4/14 AutoX in VA

[silver2001gts]

There is a VMSC autocross in Dinwiddie, VA this Sunday, April 14, 2002. We have a few spots open, if anyone wants to join us. Visit http://vmsc.org for details. Cost is $20, or just $15 for club members.

We will have 4 runs on the nice big Virginia Motorsports Park asphalt lot. Bring your Celica to help fight the DS WRXs and the GS cars.

The following VMSC autocross is on April 28, also at VMP in Dinwiddie.

[scapamouche]

I'd love to go.

Say hi to Scott Johnson (autxr) , Andy Turnbull (maxQ) and Beno Rubin (drives the #3 CSP CRX or a silver GT-S) for me....

[B1mmer]

Hey Ken,
I'm going, but have a slight change in when I'll be running. I need to run 2nd heat. I talked to Rod McGeorge, and he's on his way to the Topeka Pro, so I'm going to run in his spot #38 instead of my 4th heat #90. I'm going to be running Eric's black 2000 Spyder. Can you change that for me, or should I just do so at registration? Looking forward to the weekend... Thanks, Aaron

[Conemasher]

I'll tell him "Hi" for you. I'll be driving Andy T's SE-R this weekend, so I'll leave him a note...taped to the inside of the driver side window!;)

[scapamouche]

Gotta love it!

[silver2001gts]

Originally posted by B1mmer
Hey Ken,
I'm going, but have a slight change in when I'll be running. I need to run 2nd heat. I talked to Rod McGeorge, and he's on his way to the Topeka Pro, so I'm going to run in his spot #38 instead of my 4th heat #90. I'm going to be running Eric's black 2000 Spyder. Can you change that for me, or should I just do so at registration? Looking forward to the weekend... Thanks, Aaron

Aaron,
Sure, I'll change your card to #38. Are you going to have those shocks tuned properly this weekend? :)

[B1mmer]

Thanks Ken. Yup, the shocks should be as good as gold this weekend. We've done some slight alignment changes, and I'm betting you'll see the inside front wheel off the ground through some hard transitions. It should be a lot of fun. - Aaron

[scapamouche]

It's not like Andy doesn't NORMALLY have something objectionable taped to his window :D

[CamaroFS34]

Originally posted by B1mmer
...I'm betting you'll see the inside front wheel off the ground through some hard transitions.Wait a minute.... I thought Tim was out in Topeka for the Pro too? ;) ;)

Karen

[silver2001gts]

Tim is at the Pro with Rod. Aaron co-drives with Eric P. now.

[CamaroFS34]

Originally posted by silver2001gts
Tim is at the Pro with Rod. Aaron co-drives with Eric P. now. I know that... I was just making a bad joke that Aaron and Eric couldn't drive the car hard enough to make it lift the wheel.... :sigh:

Hell, Tim drove my car hard enough to lift the front wheel off the ground.

Karen

[Conemasher]

This turned out to be a fun, fast event. I'm not sure how all the Celica drivers ended up, but the course seemed to favor the acceleration of Andy's SE-R. In GS I ended up with a 51.4 in Andy T's Sentra, followed by Andy T in the same car with a 51.9, then I think Pitcrew followed up in third with a 53.0? I think. The course seemed to be more of a test of nerves as to how long one could keep the loud pedal down, than of technical skill. I think Silver2001GTS won DS, but I'm not sure as there was a WRX that was quite fast as well. I think Ken ended up with a 50.9 or something. I'm sure results will be up soon. I'm not sure how the Spyder battle ended up, but hopefully Aaron can fill in the details later.:cool:

[pitcrew]

After witnessing three accidents at that site in the last six months, it was VERY unnerving to hit that bumpy pavement in the center of the lane change with the pedal matted in third gear! I just could not force myself to not lift when it started to dance around. Driver said it scared her to hit them even while riding with me in the fun runs... I once glanced down and saw the speedometer pass 80 heading towards the turnaround! I did manage a mid 52 during the fun runs, but it still wouldn't have caught you two.

[B1mmer]

I agree with Chuck, it certainly was fast. Just prior to the turn around, I went into a 4 wheel drift in the Spyder with my foot matted to the floor in 3rd gear (hard right hander before the braking zone). I guess I must be stupid, for I never lifted from the 2nd cone of the 2nd three cone slalom. It paid off with a decent 50.6, but I feel I could have gone faster in the second half of the course. Eric had a raw time of 49.018, but tripped a cone. I think his best was a 49.9 clean, but they screwed up the timer on his final run and re-run. I think he could have hit the 48's with either run. The car is now much better, and the front inside tire is lifting under acceleration and turning... Thus, I look forward to running Rome in June. - Aaron

PS: A big congrats is deserved to Tim Aro and Rod McGeorge for finishing 1-2 respectively at this weekend's Topeka ProSolo. They both beat some very very good drivers...

[silver2001gts]

Originally posted by pitcrew
After witnessing three accidents at that site in the last six months, it was VERY unnerving to hit that bumpy pavement in the center of the lane change with the pedal matted in third gear! I just could not force myself to not lift when it started to dance around. Driver said it scared her to hit them even while riding with me in the fun runs... I once glanced down and saw the speedometer pass 80 heading towards the turnaround! I did manage a mid 52 during the fun runs, but it still wouldn't have caught you two.

That bumpy section was really bad. It caused me to almost stop the car and get out and check the front wheel for loose lugnuts on the first run. But I'll bet you a nickel you did not hit anything near 80. I never shifted to third on my runs, so I did not go over 62 mph in my Celica. That speedometer must be way off.

Results are posted now at http://www.vmsc.org/results/2002/2002_04_14 and the SE-R swept GS, and I took DS with a 50.911. The WRX of Eccelstone was very close with a 51.260. Peter in another GT-S took third. Check out the fastest STS times! Pics will be up on the VMSC site soon.

[gtsxr]

I'll have to agree with Ken on the speed issue. I found that by keeping the car in second on back section the tach was dancing around 7500-8000rpm for the entire stretch. Unfortunately I coned away by best run by just tapping a cone after turning into the left hander after the second slalom. On my last run I was bouncing off the rev limiter during the last lane change and decided to shift to third. Of course this plan failed miserabley as I hit the shift gate between second and third and in triing to recover, almost missed the gate to the left. All in all, it was a fun event. The weather was perfect and the course laid out quite nicely for the GT-S.

[pitcrew]

I could very well have missread the speedo I only glanced at it on a fun run, but I bumped the rev limiter in second @ the lane change once which is 62 in the GT, and it was quite a ways to the turn around matted in 3rd from there...
I lost most of my time from the second slalom on, I didn't trust the tires to hold near the fence and around that little building so I did lift a couple times and brake once. Donna would not have forgiven me if I bent her car!

[maxQ]

Originally posted by Conemasher
The course seemed to be more of a test of nerves as to how long one could keep the loud pedal down, than of technical skill.

Me coming out of the turnaround heading towards the "slalom": "Ok, Andy, don't lift... don't lift... don't LIFT!!! Damn." :)

This was a good event and I enjoyed myself but I never felt really comfortable with the course (I think I was scared of sitting on the revlimiter through offset gates... I need to get over that.).

Props to Scott for besting me in my own car in his first time driving it... I definitely think I can make up that half-second between us but I will definitely have to be on my toes. Plus, I think he was sandbagging.... :naughty:

Congrats to all and I continue to be amazed at the camaraderie amongst autoxers. Hanging out with you all is nearly as much fun as running. Nearly. :D

[Conemasher]

Props to Scott for besting me in my own car in his first time driving it... I definitely think I can make up that half-second between us but I will definitely have to be on my toes. Plus, I think he was sandbagging....

Thanks for the ride, Andy. That thing really surprised me. It really works well out there. As far as me "sandbagging", if any time was left out there, it was totally unintentional. Although we both know a couple of places we could have gone faster. But isn't that always the case?

...I continue to be amazed at the camaraderie amongst autoxers. Hanging out with you all is nearly as much fun as running. Nearly.

I'll have to second this. I hung out with so many cool people on Sunday. It feels like a huge family out there with all kinds of familiar faces. If everyone could look at this sport from this point of view, the world can be a better place!:D