Hmmmm, seems my memory is about as good as my driving...

Well, Charlie seems to have a plan that avoids this question/rule all together.

 

Just a footnote on the alignment numbers - which should be taken with a grain of salt.

I chatted with Gary, and learned that he had ensured that the alignment was done with a member of the staff sitting in the drivers seat. I was very pleased to hear this, and also that he had personally signed off of the result.

The print out of the specs was done after all adjustments had been made, and no one was inside the car.

It is typical of Gary that he was in no way defensive in response to my inquiry, and indeed cheerfully offered - even suggested - that I bring the car around one more time prior to the 1st event of the year.

Yet another reason that I am very happy to do business with Mini of Peabody.

Cheers,

Charlie

Ps: The rear camber setting was done at my request by the way, based on my experiences with the STX setup. I have found that for autocross the OEM rear camber makes the wee bit of tail wagging that I prefer impossible...

 

Eddie Savage (Novice Chair back when I was starting, and a damned good driver and now photographer) put a bug in my ear many years ago about practicing on the street.

He simply said - put the car exactly where you want it at all times!

So when I am taking my contemplative drives and watching sunrises on the twisty coast roads up here there are some drills that I do. These drills do NOT involve high speed or pushing the limits of traction, they are mind and eye exercises.

1. as Eddie said, position the car accurately.

If the road is damp a quick glance at the rear view will show where the tire marks are, and if I want to be on the edge of the center line in a left hander, or on the edge of the shoulder line going to the right, that glance tells me how I did. What I am looking for is no more than an inch or two of tolerance on both sides of the car.

Since New England offers a splendid collection of pavement defects, the stiff STX car gave me the habit of avoiding them within my own lane by shifting the car slightly where necessary. Here too a quick glance on a damp road tells me whether the tires went exactly where I wanted.

2. as the Evo schools teach, look ahead.

The advanced part of the previous drill about exact position is to do it WITHOUT LOOKING DOWN, but instead using the peripheral vision to position the car while the fovea is aimed down the road.

This is the hardest drill, and for me the most valuable. If I can make this eye control second nature even while clipping a nice slow apex on a country road or dodging a nasty pothole, then it pays off handsomely on an autocross course where target fixation often destroys my lines and timing and leaves me lurching from element to element like a novice.

3. exact hand position, and control smoothness

Although legal speed is a temptation to relax and take one hand off the wheel, when I am drilling myself I am picky about how I touch the wheel - again its about being consistent to reinforce the habits I need in competition.

I guess I'm a sick puppy, but practice makes perfect and God knows I need the practice!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Of course the previous drills are tough if the markings on the road are obscured by a fresh and pristine 1" of gleaming snow - in some places unmarred by any previous traveler!

So this morning it was all about determining how much traction was available, and then staying within it!

It gave me a chance to calibrate my right foot for the anti-lock brakes, and determine I can threshold brake and stop faster than full "mash the pedal" which is usually the case.

In addition the test area ran out of available traction at 30 mph, and in that constant radius setting and at such a low speed it was easy to explore the effects of weight shift at the (very low) limit.

I'm impressed with the Conti M&S that mini put on the car - not bad at all on fresh snow! (Not that Hakka or Blizzak has anything to worry about).

Cheers,

Charlie

 

One thing to be aware of is how well you did on each of your exercises and CORRECTING mistakes - maybe by going through that corner again to do it right.

Practice does not make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect. For example, if you write 2+2=5 one hundred times and you go to a math test and it asks what 2+2 is, you will put 5. This is obviously wrong, but, it is what you practiced.

Just a thought.

Bob

 

Great words of wisdom and not just for practice for autoX or the track, but for driving in general

I would suggest one slight modification, that is to the "looking ahead". I would add to that "to the next place you want to go". That may seem obvious, but it is not always. Your car will go to where your head and eyes are pointed. If you can see two turns ahead, it can happen that you look at the second turn and miss the first one. I learned that one the hard way.

 

Thanks for the coaching gents.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

interesting thread!

 

Oh drat and such...

More like !@#$%^!!

The NER SCCA Annual Meeting is at three on Saturday, and the banquet later that evening - whoopeee!

The venue is slightly over an hour from me, and highway all the way -whoopee!

The start time means I depart on the backside of an historic blizzard, while snow is still falling, and there is estimated to be over two feet on the ground from the preceding 24 hours... - whoop?

And most importantly there's folks to look after nearby in such bad weather, so I'd probably want to be shoveling here and there....

That is SO frustrating though - I'll keep hoping and maybe...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

The wise and hard-working volunteers that had to deal with this unforeseen weather decided to reschedule the Annual Meeting and banquet - thanks to them.

And as I've an 86 year old stepfather with a cardiac history who is cocky enough to tackle his own shoveling and blowing I defied the driving ban at 3pm and beat feet up to his place.

Sure as all hell he had two thirds of the work done, for which I roundly cursed him (which he took as a complement of course).

And to my surprise Gollum II waltzed right up the steep side of Town Hill as though there weren't two inches of mess jammed in between three foot banks. A most impressive demonstration of traction!

I have to admit that the snowpocalypse is very pretty - I had sort of forgotten what a proper winter looks like.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

So the windshield washer stopped working on the passenger side...

After significant forensic analysis I determined (with the expert advice of my Service Adviser) that a rodent ate the feed line beneath the bonnet.

Thank goodness that squirrel didn't eat the wiring harness!

$42 for the replacement sub-assembly, or $.82 for a foot of rubber tubing from Advance Auto. That was not a difficult choice.

And now spraying bleach around the car within the garage to create a "magic circle" becomes part of my evening drill.

Life in the suburbs... in winter.

Cheers,

Charliee

 

They say that dryer sheets spread around the garage also help to keep the little critters away. Check your air filter also. I found that they like to call that little box home and will pack it full of nuts and grass.

 

Thanks Eddie.

This particular rodent has been quietly (most of the time) living in my house, traversing the wall between garage and family room, the closed attic space over that little addition, and sometimes making it to the 2nd floor bedroom wall where once or twice loud gnawing sounds have affected my ability to sleep.

That I was willing to overlook.

But when the SOB starts eating my Mini that is WAR!

So I got a "Have-a-Heart" trap, baited it, and yesterday morning had the great pleasure of personally introducing myself to said critter. He has now been transported a few miles away to start over in a different part of town.

He was a large, healthy looking rat, and I wish him luck in his new digs.

(Yes, I re-baited the trap...).

Cheers,

Charlie

 

And today I caught the missus! Also pissed, and healthy, and a bit smaller than my first victim.

So I delivered her to the same area as before, and she took off in the same direction as her predecessor, and at the same high speed.

Perhaps they will re-unite?

Meanwhile Tire Rack is apparently out of the 16x6.5 Kosei K4R and won't have more until April - which is putting the April 7th season opener (a Regional) in some jeopardy and raising the possibility that my first run back on the A6 would be at the Delaware National Tour - something I'd really like to avoid.

Oi vey - I shall see if this can somehow be overcome...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

on the rat...

but the wheels......12.8# I understand why you want them and the price is right too. Have you tried to source them elsewhere?

 

I'm working on that. I do prefer to do business with Tire Rack however, due among other things to the fact that they have signed on again as a major sponsor for the National Tour.

Cheers,

Charlie

PS: Rat #3 greeted me this morning, from within the trap as I entered the garage. Either rat #1 is a polygamist or we've more than one generation enjoying (until now) the hospitality at Chez Thompson...

 

Well another piece of race preparation fell into place today, in the form of a nice conversation with a gentleman down in Charlotte.

Kudos to Brad Davis at Hendrick Auto for having worked out a sensible solution for B Spec Minis that just happens to be H Stock legal.

So hopefully in a little while I'll be able to hear the car a bit more easily.

Cheers,

Charlie

(caught the 4th rat the other day, and re-baited the trap... perhaps I should have some hamster wheels concealed in the trunk, and connected to the back axle?)

 

Chances are that you are not allowed 'alternate sources of power' when racing. But they may help get you to the track.

Kinda a new view of 'Track Rat', eh? (sorry, couldn't resist).

Have fun,
Mike

 

 

Pics? price?

 

Mike that is unforgivable! Beware the evil pun - I know, as that tendency to punish others with bad humor runs in my family.

In fact (if I may share a little history) one of my ancestors was notorious for this form of humor in the court of an English king.

As the story goes, his quick wit earned him a frequent invitation to the King's table where he would make some awful jest using the names of that evening's guests. Regrettably his success over time, coupled with too much ale, caused him to extend his attentions to the King one evening.

His Majesty took umbrage, and so my ancestor found himself with hemp around his neck the very next morning and standing on a gallows. The yeoman of the guard there spoke to him and said "this is where you will end if you ever make another jest in the King's realm!".

My ancestor (having already had offspring) drew himself to his full height and looked the guardsman in the eye and said "no noose is good noose" and died happy.

I'll post a picture of the muffler bypass when it arrives which may be a week or so - the price quoted is $95.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Yesterday I had the good fortune to be on line when a set of Panasport wheels were listed for sale.

Although I was hoping for sparkly new wheels, the Kosei is back ordered to the manufacturer until the end of March, and the total cost of those wheels with Hoosiers to match is almost $1,800.

So I bought the Panasports, and another piece of the puzzle falls into place.

The seller promised to enclose a bit of driving talent in the boxes before entrusting them to FedEx, which is a nice side benefit.

I reckon he could spare a little too, as I bought them from Mark Chiles!



Cheers,

Charlie

 

Nice
So what are your going to do with the extra pocket change that you didn't spend on the "new" wheels?

 

Pay my oil dealer and my dentist...

I hate being a grown-up!

OR....

Replace the serviceable (not bad really) Conti M&S that the car came with, mounted on the 15" holies - with the rain/street setup which will be the 195/50-15 Toyo R1R.

Could go either way (I hope Dr. Chris does not see this post)...

There's a thread on sccaforums about the cheapest autocross class... guess what it is not H Stock! This build will have cost over 4k by the time the dust settles...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Well I dusted off the GTech and mounted and calibrated it. The good news is that it can accurately read the RPM from the R56 which it could never do with the original R53 Gollum.

The bad news is that the lock nut which incidentally secures the pivot for the shell that the unit fits into had gone missing. Fortunately the workbench downstairs had an adequate substitute and to my amazement the whole assembly once suctioned onto the face of the speedo hung on like grim death and never moved.

So! Accelerometers and tach traces but no GPS (later this year I'll upgrade) is at least data, and I therefore proceeded to the test area to see if the 240' circle predictions were true. In fact, it's pretty close.

With the all season Conti M&S 175/65-15 OEM tires Gollum II slithered cheerfully around at up to 58 indicated (55 actual) for a predicted .8 g lateral. GTech said the max observerd was .85/.87 left/right but the unit has no adjustment for roll. It does for pitch though - strange.

Accelerometer data is fun - I was reminded that what we all consider smooth driving happens within .3 g, and once the car does anything at .5 g or more most folks are getting a little wary.

As the g loads get higher small increases matter progressively more, as the percentage of what is being used versus what is possible falls towards zero. .1 to .5 is normal everyday driving. .5 to .8 is rarely needed unless someone either makes a mistake or gets surprised. Over .8 is pretty much closed roads territory because by that point there is comparatively little in reserve for the random things that happen in the real world.

So .85 is the baseline - the number the car will pull without any drama at all - the tires are not complaining and there's very little slip at either end.

We'll see next what the R1R 195/50-15 will do, and of course ultimately what happens running the 205/45-16 Hoosier A6.

Should be fun...