Topic: Cumberland Icebreaker Autox May 15-16

[Uranium-238]

Exactly. Why risk getting in an accident and having the car out of commission for even longer? Plus I know I'd never be able to throw someone else's car around the track as hard as I would mine, too worried about breaking something...

[DeepBlueGXP]

So how did today go?

[Uranium-238]

C'mon Ben, fill me in on what I missed.

[elff]

I decided to bag the second day of my Event.
Yesterday was hot and long, and a couple of things happened that reminded me why I don't like AutoX in my local SCCA.  Today I would have driven first and then had to hang out until 5pm.
I wasn't feeling the "spend 11 hrs of time commitment" to drive 6 minutes deal at 6am this morning.

Outside of that, the course was extremely long and laid out excellent.  it spanned 3 parking lots in the Philladelphia Phillies Parking lot and took over a minute to complete.
My overall times weren't great but at the end of the day, I was 59th out of 115 so I guess that wasn't too shabby.  Especially for not having done an AutoX since early 2009.  Initially I was going in way too hot for some turns as you could really carry some speed.  My first 2 runs were clean, no cones and on course, but noisy due to me having to break too hard.   I smoothed out on my 3rd run, but I went off course because I was really pushing it. I Had a great run going and missed a break point so I wasn't worried.   This set me up for my 4th and final run.  I slowed down and carried speed vs breaking it away, was much smoother and quieter and felt just as fast as my third run.   The last section was a slowly tightening slalom into a tight left turn with a 60' straight to the timing box.  I nailed all 3, punched it about 3/4 through the last turn [which the Star Specs enabled me to do], exploded to the timer and finally broke the new tires free as I crossed the line at about 5500 rpms. 
End result
Clean On Course run that was 4 seconds faster than my first run. 
 
 

[Treeman]

 

[Critterman]

good one elff

[Kelu]

Cool, thank you for sharing

[Ben L]

It was a truly spectacular weekend.  Great weather, tons of cool cars, including that local gal in the yellow GXP I've seen out at CDC events.  She's getting pretty good, and needs to be recruited to KP, because we can help her with the plowing issue.  Our Cobra club's resident hotshoe Wade Chamberlain removed his blower to avoid a weight penalty at the SCCA Regionals later this month, and still took FTD on Saturday nearly 200 hp down.  I had a pretty good day Saturday, too, finishing 20th out of a very tough field of 83 cars.  Even though they opened up the course a bit Sunday, I ran 2 off courses, and coned on 3 other runs, leaving only one disappointing clean run.  Oh well.  Here's a link to the in-car of my best on Saturday.  Not as cool as Shabby's but it gives you an idea of what the course was like . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtrM28-0TU

[Ben L]

Exactly. Why risk getting in an accident and having the car out of commission for even longer? Plus I know I'd never be able to throw someone else's car around the track as hard as I would mine, too worried about breaking something...

Don't worry about that.  She's built to take getting thrown around hard, and there's nothing to run into. Plus, I'm probably way meaner to her than you could be.  If it breaks, we just need to get it home.  C'est la vie.  Seriously, if you are still down in early June, the offer stands.

[Uranium-238]

If the car is down in early June I'll likely be trying to dump the car and find a Foxbody to turn into a race car...

[elff]

Ben

That was just as cool.
One thing I noticed that impressed me was your text book steering wheel control.
Even on the tight turns you shuffled vs crossing your arms.  That's a sign of an experienced and skilled driver. 
I really liked the layout of the course. 
Good Job!!

I'm probably going to be tight on cash in July due to some installs and purchases at Nationals, so Look for me to make a trip down there in August or september if there is an event.
Meanwhile, I am going to explore the NJ SCCA locally

[Treeman]

 

[Critterman]

they never make that course easy do they?  Nice looking run

[JimmyBaja]

Ben, the sound of that car is just incredible! I can never get enough of in-car racing videos, awsome! Thanks for sharing. 

[Ben L]

Thanks, guys!  Quiet hands and shuffle steering have been beat into me at various racing schools.  I don't even notice I'm doing it that way anymore, which I guess is good.

Elff, there are Cumberland events in both August and September.

http://www.nationalroadrally.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cumberland-Airport-Autocross/338942968111