Ran car in its first Auto-X

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Ran my & the COBRA's first Auto-X today. Was a nice event with 130 cars getting 5 runs each.

Car was assigned to the XP class, Note in the clubs rules said XP used to be the PRO class. Thought I was going to be in AP. :confused:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55142

Good news is over 5 runs dropped my time by 16 seconds with no penalty's. Bad new was I was 4 to 6 seconds off the pace. Car was solid & handled much better than I expected. Needs driver improvement.

Some other interesting cars that ran:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55147
Modified bug with full roll cage. Guy gave me a ride on one of his runs. Much fun & much leaning in the turns.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55146
Local Toyota dealer sent along a lot of tires with their car

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55145
Its true, the flat plane VOODOO engine in the new Shelby GT 350 does make a strange howl at WOT.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55144
Big Bucks showed up. This confirms there are at leat two of these cars, Dark Gray & Orange lurking in the Triangle.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13899&pictureid=55143
Once upon a time this was a Corvette. Amazing thing is its still street legal.

[WIS89]

Kevin-

Awesome that you ran auto-x. 130 cars is a pretty nice turn out.

Are you planning on running again?

Thanks for the post!

Regards,

Steve

[Straversi]

Congrats. Auto crossing can become addictive. Enjoy

[Straversi]

Looks like the Vette owner hit a few hay bales and said "fenders are just extra weight anyway".

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Thanks all.

Steve will run some more, was really great fun with an exceptionally nice group of people. The event was in Cary hosted by the Tar Heel Sports Car Club, was a points meet for them. Even had a very nice looking young lady helmet in hand ask me for a ride. Only made one run without somebody riding shotgun. Seems like the Cobra was a popular car with the spectators.

Was in run group 3 of 4. We worked the course for run group 1 then had a chance to ride with some of the instructors in run group 2. That helped big time on not getting lost because some parts of the course were repeats. Fastest ride I had with anyone was 44 seconds. I worked down from 66 to 50 seconds. If I had power steering could have knocked off a few more. Were 3 turns that were very hard with manual steering. One was a single cone pivot turn that exited about 220 degrees from the entry which was off the fastest part of the course.

http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/thscc-points-autocross-2-cary-towne-center-tarheel-sports-car-club-711807#.V-AAP5f6vNM

[GoDadGo]

I'm So Jealous Since I'm Still Wrenching Away!
You Had To Have Had A Great Time!
Thanks For Sharing!

PS: I now know what we will do with my long in the tooth daily driver (C-4) when it is ready for retirement.

[silver_pilate]

What is that orange car? I saw one pull up to where I was eating for lunch the other day, but couldn't get a close enough view to identify.

--Nathan

[Paparazzi]

With such a limited turning circle do you find using the throttle to throw the rear out to be an effective method for quicker turn in? How effective is the handbrake to assist if at all?

[GoDadGo]

What is that orange car? I saw one pull up to where I was eating for lunch the other day, but couldn't get a close enough view to identify.

--Nathan

It looks like a McLaren, but I've never seen one in person.

[silver_pilate]

It looks like a McLaren, but I've never seen one in person.

Yes, that's it. McLaren 12C. Guess there is one of them floating around Lubbock.

--Nathan

[jceckard]

Big Bucks showed up. This confirms there are at leat two of these cars, Dark Gray & Orange lurking in the Triangle.


I wonder if it was the CEO of Epic. He would have his orange Lambo trucked to the office to take employees on joy rides. That was 10 or more years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if he's upgraded since then.

[Avalanche325]

Autocross is a blast! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Power steering would definitely be a worthwhile upgrade if you are going to do more.

You don't see too may exotics at autocross for some reason. We have a Ferrari that shows up once in a while. It seems like those guys are either street only, or track day guys. I had McLaren park next to me. The guy got out and said "Nice car!" I was still in gel coat.

One thing you might want to do with that nice paint, is put masking tape on the front and the hips. You WILL smack a cone sooner or later. I am usually pretty good about not hitting them, but I was a maniac last time and got 5 in one run.......twice.

[Jeff Kleiner]

We had a McLaren show up at one of our events last season. He finished DFL and hasn't returned...

Jeff

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Car was a new McLaren.

Paparazzi:

On the pivot turn. Was not enough room to try to experiment. It was at the end of a pretty straight slalom run & was coming in around 70mph. Car can brake 60-0 in 90 feet so I could slow down OK but the Nitto 555R 315's on the back are drag radials & do not come unstuck that easy. Trying to drift them would be very risky in the space I had to work with. The handbrake is a decoration in the cockpit so that was not an option.

Power steering would have worked since once I get slow the 255's upfront get very heavy to turn with the quick ratio manual steering box.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I've instructed many times when we've used a pin turn/pivot turn as an element. There just isn't a way to power, drift or cowboy through it and that's what many try to do---and fail. The trick is to hang wide before beginning the turn, brake hard, stay tight to the pin and power out. Let's say it is a right hander and imagine the center cone as the center of a clock... as you approach hang out to the left and do all of your braking by 7 o'clock then turn in. Your apex should be at about 1 o'clock and you should be squeezing on the power as you hit that point. It's a hard exercise to get right and truly is one where you must slow down to be fast. Fun stuff!

Jeff

[BEAR-AvHistory]

That's what I was trying to do. One of the instructors gave me a target area to drive toward to make a wide entrance. Problem was the driver. Was not able to manage putting all the things together to make good time through the turn. Either braked to soon or turned to late to make a clean approach to the cone. Was OK at the cone & able to power out to the next gate, after that one was almost a straight run to the finish. Throttle down time.

FWIW Launched hard in 1st with no wheel spin & immediately pulled 2nd gear before first gate. Ran the rest of the course in 2nd. RPM cutoff is at 7800.

[WIS89]

Kevin-

Thanks for the heads-up on the car club, and the details on the event! My youngest does some auto-x and really enjoys it. This may be something I take a closer look at when I get closer to finishing up my build.

I appreciate the info, and congrats on a successful outing!

Regards,

Steve

[Gromit]

I find doing auto-x I like to sketch out the course... I take a clip board and a piece of graph paper and draw out the course during the morning walk through. That way I can review it before my runs. seems as I get older I get a bit more forgetful on those after lunch runs I'd be lost with out a map.

[Avalanche325]

One of the toughest turnarounds that we have had was just a single cone out in the open. You could approach and exit any way you like. People were trying all kinds of approaches. Like Jeff said, keep tight to the pin. You don't want to add any distance to the turnaround. Drifting is fun, but slow.

One of the first things I do when walking the course is to figure out where to get into 2nd. You did the right thing getting to 2nd before the first gate if there is room. I need to launch a little softer, I have a 500hp 347 and it doesn't take much throttle to light em up.

[jimgood]

With such a limited turning circle do you find using the throttle to throw the rear out to be an effective method for quicker turn in? How effective is the handbrake to assist if at all?


Car was a new McLaren.

Paparazzi:

On the pivot turn. Was not enough room to try to experiment. It was at the end of a pretty straight slalom run & was coming in around 70mph. Car can brake 60-0 in 90 feet so I could slow down OK but the Nitto 555R 315's on the back are drag radials & do not come unstuck that easy. Trying to drift them would be very risky in the space I had to work with. The handbrake is a decoration in the cockpit so that was not an option.

Power steering would have worked since once I get slow the 255's upfront get very heavy to turn with the quick ratio manual steering box.

I did one autocross with a pivot like that. I down shifted and used the "scandinavian flick" (all lift-throttle/trail braking oversteer, no handbrake). I had mixed success. It was really fun to try though!

[BEAR-AvHistory]

One of the guys posted his run.

https://youtu.be/_v2Oe0qWYJ4

[Jeff Kleiner]

Judging by the proximity of curbs, light poles and cars on course approaching the start box while at speed I assume this was not an SCCA event????

Jeff

[Al_C]

Thanks for posting this, Kevin. I really enjoyed this thread!

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Judging by the proximity of curbs, light poles and cars on course approaching the start box while at speed I assume this was not an SCCA event????

Jeff

No its was a THSCC event. They run a points series in the NC,VA,SC area. The curbs & poles are also why I did not try anything too extreme at the pivot turn. The Cobra easily carried more speed than most into that turns braking point.

[jceckard]

I've always wanted to go tearing through that parking lot, even when the Sears was still there. There were never any cars back there and such a wide expanse of parking lot.