So it looks like we had a better weekend than last year. Friday was dry, Sat mostly wet and a beautiful Sunday. Thankfully the mosquitos weren't too bad either. Onto what you probably came here for. I'll let Dan handle STU in his own post, but here's some BSP and a little SM, mostly my account of catching "the benchmark".
BSP and SM got lucky and ran in 4th heat on Sat. Mostly dry, but still drying and nice and cool. First runs were pretty insane, especially since I loosened up the car ALOT anticipating massive grip up at Devens. I get lucky and find a downed cone for a rerun. I hear Mark Daddio runs a 56 something in SM. GJ apparently decided to test grip on the new 275's on the grass, no wonder Chris wore his "John Deere" t-shirt. I head out on my 2nd run and the car just feels insane. It's doing exactly what I had hoped and more. Still botched a couple sections but came in faster than Mark at a 55.9XX. Funny part was the guy who hands out the timeslip just says "wow!". Kevin is having a typical dirty day in the 57's, but finally cleans up to a 56.2. It looks like he and I are running away with the BSP.
So now Dan is telling me to gun for 54's and Adil is telling me to take more risk and tidy up on the cones. Meanwhile Mark comes flying in on a 55.5XX. I knew his time was obtainable but didn't think I would be any faster really. I set out on my 3rd run taking Adil's advice and laid down a 55.1XX in what had to be my best run during this year so far. I gotta say it was awesome having Kevin, Jan, Dan, Adil and everyone else around after that run.
Here's the weird part...as soon as you catch someone like Mark Daddio the pressure builds. You go from hunter to prey and hope your runs aren't just a flash in the pan. I spent the entire night focused on that. On that note Sunday say a more normal me (53.3) and I never laid down one solid run. The video and MaxQ is showing that I most likely wouldn't have caught Mark (52.8) anyway, or GJ (52.4)!! Kevin also had a great run (53.7), albeit dirty, on Sunday too. Kev and I ended up over 7 seconds ahead of the rest of BSP and collected some hard earned $$ from Kumho.
Here's some video of my fast runs Sat and Sun:
I gotta hand out kudos to a couple people. Adil is number one. I don't know if he was down and out during Sat runs b/c his Axis friends from Stuttgart and Bavaria dissed, but we adopted him into the holunfie family for the weekend. Not happy after Sat runs he focused hard on catching Dan, which I didn't think would happen. Well, he heads out and sets STU FTD on sunday to pass Dan for 2nd in a car his wife (not previously married either, Dan) drives to work! Chris Carris hustled his way to 1st in AS while shifting to third (and back) 3 or 4 times! Chris has been a maniac and we've been on top of each other in pax lately. I don't know here very well, but I have to mention Lynne Rothney-Kozlak. Chris and I watched her run 3rd heat both days and she was absolutely awesome. Strano was a bit more exciting to watch, but Lynne was very smooth and precise, just flying in that old IROC.
Just wanna say a quick thanks to NER for putting on the event and I'm looking forward to holunfie kicking some more ass in DC.
-Jay (John)
Here's a few links to results and pics from the event I have found:
Final Results
http://http://www.scca.com/_FileLibrary/File/Devens%20Sunday%20Preliminary.pdf
PAX Results
http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/248644.aspx
Pics from several sources
http://new.photos.yahoo.com/album?c=rjbfspso@sbcglobal.net&aid=576460762404217786&pid=&wtok=LMzAZb9DA0jJU2wSHI1ung--&ts=1181565928&.src=ph
http://dan.cernese.org/p/
http://s5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/EdRacer71/Devens%20Tour/?start=0
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Reflections on the big game
While the boys of Holunfie were getting ready for the Devens Massachusetts SCCA Solo National Tour by partaking on a little local BMW action, your humble author decided on a slightly different approach. I figured since I'm going to run at Devens in F-Stock, why not get some big event exposure in what could be an equally as competitive a class.
Around mid-May I was IMing a fellow autocrosser, Scott Hoffman, located in the Richmond Virginia area about the possibility of campaigning his car at the Huntsville Alabama National Tour. Though on short notice, Scott was enthusiastic about having a co-driver, since my entry would have created another trophy spot as well as the opportunity for the all important contingency mooh-lah! The plan would be that we would run Scott's base Acura RSX in H-Stock against a field of 12 others. I set into motion to borrow a nice 27mm front sway bar from Steguis as well as booking a flight to Huntsville.
Friday June 1 comes around and one nice aspect of most National Tours that I highly recommend taking advantage of is the practice sessions. One can purchase tickets to run a short course to adjust to the surface of the venue. I needed to adjust to the surface as well as going from a rear wheel drive Chevrolet Camaro Z28 to a front wheel drive Acura RSX. The practice held some promise, since we were in the thick of the times of our other H-Stock competitors in a variety of different cars such as the class dominant Mini to the emerging Mazda 3 as well as the Honda Civic.
We take our course walks and realize the first day course will allow us to use the power advantage of the RSX. Given that Scott's car has not had all of the modifications one could to to a stock class car, we would have to take advantage of what ever we could get. More course walks Saturday morning confirm that we would do well on the "power course" and sure enough, I managed to place myself into third place after Saturday's runs.
After the conclusion of the first day's runs, the course gets setup for the following day. As a complete opposite of what we just ran, the Sunday course proved to be very transition heavy. The fear of losing our hard won trophy spot starts to creep in. Sure enough, when all is said and done, I fall to mid-pack of our 12 contestant field.
Jump forward to the Devens National Tour. Devens Massachusetts for the past few years has turned out to be such an anomoly for me. Rain, the rush to get the car to grid and the need for a fibreglass repairman are highlights I would rather forget. For some reason, events somehow conspire at "Area 51 of the Northeast" to make the first day of the tour a day I would rather forget; see http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch58.htm on how to really spread the misery with a co-driver.
True to fashion, my second day at Devens/Ayer/Area 51 turns out to be a much better day. Not only did I advance a position in F-Stock, but somehow managed to be 20th in PAX for the day out of a field of 200. With a new school (Shelby) versus old school (IROC) battle going, I'm quite happy with where I landed, so the weekend wasn't a total wash out.
So, what does all of this blah-blahing really mean? First and foremost, if you have the chance, go ahead and play in the big sandbox. There may be bigger kids with cooler toys on the playground, but the only way you will know where you stand is if you face your fear head on. Perhaps the learning process will be painful at first, but the progress you'll see in yourself will be the greater reward. Secondly, if you do decide to play in the big game, make sure you are as prepared as you can be. Rushing at the last minute for all of those little things that can make or break your day at the parking lot races is annoying to say the least and affects your ability to drive and compete more than you know. Last but not least, the whole driving in circles thing is a bit more fun with friends!
Around mid-May I was IMing a fellow autocrosser, Scott Hoffman, located in the Richmond Virginia area about the possibility of campaigning his car at the Huntsville Alabama National Tour. Though on short notice, Scott was enthusiastic about having a co-driver, since my entry would have created another trophy spot as well as the opportunity for the all important contingency mooh-lah! The plan would be that we would run Scott's base Acura RSX in H-Stock against a field of 12 others. I set into motion to borrow a nice 27mm front sway bar from Steguis as well as booking a flight to Huntsville.
Friday June 1 comes around and one nice aspect of most National Tours that I highly recommend taking advantage of is the practice sessions. One can purchase tickets to run a short course to adjust to the surface of the venue. I needed to adjust to the surface as well as going from a rear wheel drive Chevrolet Camaro Z28 to a front wheel drive Acura RSX. The practice held some promise, since we were in the thick of the times of our other H-Stock competitors in a variety of different cars such as the class dominant Mini to the emerging Mazda 3 as well as the Honda Civic.
We take our course walks and realize the first day course will allow us to use the power advantage of the RSX. Given that Scott's car has not had all of the modifications one could to to a stock class car, we would have to take advantage of what ever we could get. More course walks Saturday morning confirm that we would do well on the "power course" and sure enough, I managed to place myself into third place after Saturday's runs.
After the conclusion of the first day's runs, the course gets setup for the following day. As a complete opposite of what we just ran, the Sunday course proved to be very transition heavy. The fear of losing our hard won trophy spot starts to creep in. Sure enough, when all is said and done, I fall to mid-pack of our 12 contestant field.
Jump forward to the Devens National Tour. Devens Massachusetts for the past few years has turned out to be such an anomoly for me. Rain, the rush to get the car to grid and the need for a fibreglass repairman are highlights I would rather forget. For some reason, events somehow conspire at "Area 51 of the Northeast" to make the first day of the tour a day I would rather forget; see http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch58.htm on how to really spread the misery with a co-driver.
True to fashion, my second day at Devens/Ayer/Area 51 turns out to be a much better day. Not only did I advance a position in F-Stock, but somehow managed to be 20th in PAX for the day out of a field of 200. With a new school (Shelby) versus old school (IROC) battle going, I'm quite happy with where I landed, so the weekend wasn't a total wash out.
So, what does all of this blah-blahing really mean? First and foremost, if you have the chance, go ahead and play in the big sandbox. There may be bigger kids with cooler toys on the playground, but the only way you will know where you stand is if you face your fear head on. Perhaps the learning process will be painful at first, but the progress you'll see in yourself will be the greater reward. Secondly, if you do decide to play in the big game, make sure you are as prepared as you can be. Rushing at the last minute for all of those little things that can make or break your day at the parking lot races is annoying to say the least and affects your ability to drive and compete more than you know. Last but not least, the whole driving in circles thing is a bit more fun with friends!
Monday, June 4, 2007
slow in, fast out
so far, we talked a little about lines, heavy braking zones, using the brakes effectively, getting on the gas more, etc. let's cover the quick transition stuff- mid to high speed slaloms, chicago boxes, etc. my main thought on quick transitions is this: get the car slow (as needed) and stable, BEFORE you enter a transition section. by slow, i don't mean walk in the park slow, but bring it down to whatever mph is needed to make it through at max speed for that section.
i'll use slaloms as an example (salmons as hugo would put it).
steguis didn't have any aerial shots so i stole this gif off some random website. this dude above is actually very late on the slalom cones!
in the past, i'd usually bomb into a slalom, only to have the car all crossed up with tires screaming. over time, i've learned to work on doing what it takes to get the car down to the speed required to maintain max momentum. i sometimes enter just below that threshold as a little safety net- this allows me to get back on the gas as needed if i feel like i could use a little more mph. bombing in all bent of out shape just makes you reactive, not proactive. usually a quick stab of the brake or breathing off the throttle before you enter will do the trick. sometimes you'll have to get on the brakes moderately to make it work. looking ahead allows you to judge what your entry speed will need to be.
case in point- this saturday, i was watching tucker enter a fast slalom after coming out of a small sweeper. he was carrying a lot of speed out of the sweeper, swinging out, and taking a wide line into the slalom. since he carried a ton of speed, he had to check up on the brakes hard as he entered, while taking a wide entry. so i took a quick jog over to him and we had a little chat. on the next run, he slowed the car down earlier and covered less distance in the process. with the better entry speed, he was able to get behind each slalom cone without being all crossed up. his front tires were much happier, and it's almost as if you could see him being calmer mentally in the entry. the car sure was. i believe tucker dropped significant time with the new approach and he got the win against some stiff competition! good job tucker!
it turns out his line was so much better and he carried so much more speed through the slalom that he ended up coning the last one or two slalom cones because he was carrying TOO much speed in the end of it! the good news is, he was on top of the cones in the first part of the slalom. a little throttle maintenance in the middle and he would've been golden. if you're late entering a slalom (or any fast transition element for that matter), kiss that run goodbye. if you start off late, the problem compounds, and you'll never make it up. it's almost as if you know you're doing things right when you're coning the end of a slalom and not the beginning.
give it up early and you'll get rewarded in the end. slow in, fast out!
-dan
i'll use slaloms as an example (salmons as hugo would put it).
steguis didn't have any aerial shots so i stole this gif off some random website. this dude above is actually very late on the slalom cones!
in the past, i'd usually bomb into a slalom, only to have the car all crossed up with tires screaming. over time, i've learned to work on doing what it takes to get the car down to the speed required to maintain max momentum. i sometimes enter just below that threshold as a little safety net- this allows me to get back on the gas as needed if i feel like i could use a little more mph. bombing in all bent of out shape just makes you reactive, not proactive. usually a quick stab of the brake or breathing off the throttle before you enter will do the trick. sometimes you'll have to get on the brakes moderately to make it work. looking ahead allows you to judge what your entry speed will need to be.
case in point- this saturday, i was watching tucker enter a fast slalom after coming out of a small sweeper. he was carrying a lot of speed out of the sweeper, swinging out, and taking a wide line into the slalom. since he carried a ton of speed, he had to check up on the brakes hard as he entered, while taking a wide entry. so i took a quick jog over to him and we had a little chat. on the next run, he slowed the car down earlier and covered less distance in the process. with the better entry speed, he was able to get behind each slalom cone without being all crossed up. his front tires were much happier, and it's almost as if you could see him being calmer mentally in the entry. the car sure was. i believe tucker dropped significant time with the new approach and he got the win against some stiff competition! good job tucker!
it turns out his line was so much better and he carried so much more speed through the slalom that he ended up coning the last one or two slalom cones because he was carrying TOO much speed in the end of it! the good news is, he was on top of the cones in the first part of the slalom. a little throttle maintenance in the middle and he would've been golden. if you're late entering a slalom (or any fast transition element for that matter), kiss that run goodbye. if you start off late, the problem compounds, and you'll never make it up. it's almost as if you know you're doing things right when you're coning the end of a slalom and not the beginning.
give it up early and you'll get rewarded in the end. slow in, fast out!
-dan
Saturday, June 2, 2007
bmwclub @ nassau june 2nd
kev, jan, aaron, and i put in some seat time with bmwclub before heading up to the devens tour this friday. we all trophied and kev laid down FTD... back to his usual self on fresh 710's! jan finally is connecting with his car, aaron is discovering the beauty of race tires, and i managed to keep a substantial lead in the street tire class.
gj helped design a course that rewarded patience in big offsets, which i'm sure bit a majority of the drivers today. also getting on the throttle very early before the 90 degree left hander in the back right section of the course paid huge dividends. a brake stab here or there to set the car before some elements did the trick to maintain momentum.
here's my best run.. 52.7 (please excuse the squeaky seat bracket!)
nassau always entices me to drive it rally style! countersteering with foot to floor always puts a smile on my face. if this were a drift event, i could've put a little more angle into it but i did have to keep the times down! the large bumps also add an interesting twist. it's a little tough to see with your eyes bouncing around your head.
hope you enjoyed the drive. i sure did!
dan
gj helped design a course that rewarded patience in big offsets, which i'm sure bit a majority of the drivers today. also getting on the throttle very early before the 90 degree left hander in the back right section of the course paid huge dividends. a brake stab here or there to set the car before some elements did the trick to maintain momentum.
here's my best run.. 52.7 (please excuse the squeaky seat bracket!)
nassau always entices me to drive it rally style! countersteering with foot to floor always puts a smile on my face. if this were a drift event, i could've put a little more angle into it but i did have to keep the times down! the large bumps also add an interesting twist. it's a little tough to see with your eyes bouncing around your head.
hope you enjoyed the drive. i sure did!
dan
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