2013 Event #6

M

mmarshall

Member #053
Location
Florissant
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Marshall
We ran event #6 today and had a great day. It looked like rain but not a single drop fell while racing. Rick brought Buttercup out to test her properly and they both did quite well. Rick never got lost and had excellent car control. He finally got bit trying to push a little too hard on the last lap but then again that is what it is all about. It is hard to know where the limit is until you find it a couple of times. We also had a GTM join us and Rick bested the GTM by 1.8 seconds. Not bad for a first time out!

Here is Ricks best lap at 55.53:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3T8FIvYneQ

I tried something different today with my tires. I ran my 315x17 Kumho XS (street tires) on the front and my new 315x17 Nitto NT01 on the back. The balance changed pretty dramatically from the normal oversteer to quite a bit of understeer. Wow was it different to drive a car that I did not have to worry would spin on me. That being said the understeer cost me some time in 2 places on the course. I was able to take 1st and bested the GTM by 7.6 seconds.

Here is my best lap at 49.63:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C4jo4sheiM

Bill put up some good times today in the Imark but ended up hitting cones on his best 2 laps.

Thanks Rick for joining us for a day of fun and for all those club members that came out to cheer us on. Also we missed having Tim there today and hope his wife continues to heal quickly.
 
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Thanks for posting Mike, had a blast running autocross. Good to see Keith, Ron and Dan out there. Missed seeing Tim out there but totally understand.
All my best to Tim and Linda hoping everything progresses to a good outcome

.Rick
 
Great job Rick! So, are ya hooked now? Watching the video, I got lost on the slalom, so I would have blown that at least once. Who's the GTM owner?
 
The GTM is from Jeff City area and is owned by Gerald McKinney. The car sounds amazing and quite loud. Rick's was fairly quiet compared to the GTM. He was having some problems and had several DNF's so I am not sure it is fair to say the car was slow. I wanted to ride with him for a lap but we were lined up very close on grid and had to run right after him. It looked really cool from a distance, but up close there are a lot of details he needs to work on. He bought it about 80% done and is slowly finishing it up.

Rick thought he would get lost also, but I rode with him on the 1st lap and he had no problems at all. Actually I DNF'ed my 1st lap because I completely missed an element at the finish, so you could say that I was the one that got lost. Slaloms are easy because you just turn left and right until you are done.

Tim we will be praying for Linda!
 
Not sure you would say I'm hooked but I did have alot of fun. I think it would be fun to have more of the club show up for an event, you don't have to run your car that hard, might be nice to have a different set of tires so wouldn't eat up your street tires. Mike you need to post the video of my last run, show old smokie

Rick:)
 
It looked like a lot of fun and Rick's right in that it appears you can push your car as hard or easy as you wish. I saw some kids in gokarts spin out and she never took her foot off the gass, shejust completed the spin with the tires still turning and right back into the turn. When is the next event? I might like to try it too and it would be a good incentive to install that sway bar I have finally.
 
Next event is Aug 11. I will be there on slicks on the front this time to see if I can figure out the balance on the car. I have some 275 autox tires on 9" rims that anybody is welcome to try. If placed on the rear and street tires on the front they will guarantee you will not spin!
 
Don't think your rims will bolt up to my 4 lug axle, but thanks.:p I'll try my Kumho tires
 
Not for sure if Aug 11 will work but I might try the tires if I can go. I'm not sure you can guarantee I can't spin Mike:eek:

Rick
 
It was nice having more cars int he class to race against.
The parking area was starting to look like a Cobra club meeting. I would look up and say to myself "Dang, another one to take pictures of...".

It looks like I got rid of most of the tire rub with the little C shaped shims on the steering rack. I thought I had overdone it when I put them in, but I still had a little rub on the side I shimmed less.
It feels like I got the tire pressure back closer to what it is supposed to be. The first couple events it was like the rear was on ice. This event I had the rear pressure up and the back end was stuck down enough to allow me to turn up the rear dampers, shove the car real hard, and go back to left foot braking.
I may have to switch to the larger front brake rotors, the front rotors were up to 500 degrees...
The car felt a LOT faster. But I divided out my PAX against the fastest driver's PAX, and my index went down (even for the runs I caught a cone). I am wondering if our fastest drivers have made a big leap forward going even faster, and shifted us all down in the index.

Saturday was a little more open course, the changes to the far end turned a long left hand sweeper into two acute angle, brake slamming left handers. And the washboard pavement going into the first left hander was a spin zone for me.

I think that was the second and third event for the GTM. I also found a PDX entry for him a couple weeks ago. New car and inexperienced driver. He did pick up some speed Sunday compared to Saturday. Not sure of that one is as adaptable to autocross, or has the same support, as the Cobra seems to have. (You guys have an insane amount of factory and club support and people who have spent years turning what should be totally out of place at autocross, into cone carvers.)
 
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I found some pics of the GTM out on the course. Rick should be proud he beat such a capable car his very 1st time out.

IMG_3103_zpsc81687c7.png


IMG_2965_zpsc8ab29cc.png
 
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Looks good for Sunday Aug 11. Anybody else coming out, you know the more the merrier. Hoping Mike's still coming out, and I can use his extra tires.

Rick
 
I plan to be there Sunday and hope some others can make it out. There is one small problem with the tires. :( I forgot that I had dismounted them, so we either need to get them mounted on the rims or you can use my 315x17 Kumho XS's which will be a little stickier than your street tires. Sorry, but I totally forgot that the tires were not on the rims.
 
I'll miss. Sorry. I'll be in Clarence the next 2 weekends. I also need to work out a different mounting for my sway bar. Skips plates would work great, but my bump steer kit is in the way.
:( May try to modify them.
 
Mike - I'm thinking I might be able to make this if I can get some other stuff out of the way, get my oil cooler installed and tested, and through the slicks on. Weather looks good. Can you post up some details, and save me some research...

Location-
Arrival time-
Dress requirements-
Cost-
Expected departure-
Anything else-
 
Sunday at Family Arena show around 0730.We run heat #1 and work heat #3 so will be there till about 3pm. Fortunately it won't be too hot on Sunday.


List of what to bring.
1. Helmet motorcycle is OK.
2. Drivers license and scca I'd
3. Money $35 entry and weekend SCCA membership $15
4. Tape for class and numbers (we run in XP)
5. Water / gatorade
6. Sunscreen and umbrella
7. Tools just in case
8. A car that will pass tech

That is about it.

Events: http://www.stlsolo.org/

Run work order: http://www.stlsolo.org/runWorkOrder
 
BTW, there is an autocross event at Gateway on Saturday. If you work for a couple of hours, you get free passes on the course. I may come watch Sunday.
 
Mike, Do we need to take tires & wheels somewhere or can we do that at your house I'm free tonight.

Tim, It would be great to see you there, hope Linda is doing well all things considered.

Mark, That would be awesome to see you there.

Everyone else, You should come out and see whats going on. It was great that Keith, Dan, and Ron came out last time for suppot if nothing else.

Rick
 
No we need a tire machine to put them on. We might be able to use my friends machine in St Peters on Saturday afternoon. I am busy till around 1pm Saturday. Most places charge $25 each to put them on if you want to go that route, but free is always better. I am home tonight BTW.
 
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