys there!!!

awesome!!!

you'll enjoy it!!

[Maengelito]

someone give this man a fun run in their car. that way you can totally screw his life and bank account over by giving him a small sample of the gfcp.

[lillitnn92]

how big will this course be into relation to the one in Verona? much bigger? tighter?

just curious, because the one in Verona seems to be small sometimes.

[ScottyB]

how big will this course be into relation to the one in Verona? much bigger? tighter?

just curious, because the one in Verona seems to be small sometimes.

waaaay bigger....probably about 20 seconds longer too. i would say it won't be as tight either. some cars were getting into third gear at the last auto-x held there.

[Chris]

well I'm heading down later this afternoon to Richmond, so I'll meet you guys there in the morning at 8am. I'll have the club helmets. Just call my cell if you need directions or anything: 804-240-4334

[Mike]

mmmm bigger


huh huh like 3mm clearance... huh huh


my other wheels have the wheel weights on the inside... i'm thinking they're gonna be coming off in haste.

[Mike]

can one of y'all who is working forward the e-mail jon sent out? it downloaded to my machine at work so i can't access it here at home.

<!-- e --><a href="mailto:mike@iammike.org">mike@iammike.org</a><!-- e -->

thanks

[mpg9999]

someone give this man a fun run in their car. that way you can totally screw his life and bank account over by giving him a small sample of the gfcp.

Done. Find the Red SE-R with kosie k1's.

[dantheman]

Dan here, I met a bunch of you guys on the scenic drive a few weeks ago when we drove out 33 to West by-God Virginia.

Trying the forum for the first time, and I'm afraid I posted this message twice, but I'm not sure.

When are you guys leaving Sunday?
Where are you meeting?

I'd like to tag along on the drive down there tomorrow morning if possible.

Let me know!

Thanks,

Dan

[PDenbigh]

Alison and I are leaving at 6:00, that should get us there at 8:00 if we drive "with haste."

With any luck, we'll get out of here slightly before 6:00. We'll drive by the gravel lot at ISAT to see if anyone else is up and going, and if not, we'll see ya there!

[lillitnn92]

i plan on leaving around 8am to get there to see first car out. knowing me it might be later, we'll see.


see everyone there and i will be taking lots of pics.

[GT]

I'll be leaving from the Exxon-Mobil station on Port Republic Rd. at 8am. If anyone needs a ride, let me know.[/u]

[dantheman]

Thanks!

I"m going to head out at 6:00 with Peter and Alison!

See you all there!

[ButtDyno]

Just got back.. here is what I just emailed Jon.

From: Me
To: Jon Felton
Subject: Re: NASA 4/17 @ Cloverleaf pre-reg

Hey - some thoughts on the event now that I am sitting in a comfy chair.

-Course - when I walked it I was thinking "ah crap this is too fast horsepower course gonna have to use
third gear blah". But the first time I drove it it wasn't a problem at all. Very fun, for sure. It was
possibly bordering on being too horsepowery but to the point where it was a problem.

-Surface - I don't know if there is any way around using that bumpy junk near the end of the course
(approx 85% of the way through the run). I was shocked that my ABS didn't spaz. I know VMP has some
washboard-esque spots as well. Also, the initial wide sweeper had a lot of chop to it. Again - I have no
idea if these things were avoidable, just something to look out for.

-Stop box - IMHO, the purpose of a stop box should be to slow people down before they get back to
paddock/grid. However, having the timing lights so far deep into the stop box (at least three "zigs" away
from the opening of the box) just encourages people to push really hard while they are simultaneously
trying to slow down. The way they do it at Fedex is good I think - there is usually some sort of kink to
slow you down, then a straight section where you cross the lights, then a big open long area where you
can slow down to grid/paddock speeds.

-The fun runs thing turned out confusing. I ended up doing 4 of them as part of the third heat instead.
Was that in the plans?

-Grid. It worked out well for the first two heats but in the third it broke down - there was a line
almost back to the stop box of cars waiting to run. There was probably enough room in the parking lot to
have a dedicated grid for the 30 cars that were running, and that might have helped clear up confusion.
(Having a really long, constantly moving line is problematic because people can't stop their cars, pop
their hoods, play with their tires, etc etc)

Really - that's all I have. Take this as constructive criticism only - I had a great time. [...]

Thanks again!

John
one of the 5 million WRX's in STX

Oh yeah. I forgot the bozo doing donuts/drifting AS THERE WAS A CAR 30 SECONDS BEHIND HIM in the red S14. I don't know why he wasn't shown the door. Shrug.

John

[mpg9999]

That was fun. That Ferrari F355 had nothing on my Sentra . Unfortunatly that 5 pound STS preped civic did . 55.651 was my best run of the day. Im confidant I could have gotten a 54.9 if I had another 6 runs, but im sure other people could improve with more runs as well.

Seeing that volvo hit the curb was pretty interesting. He must have stayed on the gas so freaking long to do that. More details later, im too tired and sun burned.

[mpg9999]

Yeah, that stop box sucked bad. Freaking plus one cone after I crossed the timing light. I also had to back up after stopping inches from them, which caused me to trip the timing light again and screw up the guys behind me run.

[Mike]

stop box definitely needed some work... as did my driving as far as grid goes, it was a mess for group 1 so i took it over for group 2 and made the 4 separate lines. i guess the guy i trained to do it didn't train the people for group 3. i'll take some of the blame for that, i should have been more attentive.

i didn't have one clean run all day... with 6 you'd think i'd have one? no. ended with a 56.7 and left probably a second or two out there. the guy in the white hatch and the guy in the red hatch were amazing... they didn't look that fast, but jeebus! well-sorted cars and good drivers make one heck of a difference! i think they both hit 52s.

odd thing, when sitting in grid my brake pressure was slowly going away. i actually bumped in to the guy in front of me real slowly because i didn't realize i had started rolling. i tested it about 50 times on the way home and pressure was holding strong. i didn't see any leaks either :? yay for hating cars!

all in all a good day. i sure am rusty as hell (or i just plain suck), but at least the car is together to a point that i'm comfortable autocrossing 2 hour from home

[Mike]

the few pics that i got: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.iammike.org/gallery/?dir=autox%2F2005_04_17">http://www.iammike.org/gallery/?dir=autox%2F2005_04_17</a><!-- m -->

[Arcana]

Dude NIIIICE pictures!

I should've gotten some of the Volvo that kissed the curb. Poor guy.