|
Oh look, an autocross thread!IOwnCalculus posted:The problem is that as far as I know, the course was set up such that people were able to stand on the track-side of the timing booth with no concern (ie they didn't cone it off or anything). The incident, like most, happened due to a number of factors that came together. Partially course design, partially driver, partially conditions (downhill slope), etc. The finish had plenty of run-off, well over 200', but a driver came through it sideways doing tank-slappers, and instead of just going both-feet-in and stopping, he continued on the gas trying to save it, even well after the timing lights. Eventually he ran out of room. This was the first serious incident in over 30 years of autocrossing in the AZ region, and we spend a lot of time and effort on safety now, as we never want to see something like that again in the next 30 years. quote:Also, I'm not a huge fan of AZ SCCA anyway. The course layouts I've run the few times I've been have been absurdly short, like even the slowest of the slow drivers and cars were putting up 50 second times. The really fast guys were doing low, low 30s. It feels like almost as much as a ripoff as Friday night drags for $ to track time. We do the best we can with the lot we have to use. If you know of a better venue in the area that will rent to us, we'd love to hear about it, as we are constantly in the search for a better site. The Bondurant pad is not an option, except for maybe 1 time a year at best, and even then they've decided occasionally to boot us at the last minute, when we had the lot rented for a year in advance. Our current crew of course designers has been doing an amazing job of giving us fun and challenging courses on the Firebird lot, and we have been normally getting more runs as well - we try to give everyone the best time possible for the buck, but we have to be able to pay the continually rising bills (lot rental, sanction fees, insurance, etc., they all keep going up) or we won't be able to play at all. The next event is actually on the west road course at Firebird, I'm looking forward to it, as those courses are always a good time. Obligatory in-car view of a typical Firebird course: http://www.vimeo.com/10167272 Obligatory autocross picture: .JPG)
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2011 22:22
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 07:37 |
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:I admit, I'm thoroughly intrigued at the idea of running the West course. Are you guys just running around the track or are you adding some chicanes / slaloms to it here and there? Trying to figure out if it's enough time to get my dad to come out in his Corvette, and whether I want to bring my MS3 or my old Miata. We have to turn the track into an 'autocross', because it has to pass safety and be approved by the divisional solo safety steward. All SCCA autocrosses run on a road course have to be approved at the divisional level, rather than just by the local safety stewards, in order to keep the event within the solo rules. So there will be chicanes, slaloms, offsets, etc. Having said that, the courses we've had on the west track in the past have been an absolute blast, with much higher speeds than we can get on the little skid pad, and much more of a 'national' level feel to them. Fairly sure that the last course on the west track was 60-80 seconds depending on the driver/car. One thing to keep in mind when you are looking at the times for Phoenix events is that the talent pool here is pretty deep. We have multiple national champions running in numerous classes, so the 'fast' times that you see are typically set by guys who own one or more spiffy red jackets. Some of those folks are also in very fast classes to start with (DM, XP, ASP, DSP), so our 'fast times' tend to be pretty hard to touch for your average Joe autocrosser in the family car. On the other hand, that sort of competition and knowledge is great for learning how to go faster!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2011 06:54
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:Edit: When does the track map get posted, usually? Normally a few days before, but sometimes, because of the divisional safety steward approval process on the track course, we don't get it back for posting at all. I'll take a look and see what's up with it, not even sure who is designing this one.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2011 06:45
|
|
|
And, course designer has responded that it's in the divisional SS process now, and should be ready for posting during the week some time.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2011 07:42
|
|
|
_firehawk posted:My car is 100% stock and I can't decide if I should go in the Street Tire Index class or the Novice class. I have only done a solo event once before. I did the tire index class then and I am fine with another person in the car. But which class should I be in? The event is this Sunday and I wanted to ask you guys My Car is FS, so FSN or FST? Novice, until they won't let you be in novice anymore!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2011 04:51
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:The Tucson crew is certainly more relaxed while the Phoenix group definitely seems more business like. I think a lot of that is because historically the Phoenix events have much higher attendance (with the current sites, that's shifting quite a bit), so the Phoenix crew had to become a lot more business like in order to get all the runs in. I know that the Tucson crew looks really strict and business like when compared to the group I used to run with up in Kalispel, MT., where having 30 cars was a *big* turnout.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2011 06:14
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:Eh, it's all about PAX times anyway. My dad got all worried that I put myself in Novice 3 because my cold air intake technically takes me out of DS, but the reality is DS and ST are so close in PAX it will come far more down to how Looks like it's gonna be a warm one tomorrow. Make sure to bring your umbrellas and sunscreen!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2011 23:41
|
|
|
I'm in group B also, with TO's in D. See you there!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2011 04:26
|
|
|
I lied, I ran in group A. The course was a blast, but I managed to finally kill the power steering pump at the end of the last run, so ended up not doing time only runs. I completely forgot to find you and say hello. Here is a video of my final run, a 65.8xx dirty (got that cone right before the finish). It was a pretty horrible run now that I'm looking at it on video, and I should really have been in the 64's, but never got there. http://www.vimeo.com/22528655 Link is now live with HD. I do always seem to forget to turn the camera on for the good runs, Murphy's law I guess. The Locator fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Apr 17, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2011 23:17
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:Sounds like you had a good time! I'm looking forward to the Tucson meet next week and you Phoenix guys should try to make it down sometime, Marana is a pretty fun place to run! I run Marana every chance I get, but I doubt that I'll get down there this coming weekend, as after today my car is spewing power steering fluid, which is a big no-no on the airport tarmac. I start a new job tomorrow and expect to be gone about 13 or 14 hours per day for a while, which means I won't really have a chance to dig into the car to see what's really wrong until next weekend at the earliest. I'm sure you'll have a big turnout from Phoenix though, I know a bunch of us head down there every month (to screw up your PAX*). *I don't screw it up of course, but Fred, Doug, and BP do a fair job of it from time to time. IOwnCalculus posted:Edit - the video converted. Were you the one they kept saying was leaking on the radio? They thought it was a DSM at first. I remember watching your BMW, that thing is quick. Nobody ever mentioned a leak to me. I discovered the leak when I got back to grid after losing power steering right before I smacked that cone near the end of the run in the video. I don't think it was pouring out enough fluid to have been noticed by the course workers, as it's still got a fair amount of fluid in it right now in the garage. The Locator fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Apr 18, 2011 |
|
#
¿
Apr 17, 2011 23:59
|
|
|
King-Kong posted:Someone please teach me how to launch a '95 Miata. Get a couple guys to push you.  God I wish we had a viable airport site in the Phoenix area. Every time a see a giant expanse of concrete like that I die a little bit inside.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2011 01:31
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:It's a drat shame they're just going to turn the GM proving grounds into yet more tract housing. Could probably have all kinds of fun there. Yea, the stupid GM lawyers actually forced the terms of sale on that property to include language the makes it illegal for the new ownership to use the lot for any sort of automotive driving stuff, whether for business or pleasure, so they can't let us use the facilities in the interim even if they were inclined to do so. Lawyers ruin more potential sites for us then pretty much anything else except for zoning ordinances that make every new parking lot include a billion obstacles.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2011 07:12
|
|
|
mlmp08 posted:Our parking lot obstacles make things exciting! I've driven that site when you guys held a National Tour a few years ago. That site is awesome! I dream of having a local venue like that.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2011 14:56
|
|
|
Baffled pans slow the process of oil draining completely to one side of a pan, so they certainly help if your car is losing pressure due only to the oil sloshing away from the pickup in the pan. If your car loses pressure due to oil not returning to the pan properly in a high-g situation, then a baffled pan isn't going to help. Also, a baffled pan is only going to provide a very short-term help. If you have very long steady-state corners, you'll still move all the oil in the pan to one side, it will just take a few seconds longer to get around the baffles.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2011 04:14
|
|
|
DogDodger posted:Yikes, the local region had an airport event planned in June, but just learned that "[t]he FAA has now mandated that non-aeronautical events will not be permitted on airports." Not sure what that's about, but *knock on wood* the Tucson group is still having an event at the Marana airport this coming weekend, as far as they know!
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2011 03:30
|
|
|
Top 3 guys at the Phoenix event were in: XP, DSP, and DM. It's obviously the mods*. Bring your A game to our events if you want to be anywhere near the top times in raw or pax. *All three drivers are national champions, and one is an Evo instructor as well.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2011 05:20
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:I'm still jealous of my friend who I suckered into SCCA and owns a CTS-V as well as a generic 96' Thunderbird. He shares the name of famous Dan Gurney of actual racing fame. There were many "ghost of Dan Gurney" jokes had when he decided to bring the Thunderbird out one meet. Yea, the announcers had a great time with Dan Gurney, that was a fun day. As far as the ST classes go, I run there mostly due to being lazy. I hate changing tires at the end of the day, so I got an STU car (which isn't competitive, since it's not a rally car), and go out and have a ball driving it, then at the end of the day, I hop in, and drive home. Next step is to get the A/C working so it's *cool* to drive home, and I can consider still going to Tucson events after the temps start to climb. It's seriously tempting to run in the 'new' CSP next year, but that would require I stumble over a big pile of cash somewhere in order to properly prep the car, since I'd need to do some serious bodywork so I could stuff the worlds largest Hoosiers on the car. 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2011 04:37
|
|
|
Nice. You'll like the RS-3's, but depending on what tire you were running before, they take some adjustment. The sidewalls aren't nearly as stiff as most other high performance street tires (like the Star specs and Yokohama's), so the turn in will be slower. This is more than offset by the higher ultimate grip in most cars though. The best way to describe the feel of RS-3's after driving on Star Specs is "Squishy" or "Squirmy". Just quite a bit of flex on turn-in, so they feel wierd. You have to learn to trust them and just go for it until you find out where the 'edge' really is. Have fun, you'll really enjoy them once you learn just how much lateral grip they have, and start throwing your car into corners at speeds that were simply impossible for you before! Edit: Wish I was going to be there. 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2011 18:53
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:Haha yeah i've heard about the soft sidewalls. Going to start around 38 Front and Rear and do some chalking to hopefully dial it in a bit. Wish I had a pyrometer. No idea how your pressures will work out, but for reference, with RS-3's I run 28.5 front, 29 rear. That's on 255/40x17's on 17x8.5 rims in a car that weighs in at 3050 pounds with 3'ish degrees of negative camber.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2011 05:41
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:Well just finished the Tucson event and had a blast. Must not have been driving aggressive enough because I didn't even nudge one cone. Wish I'd been able to make it, that course was pretty awesome the last time they ran it. Completely off-topic, when you aren't autocrossing it, what sort of mileage do you get in that Yaris, and what is your overall impression of the car now that you've had it for a while?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 26, 2011 14:56
|
|
|
Lazor posted:Had a great day of autox today at El Toro. They almost cancelled this morning due to high winds but everyone opted to wait a bit to see if it would die down and it paid off. Everyone still got their 12 runs for the day even though we started at 11 instead of 9 and the course was awesome. I took a friend of mine that was going for the first time and by the end of the day he managed to figure out the course and not spin his car (S2000), which were his goals. How do you have such an awesome site, with 80 second runs, and yet have a low enough turnout to get in 12 runs while not starting until 11am? Holy crap. We rarely get more than 8 runs (4 comp, 4 time only if you sign up for them) and we have much shorter courses with the first car out by 8:30-8:45, and finish up around 4pm.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2011 09:17
|
|
|
nm posted:Note that sometimes it just comes down to organization and how the event is run. How are MOWOG events organized - run group wise? We historically run 8 run groups (4 morning, 4 afternoon) designed to allow 3 runs each for 240 entries. Since our attendance is currently down somewhat, we've dropped to 6 run groups and are typically getting 4 runs, and sometimes 5 runs (the last two run groups are time only runs). I'm certainly interested in finding out how other clubs manage to run more cars through longer courses. I've seen how the Tours and Nationals are run, and I've seen some really laid-back small attendance groups as well as all of the AZ area groups, but new information and systems are always interesting and I'm always interested in learning new stuff.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2011 22:04
|
|
|
Lazor posted:but this was a practice day with limited entries. Gotcha. We get tons of runs when we do a practice day also, for the same reason (limited entries). Thanks.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2011 22:05
|
|
|
nm posted:MOWOG events have 2 run groups. Each run group divided into 2 work groups. Thanks. We've never (as a group) been willing to limit attendance artificially, except for specific special events (like if we run on the road course or practice days). A couple of things you mentioned we certainly do, like online registration and allowing pre-payment. Something we do in order to speed things up, is annual tech (SCCA members can fill out some paperwork and only do tech once per year, then self tech at each event). I personally think we should eliminate our mid-day split, but I'm in the minority, so we still do a morning/afternoon split, even though we only to time-only runs in the last two run-groups. We don't have enough room at our normal events to pre-grid, but when we do have the space, we'll grid two groups at once to help with change-over speed. As far as worker shortage goes, we 'force' equalize run group size to help alleviate that problem.
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2011 05:09
|
|
|
Wish I was independently wealthy. I'd buy a really nice RV, put the car on a trailer behind it, and travel around the country stopping at all the local autocross events for all the different 'flavor' that you get at the local level. I think that would be a great way to see the country, and get to meet lots of nice car people in the process.
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2011 06:32
|
|
|
Brigdh posted:A warning as summer approaches: drink lots of water and try to stay in the shade when possible. This is why I don't autocross in the summer in Phoenix.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2011 00:04
|
|
|
As long as we don't get *on* the taxiways, Marana is fine with it since the rules are that all cars get red-flagged and stopped for any taxiway activity. In all the times I've run there, we've only had to stop for aircraft a couple of times, as those taxiways are rarely used (both times it was for an aircraft taxiing to an unused corner of the airport for engine runup testing). p.s. Sadly, I won't be there this weekend. I haven't gotten my PS leak fixed yet, and it's getting warm enough anyway that the lack of A/C means the car will pretty much be parked for the Summer now.
|
|
#
¿
May 21, 2011 18:48
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:And fun times at the Marana track! Apparently the longest and fastest one we've had out there all year. You need to lighten up and try to have some fun when you are out there. 
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2011 02:28
|
|
|
Blast from the past. What happens when you put a 540+ HP C-Prepared car on a little tiny lot at NAU? Lots of noise and fun, not so great times though. This is what I autocrossed before the M3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dlt-A7y_Dc I occasionally miss the car, but not the cost of tires, fuel, and towing.
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2011 06:35
|
|
|
Beach Bum posted:Holy poo poo that M3 is getting some airtime. Maybe he needs to invest in a stiffer front sway? That's ridiculous. E36's pull the inside front off the ground all the time at autocross events. I've got a picture somewhere way back in this thread of mine pulling the inside front up a couple inches with street tires, not even R compounds. The Silver car in the above picture is BSP, so I'm sure he's running R comps, probably Hoosiers, so he probably gets air in the front all over the place.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 18, 2011 19:25
|
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:The only reason my dad's coworker didn't have his Nissan Leaf on the track at the last event I was at was because he's (probably rightfully) worried about Nissan voiding warranties. Actually, the bum has no plans to autocross the Leaf, even though a bunch of us are bugging him to bring it out. Maybe after the 'new' has worn off he'll reconsider. I rode to lunch in it the other day, nice little car, the A/C is great.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 28, 2011 06:08
|
|
|
Ride along with the current national champion in X-Prepared at the recent divisional in El Toro, as he makes everyone else (except Keisel) look slow. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smop0P7GkZ4
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2011 14:28
|
|
|
Lazor posted:Are you a regular at the LA area events? I try and make it to at least one autox a month, usually SCCA, in my red STI but I didn't do the divisional or the pro as I've been traveling a lot for work lately. Nope, I've never run there (video is NOT me!), but I really want to get out to an El Toro event, everything I've seen and heard about that site says it's completely amazing and awesome.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2011 02:42
|
|
|
Lazor posted:Eventually they have plans to turn it into a park but Orange County probably won't have money to start that for several more years. Hope you can make it out before then. Tell those fuckers that it's already a park. A motorsports park!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2011 14:35
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:Any local Southern AZ goons going to the Marana meet tomorrow? It's looking like it's going to be a fun course and a cool-ish summer day so you won't bake as a worker. Look for the short, Charlie Brown looking guy driving the Yaris if you do. Should be a blast! Car is in the garage on jack-stands partially disassembled, so I won't be down there tomorrow. Have fun, weather looks like it might be pretty damned nice (for July in Marana anyway).
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2011 06:19
|
|
|
NinjaTech posted:Anyone know what clubs run in San Diego? I'm most likely going down there in the first week of august to pick up an AE86 from my brother's friend. So I figured that I'd see if there were any events while I was down there. The events there are spread among several clubs, but they keep a coordinated calendar and work together. Go here - http://www.sdr-scca.com/solo2/
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2011 17:09
|
|
|
DogDodger posted:Have fun, but that's a big reason I mainly do HPDEs now. The increased level of expense and risk makes a difference for many people. Autocross may not be the cheapest per minute of seat time, but it's much cheaper overall per 'event'. On the risk side, it's fairly unlikely that I do more than break something on the car at an autocross, and wear items (like brakes/rotors) last seasons, rather than days. Concrete walls and other cars are not part of the risk assessment at an autocross. Having said that, if my income were somewhat higher, I'd do more HPDE's.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 24, 2011 18:48
|
|
|
Podothehobbit posted:Those RS3s are a bunch of whiny bitches on turns though. What pressures were you running vs. what were you running in the previous tires?
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2011 02:42
|
|
|
We had a 2 day event in Taylor this past weekend. 12 runs on Saturday, 11 runs on Sunday. Here is the Saturday AM course, 6 runs on this. http://vimeo.com/27467505
|
|
#
¿
Aug 9, 2011 04:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 07:37 |
|
|
IOwnCalculus posted:I've lived in AZ my entire life and I had to map where the hell Taylor is. That is a long way to go for some cone-killing but I bet it was a lot nicer up there, and that track layout looks awesome. We try to do two events up there each summer, so that we can get the heck out of the Valley, enjoy great weather, oh, and have a 2 day autocross as a bonus. A bunch of us had dinner together Saturday evening, and a few of us tried out a nice little Italian place on Friday night too. It's really not that bad of a drive either, it's 210 miles from my house, and I live WAY out west of Phoenix, so it's anywhere from 130-170 miles from town for most people, or about an hour more than Marana (at least for me). Making it a two day event makes the drive much more bearable, combined with lots of runs, and it's just a great fun autocross weekend.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 10, 2011 02:11
|
|