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The Nebulizer:

That shouldn't take all day (well, unless you have some stuck rotors - I have spent all day on that before... then given up and gone to a shop... )

I've got very little experience in auto repair so I decided to have the guys at Performance Driven do it for me this time, but I'm gonna watch so I can do it myself in the future. 

DRAG:

STU was crazy today....and I got spanked!!!  Kevin and Nick had a hell of a battle going.  I wasn't even in the hunt.

Your protege beat you? I'll have to check out those results... I knew after the results at the fun run that Nick was for real.

The Peru T&T was pretty nice. I managed 14 runs before cording my Contis - good riddance slippy tires. The extra runs definitely helped me get into form. I dropped another 3 seconds after the standard 5 runs. (Still not very competitive with those Corvettes out there, but I did OK). I did manage to keep DSC off the whole time... spun 3 or 4 times in the early runs (including the first run on the first turn in spectacular form), but then managed the last 8 runs or so clean with just a little controlled sliding . So, with me sliding and all those Corvettes, the air was thick with tire dust.

Oh, there was a beautiful Shelby Dayton Coupe (by Superformace) at the event. I took a ton of pictures of it. Spectacular car - definitely one of my all time favorite designs.

The Nebulizer:

The Peru T&T was pretty nice. I managed 14 runs before cording my Contis - good riddance slippy tires. The extra runs definitely helped me get into form. I dropped another 3 seconds after the standard 5 runs. (Still not very competitive with those Corvettes out there, but I did OK). I did manage to keep DSC off the whole time... spun 3 or 4 times in the early runs (including the first run on the first turn in spectacular form), but then managed the last 8 runs or so clean with just a little controlled sliding . So, with me sliding and all those Corvettes, the air was thick with tire dust.

Sweet! They ran through some of the bumpy stuff, so spinning would be easy to do. I thought my arms were going to fall off holding onto the wheel through the couple bad spots. Was it dry on Sunday? I went on Saturday and we had a lot of rain off and on. Only 14 runs? I took 35 on Saturday Probably would have taken more if the brakes didn't keep getting too hot...only time I've wished I had track capable pads.

turbohappy:

Sweet! They ran through some of the bumpy stuff, so spinning would be easy to do. I thought my arms were going to fall off holding onto the wheel through the couple bad spots. Was it dry on Sunday? I went on Saturday and we had a lot of rain off and on. Only 14 runs? I took 35 on Saturday Probably would have taken more if the brakes didn't keep getting too hot...only time I've wished I had track capable pads.

I didn't find the bumpy stuff too bad for spinning (mostly just made me worry about clearance). I did slide a little once or twice. But, mostly I was sliding on accelerating too hard through a turn or chicane - had a nice one at the finish (so did many of the corvettes). I didn't realize until after my runs that the slalom was supposed to start on the right (longer slalom) - but I guess everyone took the shorter line. They should have put a pointer cone. I had trouble finding my way around that course in several spots. My eyes naturally seemed to go to the wrong cone at times and sometimes there was just a mess of cones to try to sort out quickly. (no walkthrough made it tough too)

Weather was fine all day (Sunday). I had to quit as my tires were worn to the threads. I was hoping to get a few more runs in - I probably should have let them cool down a bit more between runs. The sideways slides through the finish probably wore off a little extra. I could have easily done 35 as well in that time, but the tires were questionable to even get me home (good half inch of thread on 2 tires) - anymore runs and I feared I would have a blow out. I got those wider (265) yokohama advan neovas from TeamRX8. Wider and better tires might just push me up into mediocre status!

Brian, were you able to get some clean times on a dry course? Sunday on dry course, Dan Stone (CS Solstice) got a 46 and Mark Lamb (CM Formula Ford) got a 43 and some of the Corvettes were in the range of 46 to 52. My best was a low 51 (last run on corded tires). I did a ride along in a Corvette on R comps. He screwed up a few times and still pulled 47s - felt much more aggressive than me.

I wish they had more slaloms and technical stuff, though. I was hoping to get more practice with my braking and setting up my lines through the cones.

DRAG:

STU was crazy today....and I got spanked!!!  Kevin and Nick had a hell of a battle going.  I wasn't even in the hunt.

Kevin needs someone out there to make him sweat!  Good thing I had 11 runs in me the day before.  I needed at least that to have a shot at him.

I want to personally thank all the guys that worked the training event!  I think it helped.

The Nebulizer:

Brian, were you able to get some clean times on a dry course? Sunday on dry course, Dan Stone (CS Solstice) got a 46 and Mark Lamb (CM Formula Ford) got a 43 and some of the Corvettes were in the range of 46 to 52. My best was a low 51 (last run on corded tires).

The course was never totally dry. They had the pointer cone out there on Saturday, which really pinched off the last cone of that slalom, so it's pretty hard to compare. I think Stone's best time on Saturday was a 49.8, so either the course wasn't even close to dry on Saturday or he was running the slalom the other way on Sunday or both. My best was a 51.2. I was on full treads during the driest part of the day. It finally was getting dry so I threw on the shaved tires and before I could get back out there it started raining again. Was able to pull the 51.2 (vs. 51.3 best on full treads) even though it was a little wetter, so I think I could have been in the 50s on shaved during the driest part of the day.

The Nebulizer:

DRAG:

STU was crazy today....and I got spanked!!!  Kevin and Nick had a hell of a battle going.  I wasn't even in the hunt.

Your protege beat you? I'll have to check out those results... I knew after the results at the fun run that Nick was for real.

 I was a cone Zamboni all day.  I had 2 clean runs, both which were embarrassingly slow, and other runs where I thought they were clean but I must have been catching the foot of cones with the rear tire.  I didn't have a single cone mark on my car at the end of the day...and the Columbus cones WILL leave a mark on a light car LOL!  Bottom line...I was driving like an ape with 3 arms and I got schooled!

DRAG:

 I was a cone Zamboni all day.  I had 2 clean runs, both which were embarrassingly slow, and other runs where I thought they were clean but I must have been catching the foot of cones with the rear tire.  I didn't have a single cone mark on my car at the end of the day...and the Columbus cones WILL leave a mark on a light car LOL!  Bottom line...I was driving like an ape with 3 arms and I got schooled!

I wouldn't call a top 5 overall time "embarrassingly slow"

Locked:

DRAG:

 I was a cone Zamboni all day.  I had 2 clean runs, both which were embarrassingly slow, and other runs where I thought they were clean but I must have been catching the foot of cones with the rear tire.  I didn't have a single cone mark on my car at the end of the day...and the Columbus cones WILL leave a mark on a light car LOL!  Bottom line...I was driving like an ape with 3 arms and I got schooled!

I wouldn't call a top 5 overall time "embarrassingly slow"

Nick must have gotten all his cone smashing out of the way on Saturday. I saw the school results . 2 clean runs out of 12 - with some as many as 8 cones!!!  Great times with the cones though. 

12 runs at the school? Man, maybe I should have done the school instead of Peru. Hopefully they will still consider me enough of a novice to let me attend the 2nd school later this season.

The Nebulizer:

Nick must have gotten all his cone smashing out of the way on Saturday. I saw the school results . 2 clean runs out of 12 - with some as many as 8 cones!!!  Great times with the cones though. 

I have permanent cone scars from my total of 24 on the day!!  My 7 cone'd run was in fact Scott driving my car!  We both thought it was 1 cone 2 max!!  I didn't care about cones during the school.  Finding the limits of the car was my goal.

Jay told me I'm no longer allowed to participate as a student at another school.

Locked:

Jay told me I'm no longer allowed to participate as a student at another school.

I am ready for my 3rd school. I think after it Jay will probably come up to me too....

...and tell me there is nothing they can do for me - please don't come back, the neighbor's crops are suffering too much...

Well done, Nick - 1 second within Kevin Kent is impressive for a seasoned racer, let alone a relative beginner!

I see Randy Boone won SS in the M coupe with a nice time, too!

sorry, I tried to delete this post and it started multiplying.

Jason,

Unfortunately, the time was not good, 30th out of 40 and 8-9 seconds off the top time. In addition, the SS Class only had 2 cars, but thanks anyway. I think my car will look a lot like your this weekend (blue tape), so I can keep the cone battle scars to a minimum.

Randy 

rboone:

Jason,

Unfortunately, the time was not good, 30th out of 40 and 8-9 seconds off the top time. In addition, the SS Class only had 2 cars, but thanks anyway. I think my car will look a lot like your this weekend (blue tape), so I can keep the cone battle scars to a minimum.

Randy 

You did well for your 2nd event. I think it takes a lot more time for a beginner with a high power RWD car. (At least that is what I keep telling myself.) Throttle control takes experience. You are still on stock tires too (Contis?) - they are not so sticky and on the thin side. Have fun, listen to the skilled drivers, and the times will come down. See you Sunday.

rboone:

Jason,

Unfortunately, the time was not good, 30th out of 40 and 8-9 seconds off the top time. In addition, the SS Class only had 2 cars, but thanks anyway. I think my car will look a lot like your this weekend (blue tape), so I can keep the cone battle scars to a minimum.

Randy 

 

 You looked much smoother toward the end of the day.  It isn't so easy to start out as a beginner in a car with so much power.  The important part is that you had fun!   That course was nice!!!

 Jason, Drag,

I absolutely had a blast at Columbus both days. The school was very good for me and I think I continue to understand more about what I am trying to do, it is just going to take a while for me. Everyone has been helpful and encouraging and believe me that helps a lot. My frustration was after 17 runs on the same course that I was not able to improve a little more than I did. Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up, I'm just going to figure out how to work harder and hopefully smarter at improving. 

But the bottom line is that this is not easy and you guys are very good at what you do. I just want to eventually be one of those guys who is good at what I do. That is my challenge and hopefully I can do that before I'm too old to enjoy it.

Thanks to everyone for all the help.

Randy

rboone:

I just want to eventually be one of those guys who is good at what I do. That is my challenge and hopefully I can do that before I'm too old to enjoy it.

This coming from a guy that was just going to watch at his first event. 

Ron drove your car saturday to a 56.9 with 2 cones...  Your best on sunday with the same cone count was a 57.4.  So your only 1/2 second behind a seasoned driver after your second autox!!

I think you'll be good faster than you think.

rboone:

  I just want to eventually be one of those guys who is good at what I do. That is my challenge and hopefully I can do that before I'm too old to enjoy it.

Me too. I am not used to not being good at something I am trying hard at. It can be frustrating to not have the skills some racers seem to have early on - and driving a fast car can be hard to live up to (but we look good doing it ... aside from all the tape). But I am sure many of the seasoned racers took a while to get their skills. Fortunately, even doing mediocre is a lot of fun. For now, I just want to get a little better and I can be patient on ever being considered good.