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It was a typical runway course: lotsa transitions, plus a turnaround.

That said, Grady did a fabulous job with subtleties, IMO.  Angled slalom entrances, gotcha sections that found you in too deep if you were not looking ahead, and a couple of nice power shots if you were able to get on the throttle smoothly and early.

The surface itself had lotsa grip right from the beginning.  It never needed any cleaning up and was a fast early on as it was at the end.  The only change was the start area pulled some of the looser aggreate off the pavement and we actually lost some grip in the launch area vs Friday practice.

Good news: It was announced that a deal had been struck with the airport authority that we'll have more space next year, enough to do a dual course Pro!!

--Andy 

Andy Hollis:

The surface itself had lotsa grip right from the beginning.  It never needed any cleaning up and was a fast early on as it was at the end.  The only change was the start area pulled some of the looser aggreate off the pavement and we actually lost some grip in the launch area vs Friday practice.

This had me puzzled all weekend.  I pulled my (2) fastest runs during the first heat (though the 2nd was dirty) but could never duplicate them in other sessions.  I'm not sure if it was aggregate being pulled up or my tires horribly degrading over time!

d 

Coming from someone who stank it up for various reasons, I have to say I though the course was fun, well marked and pretty fast, but tremendously transitional.   My complaints are that the gates were very narrow, and spaced in such a way that the possible approach and therefore speed was defined purely by the width of the car and no other factor.  There were 3 such pinch points.  Normally there should be none, but sometimes 1 or two will creep in. 

That is why you see so many cones, and why no large car paxed well.   

And I would certainly say that grip was nowhere to be found.  I think that was more to do with temperature than anything.  I had more grip on street tires and sub freezing asphalt in my first attempt to autocross the z back in MO.   I wish I had a data logger, but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track, at least until after I got pissed on any given run and started doing the dukes of hazzard.

 It is  a good site, and a real pro will see me return next year! 

cbramey:

Coming from someone who stank it up for various reasons, I have to say I though the course was fun, well marked and pretty fast, but tremendously transitional.   My complaints are that the gates were very narrow, and spaced in such a way that the possible approach and therefore speed was defined purely by the width of the car and no other factor.  There were 3 such pinch points.  Normally there should be none, but sometimes 1 or two will creep in. 

That is why you see so many cones, and why no large car paxed well.   

And I would certainly say that grip was nowhere to be found.  I think that was more to do with temperature than anything.  I had more grip on street tires and sub freezing asphalt in my first attempt to autocross the z back in MO.   I wish I had a data logger, but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track, at least until after I got pissed on any given run and started doing the dukes of hazzard.

 It is  a good site, and a real pro will see me return next year! 

 

 

Nice meeting you Chris!  And I think you did a great job of manning the land yacht! :p

 I can think of 3-4 spots where I could go full throttle.  The longest was actually after the turn around, heading into the 2nd "true" slalom.  Most of those spots were just brief stints at WOT.  While the rest of the course was full on throttle jockey!  I actually think I could've matched or bettered my times in an RX-8 just due to the pinch off sections like Chris mentioned.  Great overall course and I look forward to going back to Arkansas next year!  (haven't missed an event up there since the 1st tour in 05 @ Walnut Ridge.

sm2dan:

This had me puzzled all weekend.  I pulled my (2) fastest runs during the first heat (though the 2nd was dirty) but could never duplicate them in other sessions.  I'm not sure if it was aggregate being pulled up or my tires horribly degrading over time!

 

d 

Were you a second driver car in the first heat?  Could that have something to do with the back to back to back runs that the second driver's got for that heat only?  I don't think any first heat second driver matched their times for the remainder of the event due to that unless they totally screwed up their morning runs.  I can't believe the event didn't get protested for that little screw up in planning.

cbramey:

  

And I would certainly say that grip was nowhere to be found.  I think that was more to do with temperature than anything.  I had more grip on street tires and sub freezing asphalt in my first attempt to autocross the z back in MO.   I wish I had a data logger, but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track, at least until after I got pissed on any given run and started doing the dukes of hazzard.

The agregate concrete in the cold was not collecting any rubber.  When you look at the videos you can see how the tires were cleaning off the surface, but no rubber was going down.  The line actually became cleaner, not blacker.  It seems that it was getting more smooth and slippier.  On Sunday I never could get the tires to bite on launch, I never thought about what Andy said about how it was being made smoother over time, not grippier.  And I've never had a ProSolo surface where I had to baby the shift to second because the tires were letting go on the 1st to 2nd shift.  I even saw someone take out a cone on the 1st to 2nd shift.

Chris, I had four sections to the floor.  The approach to the turn around, the exit from the turn around, the exit from the second return offset into the slalom and the approach to the finish offset.  I never did get to the rev limiter though... You got to knock a 100 hp off that thing so you can plant it again!

Course was fun.  Arkansas Region was super.  And the event ran smoothly.

If the new section for next year includes the runway attached the runway we used you may want to run a local event on it to see if it's ok on tires.  I walked out on it between sessions to take a look at it's surface because it looked different than the runway we were on.  It has been mechanically grooved and looked like it was either going to have incredible grip perpendicular to the runway or was going to be hard on tires.  It looked like the sections of Topeka that have been ground down only with ridges 2-3x as deep.  FYI

I agree that the cold weather had a lot to do with the low grip.  A 70 degree day would have been nicer, but that's just the way it goes.

Yah, i was part of that run group.  The tires still weren't very warm even after Dani's first runs.  I remember them being lukewarm at best.  I do think *that* little debacle along with the most amount of rubber available to me helped.  I remember being able to floor it just about everywhere but in later runs having to get completely off the throttle more and "slide" around the offset cones instead of just modulating the accelerator.

d 

cbramey:

but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track,

Damn... apparently we need more power in the XP car.  I was WOT a whole bunch of places, and for awhile. 

129STS:

cbramey:

but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track,

 

Damn... apparently we need more power in the XP car.  I was WOT a whole bunch of places, and for awhile. 

 Yeah, I need more power too.  I was foot to the floor all over the place. 

jmp33:

129STS:

cbramey:

but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track,

 

Damn... apparently we need more power in the XP car.  I was WOT a whole bunch of places, and for awhile. 

 Yeah, I need more power too.  I was foot to the floor all over the place. 

I need more stick. 

In the STS car, I was modulating all over the place, except for the two big power shots, in and out of the turnaround.

--Andy 

Andy Hollis:

jmp33:

129STS:

cbramey:

but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track,

 

Damn... apparently we need more power in the XP car.  I was WOT a whole bunch of places, and for awhile. 

 Yeah, I need more power too.  I was foot to the floor all over the place. 

I need more stick. 

In the STS car, I was modulating all over the place, except for the two big power shots, in and out of the turnaround.

--Andy 

CSP is calling your name Andy.

ratt_finkel:

Andy Hollis:

jmp33:

129STS:

cbramey:

but I dont think the throttle touched the floorboard at any point around the track,

 

Damn... apparently we need more power in the XP car.  I was WOT a whole bunch of places, and for awhile. 

 Yeah, I need more power too.  I was foot to the floor all over the place. 

I need more stick. 

In the STS car, I was modulating all over the place, except for the two big power shots, in and out of the turnaround.

--Andy 

CSP is calling your name Andy.

Again...