Thanks, unfortunatly, the force wasn't strong in me this weekend. I got beat (by 0.137s) on Saturday and I beat myself on Sunday and lost by 0.054 overall.

 

This weekend was the SCCA National tour event in San Diego. The National tour are events the national SCCA put on around the country. A kind of MINI national championships. They draw competitors from the neighboring states. The San Diego event was in the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium. This site is quite unusual in that it features elevation change. The lot is on the side of the hill, and maybe 50ft from top to bottom. We drove down Thursday evening and most of Friday, its about 500 miles from home. We arrived around 5pm on Friday, a little late thanks to LA traffic, even if we tried to avoid LA and took an Eastern route through the Mojave desert.

First we checked in and walked the course. The course was interesting, after the first corner there was a two cone optional slalom, with an obvious option. Then there was a 180 sweeper with a decreasing radius. Three "walls" (pairs of cones connected by a chalk line), which were offset in a challenging manner. Then a 180 and a turn up the hill. The hill was a 5 cone slalom, it was sufficiently widely spaced (130ft) that it wouldn't normally present a challenge to a MINI, unless you got a very good launch off the previous corner. The course then turned down the hill into a series of twisties decreasing in radius as they went, I wasn't sure whether we'd need third for the down hill run, it look fast. Terrifying was one comment. At the end was a final corner which would be difficult to negotiate if you managed to carry speed through the twisties. Then we change the wheels, got teched, and walked the course again.

On Saturday morning it rained. The weather forecast has been saying a 20% chance of rain on Saturday, so I hadn't expected any. We'd diven down on the rain tires (which are Algy's street tires), just in case, but had carried along the ZII tires for the competition. I hadn't checked the detailed forecast the night before, so I was surprised when I looked out at 6am and saw it was quite wet. It had stopped raining so we were expecting it to be dry by the time we ran in the second run group.

We got there early enough to walk the course again. Then we found our grid spot. I was disappointed that the competition I expected to have didn't show. Barbara a local had been due to run in HS. She won last years nationals in an HS MINI (in the ladies road tire class). I wanted to know how we'd stack up against a national champion in a MINI. She'd changed classes was running in BS ladies in a Miata. When we alkyd to her I think she was dissuaded from running in HS because there were not enough entries in HS to get the contingency for winning form MINI (it needs 5 entries). The other entry was Mark. I'd looked up some of his results, I didn't find many, and those I did, weren't spectacular, so I was expecting to be able to beat him. Without Barbara in the class, I wondered if I could win this.

The first run group went out and it was still quite wet. There was lots of splashing with the first few cars, but a dry line soon started to form and the course was quite dry for the groups later runs. I was watching the times for GS where several of the locals from home had made the trip, and it was the closest benchmark for HS. Mark was leading by 2.5s, which he tends to do at home. Chris, my nemesis from last year, was there as well and got a 59.5. So I was thinking under 60 seconds would be a good time. I probably should have aimed lower, Chris later said he was having a bad weekend.

Then it was time to run. My first run I got what felt like a reasonable run with a 59.5. I managed to get going fast enough that the end of the slalom was interesting. On the downhill run I felt I was using the brake too much and needed to cary more speed through the corners. I wasn't going fast enough that I would need 3rd gear, it looked like there was enough spare revs I didn't think I'd need it even if I got faster. Cathy came in with a bit disappointing 63.3. Looking at the data she lost time through the optional slalom, and also though the walls, and down the hill. I suggested the optional slalom could be taken flat out, the walls may need a good launch off the corner after the sweeper, and down hill you just have to trust you can go faster. The good news was that Mark got a 61.3 (and a cone), so I was well in the lead.

For my second run I made incremental improvements with a 58.9, the improvement was mainly less braking down the hill. Cathy got a much faster run, she got a much better launch off the sweeper, and she came screaming down the hill. Only to flub the last corner. She found herself almost on the wrong side of the cone, so really had to kill her momentum to get around it. I reckoned just looking at it, it was a 2 second mistake, but her time was 0.059s better, so her run must have been about 2sec better until that last corner. Looking at the data that's exactly what happened, with a second coming out of the sweeper and a second coming down the hill. I said, she needed to do that again, just fix the last corner. But then she was called for a DNF. She went off to check the corner worker's sheet and the DNF was called in by station 1, then she remembered she'd forgotten to opt one way or the other for the optional slalom and just blew by it. That's why she managed to match my speed she said. The good new was that Mark coned his run, what I didn't notice was the raw time was 59.2, only 0.3s behind me.

For my last run I got an incrementally better 58.4, my fastest of the day. The data shows I was a bit faster around the optional slalom, but lost some time at the far 180, which I'd never found a convincing line for. I was also a bit faster turning down the hill, but much the same speed once I had to brake. I was pleased with my run. Cathy looked very hesitant on her run. Trying to find her way through the optional slalom, and not DNFing, so she ended up giving back most of the gains from her second run and came in with a disappointing 62.5. Mark finally got a good clean run, and just squeaked ahead of me with a 58.3. He was 0.137s ahead of me. That was somewhat of a surprise. I thought I did quite well, he just did better.

Then we had a rest and a burrito from the taco truck and during run group 4 it was our time to work. We'd been assigned our tasks and we'd been told what we were to do at check in. While we were getting checked off for the assignment, there was a frantic cry of "where's the fire extinguisher!!!". One of the modified cars had caught fire and was spewing smoke. While the workers were tracking down a fire extinguisher, one of the other competitors attacked it with his extinguisher, then the workers found the grid extinguisher and finished the job.

Cathy had been assigned "course" at station three. She did the record keeping. At these events the corner workers make details notes of what happened, much more so that at local events. I'd been assigned impound, which I had no idea what that was about. It turns out that impound has two jobs, and neither of them happen until the end of the run group. First you weigh any cars which have a weight limit. That's mainly the prepared and modified classes, there were only a few of them in our run group. While I was waiting to work I watched the system for weighing the cars to get an idea of the job. There were lots of prepared and modified cars in that group, including the one which had had the fire. It had been waiting to be weighed when the fire broke out. I wondered what the extra weight of the powder from the extinguishers did for it.

Also in our group were the "Classic American Muscle" class which has very few rules apart from the car must be American made, front engine/rear drive, use street tires and weight 3000lb or more. A muscle car is really the last thing I'd ever want to autocross, and even though they have all the power they could want (engine is unrestricted) only one has ever run quicker than us at the local events. That car was driven by Mary, who was also entered at this event. On Saturday Mary was quickest of the class, by over two seconds with a 55.4, only two of the CAM cars managed to beat my time. As the class had a 3000lb minimum weight, we weighed the cars. Mary's was the heaviest at 3400 and some lbs.

Two of the cars were actually under weight, by around 10lb or so, so I found out what happens in these circumstances. First the cars are reweighed, pointing in the other direction. There is more care taken over the weighing. The usual weighing procedure is geared for speed rather than accuracy, if the car makes weight, that's not a problem. The car is pointing in the other direction, just in case there's any aero effect in the breeze. They really want the cars to make weight if at all possible. One of the junior karts was actually 1lb under, and they couldn't persuade the scales to add that 1lb, so they gave him a bottle of water to drink. 1 pint later, he made weight.

If after the reweighing the cars are still under weight, the class participants are called together and asked if they want to make an issue of it, if everyone agrees the lightweights can be let off with a warning. There won't be any leniency the next day. Most of the cars could make weight with just a couple more gallons of gas. No one did want to make an issue of things so that was that.

The other thing impound does is to hand out the results. After your runs, you go back to the grid for "impound", you open your hood and trunk so everyone can see if there's anything dogy, and you wait for someone to give you the results and release you from impound. If no one has a problem with the results, you're released. If someone has a problem the class stays in impound until its resolved. That was my job, we got the result sheet marked "preliminary", and go find the class competitors in impound and show them the results. We were also told if anyone came in with a scoring complaint during the runs it would be our job to show them the relevant score sheets and escort them to scoring for further discussion if necessary. There were no hassles over any of the results I showed.

There was however some drama, someone else had to deal with, there was a PA announcement that the corner workers from station 3, Cathy's station, were wanted at the scoring trailer. Someone was disputing a cone and the corner workers were quizzed to make an assessment of whether the call was good. They were asked if they specifically remembered that car (they didn't), and about that cone in general. It was a cone that was hit a lot, so was under scrutiny. As far as we know the cone call stood.

There was then a little break while the course was reconfigured. The schedule said it would be open for walking from 6pm, it was now about 4:30. We needed to buy a few things and some gas and get a snack, so we headed out to take care of it, and got back for 6pm. One problem arose, after getting gas (only 2 gallons to get us through the next day's competition), we started smelling gas from the A/C vents. This didn't seem like a good thing. When I later Googled this symptom various people reported that from fuel leaks, or leaky fuel pumps. Not good.

We walked the course, twice. The course was mainly the same, but to be run backwards. A few cones were moved to spice things up a bit. This time it started out with a right hander into a serious of increasing radius corners going up the hill. If you could get a good enough launch off that second corner going uphill, it looked like you could go pretty fast and the question would be if you'd have the confidence to push the car as fast as it would go. The slalom was now downhill, there was still the 180 which I still couldn't work out a good line. The walls leading into the sweeper. After the sweeper the slalom was not not an option, but really only 2 cones, just a little jink.

Sunday we got there late, so we could sleep to a semi-reasonable hour. The schedule had the course closed for walking at 7:35 and first car out at 8. Getting there early enough to walk the course was untenable, so we just aimed to be there before our run group (group 2) would go out, which we expected to be around 9:30. There was no driver meeting so we didn't have to be there before that. As it was our group got underway at around 9:30 and we were there in plenty of time to prep the car and get to grid. We kept the A/C fan off and I didn't smell any gas under the hood or see any leaks. So I assumed it was still within the rules which states there should not be "excessive" fuel leaks. I had worried that the rules prohibited any fuel leak, so we might have to withdraw.

Looking at the times of GS in the first run group, I reckoned a 57.4 time would be a good one to aim for. My first run was a 58.4, which seemed like a good start. I was slow up the hill, I was lifting a lot to get around the corners, I reckoned I could do that a lot faster. All in all I think I could pick up the second in my next to runs. I didn't know it at the time, but I was 0.083s faster than Mark on that first run, that put me only 0.054s behind him for the weekend. Had I known that I might have worried as he'd started slow and picked up a lot of time on Saturday.

Cathy's first run was a 61.0. I again compared our data, and suggested she could pick up half a second by getting a better launch up the hill. That was the corner after the first corner. I had identified it as one of the keys to a fast run. Any speed you got there should be carried all the way up the hill. I suggested sacrificing some speed on the first corner and the next short straight in order to get a good launch up the hill. It also looked like she was loosing another half second in the final slalom. I suggested sacrificing the end of the sweeper to get a good launch for the last slalom.

My second run was great, until I got to the far corner. I was keeping my foot down more, and going faster around the corners. I also was thinking I could go even faster if I could persuade myself to enter the corner faster. I wasn't needing all the space on the exit, so I could obviously do it faster. The car was feeling a little loose so I was a little wary of going faster. I was about 0.9s ahead of my previous run when I got to the far corner and I flubbed it. I think I didn't brake early enough. so I went sailing way past the point I wanted to turn in and missed the apex cone by many feet. I was in danger of hitting the wall of cones on the left. The mistake meant I lost time in the corner, and was slower through the following elements. By the time I got to the sweeper, I'd lost the 0.9s I'd gained on the first half.

Then I took wrong turning. Coming around the third "wall", there was several pointer cones pointing right directing you into the sweeper. I took it as more than a hint and went directly where they were pointing, this was outside the bounds of the sweeper. After a quick expletive, I took a sharp left through two of the cones into the sweeper, back on course. The data showed I was quite a bit faster in the sweeper, which would be because of the extra space I used allowing for a much later apex and faster entry into the sweeper. Overall I was 0.010s slower. I wasn't paying enough attention as I thought I was faster on that run, but the DNF would erase that, but no one mentioned a DNF. I said to Mark that I'd DNF'd but no one seemed notice, to which he said he'd also DNF'd. I later checked on the corner sheets and no one had noticed. I asked someone who seemed to be in authority if I should do anything about that, and his answer was "not if you don't want to."

Cathy's second run was a 59.6, I gave a cheer, I credit my coaching nor helping. She still wasn't that fast up the hill, and still seemed to lose time in the last slalom. There wasn't much I could suggest apart from keeping her foot down up the hill, which she said was difficult and trying to get a better launch into the last slalom, it wasn't obvious how.

Now I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't have a good run in the bank, and I didn't want to do like the last time I only needed a small improvement and try to hard and blow it. So I went out trying not to make a mistake, and was slow. I was off the power a lot up the hill, and to top it off, I still messed up the far corner. I didn't take a wrong turn though, but I ended up with a 58.9, my slowest run of the day. I wasn't happy. The only upside was Mark also went slower so we both stood on our first runs, as the announcer said I was only 54 thousandths behind, it was the closest result of the weekend. Cathy also didn't manage to improve on her last run with a 59.6.

After our runs we had a little down time again, so got breakfast from the taco truck, it was still only 11am. I changed the tires back to the street tires, a somewhat onerous task under the Southern Californian noonday sun, but I reckoned I'd feel even less inclined to do it if I waited until the end of the day.

Then it was our turn to work. We had the same assignments as Saturday. I waited around for something to happen, nothing did until the third runs were underway. Then we had some cars to weight. This time all the CAM cars made weight. Mary's was still the heaviest and she'd won by about 2 seconds. The announcer noted Mary didn't have a clean run when she was starting her final run, but was still leading the class even with a cone. Her third run was clean, and she won the class by 4.7 seconds overall.

However when I was handing out the preliminary results, one of the CAM drivers disputed a cone. That cone was the difference between 3 and 4 for him. So I showed him the results sheets, and he wasn't satisfied. So we went to the scoring trailer to get more details. After finding which cone it was (the last cone of the course) he was even less satisfied, he said he'd given that one a wide berth to make sure not to hit it. So after some discussion the chief steward was summoned and she considered the evidence and didn't find any thing out of order so she saw no reason to overturn the call. Interestingly this time the corner workers were not summoned to give their accounts. This might have been memorable as the car was the last regular run of the afternoon. There were only a couple of reruns after his run.

After waiting around while longer there was the trophy presentation. The various winners of the various classes got medals, there's one medal for every 3 competitors (rounded up), so a very popular class like STX with 18 competitors got trophies down to 6th place. If there were 3 or more competitors the winner also got a banner.

After everything was over, we drove to a car wash, just in case the gas smell was spilt gas somewhere, and after being washed we turned the A/C back on and didn't smell anything. This was good news, otherwise it would have delayed our departure while we got it looked at. We're going to have to get Bertie checked over when we get back home.

The official results have been published: http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...%20Results.pdf I'm still waiting for the unofficial indexed results so I have a better idea of how I did generally. Obviously I came second and Cathy third out of three in HS. Of course, there are what might have been's if I'd managed to get the run I thought I could on Sunday.

In GS Mark was first by 1.7s, my time have been good enough for 5th out of 8 in GS (whether I indexed my result or not), I beat Chris by almost 3 seconds. I talked to him again later, he was not happy. I asked him why he couldn't have slumped like this last year when we were competing head to head in novice. What's worse for Chris is he was 7 seconds behind Neil his 17 year old co-driver who got a 3rd place trophy. I hadn't heard of Neil before this weekend. The entry count for GS was inflated by several locals who didn't seem to come back for Sunday (scored as "DNS", did not start). The local region was treating the weekend as two rounds of their championship, so getting to only one day makes some sense. Barbara handily won her BS ladies competition, but that would only have been good enough for 6th or 9 in the open BS class.

I don't have video ready yet, or the photos. We only just got back home. Look for photos and video later.

 

Rick Ruth has the index results for this weekend: http://home.comcast.net/~paxrtp/resu...r_SanDiego.pdf These are of course unofficial.

I came 154th and Cathy 201st out of 213 total. I was 6.4 "seconds behind". If I'd picked up the 0.9s I thought I could, I'd only get up to 144. Barbara came 95th and Mark in GS came 34th.

I finished the video.

My best Saturday run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxNatsSDSatBest.mov
Cathy's Best Saturday run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxNatsSDSatCBest.mov
My Best Sunday run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxNatsSDSunBest.mov
Cathy's best Sunday run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxNatsSDSunCBest.mov
My DNF, which was not noticed: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxNatsSDSunB2DNF.mov

 

Thanks for a great read! Again and as usual.

Kind regards,

Charlie

 

Those national level events are a tough crowd. Props for taking the plunge. That sounds about where I PAX'd at my first national event. The good news is you're still progressing quickly and you should continue to see big jumps in your national event pax standings.

 

ditto to the guys above! you're supposed to get your butt kicked at the first event! you are getting a ton of seat time though, I envy you for that. we'll see how i do at my first national/pro level event.....

 

Cathy took an interesting sequence of photos of me running around the course, it gives a good idea of what the course was like. All except the first were taken with full zoom (190mm equivalent).

http://btwyx.com/SD

 

I've been looking at the PAX results from the individual days:
Saturday: http://www.sccaforums.com/Portals/0/...urdayIndex.pdf
Sunday: http://www.sccaforums.com/Portals/0/...undayIndex.pdf

I fed those into my spreadsheet which compares my results to a bunch of the locals. The Saturday results were OK, in line with my recent results, but not spectacular. If I'd knocked another 0.2s of my Saturday time it would have been one of my best ever performances, so I wasn't too far off. Even if I'd have done that, I'd have been 0.2s adrift from Barbara's time. That would have put me in the top half of the results, which I would have been very pleased with.

The Sunday results were of course bad. If I'd managed to knock the 0.9s off that I new I could, my times would have been about as good as my Saturday time. Again, another 0.2s better than that would make the time pretty good, putting me in the top half again, even beating Barbara.

Yes I screwed up, but my potential is only a fraction of a second from reasonable. So I'm taking heart from the results. Now I just have to find those fractions, and not screw up.

I just signed us up for the Pro at Crow's Landing, and I'll sign up for the tour next week when reg opens.

 

Today was round 5 of the SCCA's championship, out in Oakland again. We were in run group 5, work 6 (of 6 run groups), so we got to sleep in and got to the Coliseum at 11:30 (registration closes at 12), only to be told that run group 1 was still going on. This was not a good sign, it was going to be a long day. We registered, which was quick and painless as they're now rolling out online pre-registration. Pre-regged entries have priority over the rest of the people in line. Cathy signed up to work the gate and I signed up for tech. Mark, the head of tech was trying to put a new regime in place where the trained tech workers would always do tech for their work group. I wasn't sure how this was going to work for work group 6, as by that time its too late to do any tech. I meant to go find Mark to find out what he plan was.

We started to prep the car, but then found out the taco truck had not turned up, and would not be turning up. So we decided to go off site and find some lunch, we were not going to survive to the end of the day without something. After lunch we prepped the car, and then I went to chat to the other MINIs in the paddock. Rob and Michelle were there again. Rob still wasn't fit to drive, so only Michelle was going to run. She was entered in the open class as as she said, there was no one else in the ladies class she's entered in the previous time.

I looked for the owner of a Green Cooper (02-06 generation) which was marked "Fun5 GS". I wanted to ask the driver why Fun5, when the car would regularly run in run group 5, and why GS, when its an HS car. The Cooper has never been in GS, unlike the Cooper-S. I never did find him to talk to him, but eventually worked out he was car number 5 and would be fun running in run group 6. (So real should have been marked "Fun 6 - HS".

There was also a 06 Cooper-S, he seemed to be just spectating and not intending to run.

I did find Mark (head of tech), he didn't have a master plan to cover the work group 6 situation, so I went to find a different work assignment. The event chairman assigned me to work the radio on station 3. If I'd had a choice, I probably would have snagged starter instead.

Eventually (around 2pm, maybe 3pm) was the lunch break and we walked the course. That was when I started having problems. The lap timer didn't want to connect to the GPS, I think it said TomTom was using it (which may have been true), but after quitting TomTom, it still didn't work, so I quite and restarted the lap timer. It then said the ap had expired. It was a beta version and the regular version is now out, I hadn't noticed. So I then tried to down load the real version, but had lots of problems with the ap store. When I finally persuaded it to let me down load it, I couldn't find the right password. When I finally did a password reset, I realized that the problem was Apple insists on a capital letter and I wasn't expecting to have a capital in my password, I only changed it on Friday. I eventually downloaded the ap, but by that time it was too late to mark the start and finish lines. I thought I'd just have to start the timer manually before the run. It wouldn't give times, but at least it would record data.

It was an interesting course. We'd seen some of it from the sidelines. The start went around a very narrow corner before the starting lights. I'd noticed some cars going very slowly around that corner. My plan was to amble down the right side of the entry chute, whip around the corner in first, and change up along the following (narrow) straight. Then it went around a corner with fewer cones hemming it in and past some walls of cones, making a "wallem". I hoped to be able to keep my foot down through the walls and through the following gate. A little later were a couple of right angle corners with a short straight, which had no cones to stop you going wide, so I wondered if you could take it as a long 180 sweeper. The final section had a bus stop leading on to the final straight, I wondered if I could take all that flat as well. The final straight aimed directly at the timing equipment, which seemed unwise. The finish line was just around the final corner. You could break the light beam while still pointing off course without turning much. There was a wide space between two of the cones of the exit chute, which looked just about wide enough to fit a MINI through. I speculated on shooting through the gap looping around and not DNFing by coming back on course through the same gap. In any case, I thought the final corner was going to be trouble.

I hadn't quite got half way around my second walk that the drivers meeting started. One of the announcements was Mark advertising annual tech. He hadn't had the stickers at the last event, so I wanted to pick up a sticker today. I waylaid him on his way out to get that done. Last years annual tech was only valid until the last event. After that we waited for run group 4 to finish. They took quite a while, as it was 5pm before our run group got going. In the meantime Rob and Michelle had to leave due to babysitter problems. I managed to connect to the live results, so I went looking for some results which I could gauge a good time by. I looked at STF, the leader had got a 37, but I also noticed the time was 3rd on the indexed results. I thought I probably couldn't touch that, so I looked down the index list for someone I could get close to. That worked out to give us a target time of 40s. So I was thinking 37-40s was a good range.

At 5:09pm, we finally got to run, I went out first and gave Cathy a lift. I think I might have taken out a cone after the first corner down the start chute. Then I found I couldn't keep my foot down all the way through the walls, I took out a cone at the following gate. The 180 couldn't be take as a sweeper, I was going much to fast for that, attempting to pull that off I started to spin, the back end started coming around. I managed to save that, I'm not sure if I did that with more throttle or counter steering (I need to review the video). Finally coming through the bus stop I couldn't keep my foot down on to the final straight. All in all it felt like there was a remarkable lack of grip. I did wonder if this is because of the "other people's rubber" coating the tires after the San Diego event. I got a 39.2, which seemed very good, as I was only aiming for 40s.

Cathy then went out and gave me a lift. I'd told her where the plan needed to be adjusted as we couldn't quite make it. She came in with a 39.1, which was annoying. What was more annoying was I couldn't examine the data to see where Cathy had done better than me. Without having the lap timer start automatically, you couldn't line up the data to compare them. So I tried to enter a trigger by wondering over to as close the start line as you could stand in the spectator area.

For my second run, I tried to correct some of the issues from my first run. I was successful as I got a 37.4, which was a lot faster than I was expecting. I did think I lost some time braking before the final corner, but despite being triggered the lap time didn't seem to have any usable data. I'm not sure what went wrong. This also meant I couldn't give Cathy any pointers, so she was disappointed. She did however manage a very creditable 38.3.

On my third run I wanted to fix some of the problems I'd had with my second. Particularly trying not to brake before the final corner. That didn't work, I wan't going to make it, so I tried for the gap in the cones, but took one of them out. The run was only a 37.5, so that idea didn't work.

Unfortunately then we had a problem which meant we could't run in Bertie again. However, Brian in the Focus said we could run in his car. I decided to sit on my 37.4, but Cathy took her final two runs in the Focus instead. However, being unfamiliar with the car, she only managed a 43.1 followed by a 40.4. I'd been meaning to take notice of what Brian's times had been but I'd got distracted each time he ran. Looking at the live results, I see he got a best of 38.3. Not only did I beat him convincingly, but Cathy came within 0.078 of beating him too, even on only two runs. If she'd been able to run Bertie for her last two runs, she may managed to overtake him. I think our runs were good, rather than Brian underperforming, as we were 23rd and 58th (out of 187) on index and Brian was 55th, these are very good results for us.


The results aren't out yet, I just have a few I looked up on the live timing. I came first and Cathy 3rd (with Brian 2nd) in HS. Overall, as mentioned I came 23rd and Cathy 58th on index. I was 1.7 "seconds behind". If I got the results right, this is my best ever showing, 1.7s behind and coming in the 12th percentile. My previous best result was slush 2 last year where I got to the 21st percentile of the results and 2.8s behind. Its even better than the last round, if I hadn't made my mistake at the kink. This is a very good result, I'm hoping the real results tell the same story.

I don't have pictures or video yet.

Late update: The results are out: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?pli=1#gid=0 I'm actually 21st in index out of 178. I am 1.7s behind. I am 1st and Cathy 3rd out of 4 in HS. Cathy was 0.077s behind Brian. I managed to beat Chris, who wasn't running the Tangerine scream today, he was codriving in a Red Fiesta ST instead. I just had a thought I might have come so far up the list as several of the top competitors are down at El Torro (Southern CA) for the national pro-solo event.

 

And the video.

My best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxApr14OakBest.mov
Cathy's best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxApr14OakCBest.mov

Me riding off into the sunset around the first corner:



And Cathy in the wallowy Focus:

 

nice job on the finish btw! very impressive. it seems like you guys are improving quickly. i'm still struggling with basic stuff

 

I've been contemplating the results from the weekend, and I've come to the conclusion that we both did amazingly well.

I plotted out the metrics I've used before (see below), and they all point to this being our best ever results. This version has some "might have beens" in it, I've got Slush 3 if I didn't cone and Slush 4 if I hadn't made a mistake at the kink.

My performance on Sunday was about 1.5s better than my previous best, which was Slush 2 last year. Since then, I've been kind of flat, and made mistakes in several runs. This weekend's performance smashed through that in a big way, I'm happy. I keep telling myself, "I must be doing something right".

I did wonder if my results were inflated because a lot of the usual suspects were down at the El Torro pro, but I'm ahead of lots of people who are usually in front of me, so I think the results are for real. One thing that confused me was Henry in STF, he also had a great day, so ended up about as far in front of me as usual, he was 5th in PAX. Also at the pro was Tyler, last year's STF champion. I've been creeping up on his times, and I've been thinking I might beat him sometime soon. This might have been it if he'd been around.

Equally impressive was Cathy's time. She only had two runs, so she might have managed to knock another 0.5-1s off her time if she'd had all four. With only the two runs, she would have beaten me at any of our previous events. I had to pull out an epic performance just to keep ahead of her. With all her runs, I'd have been lucky to end up in front. This is a very good sign, Cathy does show some variability in her performances, but recently the gap between us had been growing I was worried she might get discouraged.

In other news, the next round of the SCCA championship, due for the 27th, has been cancelled. The Golden State Warriors have got into the basketball playoffs and have the bad manners to be playing at home (vs arch rival's LA no less) on that day. We might be able to do the BMW Club event on the 26th instead, but its sold out. We're on the waitlist, but not expecting to be able to run.

We're signed up for both the Pro and Tour at Crow's Landing (June 7-8, and 14-15). At the Pro Cathy is in one of the Ladies indexed classes, so we have an extra seat available and Alex (BAMini) will be taking that. Now if I can only take this form in the tour and pro, I might have a good chance of making an impact.

I need to take this form into the future in general, if I can, I should be able to take the championship. The current standings are at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?pli=1#gid=0 I'm level with Brian in HS, we both have two Wins and two seconds. He may only have one of the firsts because we didn't turn up. I just realised today that we're about 2/3rds of the way through the season (which ends in time for Nationals) and other people are only having their season openers. I like California.

 

Today was the seventh round of the local SCCA's championship at the Oakland Coliseum. Round 6 was cancelled when the Golden State Warriors got into the NBA playoffs, so its been 5 weeks since the last event. The first long break we've had since the start of the season on Feb 1st. We took Bertie of course.

Also for this event we had a guest driver, NAM's very own BAMini (Alex). At the national championships in September, we're planning that Cathy will run in the ladies class, there's sufficient competition to make this feasible. So in the open group I won't have a co-driver, I'd asked on NAM if anyone wanted to take the seat. No one has yet, but Alex was interested in a co-drive at the Crow's Landing Pro-Solo event (in 3 weeks time), Cathy is also in the Ladies group for that. Alex was the ST champion locally in 2011 before leaving the area just about the time we were starting. He's putting together his own MINI to take to Nationals, but needed a Pro event to qualify for the finale. He's also in town this week, so we invited him to drive with us.

We got to the Colliseum at the usual time, around 11:30am, as registration closes at noon, even if we've preregistered. This time we were told that run group 2 was in progress, this was better than the last event (when run group 1 was still in progress), but as time wore on it became obvious it was going to be a long day. It was 2:30 before the morning run groups ended, so we could walk the course. Then it was time to work, most of the good jobs had gone by the time I found the sign up sheet, so I was working the radio at turn 2, Cathy worked the gate. It seemed to take forever for anyone else to join me, and then he said that run groups 4 and 5 had been amalgamated. One group wasn't big enough to provide all the workers needed. So when the run group ended, we didn't have the expected downtime to get things ready. While working the course I was looking at times, and I reckoned that 44s would be a good time.

Luckily we'd got most of the car prepped, but I was having trouble with the new GPS device. I got the updated version of the GPS device I've been using previously. The new one will provide fixes at 10Hz, rather than the 4-5Hz the current one does. It should also be more accurate, as it can receive signals from the Russian GPS constellation (GLONAS). However, when I'd tried it out it was a little flaky and the iPhone didn't always manage to connect to it. This was one of the times it didn't want to connect. Amid the first few runs I tried to get it to work, restarting everything, but nothing worked. So I fell back to using the old GPS unit, which then worked flawlessly.

The run group wasn't very large, and we were the only three driver car. The grid guy said he'd cycle us through as fast as we could manage it. We tried to do fast changeovers, but still the grid was empty as I made my last run, and everyone had to wait for Cathy to get ready.

I asked Alex if he wanted to go first, he didn't mind. I got a lift. His driving was very aggressive, at times I was thinking I wouldn't treat Bertie like that. He did get a 44.2 though, which was just about my target. I went out next, and gave Cathy a lift. I had problems with several of the corners and with braking. I just didn't have the grip I expected and messed up in several places. The first 180 was particularly bad, the first not slalom (a kink really) and the far corner. I ended up with a slightly disappointing 46.0. Cathy's first run was a 48.1.

We had to hustle to get ready for the next run, so I didn't have time to check out the data and see where me or Cathy could improve. For my second run, I still messed up in several places, including the first 180, and only got a 45.6. Meanwhile Alex was into the 43s and Cathy managed a 46.7.

While waiting in the queue for the next run, I managed to sneak a look at the data. I was 1.5s behind Alex, I lost a whole second of that around that first 180 I was messing up. Another half second was in the back not slalom (just another kink). So I tried to do something about that. I made a much better go at the first 180, the data shows I made up a half second vs my previous run. The tires also seemed to be gripping better. I totally messed up the back not slalom though. I messed up the element before it and was on the wrong line approaching the kink. I was headed the wrong side of a cone, so I decided to mow it down rather than DNF. Then I did the same for the next two cones, I'd given up on the run for a score, but I wanted to see if my time was any good. It wasn't, a 46.3 was my slowest run. Cathy also came in with a 46.3 (0.002 behind me), but that was her best run up till then. Alex also said he had problems on that run.

For the last run I was trying to hold it together, while attacking the first 180 more aggressively and not screwing up the not slaloms. I managed it, I came in with a 44.5. Meanwhile Alex had got a 43.? and Cathy came home with a 45.9. All of these elicited whoops from us individually.

I'm still eagerly awaiting the results to see how we did, and I need to make a study of the video and the data to see where Alex was gaining time and what I can learn from him. A preliminary glance at the data shows I'm still losing most of a second in that first 180. Most of the rest of the 1.5s comes in the back not slalom. Comparing our data, it looks a lot like when I compare Cathy's data to mine. I can see where extra speed gains time, and the extra speed is gotten through earlier, or more decisive use of the throttle.

Comparing mine and Cathy's times, she lost half a second in the first not slalom, that was an important cone, and then a whole second in the corner on the far right. That looked like it might be possible to carry a lot of speed through that which would make a difference. Me and Alex managed to carry the speed, Cathy turned in a bit early and lost the speed. That one corner makes a whole second difference.

Alex's comments about Bertie are encouraging, he's a lot better set up than his own MINI (which currently has the standard suspension). He does think Bertie could do with a touch more oversteer. I'd probably agree with him on that, I've been surprised at how little over steer we've managed to tune in, despite having the rear bar set to full stiff. I may need to start playing with rear tire pressures.

I have video of course.

Alex's best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxMay14OakBest.mov
My best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxMay14OakBBest.mov
Cathy's best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxMay14OakCBest.mov

Here's Alex approaching the first not slalom:



And me at the same corner:



and Cathy crossing the finish line:

 

The preliminary results are out. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Alex's best run was a 43.7, both his 2nd and his 4th runs were very close (and as he said he messed up his 3rd). Ideally you want to be starting fast, and getting to your best by your second run. If you're still improving on your 4th run, then you're going to lose times at a national event where you only get three goes. That's one reason why my runs were disappointing, I messed up the earlier runs and only got fast towards for the 4th run.

In HS, Alex got first, I was second, Brian in the Focus was 3rd 0.3s behind me, and Cathy 4th out of 5. The championship points haven't been updated yet, but I think that puts me ahead of Brian in the championship overall. I make the points 880, 850, 610 for Me, Brian and Cathy.

Overall (indexed), Alex was 11th, I was 33rd, and Cathy 70th out of 176 entries. Alex was 1.3 "seconds behind", I was 2.5 and Cathy 4.5 seconds behind. My performance was not as good as the last event, but that was my best ever result, this result was maybe one of my best three. My result at the last event was about as good as Alex's at this event, except Alex got even higher in the indexed results. Cathy's result was better than most of her recent results except the last event, which was also her best ever.

 

I've been analysing the video of me and Alex to see where I was losing the time. That was part of the point of having Alex co-drive. I made the graph below which shows the time difference between us at various points around the course.

Overall, Alex is just faster overall, but there are three places where we gained or lost large chunks od time. Other places we took different lines, and traded time but overall there wasn't much difference.

Overall Alex was maybe 0.5-1s faster. As I said, I think at my best I could have equalled Alex's time, but Alex made one big mistake, which cost him 0.45s. I don't think I could have equalled 0.45s under his time. If he hadn't made the mistake and got a time 0.45s lower (43.290s), that would have been good enough for 5th fastest overall by index, which is very impressive, there's some very fast drivers in the top 5. Its nice to know that my car is fast enough to do that, now if I could only go that fast.

Alex's mistake was over at the far corner (4 on the graph). We traded time on the approach and Alex was approaching the corner faster and straighter, I was going slower and approaching more on a curve. He braked fractionally later, maybe only 0.1s later, but with more speed and the different line, this took him too deep into the corner. I'd guess about 5ft deeper than me, this made it difficult to get around the next cone.

My first big mistake was around the first 180 (1), I lost about 0.4s just because of the one mistake. Alex braked much earlier, a whole 0.8s earlier. He then managed to perfect double apex around the two pointer cones and get off down the straight much quicker. I missed the first apex and was 10% slower exiting the corner.

My other mistake was just after I gained the time due to Alex's mistake, I messed up entering the back not a slalom (5), so I had to lose speed to get around the following cone. I lost about 0.65s. Alex's line was more what I planned to do, he braked about 0.6s earlier, so managed to get a faster exit from the corner, and could continue to accelerate down the back, where I was off the power until I got the following cone.

We also traded time in places, at the second apex of the second 180 (2), I approched it much quicker and gained 0.2s back on entry, only to lose that and more through the following cones. At the sweeper over to the bottom right (3), I again approached much quicker and Alex exited quicker. Overall we ended up about equal, but it set Alex up for his mistake. There was a similar story round the final corner and through the "wallem" (6). Its interesting to see the effect the different lines have, you usually don't get to be able to compare them like that.

 

Today was the second round of the BMW Club's season at Marina. We didn't get to the first round, it originally clashed with the SCCA's round 6, by the time we knew that had been cancelled, the BMW event had filled up. The course map was published in advance as is usual, it looked like this:



My thought was that the straight from 1-2 would be the most important element, so it was important to get a good launch off the corner at 1. The slalom and the two straights at right angles (4-5) would also be important. It looks like you'll get a good run at the slalom, so coner 2 would be important. I wasn't sure if the "bus stop" (2-1) would count as a straight or not.

We took Bertie though I changed my plans for which tires to bring. I had planned to use the r-comp tires on 15" wheels. The way BMW classing works, you get points for you car and points for modifications you make to your car. Then up to 39 points is class C, 40-49 points Class B, then 10 points for A, AA, AAA and Gonzo if more than 90 points. The modifications I'd made to Bertie to take full advantage of the SCCA's rules had brought him to 38 (top of Class C) or 40 points (bottom of class B) depending on which wheels I used. I wanted to run the same class all year, so I hatched the plot to run r-comp tires on the 15" wheels, the r-comps are worth 10 point which would take me to 48 points or near the top of B class.

However in the SCCA competition I was worried that we'd wear out the tires we'd been using on the 16" wheels (Dunlop ZII). These tires are now discontinued and out of stock in our size, and I want them to last until the national championships in September. So in order to help them last I'd got some alternate tires to fit our other wheels (17" ones regularly for Algy's track tires), we're going to use them at the upcoming "Pro Solo" national event in two weeks time to save the wear on the regular tires. I didn't however have tires pressures for them, so I'd been gathering some data and decided to run the 17" wheels at this event to confirm we got the right pressures.

Walking the course my plot was to get a good launch off the start, brake as necessary to get a late apex and a good launch at the first corner. Point towards the corner at 2 for a early apex .Try to keep my foot down through the bus stop, brake as necessary to make a late apex at 1 and got a good launch towards the slalom. Pass the first slalom cone on the power, at a slight angle, and brake next to the second slalom cone. Exiting the slalom move to the left for the corner on the bottom left. Go for an early apex at the first apex at 4, and keep to the right for the second apex, leading to a late apex on to the straight. I'd need to brake to get around the right angle, carrying speed around the corner would help. At the final "twiddles", keeping left then right and getting around the final corner however I could manage it.

We were in the first group to run, and we were one of only two two driver cars, so I was first out. When I got onto the course, it was difficult to get pointed in the right direction so I had to back up to align myself. I asked the started where were were supposed to line up, she didn't seem to mind, so I decided to line up as far back as possible to get going as fast as possible by the time I got to the timing lights. Most cars had to back up a bit here, it was unusual. You had to make sure you weren't following too closely getting to the line.

My first run was not very spectacular. I messed up several corners, particularly the sweepers at 2 and 4, and the twiddles at the end. I decided that changing up to second after the first corner was probably the way to go, even if that meant you needed to change up at an awkward time exiting the corner. There was problem with the timing, so I didn't get a time for that run. We'd already been told the first run was for practice only and didn't count, so no reruns and in this case no time. The lap timer was also having problems, so it wasn't telling me either. Analysing the data later, I see the time was around 53.9.

I had the new GPS unit, it was working this time, but the lap timer was having troubles. It managed to trigger at the start, but then it also triggered while coming around 1 on the loop. So it timed the course in two segments as two different lap times. I tried using an alternate start trigger (standing start), but that didn't work at all, so I let it time the laps in two halves. I tried to put the data back together later, but not very successfully.

Cathy didn't get a time for her first run either, but the data says it was a 57.2.

For my second run, I tried to fix the problems I'd had in the first run. I can't remember exactly how I did, but I did get a 52.8. Cathy came in with a 54.8. I then started having big trouble with the final twiddles. I was distinctly sideways on one run. I was also having trouble with the sweepers at 2 and 4. I tried braking earlier, but that just seemed to slow me down. My third run was worse, 53.4. My 4th run was quicker (52.6) but I overcooked the right angle at 5 and took out a cone at the exit. I was more careful on subsequent runs. My fifth run was my best with a 52.5, but the timeslip noted 52.8. The timing display was playing up again, so it wasn't showing and the timeslip guy had to radio in for a time, and then mistranscribed it. We had six runs in all, my last was a 52.7. I didn't think this was incredibly impressive and I left a lot of time in those corners I messed up. I was finding it a bit

Unusually Cathy's third run gathered 3 cones, and she only got a 55.1. Her best run was also her 5th run with a 53.8. I was trying to give a few coaching tips based on the data, even with the lap timer playing up. She was losing a lot of time exiting the slalom and then the two straights around 5. Concentrating on the launch on the straight at the exit of 4 would be the way to go. For Cathy's last run I was watching and I could hear her get a good launch for the start. You can hear a good launch it has just the right amount of scabbing tires.

Though reviewing the data I see that she lost 0.9s in the first 60ft. When I was coaching her, I thought that was just the lap timer playing up, but now I think it was real. As the starter didn't care where you started from, if you backed up more you'd be going faster as you crossed the timing lights. I was doing 18mph, Cathy 5mph at the lights. You then got to keep all that extra speed down the initial straight. I backed up as far as I could, Cathy didn't bother. I didn't think it made all that much difference, but the data makes it look very stark. 0.9s in 60ft is a lot at autocross. Whenever I've been the starter I choose a start line and male sure all the cars get to at least that line. Good auto crossers will always try to start from further back if possible, and I insist they get to the line I set. Obviously this can make quite a difference. This is also a difference between the BMW club and the SCCA, the SCCA usually has a right angle turn before the timing lights, making the launch much less important. The BMW club usually has a straight shot, where obviously the launch is important.

After lunch it was our time to work. I'd been assigned computer entry and Cathy had been assigned timeslips. With the problems the timing equipment had been having, Cathy wasn't looking forward to this. I've never done computer entry before, so I got a quick course. I basically had to listen to the starter radio in the car numbers and enter them in the computer. Also if there were any cone penalties etc, I'd enter those. Simple enough, except as I'd found out previously its difficult to hear radio transmission in a noisy trailer. Most of the time I just waited for the car to come by the trailer and entered the number from what I could see. there was also someone working the radio who told me of the cone counts, so I didm't have to be listening hard for those. Even so, I managed to mess up a few times. I'd suddenly find the times were not being credited to the right car, and it wasn't obvious where the error was. Luckily there was a guy sitting next to me writing it all down manually as a check (I'd done this job when I went to a Fresno event last year). Hopefully the powers that be can sort out the mess.

While I was working the computer, I took a peek at my results. My best time is listed as 52.505, not 52.850 as on my timeslip. It lists this as 7th in class, though some of the results at the top of the class looked like errors.

Meanwhile the timing display was playing up, so Cathy was radioing in with requests for times. I'd hear this, I'd look up the time and tell the radio guy. He could then try to communicate this to Cathy via radio. It didn't always work very well. At first Cathy had been telling those with blank times to enquire at the trailer on the way back, which is what I would have suggested. However, someone came over and said she should radio in for the information as instead.

The results aren't out yet, so I don't know how we did. I don't think it was very spectacular. I was finding it difficult to get motivated as I was using this as just an exercise in getting the right tire pressures, and never felt like I was in competition. I did talk to Rafael, he's driving a car with 49 points so is at the top of class B. He was one of the people I was going to have to beat to get anywhere, I think he said he got a 51.7. Maybe if I'd had the r-comp tires. Maybe if I'd felt more pressure.

I have video:

My best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxBMWMay14Best.mov
Cathy's best run: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxBMWMay14MaCBest.mov


Looking across the start line to the corner which passed close to the start:




And Cathy at the same corner from a different angle:

 

This got very long, so the tl;dr version is we baked at the Crow's Landing Pro Solo, we didn't do stunningly well, our guest driver did very well and we had trouble wrangling workers. There are pictures at the end.

This weekend we were at the "Pro Solo" national event at Crow's Landing. This was much anticipated in the local area, we were hosting this one. Crow's Landing is over in the Central Valley of California, about and hour and a half from hear over the mountains. The Central Valley is hot at the best of times, and as we're going through a bit of heatwave, the forecast was ominously threatening 106°F heat.

As the local region was hosting, and I'd been going to the local steering committee meetings, I got to be "Chief of Workers". This was explained to me to be mainly checking off workers heading out to their work assignment, making sure all the jobs get done and that everyone works. This one one of the jobs I'd done while being co-chair of the event a while ago. At a national event the chairs have all the chiefs to do all the work they'd normally do. As I also needed to compete, Cathy was also made Chief of Workers, as we were running in different groups, she could cover when I was running and vice-versa. I thought that as the actual work was at the beginning of the run groups, I should be able to get away to coach her and take pictures while she was running.

We took Bertie, I was entered in the "Street Index Front Wheel Drive" (SF) class and Cathy in the "Ladies 2" (L2) class. SF is for all Street class cars which are front wheel drive, which is mainly HS and GS cars. There are some FWD cars in DS, but none of those were entered. L2 was a class for all Street Class cars, there were AS, CS, DS, ES, GS and HS cars entered. We again had Alex along as guest driver, he was trying to gather enough Pro solo entries to be eligible for the Pro Solo Finale, which happens the weekend before the regular National Championships in September in lincoln, NE. You need to at least competed in two Pros to be eligible for the Finale. As Me and Cathy were in different classes (as we will be at the Nationals) we had the seat spare. Only two people per car can be entered in any one class, and any car can be entered in at most two classes.

To save wear on our regular competition tires, I again took our alternate tires on the 17" wheels. I decided to add 5psi of air in the rear tires to add a little more oversteer. The last time Alex drove he said he'd prefer a little more oversteer, so this was an attempt to aid that.

Pro Solo is a bit of a different format than the usual autocross we're used to. My theory is its the SCCA trying to make a format which would do well on TV. The big differences are you compete head to head with a drag race start. You compete head to head as there are two courses, left and right which are a mirror image of each other. For a good driver it really shouldn't make a difference if you run the course on one side or the other, in real life things may be different. You come up to the start line simultaneously with another car in your class on the other side, then get sent off together by the start lights. With each set of runs you get two runs on each course, alternating sides. After each run you go straight to the queue for the other side. So it goes very quickly with none of the usual time between runs to let things cool down. In a normal national autocross, you're not allowed to run less than 10 minutes after the car's last run. At the Pro we were doing all four runs in about 12 minutes.

You get three sets of runs, on Saturday Morning, Saturday Afternoon, and Sunday Morning. The Saturday Morning runs are done so the lowest numbered cars go first. The following two sets of runs are done so the fastest cars go first. This would mean there's always a possibility of a lead change to up the tension. If the slowest went first, the faster drivers might know they'd won before starting which would spoil the story. After all the runs, there are the challenge rounds. Where pairs of cars go in an elimination format. To cope with cars of varying speed, the start light go at different time so in theory the cars should finish at the same time and its simply the first across the finish line which wins. The start delay being decided by the index. The index is like the usual index we use to compare cars of different classes, but is derived specifically from Pro solo results and the numbers are different. Front wheel drive cars especially suffer with the drag race start, so their index is lower than normal. Some people think its a bit too low, including the guy who won the SF class, and came second overall by index.

The drag race starts are also different, and they have time set aside to practice them on Friday. At the start line there is a "Christmas Tree" of lights and there are three light beams. There's "Stage 1", "Stage 2" and the reaction timer beam. As you get to the line you first break the Stage 1 light beam and the top light on the tree labeled "Stage 1" comes on. Then you break the "Stage 2" beam and two lights labelled "Stage 2" next down on the tree come on. You can set yourself up anywhere between the stage 2 beam and the reaction beam, but its to your advantage to be as far back as possible, just breaking the stage 2 beam. Some drivers will reverse to get the best position.

Meanwhile, while you're staging, there's a 20 second counter counting down, its in 2 foot high numbers. If all goes well, it starts counting down when the previous car leaves the line. This gives you 20 seconds to get staged and ready. If all isn't going well, the starter may do that manually. Once the counter counts down to zero, a buzzer goes off, and a little while later the lights start going down the tree. There are three yellow lights, and a green light, the light moves down at half second intervals. When it gets to the green you're free to start. You're not allowed a reaction time of under half a second, 0.500, which would be spoken as "Five Hundred". The reaction time is measured from when the green light goes on to when you break the third light beam. If your "reaction" is under 500 the green light goes out and the bottom, red, light comes on. This is unimaginatively called "red lighting".

So we made sure to there early enough on Friday to register and get some practice starts. We bought 8 starts each. I knew that starting was going to be new and novel, so I wanted to get used to the idea before we had to do it for real. The other thing was to find out exactly when you need to start. There's nothing to stop you putting the car in motion anytime, you just can't break the third light beam at less than 500. So you need to work out when you need to dump the clutch etc to cross that light beam at the right time, I'd say 501 would be perfect leaving yourself 1/1000th of a second margin.

With our first starts we found ourselves with a reaction time of around 1000, obviously we needed to start earlier. So then we'd try setting off at the last yellow, the reaction time was still too high, so then it was set off a couple of ticks after the second yellow light came on. That seemed to be not far off, Cathy managed a 537 for one of her practice starts. She also got a red light at about 495. (Ie 0.005s too fast.) I was still getting times in the 7-800's when we run out of practice runs, I was going to have to tune my starts during competition. Which was not the ideal circumstance.

After the practice starts I set out to walk the course. It was stinking hot, so Cathy decided she didn't want to suffer. I did my best to describe the course to her later. With essentially 12 runs on the same course you do get quite a bit of practice at it making walking not quite so important as if you only have the usual 3 runs. Crow's Landing is a disused airfield, the Navy built it during WWII and then NASA used it for a while, it was an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle. Unlike some other airports used for autocross, there is no large apron to run on, here we were using the runways. The course was laid out with the start at the centre of the two runways which cross at about 60°, and each course went down each runway. The runways lend themselves to long thin courses, a course can be as long as you want, but can't be very wide.

The course started off down a "chute" for the drag start, then took a turn down each runway. There were some "walls" (pairs of cones with chalk lines joining them), and a single pointer cones. I called these the "wigglies". The walls were quite offset to make it more difficult to get around. After the walls there was a line of pointer cones pointing right the way across the runway, obviously it wanted you to go to the other side. It wasn't immediately obvious what to do now, whether you went round the end of the line of pointers or carried on. There was also a single cone with double pointers on the other side, I thought you might need to go around that. On further reflection, I noted you weren't looking at the dual pointers as pointers, so concluded that must be for the run back. There was no cone at the end of the line of pointers, so I concluded that you went past it, not around it. (I later learnt that the course designer originally put a standing cone at the end of the line of pointers, but on review it was decided that was telling you you needed to go around that cone, not past the pointers, so the cone was deleted.)

After the pointers there was the "roundabout", five cones you had to sweep around for the run back to the finish. The line of pointers the pointed you back across the course to the cone with dual pointers which was now obviously meant to be got around. There was an awkward offset single pointer, and then you got into a five cone slalom to the finish. It was obvious this was going to be a fast course, I was expecting to need third going past the line of pointers. I was also thinking chopping off the entry to the roundabout to save time would be an advantage, but I'd need to run wider on exit to gain more speed.

The next morning we showed up early and prepped the car and sent Cathy off to grid and then I started checking off workers. I also had to assign the workers on the fly to the various worker stations on course, trying to make sure there was a balanced number at each station. Another part of the job was to get an announcement made to chase up any workers who hadn't been checked off. A final part of the job was to report to the event steward (Sandi) about any workers who hadn't showed up. If someone didn't work, they could have their times erased.

Cathy's group went to run at about the time I got the announcer to make the announcement of late workers. So I stuck around the timing trailer to assist. I didn't need to do much apart from take pictures, Alex was doing most of the coaching. On her first run, Cathy red lighted with a 393, I suggested wait a tick longer before launching. Her next was not so hot 890, but her third launch was a near perfect 527. I just said she should carry on doing that, but her 4th run was a slightly over eager 495, just 0.005s to fast, but at least she had a good run on both courses. Then I had to get back to check in workers for the next group, while Cathy went to impound (as is usual at these events). When the preliminary results came out she was 7th out of 8, which is better than expected, we were expecting to be that the bottom of our classes. 8th was a novice from our region, I'd noticed her earlier as she was having reaction times of 1.9s or so, and didn't look like she was going terribly fast in her Miata. Cathy's times were around 40-41s, which was obviously on the low side, but she had 8 more runs to practice. Cathy usually gets better a bit slowly and needs more runs to get to her best.

When Cathy's class was released from impound I'd largely finished checking in the workers, I handed over the clipboard, radio and "vest of power" and went to get myself to grid for my first runs. (The Chief of Workers has a distinctive red vest we took to calling the "vest of power", it magically conferred us with authority over workers.) When I'd been doing my bit as Chief I'd also had my first annoyed customer. Some one came off course complaining that their relief hadn't shown up. We had several of those. Unfortunately, with the way we were ordered in the run groups, I'd check in the first two run groups, then Cathy would take over when I got ready to run. That was when the annoyed customers showed up, so Cathy had to deal with them without me to help. At one point I was collared by a very annoyed worker coming off the course, I had to direct him to talk to Cathy. There was one guy who said he worked two shifts and no one came to replace him, so he left.

Part of the problem was I was a little confused by what was going on, being new to this. When it was time to check in the shift b workers I didn't realize this. I looked to see what was running and I saw the first run group was still running. I was confused by the two driver cars. The run groups were split into two halves. One half went out, then the next half. The cars with two drivers went back to grid to cool off. After a suitable delay they went to run. That meant the second drivers were actually running in the middle of the group following. So I'm seeing run group one is still in progress and not worrying about checking in shift b workers, while it was really the middle of run group 2 and shift b workers should already be on course.

For the later run groups, which Cathy dealt with there was also the problem that workers couldn't work until they were released from impound. As with all national events, after you run you got to impound until the preliminary results are out. You're only released from impound when everyone in a class agrees that there's no problem with the results. The results could take some time to show up, especially as the second half of the groups couldn't even get results until the two driver cars had run, by which time it was half way through the next run group and time for the workers to be checking in.

There was also a problem that some drivers didn't check in, then we had to chase them with an announcement. Some still didn't check in, so we told the chief steward. We also learnt that some workers checked in then didn't go to take up their station, leaving the workers out on course to carry on working. At one point Cathy did an audit of who was out there, she did find some workers who were checked in and not at their assigned station. I don't know what happened to that information, but if it were up to me I'd have thrown them out of the event. By the time I was finished with my runs and out of impound, Cathy had checked in all the workers for the last two groups. Then we started the cycle again on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

By the time I got to grid, I was feeling the effects of having been out in the sun too long. It wasn't yet terribly warm, high 70's, but the sun was brutal. I wasn't feeling my best. In the SF class, there was Alex of course as well as several people I knew from the local area, including Mark (who I'll call "Fast Mark"). Fast Mark had been driving one of the Focus ST's to very great effect including top 3 index results and winning GS at the San Diego event. There was also Chris in the Tangerine Scream (another Focus ST), three Fiesta STs as well as Rob in the Red MINI we see locally, he had a co driver with him. There was also the other Mark in a Mazda 3 who'd just pipped me (by 0.050s) at the San Diego event.

Given that it was so hot, we were a little concerned about tire temperatures. The Dunlop ZII tires I had liked cooler temperatures. They seem to work well at around 120°F. When I got to grid after Cathy's runs the tires were already around 120°F. With the ambient temperature and the concentrated back to back runs we were expecting the tires to be quite toasty by the time a set of runs were finished. Alex had borrowed a water sprayer if we needed it. A lot of competitors spray their tires with water between runs to cool them to their optimum operating temperature. I've never been convinced by this practice, wet tires don't seem like a good thing. Also I've never had, or never noticed, a problems with over heated tires.

I was first up, and things went quickly. You don't have much time to think between runs, they went by in about 12 minutes. I was concentrating on calibrating my reaction times, I got some 800s and a 700 then red lighted with a 359. I settled on two ticks after the second yellow as my go point. The counter counts down to about 3-4 seconds and I'd put it in gear, and hold the handbrake on with the button pushed in. At zero I'd raise the clutch to the bite point, I notice the car wanting to go and is held with the handbrake. When the lights come on, I'd give it more gas, I'm concentrating on the lights, but I'm hoping for 3-4k revs. At my launch point the gas goes down. the clutch comes up and the handbrake goes down simultaneously. This is much as I was taught to drive a stick back in Britain when I was 17, with a longer hold on the clutch and more revs. I'm sure this is not good for the clutch, so I really don't want to do too many Pros. Out on the run I was riding the limiter, it felt like I was riding it for about 5 seconds, so in subsequent runs I put in a shift to third (when I didn't forget). The data shows it was only about 1.5s.

As things go so quickly I didn't have much time to consider my run times until impound, I did notice I was 39/40 ish. Then it was back to grid to cool off and get ready for Alex's runs. We didn't bother with the water sprayer, but the tires were quite toasty around 140°F. When Alex ran he started with a 846 reaction, then red lighted with 471. However he was running 37s and 38s, a lot faster than me. He was paired with Rob in the Red MINI, so I got some pictures of them starting head to head. When the results came out, I was at the back of the class as expected, Alex was nearer the front. I was surprised to see I was ahead of Mark (the fast one in the Focus) because he red lighted both runs on one side. His runs on the other side were 35s and 36 so he was as expected, very fast. I was also ahead of the other Mark, but it looked like that was only because of cones. His raw times may have been faster.

Unfortunately the lap timer was playing up a bit. It doesn't like having multiple triggers at the best of times, but it plain refused to put in one trigger for the start of each course. I had to compromise and put in one trigger about where the light tree was. That way it would be a start trigger for each side, but it'd trigger after your launch, so the data wouldn't tell you how well you launched. There was however data the live timing gave you, as well as your reaction time was you "60 foot" time. (Ie the time to travel the first 60 feet.) After Alex's runs I noticed the lap timer had hung. Once I'd rebooted the iPhone and it had checked its data base it had lost all data for Alex's runs. I could have a quick squint at how I was comparing to Cathy, and I found it didn't like comparing data from different sides of the course. I don't understand what its problem is, but it thinks you're not going anywhere when it compares data between course. I was thinking that this would be a useful tool to compare the two sides.

I tried to compare mine and Cathy's runs and it thought that Cathy was faster than I was. At the time this was puzzling, because the results at the time showed I was faster. One 41s run and one 41s run including a cone (39s raw time). The final results magically knocked two seconds of Cathy's first time. I'm not sure what's going on there.

In the afternoon we did it again. I checked in workers and Cathy went to grid. I was more concentrating on the workers this time, so I didn't have much time to see Cathy run. I though she improved, but the results show she slowed down to several 40s runs. After swapping roles we went to grid and Alex was up first (as fastest go first). I was again suffering from being out in the sun and was seriously considering withdrawing from the Sunday competition, but that would cause too many problems so we eventually decided to stick with it. Alex went really fast but coned every run, sometimes spectacularly, three at once, and he also gathered an "Off Course". I think the "Off Course" is a new idea, I've certainly never hear it before. If you miss a cone instead of getting a DNF and no time, you now have an "Off Course" and 10 seconds added to your time. The raw times were 36's.

After Alex's runs the front tires were really toasty, 160° or so, so we sprayed them down with water. That cooled the tire surface, but they heated up again, so we sprayed them again. The rear tires were pretty well at optimum temperature 120°. My first attempt was only incrementally faster than my previous runs. Then between runs Alex was coaching and said he only lifted once through the wigglies, I wasn't sure I could manage that, but he said I had to believe the car could. So I went out trying to believe. I didn't entirely manage it and several times was on the edge of losing it but managed to keep the car pointing forwards. My belief was rewarded with a 38, and rest of my runs were 38s. I also managed a 527 reaction, as well as a 594, I was pleased. I was running against Rob's co-driver in the Red MINI, it was interesting to see your competition head to head like that. You could gauge the start and see if the other driver was ahead and again at the finish line you could glance over and see how you were doing. (Mostly I was behind.)

The results for the session showed that Fast Mark was insanely fast, he got some clean starts and was sitting on a pair of 35s way ahead of everyone. The other Mark had managed a clean run and was a fraction of a second ahead of me. This was looking depressingly similar to San Diego where he just squeaked the win (by .054s). Alex didn't advance thanks to all his cones and was languishing some way down the order.

Over night I considered the data, and downloaded a lot of photos and video. There was 100GB of video and 900 pictures. The pictures were interesting, they showed Alex got the car to rotate a lot. The camera would take a picture every 0.2s and you could see the car move from one to another. When the car was pointing in entirely different directions in adjacent frames I wondered how he got it to do that.

The lap timer behaved itself, so I compared data. It showed that Alex was not even lifting entirely through the wigglies, he was feathering the throttle, about half throttle. We tended to be either all on or all off. It also showed that Alex was going a lot faster through the wigglies and to the roundabout. I caught up most of that time by chopping off the entry to the roundabout, then lost it with a lower exit speed from the roundabout. He also gained a lot of time in the slalom, where he was insanely fast. Cathy was mainly losing time in the exit from the roundabout, she was lifting to get round the exit cone. I suggested she needed to keep her foot down on the exit, there was no reason to lift.

Also revealing was Alex's attempt to change up to third. He'd been saying he was on the limiter for a while, and in his final run changed up. On one of his runs he was almost at the limiter through the wigglies, this made me glad I had the ZII tires which were taller, if we'd had the Rivals (which are shorter) he'd definitely have been hitting the limiter before the wigglies. out of the wigglies he rode the limiter for 5s until he got to the roundabout. I'm not sure that's good for the car. When he changed up he was riding the limiter for 2.5s then changed up and gained 5mph. I initially miscalculated the effect of this and thought it gained him 0.2s overall, he lost time while changing up and gained time while going faster. The net was only about 0.05.

The next morning started earlier so we didn't have quite so much time. I prepped the car while Cathy checked off workers. What I didn't notice at the time was I forgot to plug the internal video camera into power. When I got things sorted I took over the vest of power and Cathy went to run. I'd suggested the improved exit from the roundabout. She managed a pair of 39s. Though her last run is listed as a 308 reaction time, but not a red light. I'm puzzled by that. One of the 39s was exactly the same time as her fast run from Saturday morning 39.709. Her other fast time was a 533 reaction time, she's good at this.

We swapped roles again and I got to grid. At grid I was discussion my findings in the data with Alex. He was interested when I (erroneously) said the change up was worth 0.2s and decided to do a change up. He complain in his attempt he'd messed up the downshift. We also discussed our approaches to the roundabout. He was deliberately taking a wide line all the way around to keep up his speed. My idea was to chop the entry and take a wide exit.

Alex was up first again, and he got his two fastest times a 36.1 and a 36.36.5. He red lighted his final run, but the timing shows it was slower than his other run on that side. he managed one of his fastest reactions with a 531. He was running against Rob in the Red MINI which made for some interesting pictures. Then it was back to grid for my runs. We sprayed the tires again.

For my runs I tried to find a good line exiting the roundabout. I must have managed it because I found myself looking at the cone on the other side of the course thinking I'm not going to make it around the cone and having to brake. Though looking at the data gaining that speed cost me a lot of time. I did make up a lot of time by going faster into the slalom. I managed an incrementally better time on one side and then had my last run, I red lighted with a 483. I saw this immediately, there's a handy display you can read your reaction time off of by the start chute. I swore and kept my foot down. Even if the run didn't count, this one was going to be for me. I got a reasonable exit from the roundabout, but lost most of second to Alex doing it. I managed to almost match his insane speed in the slalom and got a 37.837 0.6s faster than my previous best, which of course didn't count, but it was satisfying.

While waiting in impound for the results the drivers were discussing things, including fast Mark saying he thought he got too much help from the index for GS. The Focus ST has a lot of power and has the ability to get it down. Conversely Alex was thinking it's be impossible to do well at a Pro in a MINI because its index is too stiff. Alex was asking Mark if he had a co driver at the finale available. The results showed I again lost out to the other Mark, this time by .3s, this is becoming a habit. I took to calling him my nemesis. If I hadn't red lighted that last run, I'd have pipped him. Fast Mark was first of course, Alex 3rd to one of the locals in a Fiesta ST. Rob in the Red MINI had slipped to 5th, ahead of Chris in the Tangerine Scream. Rob's co-driver in the Red MINI who I'd been driving head to head against was 2 seconds ahead of me.

Later I was looking over the live timing which was available online and it showed Chris higher up, with a couple of 33 on one side. This was obviously a mistake as the official results (posted on paper) showed him with 36's. I don't know what happened there.

Things then wound down. After all the runs finished there was a lull giving time for any protests, and then it went to the elimination competition. There was also the bonus challenge for which entry was by drawing lots. This has the effect of encouraging people to stick around a while longer if they didn't get into the challenges, so they could be workers for the challenges. The host region is supposed to supply the workers for the challenges, only 13 workers are needed and 18 were still there. I didn't work as I was feeling distinctly ill when I was out in the sun, Cathy did work the first half of the challenges. Eventually there was a bonus winner, a ladies winner and a super challenge winner and there was the trophy presentations. I noted the car's thermometer was saying 100° at the start of presentations and 104° when we were leaving. Alex got his trophy for coming third.

Its interesting to note that Alex's time was good enough to come second in STF, 0.6 seconds behind the winner. STF was dominated by MINIs, though STF MINIs are supposedly faster than HS MINIs. On index Alex was 2s faster than the STF winner. Next week we're back at Crow's Landing for the National Tour event. As this is also a round of the championship for us, both me and Cathy are in HS. Alex will be in STF for practice, he'll be co-driving with me in HS at Nationals in September. He's looking for a Focus ST to co-drive in the Pro Finale though. The weather for next weekend is threatening "only" 93°, but that sounds pretty bad. We're not on the hook for any chief position, so won't have to be out in the sun so much.

Its also gratifying that Alex was saying how much better Bertie is than his own MINI. Alex's MINI currently still has the stock suspension and he is behind in his efforts to prepare it to a suitable level for national competition. Its also gratifying to know that Bertie can be faster than Rob's Red MINI, that one has the uprated JCW suspension, but only 5.5" wide wheels (compared to Bertie's 7" wide wheels) and skinnier tires (205 vs 215, or 225). That MINI did win nationals in someone else' s hands.

I don't have video yet, it'll take some sorting out. One problem is the battery on the internal camera ran out sometime during my last set of runs (as I didn't plug it in).

The results are out, that's one good thing about national events, the results are known before you leave the site.

Class results: http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...20results1.pdf

Reaction time and 60' times: http://www.scca.com/assets/results/C...RT_60'.pdf

We didn't do as well as we have. Our performance was about as good as the beginning of this year. We've had some much better results recently, particularly round 5. We'd have to drop about 1 second a side to equal our best results. Alex of course did very well, he was only 0.081s out of second place.


This picture made me laugh, one of Alex's cones and a worker with a parasol running to get it:




Alex facing off against Rob:




Looking through the heat haze at me coming down the slalom:




Cathy facing off Shelly, who came second in class and third in the ladies Challenge:

 

i think prosolo doesn't paint a complete picture - greg reno lost to a GS focus ST by 2.4s at the prosolo (~73s), but was less than 1s behind the same car for the tour portion (~134s). i guess it's just hard to overcome the torque difference for prosolo, even with the modified prosolo pax.

 

I've now got some video.

Alex:
Left: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsAL.mov
Right: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsAR.mov

Me, I forgot to plug in the interior camera, so only the exterior ones. I included my last run where I red lighted as it was my best run, just take off 0.017s.
Left: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsBL.mov
Right: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsBR.mov

Cathy, we managed not to start the exterior cameras, or the lap timer for one of these.
Left: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsCL.mov
Right: http://btwyx.com/Movies/AxProJun14CrowsCR.mov

 

I'm glad I took the alternate wheels to the pro, 3 people driving in one pro is equivalent to about 4.5 regular events. We wore an average of 2mm off the fronts and 0.5mm off the rear. The fronts would be barely legal in most states at about 1.6mm (2/32nds). Though the legal tread depth in California is only 1/32nd.

I'm putting the regular 16" wheels on for the tour this weekend at Crow's Landing.

The tires seem to be wearing relatively evenly, which means the setup is pretty good.

 

Yeah Pros are pretty hard on tires with at least 12 runs per driver. If you get into the challenge rounds it's even more runs.

With as hot as it was the Z2s need to be sprayed every chance you get. They just start getting all greasy when they get too hot and you'll kill the tires pretty quickly if you continue to overheat them. For the national tour you'll probably want to be spraying between every run. Keep in mind if you bleed down air pressures between runs the pressure will go down after you spray them since the tires will cool off. Wait to check the pressures till after you've sprayed them and right before the car is ready to go back out for it's next run. Having an air tank handy isn't a bad idea in case there is a hold-up on course and the pressures drop too much.

I'm guessing the only street tires people weren't spraying like mad were the RS3v1/RS3v2

 

Ayup - Paul & I were spraying the R1Rs during the Match Tour last weekend, due to the generosity of one of my HS friends. And it was a pretty good thing, as there was a fair bit of heat in the pavement even early in the day, particularly Sunday. Dual drivers make that important I reckon.

 

"Fast" Mark was quite happy on his RS3v1's.

 

The PAX results are out: http://home.comcast.net/~paxrtp/resu...owsLanding.pdf

Alex was 45th, I was 158th and Cathy 178th out of 204. Fast Mark was 4th.

 

This weekend we were at the national championship tour event at Crow's Landing. The weather was a lot more reasonable, we didn't have to work so hard and still didn't do to well, and I got screwed out of 2 seconds by a bad cone call. Our guest driver was fast but coned away his chance at glory. I learnt a valuable lesson about cones.

We took Bertie of course, this time back to his usual 16" wheels. As this was also a round of the local championship we both entered in H Street as usual. There's a limit of two entries per car per class, so our guest (Alex, BAMini) couldn't also compete in HS. As he's going to co drive with me at Nationals he entered in STF for practice. Bertie is legal, but under prepared for STF. I'd worked out that the index would suggest that Alex would only be at about 0.6s (over two days, out of 120s) of a disadvantage for the lack of preparation. While we were there one of the other competitors asked what I'd done to the car (thinking Bertie was prepped), not much was the answer. But if I were to prep Bertie to STF standard (something I had contemplated), the main changes would be camber plates, 1/2" wider wheels, and an ECU tune (if there is one) possibly different springs.

One thing I did do in preparation was to alter the tire pressures. In order to promote a bit more oversteer, like I had last weekend on the alternate wheels, I pumped up the rear tire pressures. As adding 5psi to the rear would put them uncomfortably close to the spec maximum tire pressure, I pumped up the rears by 4psi and lowered the front by 1psi (46.5/49.5 was the result).

We got there Friday afternoon while it was still pretty hot (high 80s) to register get teched and walk the course. Given the course was on the runways at Crows Landing, it was again long and narrow. It was not quite as bad as the previous years event where the MINI was running 100s runs (that was one hundred seconds, not 1:00 minutes). The course ran across the intersection of the runways off down one side of one of them, back up the other side of the runway, swept around the intersection and went off and back down the second runway. It finished with a tight turn around the intersection to the finish. The lap timer says it was 0.8miles long, compared to the last event at Marina which had a 0.5m course and seemed unusually long. It certainly took a long time to walk it. Again like last year, it was long sections of not a lot with twiddly bits and turn arounds. I was contemplating if and when we'd need to use third gear. I thought maybe from before the sweeper to all the way to the turnaround at the end of the runway.

The next morning we got there early enough to work the first run group. We were to work first and run third after lunch. This was a good schedule, we'd be working in the coolest part of the day and could walk the course at lunch so didn't have to get there ridiculously early. I'd been assigned the sound station, and as Cathy had done such a good job as Chief of Workers last weekend, she was given the equivalent job this weekend, "Course Captain". Course Captain has to check in the workers for their work assignments, then ride in the (air conditioned) sweep car around the course periodically collecting the corner sheets from the workers. (At national events, as we'd discovered in San Diego, the corner worker keep detailed records of the events of the day.)

The sound station was an easy assignment, I got to sit and note down the car numbers as they went by and their sound reading, if any as most didn't move the meter. The meter only gave readings for sounds louder than 90dbA, most cars were just noted as "Lo". The only problem with the assignment is I could imagine an out of control car coming rapidly towards where I sat, getting out the way might be difficult. I kept a close eye on the cars until it was obvious they were going in the right direction. If any car gave a reading of 97 or greater I was to call it on the radio. The car would be warned of this. If any car read 100 or greater they'd lose the run and not be allowed to compete again until they'd made an attempt at a "viable remedy". While I was running sound someone came by to check his sound meter vs the one I was using. His meter gave much higher readings. The one I was using was the official meter, so whatever it said was law. I checked it against an ap on my iPhone, they gave similar readings, but the iPhone showed louder peaks. The official meter was set to "slow" response, so it averages sound over a longer period, you could see the meter sometimes start to move (it also has an analog scale indication instantaneous level above 90dbA), then decide not to give a reading after all.

A few cars moved the meter, the more powerful street cars would give low 90's. Even the GTR which sounded loud barely registered. The loudest cars were the "modified" cars, there was a particularly loud black thing (in EM), but the loudest was an SMF Civic CRX which gave a reading of 99 on its last run. A Corvette in CAM class gave a 98 and came back 5 db quieter on its next run. On Sunday the Civic gave a 99 reading on its second run, and again came back 5db quieter on its next run. I talked to the owner of the Civic later, he said he had some wire wool stuffed in the tail pipe (a quick remedy) but it kept blowing out despite his best efforts to keep it in.

After working we prepped the car and got to grid in plenty of time. We were waiting for run group two to finish for what seemed like ages, much longer than I was expecting. While at grid we also tried to clarify what we needed to do. I had been quite surprised to find that both HS and STF had been put in the same run group. I wasn't sure how this was going to work, especially as I thought you were not allowed to run less than 10 minutes after the car had run previously, so it would take at least 1.5 hours to make all our runs. We'd also been assigned two separate grid spots, one for STF and one for HS.

It turns out that you only have to wait 5 minutes between runs, which makes the event operations a lot easier, but our life a little more fraught. (And I now can't find where that rules is to check.) The procedure would be that Alex would grid in STF, run, then come park in our HS grid spot. We'd have 5 minutes for the change over, we mainly just had to swap the magnetic STF for the HS. Then I'd run, park in the HS grid spot. We'd change over to Cathy's number, she'd run and then park in Alex's grid spot and repeat. They also said they'd rearranged when the sweep car would go out to be between STF and HS, so I wouldn't be holding things up as HS would otherwise have run immediately after STF. On Sunday the grid was subtly rearranged to put STF further up the grid, so there was naturally a longer time between STF and HS.

Also in HS was Mark, who'd I'd lost to in San Diego and again last week at the Pro. He was still running his Mazda 3, but this time had switched to Hankook RS-3 (version 2) tires. (Fast Mark in GS was also running RS-3s, but as I pointed out version 1s). So Mark said he had a set of lightly used Dunlop ZII he was trying to sell, it turns out they were in the size we use, so we said we'd buy them off him. The other entrant was Jim from Idaho who was running in an Ecotech Ford Fiesta, the one with the teeny 1.0 (turbocharged) engine. Also on grid was a MINI in DS, I'd talked to the driver earlier, Matt (El Matador) he'd recognised me from NAM. There were also several other MINIs in STF as well as Eric's MINI in STX.

Run group two finally finished and I went to walk the course. Cathy sat this out to stay out of the sun. I had no particular revelations about the course, except it was impossible to memorize it all. I obviously didn't memorize it well as I promptly got lost. And then on my second run I got lost again. On my first run, I ran out of the start and totally didn't see where the course went. There was a pointer cone, but from my angle the gap between it and the cone on the other side of the course didn't look like a tenable gap. I let off the power and puzzled for a moment, then just went where the pointer was pointing. Once I got there it looked a lot more reasonable. Looking at the data, I lost out a whole second with that hesitation.

Listening to times for GS which had run in run group two, 64 seconds sounded like it would be a very good time. Alex had just run a 65.5 (with two cones), and I came in with a disappointing 71.4 (and one cone). Cathy came in with a 72.1. What was even worse was Mark got a 70.4. While waiting for Alex's second run I studied the data. Alex's grid spot was quite high up the grid, so it took a while for the other cars to run and Alex's turn to come around. Comparing my run to Alex's I saw I lost the second with my hesitation at the start, then most of the rest of the time was lost on the run down the second runway after the sweeper. I decided to abandon my idea of keeping speed up around the sweeper and went for a late apex approach to get a good launch down the second runway. Alex was interested in whether he was hitting the limiter and if he should change up to third. He was hitting the limiter, but "only" for 3 seconds arriving at the turn around on the second runway. It probably wouldn't make sense to change up.

We were also monitoring the tire temperatures. Alex said they felt a little cold (and slippery) starting out, but soon started to work well. The temperatures were high, but not high enough for us to employ the water sprayer Alex had brought. After my run, they were even warmer, but still not too warm. After Cathy's run they'd actually cooled down a bit. By the time Alex was to run they were slightly cool, but not cold. This pattern repeated itself through the weekend, and we never did need the water sprayer.

As I said for my second run I got lost again. I managed to negotiate the start this time, I late apexed the sweeper and ran fast down the second runway, the data shows I was losing much less time to Alex there, but near the end there was another pointer cone where the cone on the other side of the course looked much too close. This time there were 3 standing cones arranged around the pointed cone. I went to the left of the standing cones and realized something was wrong. I almost came to a halt, the data shows I was down to 7mph, and I was staring at a worker, I don't remember how surprised he was looking. I then decided to head off to the turn around away from the worker, the data shows I lost 5 seconds due to that. I ran down a cone on the exit from the final corner, I was taking a slightly earlier apex than you might think to save time on entry and intended to run wide on exit. I was expecting to find a pointer cone (which doesn't count against you) where I ran wide, but I found a standing cone instead. I'd have to widen my entry on the last run. Eventually the run was marked as a DNF as I went around the three cones the wrong way, but that wasn't noted by the time I got to the finish.

The data shows that I lost 1.5s (to Alex's first run) before the sweeper, but mostly kept up with him on the rest of the course, apart from my excursion. So despite the DNF it was a good run otherwise. On the other hand Alex ran 0.018s slower, but only got one cone. Alex's data showed he was 0.5s ahead halfway back on the second runway, but then lost all that time and more on the second half. It wasn't clear from the data what caused this, so this was a bit of a puzzle. Cathy's run was, unusually, slower, and unusually, she got a cone. However thanks to my cone and DNF, she was ahead of me, so the commentator was making skirt jokes. (A man being beaten by a Lady is known as being "skirted".)

So now I don't have a good run in the bank, which is never a good position to be in, so I concentrated on getting a clean run. While I was waiting for Alex I saw him spin on the way back up the second runway, he was about 0.5s ahead of his first run time when he spun, but instead of improving his position he had to sit on his second run time and a cone. When I went out, I managed not to get lost, and I didn't hit any cones, I got a 70.4.. The data shows I was 1 second behind by second run time (up to where I got lost), but at last I had a clean run. Then when Cathy came in, with a 71.1, the commentator was still making skirt jokes. The live timing showed my run as 2s slower than my timeslip, but didn't show any cones. This was puzzling. I went to look at the corner sheets, but the third run ones were not up yet.

After stewing for a while, I told Cathy not to let impound release us until I'd checked the cone and went to check the corner sheets again. On the way to impound I thought and though, maybe, just maybe I hit a cone down the bottom of the second runway on the way back. When I got to impound the sheets were just being put out. I didn't find the cone on any radio log. This should have been a red flag to me. I eventually found the cone on the sheet for corner 5 (which was in the book for corner 4). What it showed was I hit cone 512, which is the first one after the turnaround on the second runway, just where I thought I might have hot a cone. As I didn't want to hold people up on the grid, under the blazing sun, I decided to let that one go. What I didn't notice at the time was my run was initially marked as clean, but then that mark was crossed out. Also the cone was initially credited to the car after me, but then it was crossed out and credited to me instead. This should have put up a whole pile of red flags, not to mention a distress flare, but I didn't notice and decided to give up my right to protest the cone and got everyone released from impound.



its about 4pm, we went off to get some Lunch/Dinner with the intention of coming back later to walk the course. When we got back run group 5 was still going on, so we waited. I got out the laptop and looked at the cone cam footage and saw I was several feet from cone 512, which was very clearly marked 512 on the video. I checked the corner sheets again, this time I saw all the discrepancies, I checked and I had indeed screwed myself out of the right to protest by releasing the class from impound. Though one person said that a cone protest would not hold people in impound, I'm not convinced of that after my experience working impound. To say I was not pleased with the situation would be a grave understatement, and from now on I was going to protest cones on principle. I was thinking very bad thoughts of the corner 5 workers, who thinking back on it were probably the ones I almost ran down on my second run when I got lost.



By the time run group 5 finished and the course was ready for walking, it was almost 8pm and the sun was almost going down. As expected the course was the old one run backwards, with a few strategic cones moved. While walking the course, it again looked fast but there was no where in particular I was thinking I might need third. I came to the conclusion that the scale of things make it look more difficult than it was, elements were sufficiently far apart that for most of them you could maneuver into a position where the following element, which looked very tight, became tractable. Even the really close cones on the "threading the needle" as the commentator called it were 60 feet apart. Again, it was impossible to memorize the whole course, I'd look for the difficult bits on my walk the next day.

Here's a picture of the sky as we were getting ready to leave for the night, it was looking like a painting. (It really did look like this.)



Sunday started off much the same as Saturday, only earlier. We worked, prepped the car and got to grid. The only excitement was one of the first cars losing it at the final element, just after the sound station, and going dirt womping, narrowly missing the portapotties and stopping just short of where I'd parked Bertie nearby. I think he actually drove through the cones into the paddock area to get back on course. Someone hastily moved Bertie to a safe distance for me and several people manhandled the portapotties back a bit.

This time the commentator kept making comments to hurry things along, so we could get a run group finished in 90 minutes. In the sweep car, Cathy's driver (Tyler who we knew from STF locally) was being encouraged to complete the sweep faster and faster, he certainly seemed to be in a hurry snatching your sheet from you. The grid had been rearranged, STF had been moved ahead of STX (the largest class), so we would no longer have a hurried change over from Alex to me. From listening to the GS times, I reckoned the course should be about 3.5s faster, so Alex should be thinking 62.5 and I'd be hoping for 64.5 and Cathy 67.6.

Run group 2 ended considerably earlier before 11:30am, and I went for a course walk. After trying to find a good line, I just thought, given the scale of the course, you just need to look ahead and move to line up the next element in plenty of time, and you'd be able to to make the next element, maybe without lifting. The exception was probably the "thread the needle" which was just before the second turnaround.

Alex went out and got a 64.5 and one cone. My effort was a disappointing 68.0 and no cones. Cathy's was a clean 69.1. That still put me behind Cathy with the 1.2s deficit I started with thanks to the bad cone call. looking at the data, I was again losing most time on the far side of the second runway, this time in the opposite direction. So I was going to try a later apex on the turn around to get more exit speed. It also showed Alex was riding the limiter down the bottom of the second runway, he wondered about changing up to third.

For my second run, I really messed up the first turnaround, the one I'd decided to get a better launch off of. I was almost a second ahead when I got to the turnaround, then lost it all blowing the corner. I made that second back up the runway and to the thread the needle, and then made another half a second on the rest of the course, then lost it all with a cone, the entry cone to the final element. I was still determined to investigate the corner sheets, maybe I could get my two seconds back. Alex managed to DNF, I forget why, at times he was half a second ahead of his first run, but then lost it all on the last part of the course, his scratch time was slightly worse than his first run. Cathy got a great 67.4, but coned so did not advance. So none of us advanced our position on that run. Alex had tried changing up to third both down and back the second runway, the data showed this seemed to help (maybe 0.3s) so he decide to do that again.

I needed to get a clean run only a little faster than my first run to get ahead of Cathy, assuming that Cathy didn't advance on her third run. This is important for our standings in the local championship. The event was going to be scored as a round of the championship (on the overall results of the two days), people who'd previously run locally would get points. So coming ahead of Cathy was the equivalent of coming first (as neither Mark nor Jim had run locally before) and behind her second, no one else including Brian my main rival, was there to score points. So this was a chance to get ahead of Brian. The 40 point difference for coming second could have substantial implications for the championship.

So I went out trying to be both fast and clean, I was clean at least. I didn't flub the first turn around, so gained about half a second, but lost it on the run back up the second runway by not being so aggressive. I then lost another half a second being more careful around the final element. I ended up with a 67.2 which was my best time. Alex came home with a 63.9, but again got a cone so that had to be his run that counted. Cathy came in with a 67.2, which was 0.009s faster than mine, but she collected a cone on the way so she had to stand on her first run. She swears she didn't deliberately collect the cone to put me ahead.

I went to look at the corner sheets and they were a mess. Nothing seemed to be in the right book and I couldn't find any trace of my cone anywhere. I tried to find someone to protest the cone to, the impound worker said it wasn't their job. (Where in San Diego we'd been told that was exactly our job.) After bouncing around quite a few people I ended up with Sandi, who wasn't actually chief steward this time, but was somewhere near the top. She couldn't find any trace of the cone in the books either, so we went to the scoring trailer to find her master copies. The cone was there, it was the entry cone to the final element, all the paper worked looked perfect (unlike the Saturday paperwork). She said there was nothing that could be done to protest the cone further, but did agree that the Saturday cone would have been looked at harder if I'd have protested it. On the way back to impound the impound worker tried to persuade me to drop the protest, even though I'd already dropped it. He pointed out that 2 seconds would not quite get me to second place ahead of Jim. However the cone I had protest was on a run 0.6s better so would have got me to second place. However the cone I should have protested and didn't would only have given me two seconds so not affected the outcome.

Results: http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...%20Results.pdf

It wasn't even 3pm this time, so things were going a bit quicker. We went away for lunch/dinner and came back in time for the end of run group 5 and pack up, slightly complicated by having 4 extra tires to take away with us. Finally there was the trophy presentation. We clapped heartily for Mark and Jim and others we knew. In STF Alex came some way down the order out of 7, without his cones he would have just been out of the trophies in 4th, the difference in index would have bumps him up to 3rd. Joe was first in STF. Alex's performance would have won HS by 5.3s. In HS we were 3rd and 4th out of 4, with Mark coming first and Jim second. My bad cone wouldn't have made a difference there. In DS, Matt came second out of 5.

Alex says Bertie is driving great, so we definitely know that any failure is the driver's problem. This weekend was hot, 90's both days, but it wasn't as hot as the previous weekend. The sun was still brutal, but it felt distinctly cool at times, we obviously spent too much time the sun.

After the event we noticed that the front tires were looking ominously worn. I wasn't expecting that, I was expecting this event to be worth about 3 events worth of wear, maybe a little less. The wear is a little more than that, but its mainly on the front, not evened out between the front and back. So the fronts are worn twice as much as I was expecting. The front tires actually wore evenly, which is a very good sign, the rears unusually wore more off the outside. I put the wear down to Alex driving like a maniac (a very fast maniac) and using more oversteer than we do. One tire would now not be legal in Nebraska (but is just in California). Its still legal for autocross, where the standard is "measurable tread". Luckily we scored the replacement tires from Mark.

I don't have any video yet.

Here's Alex with some counter steer:



Me rounding the sweeper:



Cathy rounding the final corner:



Cathy coming in on her final run:



And Joe: