Sunday Autocross
Jun. 19th, 2006 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
volksdragonThis past Sunday (the hottest day of the year) was New England Region's 5th points event of the year. I've driven every points event so far, as I'm hotly in contention for the STS class championship. Along with my Co-Driver, we've ended up usually first or second, and always top-3, with me coming out on top. We're driving a well-prepared 1993 Honda Civic SI, one of the best in STS in the country. The car's owner is one of the fastest ST class drivers (and CM drivers this year) that I've ever seen, definitely top-5 fastest in our region, and Nationally competitive. I'm sure it's killed him to see his car driven so below its normal level this year. I've been having some issues coming to grip with this car. It's DAMN fast, corners like no other Auto-X car I've driven (I'm sure the Viper pulled more G on the skidpad, but it might be close, the Datalogger on this thing recorded 1.13G already, and I know it'll do more), accelerates great thanks to the modified intake and massaged head, and stops FAST thanks to nice new Hawk brake pads. The Konis are amazing, and this is all being done on Falken ST-615s, no Kumho or Hoosiers here.
It likes to spin. It LOVES to spin. The car owner described slaloms as one continuous attempt to spin in either direction, corrected only by my turning for the next gate. If you get off the gas in a corner, for whatever reason, you WILL spin. That said, it LOVES to turn, and if you can learn to manage this, and to learn to GET ON THE THROTTLE into corners, you can drive it through pretty much anything. If you slow sufficiently going into the first cone, 3-5 cone slaloms are essentially full-throttle affairs. What a HOOT.
It's been hard for me to come to grips with this car. This is my first non-stock class car I've ever auto-X'd, and I've spun it a lot in the first four events. Still, I've been pretty quick, but on the order of 2 seconds slower than the car owner, and also of a competing car in STX, with which this car and its owner were trading the STS lead last year. I've felt a little like I've been letting the car (and its owner) down by not performing up to speed. Still, I'm leading in class, so I'm not terrible.
Two weeks ago at the national tour event we hosted, I didn't make a terribly good showing. I finished up 8th of out 22, one position out of a trophy, and significantly out of first place on time. I recognized afterwards I had focused too much on where I placed, and not enough on how fast I was going to drive the car. I could have easily moved up with the car, possibly to top-3, but my head wasn't in it. I knew I had to revise my mental plan for this event. I needed a win.
Sunday started out HOT and got worse. It was 85+ by 9am, when I finished setting up the course, and had already consumed my first liter of gatorade. STS was running 4th heat (out of 4), and we breezed through our first three heats! We were in the car for heat 4 by noon! My first run was a little exploratory, and it showed I'd only gotten to walk the track once (as Operating Steward, I got to walk the track late, but opted to save my energy in the heat for driving.) I turned in on a cone in the slalom, a kind of corner I was used to taking with a little understeer... and promptly ran the cone over! Oooh, LOTS OF TRACTION! I spun at a left-handed gate I'd totally forgotten about, got to late, and had to get off the throttle for. Of course, the car spun. I kept it on course, and only wiped out one cone, but it was pretty poor 64.101+1 time. Not good. Still, I was leading the class, since I drove first in STS. I had seen a lot of people spin there, and now I knew why, I had to be reaaaal early on the gate before it. Okay. My co-driver went out and set a time of 57.478. A pretty decent time. I'd set a bar in my head for a 55 second time, after seeing some other cars out there, so that was my goal.
Second runs, it was even hotter. I'd sprayed the falkens down with water, and the radiator, so no temperature issues were worrying us. I figured I'd go out and set a relaxed solid no-cone time, so I went out, and didn't cruise, but didn't blast it either, stayed smooth, and came back with a clean 57.273 run. Back in first place. However, our STX rivals were already down in the 55s, so I KNEW we had more speed in the car. Co-Driver J pushed his time to 56.322, almost a full ONE SECOND faster than me. Good, OK, the speed was there. Spray down tires and radiator, ready for third runs.
THIS was going to be my money run, in case we didn't get afternoon runs (for whatever reason, although they had been announced.) I figured I'd go all out. I went out there, tail wagging a bit, a little bit of tire squeal, sounded good, didn't HIT anything, and came back in with a good-looking 56.014. Fast, but not as fast as STX. Still, fast enough for STS lead at this point. As I pulled back into pits, I saw my wife and daughter! They'd come to watch me race for Father's Day! Awwwww. :) Co-driver Jeff made his third run with a 58.676+1, and a near-spin, very Formula-D looking. :)
From here, we started our run order over again. I got out of the car after parking it, and I was definitely tired and a little dizzy. I needed FLUIDS. Two liters of gatorade helped, as well as the time spent in my friend's 30 foot AIR CONDITIONED motorhome. MUCH thanks to Mark for letting me and the fam crash out in there for a much needed rest! We played a little PS2, we ate some food (Thanks![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siercia! and drank even more gatorade, being roused out of the AC'd splendor only long enough to ride my bike out to corner 2 to deliver a fresh radio.
Our afternoon runs (only 2 this time) went a lot faster, with each heat only lasting about 45 minutes. Still, the 1.5 hours downtime was a perfect breather. Second runs started about 2:45, and I was considering everything a fun-run from now on. I was comfy with my 56.014 time, so I figured I'd just go out and go crazy. How'd it go? *SMUSH* Oops, that was a cone. Oh well, go crazy! I was one pretty good slide, but I concentrated on braking early enough, and getting on the throttle, USING that FWD to yank me around. 56.464+1. Okay, okay. Co-driver J took a similar step backwards with a 56.341. I had a feeling though, I could pull something out on my last run, because I KNEW I'd left time out there....
OK, Last run. Drink another liter of Gatorade. Check tire pressures. Stable. Wet down tires. Wet down radiator. Switch numbers. Get in the car, get on the helmet, strap into the harness... and roll up to the start. Click on the datalogger. Blip throttle, clutch out, RIGHT FOOT DOWN. It felt crazy. The back car kept trying to pass the front, but somehow, finally, I was in tune with the car, almost ahead of it, and I knew where it was gonna go before it managed to make it dangerous. It felt quick. It sounded quick, hitting the rev limiter in 2nd gear in a CORNER (62mph!). Braking was awesome. Cornering was a throttle-on joy. I had one little slide, but nothing exotic. I got REAL early to the second to last gate, and HELD THE RIGHT FOOT DOWN just bareky KISSING the left-hand finish gate as I went past it. That felt good.... What's the timer say? 55.065!? SWEET! I came in to pits, yanked off my helmet, and co-driver J was just LOOKING at me. "You know I need to pull a 54 now to beat you, right?" Wow, no cones. Nice.
So, we get J into the car, he rolls out, and I go inform my family that Jeff needs to make a 54 second clean time to beat me, otherwise I WIN. He takes off fast, and he looks good, no sliding, not too much wagging, and when he comes in, the announcer yells out, "WHAT A TIME, 54.812!!" Now it was MY turn to look amazed! a few seconds later, the announcer comes back on, "Oh, but with 2 cones!" It was my job to inform him he'd gotten two cones. He had an really good raw time, but couldn't keep it clean! First place for me!
We both had a lot to be pleased about this event. One, Between the two of us we only had one bad spin, and that was me. Two, we both pushed each other the entire event, and that's a great type of co-driver to have. Three, we both beat a guy on raw time who beat both of us at the national event. Four, I got with 8/10ths of Chang-Ho Kim, a REALLY fast STX driver who usually spanks us by 2+ seconds.
All in all, a good (if ungodly hot) race day. My daughter came up with me to get the trophy, and my family got to see me WIN! Hooray!
Now, I just need to back it up in August at the next event.
It likes to spin. It LOVES to spin. The car owner described slaloms as one continuous attempt to spin in either direction, corrected only by my turning for the next gate. If you get off the gas in a corner, for whatever reason, you WILL spin. That said, it LOVES to turn, and if you can learn to manage this, and to learn to GET ON THE THROTTLE into corners, you can drive it through pretty much anything. If you slow sufficiently going into the first cone, 3-5 cone slaloms are essentially full-throttle affairs. What a HOOT.
It's been hard for me to come to grips with this car. This is my first non-stock class car I've ever auto-X'd, and I've spun it a lot in the first four events. Still, I've been pretty quick, but on the order of 2 seconds slower than the car owner, and also of a competing car in STX, with which this car and its owner were trading the STS lead last year. I've felt a little like I've been letting the car (and its owner) down by not performing up to speed. Still, I'm leading in class, so I'm not terrible.
Two weeks ago at the national tour event we hosted, I didn't make a terribly good showing. I finished up 8th of out 22, one position out of a trophy, and significantly out of first place on time. I recognized afterwards I had focused too much on where I placed, and not enough on how fast I was going to drive the car. I could have easily moved up with the car, possibly to top-3, but my head wasn't in it. I knew I had to revise my mental plan for this event. I needed a win.
Sunday started out HOT and got worse. It was 85+ by 9am, when I finished setting up the course, and had already consumed my first liter of gatorade. STS was running 4th heat (out of 4), and we breezed through our first three heats! We were in the car for heat 4 by noon! My first run was a little exploratory, and it showed I'd only gotten to walk the track once (as Operating Steward, I got to walk the track late, but opted to save my energy in the heat for driving.) I turned in on a cone in the slalom, a kind of corner I was used to taking with a little understeer... and promptly ran the cone over! Oooh, LOTS OF TRACTION! I spun at a left-handed gate I'd totally forgotten about, got to late, and had to get off the throttle for. Of course, the car spun. I kept it on course, and only wiped out one cone, but it was pretty poor 64.101+1 time. Not good. Still, I was leading the class, since I drove first in STS. I had seen a lot of people spin there, and now I knew why, I had to be reaaaal early on the gate before it. Okay. My co-driver went out and set a time of 57.478. A pretty decent time. I'd set a bar in my head for a 55 second time, after seeing some other cars out there, so that was my goal.
Second runs, it was even hotter. I'd sprayed the falkens down with water, and the radiator, so no temperature issues were worrying us. I figured I'd go out and set a relaxed solid no-cone time, so I went out, and didn't cruise, but didn't blast it either, stayed smooth, and came back with a clean 57.273 run. Back in first place. However, our STX rivals were already down in the 55s, so I KNEW we had more speed in the car. Co-Driver J pushed his time to 56.322, almost a full ONE SECOND faster than me. Good, OK, the speed was there. Spray down tires and radiator, ready for third runs.
THIS was going to be my money run, in case we didn't get afternoon runs (for whatever reason, although they had been announced.) I figured I'd go all out. I went out there, tail wagging a bit, a little bit of tire squeal, sounded good, didn't HIT anything, and came back in with a good-looking 56.014. Fast, but not as fast as STX. Still, fast enough for STS lead at this point. As I pulled back into pits, I saw my wife and daughter! They'd come to watch me race for Father's Day! Awwwww. :) Co-driver Jeff made his third run with a 58.676+1, and a near-spin, very Formula-D looking. :)
From here, we started our run order over again. I got out of the car after parking it, and I was definitely tired and a little dizzy. I needed FLUIDS. Two liters of gatorade helped, as well as the time spent in my friend's 30 foot AIR CONDITIONED motorhome. MUCH thanks to Mark for letting me and the fam crash out in there for a much needed rest! We played a little PS2, we ate some food (Thanks
siercia! and drank even more gatorade, being roused out of the AC'd splendor only long enough to ride my bike out to corner 2 to deliver a fresh radio.Our afternoon runs (only 2 this time) went a lot faster, with each heat only lasting about 45 minutes. Still, the 1.5 hours downtime was a perfect breather. Second runs started about 2:45, and I was considering everything a fun-run from now on. I was comfy with my 56.014 time, so I figured I'd just go out and go crazy. How'd it go? *SMUSH* Oops, that was a cone. Oh well, go crazy! I was one pretty good slide, but I concentrated on braking early enough, and getting on the throttle, USING that FWD to yank me around. 56.464+1. Okay, okay. Co-driver J took a similar step backwards with a 56.341. I had a feeling though, I could pull something out on my last run, because I KNEW I'd left time out there....
OK, Last run. Drink another liter of Gatorade. Check tire pressures. Stable. Wet down tires. Wet down radiator. Switch numbers. Get in the car, get on the helmet, strap into the harness... and roll up to the start. Click on the datalogger. Blip throttle, clutch out, RIGHT FOOT DOWN. It felt crazy. The back car kept trying to pass the front, but somehow, finally, I was in tune with the car, almost ahead of it, and I knew where it was gonna go before it managed to make it dangerous. It felt quick. It sounded quick, hitting the rev limiter in 2nd gear in a CORNER (62mph!). Braking was awesome. Cornering was a throttle-on joy. I had one little slide, but nothing exotic. I got REAL early to the second to last gate, and HELD THE RIGHT FOOT DOWN just bareky KISSING the left-hand finish gate as I went past it. That felt good.... What's the timer say? 55.065!? SWEET! I came in to pits, yanked off my helmet, and co-driver J was just LOOKING at me. "You know I need to pull a 54 now to beat you, right?" Wow, no cones. Nice.
So, we get J into the car, he rolls out, and I go inform my family that Jeff needs to make a 54 second clean time to beat me, otherwise I WIN. He takes off fast, and he looks good, no sliding, not too much wagging, and when he comes in, the announcer yells out, "WHAT A TIME, 54.812!!" Now it was MY turn to look amazed! a few seconds later, the announcer comes back on, "Oh, but with 2 cones!" It was my job to inform him he'd gotten two cones. He had an really good raw time, but couldn't keep it clean! First place for me!
We both had a lot to be pleased about this event. One, Between the two of us we only had one bad spin, and that was me. Two, we both pushed each other the entire event, and that's a great type of co-driver to have. Three, we both beat a guy on raw time who beat both of us at the national event. Four, I got with 8/10ths of Chang-Ho Kim, a REALLY fast STX driver who usually spanks us by 2+ seconds.
All in all, a good (if ungodly hot) race day. My daughter came up with me to get the trophy, and my family got to see me WIN! Hooray!
Now, I just need to back it up in August at the next event.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-20 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-20 03:28 pm (UTC)is there a list of mods that have been done to that car?
you know i am a civic maven... :)
no subject
Date: 2006-06-20 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-21 01:42 am (UTC)