It may seem a little soon to be posting this, but the early registration discount expires after August 18th. So save a few bucks and register before this upcoming Tuesday (the 19th).

PORSCHE CLUB CANADA WEST REGION

Saturday August 30th 2014

Double Pad Autocross - signup closes August 29th at 6:00pm.

First timers and spectators are welcome to attend

If you are co-driving, please indicate (in the 'notes' field) which car you will be driving and who your co-driver is!

EVERYONE MUST READ THE FOLLOWING:

- All drivers and spectators must sign the PCA liability waiver in order to enter the venue. No exceptions.

- All "drivers" under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a parent.

- Pre-registration via Karelo is mandatory. There will be absolutely no refunds for this event. Credit towards a future event may be given only in the event of medical or family emergencies, and only if notice is given within 24hours, at the discretion of the event chairperson.

- Pre-registration on Karelo is the only way to sign up for this event. Those showing up with cash on the morning of the event will be turned away.

- For current Porsche Club members: Cost is $50+GST per driver. ($52.50)

- For all non-PCA members: Cost is $60+GST per driver. ($63.00)

- Late Registration AFTER August18th will be $65+GST for ALL drivers ($68.25)

Click to register http://www.karelo.com/register.php?BID=374&BT=10&Ev=14506 - HERE .

Come out and watch the Porsches desperately try and stay ahead of the Fieros... or better yet, come on out and participate.

I'm registered. No need to put it off.

There's a slight chance that BCCC may do an extra autocross in the fall, but if not, this will the last opportunity for most of us to autocross this year. The summer goes by fast!

karnak wrote: lets hope it is dry!

So far this summer, you and the 914/6 have spanked me every time we've raced on a dry track. Unless BCCC puts on a fall event, this will probably be my last opportunity this year to try and catch you. Bring it on!  

karnak wrote: Al, your gonna miss watching me mop the floor with Patrick

Oh yeah ??!!!

AllanJ wrote: 'll try to drop by in the afternoon to watch the carnage.

The fur will be flying!  Well, hopefully our cars will be.

So Brian, are you definitely a no go, or is there still a chance you'll be coming out?

And just when you least suspect it...

Gary and I will be looking out the window a lot today.

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

It rained pretty hard for about five minutes while I was on the freeway around 3 PM. Maybe that'll be it for the weekend. (Fingers crossed.)

Just on my way out to Pitt Meadows now to help Rich set up the course. I'm going to try and make if Fiero-friendly.

Gary, make sure your gas tank is full... we're going to get a LOT of runs! I suppose because of the long weekend, only 25 people have signed up.

It's going to be a pretty fast course. I just hope we're not dodging puddles!

Actually looks pretty nice out there right now.  

But I'll bring the gumboots along... just in case!

I just got home after visiting friends in Maple Ridge after autocross. I'm too bagged right now to post much, but it was a good day. LOTS of seat time!

Gary had a great day behind the wheel.  There is no way I beat him. (The timing sheet is wrong, I didn't get a 57.482 run.) Gary spanked me by three full seconds. You could almost say he... annihilated me!

I'll review my videos in the morning. My times were okay, but I killed more cones than usual. It's going to be ulgy.

Jim85GT wrote: Only thing I noticed in the first picture was, the Silver Corvette owner was cooling down his engine with the hood up. I guess you were cooling down your radiator?

Jim, that picture was taken before any racing occurred. The hoods were raised for tech inspection. Part of what is checked out is whether or not the battery is securely held down... and my battery has been relocated to the front.

AllanJ wrote: Gary, you did fantastic! You kicked Bill's butt (997 GT3).

Gary kicked Bill's butt, as did I , but Bill was actually driving his V8 powered 240Z.

AllanJ wrote: Gary... tough course for your car too due to the gearing and Rich's video shows that aspect a lot.

Yes, we could certainly hear the rev limiter kicking in as Rich abused, I mean drove the 914/6.  He had the luxury of being able to run the engine RPMs as high as he did.

On the other hand, I was struggling with whether or not to go for 3rd gear in at least one of the fast sections. My stock 2.8 doesn't have the ability to breathe very well much past 4000-4500 RPM. Yes, it will rev up to 5500 RPM, but it's making no power up there. The downside of going for 3rd is the messing about (and possible screwing up) of downshifting into 2nd for the upcoming sweep(s). I decided to go for it late in the day... and was quite pleased with how it felt.

I had no trouble double-clutching and downshifing quickly when it came time, and I felt that in doing so, not only did I possibly gain a tiny bit more speed (while in 3rd), but dropping the tranny suddenly into 2nd and quickly releasing the clutch just before the sweep seemed to help slow the car down in a manageable way and IMO assisted in getting the car under control through the sweep (more so than simply leaving it in 2nd the whole time). For me it was a win-win situation, and I only wished I had started doing this earlier in the day. I'll upload two videos which will hopefully demonstarte what I'm rambling on about.

Here's the course map (with a red arrow indicating where I began shifing into 3rd).

karnak wrote: Patrick, you did do well! ...and a video would be a great way to show it...

Oh, I did okay. I'm just getting tired of being passed by my ass end on a regular basis. And of course, I still have David Twitchetts' words ringing in my ears... "Get rid of those tires", referring to my Kumhos. His Subaru WRX is awfully fast out there, so he must know something of which he speaks.

I don't think I'll spring for new Dunlops (as recommended) quite yet, but talking about "spring", I definitely want to change my front ones for something stiffer for next season. These lowering springs just aren't doing it for me. They're definitely better than the stock '88 springs, but I feel that they're still not stiff enough for autocross.

Anyway, here's a couple of videos. I expermented with a different place to mount the camera and I don't like it. Too much wind noise (even with the sunroof and passenger window closed), and the perspective sucks.

First video is 3D (and/or 2D) and demonstrates how not to take a sweeper... and I use a bad word.  (In this run, I didn't upshift to 3rd gear.)

Click for video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlK3usfyBS4 - Spinout - PCA-CRW autocross - Aug 30, 2014

Second video is my last run (15th) of the day, and my fastest. I'm afraid there are a few mistakes on the timing sheets (I didn't get a 57.432 on my 10th run), and I also didn't get what was shown on the sheet for this run. It was 61.13, and I'm pretty sure I didn' t clip any cones. Notice how I upshift into 3rd in the middle of the course (just for a couple of seconds) and then back into 2nd for the sweeper. It felt good to me, and I plan to do that more in the future... unless the Johanson Garage can assist me with getting some extra top end out of this engine.  

Click for video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlhWqN6TFMQ - Best run - PCA-CWR autocross - Aug 30, 2014

AllanJ wrote: /start peanut gallery comments...

AllanJ wrote: Patrick, for your spin, that turn didn't leave you a lot of room to adjust your line so my guess is you held the tight steering angle and lifted off the throttle or kept braking into the turn. The outcome will be a spin no matter what. You needed to scrub off more speed before entry.

AllanJ wrote: ...tire pressure. Soften the end you want to stick better. If the car is tail-happy and driving adjustments only get you so far, lose a little rear tire pressure (adjust in 2 psi increments) and see how it feels.

AllanJ wrote: Now the BALANCE of the car, front to rear, is something to think about. What is the tendency of your car in low and medium speed turns? Understeer? Oversteer? What part of the turn do these things happen? Can you adjust your driving to deal with it or do you really need to tweak the car?

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy driving the '88, but I don't feel the same measure of comfort going into corners. Yes, I may be going faster now when approaching a corner, and I certainly brake hard to slow down, but I continue to feel like I'm hanging on for dear life in every high speed turn. I enjoy the thrill, but this doesn't equate with getting around the track any faster. Despite my frustration, I am having fun. I'd just like to maximize my potential, whether that be fine tuning my driving... or my car.

I have a set of The Fiero Store's lowering springs on the '88. I like the stance, and the ride certainly isn't soft, but it's nowhere near as stiff as the '84... and I'd like it to be. I can feel the '88 rolling a bit when turning sharp and I'd like to get rid of that. There are factory sway bars front and back, with zero lash end-links and poly sway bar bushings in the front. The rear has the factory rubber bushings in the sway bar and end-links. Both cars have basically the same struts/shocks.

Gary has convinced me to change one thing at a time (so at least I'll know what has or hasn't made a difference). I'm thinking that installing stiffer springs in the front is the way to go, especially when keeping in mind the way the ass end swings around. The stiffer front springs would reduce the roll, and hopefully help to keep the rear of the car behind me where it belongs.

So Allan, please continue to comment on anything to do with my driving or of the car if you think it might be helpful. I value and appreciate everything you've had to say, and I promise my ego won't be bruised no matter what you might wish to add.

karnak wrote: i like your videos Patrick. i may take one of mine and attempt to filter the sound a bit to see if they will show my line on one of my faster runs. my bracket is a bit shaky also..

I'm seriously considering buying a remote audio recorder, such as can be seen discussed http://www.dslrfilmnoob.com/2011/09/30/field-recorders-short-up/ - HERE .

If I get one, I plan to construct a bracket to mount by the rear license plate to hold the recorder in during autocross. I have found in the past (using those cheap little eBay thumb-sized cameras) that audio recorded back there is perfect. The sound of the engine/exhaust and squealing tires comes through loud and clear with NO wind noise. It's... beautiful.  An example from the video vault is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ACt4-gzAs - HERE .

It's a relatively simple matter during the editing process to match up the recorded audio file to the appropriate video file. So that frees up where the camera can be mounted big time, as wind noise would no longer be an issue. Hallelujah!

AllanJ wrote: Hey Patrick, I know you want to learn so that's why the peanut gallery spoke up.  Kudos to you.

Wow, lots there to take in! Let me come back tonight after I've had a chance to digest it all. Thanks Al.

AllanJ wrote: The other key benefit is that the average speed of autocross is about 60km/h...

...which is why the BCCC autocross a few weeks ago was rather invigorating when we were entering the stop box at 115 km/h!

Al, you've gone over a ton of helpful stuff. Thanks so much.  I often wish there was a way of having a sweeper set up at a track and then just do that one sweeper over and over and over again until it feels just right. The UBCSCC Autocross 101 which I've taken a couple of times sort of does that, but I'd love to find an abandoned parking lot somewhere out the middle of nowhere and just turn up there with a number of cones. I think that's what it'll take for all this information to actually sink in.

Gary commented that Rich seems to plays tricks with his feet while driving the course. He uses his left foot to brake so as to reserve his right foot for GO duty. Is there some value to learning this technique, or is there a danger of over-complicating things?

One thing I haven't mentioned during any of this discussion of my handling issues is the fact that I've never had the wheels properly aligned on my Formula at a shop.  You may now wonder.. "What the heck!" Keep in mind that Colby and I did a rough alignment (to the best of our ability), but the reason why I didn't take it to a shop is that I wanted to finalize my choice of suspension components first. Among other things (ball joints/struts/shocks/zero-lash end links/sway bar poly bushings) I put lowering springs in, which are a heck of a lot better the factory springs, but as I've mentioned previously, I'm not 100% satisfied with them. Call me thifty/cheap/frugal, but I didn't want to be spending $100+ for alignment more times than necessary. Once I decide for sure what I want to stick with, I'll take the car to a shop and have everything set to specs. That just might improve the handling.

AllanJ wrote: I do have about 20 cones....

Gary and I will keep our eyes open for a large abandoned paved area.  I'm sure Colby would be delighted to suggest some locations as well, but Saskatchewan is a bit far to go for autocross practice.

Rich Sandor wrote: The hardest part for me was remembering to go back to normal braking when entering the stop box. Otherwise your left foot is committed to the brakes and there's no way to clutch in... = stall!

...

Hey Rich, welcome to our little corner of the automotive universe.

I don't recall seeing you doing the left foot braking when driving my Fiero during course setup/testing. Were you doing it, and I simply missed it, or is left foot braking something you only do in cars you're familar with?

Rich Sandor wrote: I was doing it in the Fiero. I LFB in any car that I'm racing.

You're smooth Rich, very smooth... I didn't even notice.  Of course, when you were piloting the Fiero while we were testing the course, it's no surprise that I wasn't staring into the driver's side footwell. I was more interested in where we were headed.

I'm curious about trying out this left foot braking now. I'll see whether an old dog can learn a new trick.