Peru registration up

[scca-racerx]

Did you ever look back on a weekend, trying to recall what you did, but you can’t remember?  That was a lot like this weekend, except it didn’t involve too much alcohol, just lack of sleep.  We arrived Friday early, about 11am, which was great because we got one of the paddock spaces near the course.  If you were in the back of the paddock, your walk back and forth to the course would have become really long in the heat.  Speaking of weather, HOT (close to 100 degrees)!  Like a bug under a magnifying glass hot, both Friday and Saturday.  We took a slow pace changing the tires so we didn’t sweat to death.

Walking the course Friday, your typical you screw up, your run is done Sammy course, I was more than concerned.  It turns out it drove much better than I thought.  I coned the first of my three runs, but the next two were clean.  After my second run I was in 6th place, but that is only because almost everybody in the class coned their runs.  Braun edged out Sam the first day, but not by much.  Dan was in 6th place with any bobble on Sunday, Dan would be bumped out of the trophies.

Sunday, was more than interesting.  After the rains Saturday evening, the course was wet for the first heat.  We ran in the second heat, so we were praying for the course to dry before we had to run.  The gray overcast sky wasn’t helping, but the first heat dried the course enough that we didn’t have to worry about grip. By the time we finished our first runs the entire course was dry.  By the time we started our third runs, I needed sunglasses.

 We saw Danny Kao’s co-driver go into the grass on a spin and a junior kart flip over.  The kart driver was ok, but I can’t say the same for Danny Kao’s car, which was missing some plastic trim pieces.  Dan was on point and got it done on his second run holding off the rest of the field to remain in the trophies for 6th place.  I coned a really good run on my second run and just wanted that time for my third run clean.  I did a little better in my third run by a few hundredths and it was clean, so I’ll take it.  I got better on all 6 of my runs time wise, so I’ll take that too.  I finished 15 of 19 and helped my co-driver get a trophy.

Braun got Sammy by a lot on Sunday and he was not happy.  Sam was able to watch his runs on a laptop he brought to grid and Cory, Brian and I were peeking over his shoulder to try to learn and get faster.  Sam’s runs don’t look like my runs.  Imagine that.   I didn’t see any mistakes by Sam on his video.  Braun is just an alien.  The talent in the super sport class is the “way in the deep end” part of the pool, but I would rather finish last in SS class than race in any other class.

I’m proud of Dan because he didn’t mind screw himself into a crappy run on Sunday, which is very easy to do.  I’m so glad that Dan didn’t choke because that would have been a REALLY, REALLY long ride home.  There is nothing worse than having that trophy in your hand and watching it go away.

Cory was in Brian’s car and was getting used to it on Saturday and by Sunday was right there with me in raw time.  I’m sure with one more run he would have got me by a half a second.  Brian and Mitch just couldn’t lay off the cones.  We made it to Peru and back safely and without any police intervention, so regardless of where we finished, I consider that a success.  And next time I leave the house to go to an event, I’m bringing a f’ing map.  I hate electronic navigation.

See you Sunday.

[DarkHelmet]

Hey... you stole my line....lol

I still am not getting agressive enough where i need to. I'm not OVERDRIVING in spots where I it hurts but I need to get faster quicker.

I noticed Sam watching his previous run and peeked over, got Cory's attention ( while he was strapped in and basically ready to run ) and Sam was kind enough to not only let Cory watch but get my attention and say "Brian, come here and watch this". Regardless of the fact that watching that 50 times wouldn't have helped me 'beat' people it was just another reason why Sam is who he is.
Thanks!

and for those that think the course designer should automatically win... Sam did both courses and was frustrated at the end of the day ( more than one person used the "I couldn't get my head out of my A#$" phrase ).

Still a great weekend.

And Joe... you guys need to figure out how to get some bikes on that trailer.

[marka]

Howdy,

Two things...

and a junior kart flip over.

Uh, holy fuck?  How the hell did that happen?

Cory was in Brian’s car

I'm really interested to hear what the differences are between Brian's car and ours.

Mark

[scca-racerx]

Junior kart got completely sideways and caught a seam in the concrete.  He wasn't going slow.  But the good news is he is OK and he won his class.

On a personal note – being the old man that I am – after my first run on Sunday my arms started to hurt.  Like a burning cramping kind of thing.  By the last run Sunday, I was in serious pain.  It felt like my arms were on fire and somebody was trying to remove the muscle from the bone.  The only time it didn’t hurt was when I was driving.  I was in trouble and I knew it and I had no idea how to make the pain go away.  When we changed tires, it was all I could do to get the wheel on.  I thought I was having a stroke or something.  Brian said it has happened to him before, but that wasn’t much consolation while I was trying not to die.  I figured I was just dehydrated and didn’t get enough food in my belly.   I started eating food and drinking as much Gatorade that I could. The pain lasted until I had to work last heat, about 3 hours.

I had never experienced that before and wasn’t much help or good company in cleaning up to get ready to leave.  Has anybody else other than Brian ever had this happen?  I figured it was just cramps from dehydration, but when that happens, it affects your whole body, not just your arms.  Getting old sucks.

[SteedaMustang]

Well I'm back at work recovering after this weekend.....and the last.

We drove out to Peru (leaving at 2am) with a combined 4 hours sleep between the 4 of us!  I immediately liked the course Sam had setup for Sat.  My confidence showed laying down a quick first run but grabbing a couple cones.  A couple hints as to how quick the time was and then Sam coming over and getting in my head about changing my line entering the slalom and my second run was shot.  I got late in the slalom and it was everything I could do just to stay on course and get a time.  I was able to collect myself and clean up my first run with a small improvement to put myself in the trophies after day 1.


Spots 4 through 10 were less than a second apart and knowing that I had 4 guys behind me hungry to get in the trophies, I didn't get too excited on Sat night and focused more on moving myself up on Sunday.  Another fast course, a lot of elements that didn't change from Sat.  The concrete dried up from the overnight rain and we went out for our first runs...   TRYING to learn from my mistakes last weekend and Sat I was trying for a good, clean, first run so I could focus on getting faster.  Well...that never works out for me.  I got twisted up late in the slalom again, took out a cone but the rest of the run felt good.  I calmed myself down, kept my second run clean BARELY.  The car kept wanting to rotate, I had to turn then catch the rear end at every corner.  Added some air to the right side tires and went back out on my third run.  I slowed down some areas and pushed in others, just not focused enough to get it done.  I'm pretty frustrated with myself because I know that I was capable of much more on Sunday.  Certainly the .078 that kept me from 5th spot. 


I guess there is probably 300 of us that are looking at our times this morning and saying "If I had one more run" "If I hadn't hit that cone"  "If I wouldn't have pushed"......all and all I'm happy that I could bring home a trophy.  I closed the gap to Strano's times, and I proved to myself that I can play in the mix of some pretty fast company.  It just goes to show you how much focus and having a good day or bad effects you in SS.  Last weekend Danny Kao destroyed me.  This week he's 9th and I'm in 6th.  All 19 of us are good drivers its no wonder why the ranks jump around so much run to run.


I didn't know about Brian's cone trouble on Sat until the drive home yesterday.  He and Mitch both did that.  So easy to do especially when your mind is programmed to "go fast" mode, its hard to back it down and get one in clean.  They both were able to get one together on Sun.  Joe is getting more and more comfortable with the power of the car.  On Sunday I was just watching him around the first couple turns and into the slalom thinking "man, he is hungry for a fast time"  Joe has really taken the approach of being very cautious then adding little bits of aggression each event.  Being the car owner, I'm fine with that!  I think that his abilities to use the power and still get it backed down when needed is greater than he thinks.  There is a time when you take everything you learned in Evo schools and use it as much as possible and in between those sections just put the pedal down and "hope for the best".  I have a pretty aggressive style of driving, so does Mark A, and Sam Strano.  I'm sure that they both will agree that in order to have that top time, you need to drive the car right on that "edge."  Joe has been racing for long enough now he needs to trust himself to find that edge, even if he has to go above it a couple times in order to feel whats too much.  Cory said that the set up from one car to the next was very different and the behavior of how the car wanted to be driven took some getting used to.  With only 3 runs each day, I'd say by Sunday he started to learn the car and posted some respectable times.  I'm glad that he got some seat time in the car before Lincoln.  I feel the worst for Martin this weekend.  Driving all that way, and spending your weekend chasing car troubles has got to be rough.  I'm sure that he'll get it right for next time and the car is still early in its development.


Lots of learning came out of this event, and that's the most valuable thing in autocross.  I feel like I'm going home after this weekend, not with a trophy, but with a good feeling about the car, the setup and what I have to do for the next event.


I'll see you all on Sunday.

[DarkHelmet]

Mark...

Yours is faster. 

Having driven yours, unless you changed allot since last year, the shocks make a big difference  ( to me at least ). Your car feels much more compose on corner exit and a little more planted mid corner.

So, you're able to get back on the throttle a little quicker in your car than mine. Other than THAT, maybe the shocks help a little in transitions, but we don't have allot of big slaloms to figure that.

I'm sure you were looking more for Cory's take, but he's the opposite than my experience...having jumped in yours once and him having driven mine once.

[rrobb]

That's pretty similar to my inpression Brian.

Turn-in is pretty similar with just a bit better communication (therefore confidence) from Mark's car, but that may be an adjusting to concrete thing.

Mid-corner I'd say that both cars have probably have the same grip levels, but Mark's is more trustworthy. It feels like the tires are less nervous or something. This however is very slight. Again, could be a concrete thing.

The biggest difference by far is on power application. With Mark's car I can immediately tell how I did on the: you're too agressive vs. juuuuuuust right vs. you are a fucking pussy scale. It's relatively easy to get the car to dance around just the right amount and dig out of the turn well.
With Brian's car however, the sweet spot seems noticably narrower, with a sharper drop when you get greedy. It's still easy to catch and keep from spinning or anything, but it's not as easy to dial back just a hair and keep a good run going.

It certianly didn't help that I was driving very poorly on my first 2 runs Saturday.

[DarkHelmet]

what scares me most is that by my assesment, it means I'm starting to understand.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Ok,

So I got the videos off the camera and on my laptop.

Holy underdriving little sissy, Batman! 

I don't think I was way off in relation to lines ( for the most part, but by no means perfect ) and such but I wasn't agressive enough at all. I was better on my last run on both days with it but still wasn't where it needed to be.

Cory was tons smoother when it came to steering inputs as well.
I wasn't looking ahead enough and wasn't trusting the wiggle and letting the car dance more. Where Cory commented that I was pussy-footing thru a section, I see why now... I broke the back loose and had to back off and correct , and when I did I was then getting on the gas later and wasn't carrying the speed thru the slalom that I needed to. I felt I got the following section ok, but then I really snapped the backend out on the big turnaround and had to basically let off the throttle the whole way, let the car correct and THEN get back on it...
that only took an instant , but it felt like an enternity in Autocross.

The good news is that I can identify the problems and HOPE that I can make adjustments this weekend and work towards Lincoln.

Next laptop I get will need to have a card reader... Seeing the run after it happens and being able to address the problem NOW is much better. Just watching Sam's videos between his runs was a big help.

Everything in the car and trailer was still wet when I got home. Looks like I need to do some shopping this week before the event for some new gear.... a new tent, a better toolbox ( for inside the trailer box ) and some odds and ends.

Can't believe the season is already 1/2 over locally and almost ALL over nationally. Going to miss it next year.

[RandyP]

Ok,

So I got the videos off the camera and on my laptop.

Holy underdriving little sissy, Batman! 

I don't think I was way off in relation to lines ( for the most part, but by no means perfect ) and such but I wasn't agressive enough at all. I was better on my last run on both days with it but still wasn't where it needed to be.

Cory was tons smoother when it came to steering inputs as well.
I wasn't looking ahead enough and wasn't trusting the wiggle and letting the car dance more. Where Cory commented that I was pussy-footing thru a section, I see why now... I broke the back loose and had to back off and correct , and when I did I was then getting on the gas later and wasn't carrying the speed thru the slalom that I needed to. I felt I got the following section ok, but then I really snapped the backend out on the big turnaround and had to basically let off the throttle the whole way, let the car correct and THEN get back on it...
that only took an instant , but it felt like an enternity in Autocross.

The good news is that I can identify the problems and HOPE that I can make adjustments this weekend and work towards Lincoln.

Next laptop I get will need to have a card reader... Seeing the run after it happens and being able to address the problem NOW is much better. Just watching Sam's videos between his runs was a big help.

Everything in the car and trailer was still wet when I got home. Looks like I need to do some shopping this week before the event for some new gear.... a new tent, a better toolbox ( for inside the trailer box ) and some odds and ends.

Can't believe the season is already 1/2 over locally and almost ALL over nationally. Going to miss it next year.

I assume you've seen that I have a quick disconnect on my video camera and view it between runs.  Like you, I also review it after the event to see how well I drove.

[DarkHelmet]

yes, I've seen that... the GoPro in standard form doesn't have a screen to view so it doesn't matter at that point.

They make an expansion pack that has a screen but it's hard to see from what I can tell when you're trying to see what we are like that.

[marka]

Howdy,

Can't believe the season is already 1/2 over locally and almost ALL over nationally. Going to miss it next year.

Um... What?

Mark

[DarkHelmet]

Howdy,

Can't believe the season is already 1/2 over locally and almost ALL over nationally. Going to miss it next year.

Um... What?

Mark

Not autocross, but the national stuff. I am taking a 1 year break and instead of spending all that $ and finishing where I am, I plan on focusing on seat time and running in a bunch of regions and do TNT's, low-key events, etc.

No new tires, no hotels, not as much travel... etc.

Not burned out or anything, but if things keep going how they are with Kim and I, I'll be moving sometime late in 2013 or early 14,  and I need to get that kind of thing in order as well.

[rrobb]

Index is up:

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/assets/2012%20Peru%20National%20Tour%20Index%20Results.pdf

Note: Spots 1 and 2 shouldn't be on there as they only ran one day, and that was in the Gumout car which should be on an FSP Pax as it was driven.

[DarkHelmet]

Index is up:

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/assets/2012%20Peru%20National%20Tour%20Index%20Results.pdf

Note: Spots 1 and 2 shouldn't be on there as they only ran one day and that was in the Gumout car which should be on an FSP Pax as it was at the event.

UGH.... cones really made that look ugly.

Sunday I was in the top half ( if that was treated as a separate event ) so I'm ok with that.

[rrobb]

Brian,

Remember...

Last in SS is better than a trophy in HS!   


The last trophy in HS, btw, was Adam Deffenbaugh 147 (listed 149) in PAX.

[SteedaMustang]

Wow, that's pretty cool!  26th (er 24) when Sam Strano is 13th....I'm cool with that!  Esp with only having 10 or so events in the car.

[DarkHelmet]

Brian,

Remember...

Last in SS is better than a trophy in HS!   


The last trophy in HS, btw, was Adam Deffenbaugh 147 (listed 149) in PAX.

Kick me while I'm down, why don't ya.

Yeah Dan... that's an AWESOME result. Great job

[rrobb]

Dan,
24th is pretty awesome. There were a bunch of jacket winners out there this weekend.

Brian,
Wasn't kicking. Without the cones, you'd have been well into the top half of the field.

[Sam Strano]

Junior kart got completely sideways and caught a seam in the concrete.  He wasn't going slow.  But the good news is he is OK and he won his class.

Not exactly....  In fact I have the video on my laptop of it.  He slid into the cones head on and centerpunched the wall.  The first cone of the wall lifted the nose, and the pointer got under the left front wheel and turned him over. 

This has been my fear of karts since the start.  There was nothing that happened other than he hit a cone and it sent him over.