Corvette Club autocross - Sat, Aug 9th

While I was in the starting grid waiting for my 4th run in the morning, Peter Dombrowski from the Corvette Club came up to me and asked if he could attach his GoPro camera to my Formula. I said "Sure" and he stuck it on the rear clip above the belt line.

It's a very interesting angle. Within the frame you can see many things, including my ugly mug in the side-view mirror (sorry everyone ), my hands on the steering wheel, the track of course... and most importantly, the front wheel. I'm serious, being able to see the front wheel clearly while buzzing around the track is fascinating. I never knew the wheels went up and down so much! This has got to be one of the best autocross videos I've ever watched. You really get a sense of the speed from this angle.

I asked Peter to post the video. He kindly obliged.

And one more thing... the audio is great! Listen to that angry beast.  Crank up the volume!

Peter's video of me - Interesting camera angle - BCCC autocross Aug 9, 2014

All those little "ticks" you hear are pebbles being tossed at the camera by the tires.

AllanJ wrote: Cool vid. With tires in mind...

Al, would you say that at the 28 second mark I had hit the brakes a split second too late, as it appears that I had already (just barely) started the left turn. I'm thinking that possibly the weight started to shift just enough to the passenger side of the car to "lighten" the driver's side tire a bit.

Is that how you would interpret the puff of smoke from the front tire at that point? Or did I simply just hit the brakes too hard for an instant? (It's a very short puff of tire smoke.)

Cheese wrote: It's just a guess, but I think your rear brakes aren't working as well as they should.

I dunno about that. I only locked up a front tire once in the video (that I'm aware of)... and I really hammered on the brakes in the stop box with no issues.

Cheese wrote: I don't remember what you ended up doing with the brakes to get them roadworthy.

Your dad and I flushed the system/bled them. That's it. Before next year's series of autocross events, I plan to at least remove the calipers and lube the sliders, and if necessary, replace the pads.

AllanJ wrote: It could also have something to do with the pavement conditions. There are several ruts as well...

I was amazed at the 57 second mark how much the tire/wheel dropped and then was immediately slammed upwards. That was a lot of travel, due strictly to the uneveness of the track surface.

I'm really interested now in making some sort of a protective housing (or at least a face plate) for my Sony camera so as to mount it outside the car. And if necessary, I'll use a second device to record quality audio not being distorted by wind noise (and then combine the two sources during editing). I love that camera angle, although I'd like to fine tune it a bit and have the horizon a lot more level.