Corvette Club Autocross - Saturday, July 19th

BCCC wrote: . The second event in our 2014 series will be held at JIBC Pitt Meadows on July 19. We have secured the full double pad for the event and are designing a fast and fun course. We will also be running three run groups to maximize the time on the track and to ease the lunch line ups. Registration is capped at 60 drivers to give everyone lots of runs. Please do not wait to the last minute to register to avoid disappointment. To help erase the memories from the June "waterworks" event all returning drivers can use the supplied discount code (in June 28th email) to receive $10 off the registration.

Click http://www.motorsportreg.com/events/bccc-autocross-series-2-jibc-ypk-integrated-training-centre-british-192188#.U7htm5RdVgg - HERE to register.

karnak wrote: Ok. I am in. I think I was #48/60.. space is filling up fast.

Great... but why hasn't the boy signed up?

Brian, hope you can make this event. You're going to be rusty!

Cheese wrote: OK, I'm in.

About time!

Cheese wrote: Not sure where 48/60 came from... looks like there's only 25 registered https://www.motorsportreg.com/index.cfm/event/event.status/uidEvent/B4CAF7AA-A00B-9D9A-5415BFDFE19218B8#.U7pbbrFQ8VQ - so far .

I think your dad got fooled because they list everyone twice and then use that total down at the bottom. It's an odd way to do it IMO.

Bassman wrote: I am burning through gas, not even reaching 200km per tank.

We don't call you Lead Foot for no reason.

AllanJ wrote: ...oh, I'm eagerly awaiting the ANNIHILATING that Colby will bring on Patrick. :)

Bring him on... bring on the Colbster!

Bassman wrote: Registered, see you all then

Excellent!  Welcome back into the fold.

Bassman wrote: SM it seems...chitty...lol

Colby and I are in STR (instead of ES) due to suspension mods. Is your GT in SM because of your engine being a bit larger than the factory 2.8L?

D_sensitized wrote: I will see about making it out to this one, but not sure yet.

Harrison, it would be great if you could make it out. Would be wonderful to see a good cross-section of Fieros participating.

AllanJ wrote: I may need to do some phone coaching to ensure ANNIHILATION #3!

Won't happen. Colby (in his nice heavy air conditioned Formula) will be getting spanked.

AllanJ wrote: I might need to come by at lunch and give Colby some in-person tips where he can use that extra weight as an advantage.

Al, come on by... it would be good to see you.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I want Colby to do well. I want him to beat as many Vettes as posible. But I'm going to smoke him.

The last BCCC autocross was a rather wet event. This one will be the exact opposite.

After all this hot dry weather (which will be continuing), there won't be any standing water on the track at all. Combine that with it being a double-pad event, and it's going to be FAST out there. Woo-hoo!

I refuse to believe that after all these days of hot dry weather that it's supposed to rain on Saturday.

No way, no freakin' way... I simply will not allow it! 

Bassman wrote: Where can I find the time details, can't seem to find it?.

Found the following in one of the emails from MotorsportReg.

Gates open @ 7:00 am
Tech closes @ 8:15am
Registration check-in closes @ 8:30am

It will not rain, it will not rain, it will not rain...

If it's not raining this afternoon, I plan to go out to Pitt Meadows to help set up the track. I figure I'll be able to get few runs on a dry track either today or tomorrow.

I was out there at 5 PM today to help set up the track. I was very impressed with how organized the BCCC crew were. There were about a dozen of us. First we cleared everything off both pads... and then we measured off where every cone went going from a large drawn-up map.

You guys will love it. It's a course made for Fieros (and a 914/6). No tight corners, lots of places to open 'er up.  

Not that there was any "official" testing , but I was really moving.

It will not rain, it will not rain, it will not rain...

It's cloudy out there, but so far any precipitation is holding off.

It will not rain, it will not rain, it will not rain...

Bassman wrote: morning coffee...check, rain yet, no...check, car packed....check...

After forgetting my helmet last time (and driving all the way back home to to get it), I put it in the trunk yesterday.

About half an hour ago it sprinkled lighly for about two minutes. Hopefully, that's it for the day!

And it didn't rain !!!!!

More to report in awhile. I'm just having a drink or two of champagne at the moment...

karnak wrote: here Patrick.. something to look at while I upload my videos...

Hey, the car looks great... from that distance. Thanks Gary!

karnak wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LM8lqi70w4 - Here is my Spin-out

That was quite something to observe from trackside while it was occurring. You seemed bound and determined to take something/someone out.  Al needs to have a word with you.  I was screaming your name as you went sliding by my track station down the back stretch, but the roar of those angry German ponies drowned me out.

I made the "mistake" of mounting the camera behind me (so Al could see how badly I was screwing up ), and it basically destroys the audio quality due to wind buffeting the camera mic. The audio "auto-gain" of the camera goes crazy when this occurs, and the end result is audio that really sucks (or blows or whatever). IMO, the sound is just as important to a video as what we see, so next autocross the camera's going back to the inside of the windshield where the camera is protected from the wind and the audio comes out fine.

Anyway, having said all that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db18lVH5kew - HERE is my second run of the afternoon. It's not my fastest run... it's one of I believe three runs that were all 53.8, whereas my fastest run ended up being 52.5 something. This video has the least screwed up sound of all the videos I shot, but it's still pretty bad.

I was very impressed with how the Corvette Club is really trying to improvise and improve the event. Yes, they were having some problems with the timing equipment yesterday, but it's obvious that they're quite eager to change how their autocross has been run in the past. I was telling Brian that even the day before when I went to the track to assist with the setup, everyone who was there was so friendly and openly expressed their appreciation that I came out to help. I think they actually enjoy having our Fieros come out to their events. We're part of the same family.

And talking about making improvements, I'm hoping Colby is going to get a chance to update this forum in the near future, hopefully before he's running back to Saskatoon. Not only will we be able to upload images easily again, but we'll also be able to embed YouTube videos right in our posts. That'll really bring our autocross threads to life.

AllanJ wrote: Generally speaking though, you're a bit late with your turns so your speed must be lower in order to hustle the car around the cones with each hard/fast half turn of the steering wheel.

Yes, that's something that several experienced drivers have told me over the last couple of years. For whatever reason, I often have trouble getting myself to commit to turning the steering wheel sooner. So yes, I'm aware of this issue... and I'm still continuing to work on it.

AllanJ wrote: I'd love to see the video of your fastest run to compare.

I've uploaded the video of my second fastest run, which is only 3/10ths of a second slower than my fastest run. I uploaded this one because during my fastest run I had both windows open, and basically there is no audio (worthwhile hearing).

I'm just in the process of using YouTube's online editor (doesn't work too bad), and I'll post a link when I'm done. It's a 3D video (as Gary and I like them ), but it can be viewed in 2D as well if you prefer.

Okay, the 3D video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fXeXJE7_A - HERE .

Gary and I like to use the "No glasses" option when viewing in 3D, but it takes some practice (especially if you wish to watch an image larger than a postage stamp). This'll make sense if/when you try.

Remember, the 2D option is available at YouTube for this video as well.

AllanJ wrote: ...try thinking of altering your line so you start your turning earlier. So your turn occurs over a larger distance. ex: 1 degree per foot for 100 feet rather than 2 degrees per foot for 50 feet.

In other words... turn sooner, and not so sharply... in order to maintain a higher speed. 

Makes sense, sounds simple enough.

Thanks Al.

Colby and I were saying after the autocross yesterday that we'd both be interested in having you take our cars around the course at one of these events. It would give us an idea of what our cars are actually capable of when in experienced hands, and what we need to strive for. I think it's helped Gary a lot when you've done this with the 914/6.

Here's the standings. There were a whole bunch of different spreadsheets sent out to the participants, but this one is the most basic and shows us ranked according to RAW time. I wish it listed the types of cars on this page though, as it's interesting to see what (more so than who) we've beat.

Just for fun, I've tried lifting a couple images from video that I shot. I'll do a couple more later.

karnak wrote: I must tidy that bumper up a bit...

That's what Photoshop is for.

Two more images taken from video footage.

AllanJ wrote: I'm curious what Colby's time would have been if he had all the practice Patrick had during setup.

PCA-CWR and BCCC could both use more help the day before to help set up.

AllanJ wrote: ...Robert Lu. He's an amazing driver

Couldn't find a video from the autocross by Robert Lu, but I did find one by Nicholas Chu (top PAX of the event)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcuo8W9kPX0 - HERE .

Come on Colby, let's get this forum updated/fixed so we can embed videos!

AllanJ wrote: Curious what Patrick's best time was by lunch to kind of equal the number of runs Colby had all day.

Al, it's possible you believe that I had unlimited runs on Friday night. Honestly, that wasn't the case. I had one leisurely drive through the course with Giff in the car after we set things up, where we stopped a couple times to move cones... so I'm not counting that one. I then had two 90% full speed runs. On my final run before lunch (my fourth run), my time was 53.880 with no penalties. So let's say it took me six runs then to record that time.

If Colby wants to, he can post how many runs it took him to beat that.

Come on Al, I think I deserve a little credit, eh?  It's kind of a thrill for me after struggling with a 90 HP car for four years to now be a lot more competitive with the '88... and its formidable 140 HP.

I want all the Fieros (as well as a certain 914/6) to do well at these events. I think we're starting to be noticed, and maybe even respected a bit.

Cheese wrote: If you only omit Patrick's last run, I would have ended the day with a quicker time.

Okay, two can play this game. Tell everyone who had the quickest time between us if we both omitted our last runs.

Cheese wrote: He also got a re-run for the last run due to timing issues.

I actually felt that the run that wasn't timed properly was my quickest, so thanks for pointing that out.

Lots of images https://www.flickr.com/photos/bccorvetteclub/sets/72157645931774233/ - HERE of the event.