Jason in Texas - ext. track - 09 SS/TC

JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
February 7 here in America. Cool morning in Texas, but still a good day for some autoX. We drew the short stick and had to run the first heat which meant cold tires. The track layout proved interesting. Unfortunately, I did not get very comfortable with the layout until about the fourth run. A few places to top out in second gear, but several places where some hard braking was mandatory.

Pretty good mix of autos again today from slippery little Miatas to the C8 vettes. Even had an elderly lady who is recovering from some surgery rolling around on her walker - and then driving the heck out of her little powder puff blue car!!!!.... :0

The new brake proportioning valve seemed to allow the rear brakes to pick up more of the braking load without locking up both front tires. Only once did I momentarily lock up one of the front tires.

We had a third Goblin today - Scott SACTX. He has one fine build in his orange machine. It had been a while since he had done any autoX and of course is still exploring the limits of the machine as well.

Russell Rttoys, myself and my son Cooper were all within 0.5 seconds average for our first five laps with Cooper edging us out for first place in the EM class. Dang kid is just a better driver than me......
I did save a little face by running the fastest lap of the group, but on the sixth lap. :)
Good day indeed!


Goblin on friends!

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JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Just another autoX day in Texas. :)
The usual suspects were in full gear.

Scott Case @SACTX may, or may not, have done some irreparable damage to some cones with his guillotine front splitter...... :0

Russel @Rttoys may, or may not, have spun across the finish line attacking some blue cones....... :0

The three Goblins and the Miata did well. We are now within 3 seconds of the fastest times by the entire crowd for the day. We are getting better!

I think we are reaching the physical limit of our tires. I got the opportunity to ride along with some other entrants - a Dodge Viper and a C8 Vette. Of course they have more HP than us, but they were doing things in corners that my Goblin just physically cannot do - at least for now. Track day tires are coming soon. :)

And! I was able to bring home the first place finish over my son. For the first time. Chalk one up for the dads of the world today!!!!

Goblin on friends!! :)



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Desert Sasqwatch

Desert Sasqwatch

Goblin Guru
JBINTX said:
Just another autoX day in Texas. :)
The usual suspects were in full gear.

Scott Case @SACTX may, or may not, have done some irreparable damage to some cones with his guillotine front splitter...... :0

Russel @Rttoys may, or may not, have spun across the finish line attacking some blue cones....... :0

The three Goblins and the Miata did well. We are now within 3 seconds of the fastest times by the entire crowd for the day. We are getting better!

I think we are reaching the physical limit of our tires. I got the opportunity to ride along with some other entrants - a Dodge Viper and a C8 Vette. Of course they have more HP than us, but they were doing things in corners that my Goblin just physically cannot do - at least for now. Track day tires are coming soon. :)

And! I was able to bring home the first place finish over my son. For the first time. Chalk one up for the dads of the world today!!!!

Goblin on friends!! :)



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What is really interesting is running both on track videos side by side from the start of the Goblin and the Miata. It's easy to see where each car was faster/slower in the sections. Too much fun! :p
 
PaulPerger

PaulPerger

Well-Known Member
JBINTX said:
Tim, you just taught this old dog a new trick. I never thought about doing that. Cool! Thanks!
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Depending on your editing skills, you can do this with several of your runs so you can see what you did differently as well. Study, Study, Study!
 
JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
The sun was strong today at autoX here in Texas. And so were the DF Goblins!

The usual three suspects, @Rttoys, @SACTX, me, and my youngest (Cooper) in his sup'd up Miata. But, that is not all. We had @CodyP, and @ToxicBill along in the passenger seats the entire day. @Brett was scheduled as well, by a cat emergency came up. Fur real. :(

So the entire day, we pretty much had these guys screaming for mama... Not really. :) But, the first time you ride along in an autoX, there just really is no preparation that will get you ready for the experience. I will let the boys chime in with their perspectives. :)

You may want to watch my last run of the day with Bill. We took her out for a nice spin....... Got a little aggressive and crossed the line of the coefficient of friction of rubber to road. :0

Tenths of seconds are separating the Goblins, now. Needless to say, we are all dialing things in a little, and getting more comfortable at the physical limits of these fine machines. Some cones may have lost their lives today. No responsible parties will admit to it though....


Goblin On, friends!!!!!!


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CodyP

CodyP

Well-Known Member
It was quite the experience for me to say the least. It's like riding in a roller coaster without rails! And the kid controlling said roller coaster isn't pushing a few buttons back at the console, he's sitting next to you testing the limits and engineering of the coaster as hard as he can! I can only imagine driving in it is that much more fun. I appreciate @Rttoys, @SACTX , and @JBINTX for taking @ToxicBill and me out. I was exhausted when I got back home, and promptly fell asleep. I had a great time! :D
 
ToxicBill

ToxicBill

Well-Known Member
Exactly what @CodyP said. I'm still on a high from yesterday. I'm going to do everything in my power to get my Goblin out there for next time. I need MOAR!!!
 
JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
So if you are still wondering, the Goblin is not really the car to be driving in the rain. Even less so on an autoX track..... :(
Houston had some precip this weekend. A little frustrating for this Goblin owner. Unfortunately, the rest of the Houston Goblin family was not present. Maybe they were the smart ones for the day......
Regardless, my son Cooper and I braved several runs until I called it quits and just rode with him. That was actually pretty cool riding in the J32 Miata around the course.
At minimum, we got plenty of car control practice in almost EVERY corner with the wet track.
It never ceases to amaze me at the diversity of vehicles that show up. Brand new to 50 plus years old!!!.....

Goblin on, friends.

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jayrolls

jayrolls

Well-Known Member
SACTX said:
I’ll take those bad boys!
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Can you show a close up with
SACTX said:
I took the liberty of drawing the side scoops in Autocad. I can send the drawing in DXF or DWG to anyone that wants to make them. I tried to post it but they're not allowed file types.

Jason made his out of 6 gauge aluminum and I'm going to be using 14 gauge. It should be thin enough to cut on a table saw or router table and bend by hand but be strong enough to not flex too much while driving. I'll let everyone know how they work out.
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Can you send pics of how these installed. I am assuming with Adell clamps.
 
JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Got the opportunity to meet another builder @SkyRay (Schuyler) and his family today. Good Texas folks who got an '09 turbo donor as well. ;)
Always fun sharing the Goblin and giving rides!
And - his shop helper tagged along to check it out too......... :)

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Lonny

Lonny

Administrator
Staff member
They are really enjoyable folks to talk to and there son is a trip.

The first time they came by the shop he was quietly listening to me and his dad talking about the kit. I thought maybe he was shy. Nope! He was just waiting his turn.

I turned to him and asked what color he wanted and a few minutes later I was well informed of all his expectations of the goblin.
 
JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
Lonny said:
They are really enjoyable folks to talk to and there son is a trip.

The first time they came by the shop he was quietly listening to me and his dad talking about the kit. I thought maybe he was shy. Nope! He was just waiting his turn.

I turned to him and asked what color he wanted and a few minutes later I was well informed of all his expectations of the goblin.
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Jumping on the right pedal in a turbo version Goblin never gets old. Maybe the definition of fun to some. Having another builder's son in the right seat while doing it and hearing him shriek a little?????? Priceless......
 
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JBINTX

JBINTX

Goblin Guru
AutoX weekend in Houston. The weather has been awful for last 10 days. Today was another 40% rain chance day.
And it did rain. Just not on us!!! :)

Two Goblins (me and Russell), the J-swap Miata (Cooper my youngest), and a fresh addition - my older son Riley in his highly modified Slingshot. So, lots of DF hardware on the track today - if you have seeking eyes you will know what I mean. Always an amazing day getting to share passions and fun hobbies with the sons.

Please watch for Russell's @Rttoys write up. You will NOT want to miss his version of events today. :0
And some keen eyes will find some new hardware on the back of his fun machine. ;)

We were actually on a real track - Grandsport Speedway. Plenty of cones were utilized to slow us down forcing the use of the middle pedal. And I did not disappoint. Usually, I run cleanly avoiding cones, but today I think I had only four clean runs. Those cones had some legs and jumped out in front of the tires. They must have.......Really!!!

We must be pretty nice guys in our Goblins. People are getting plenty comfortable asking for a ride. And, we just can't disappoint them. I only ran 3 out of 10 without a passenger. Russell was about the same. We get these guys that drive Vettes, Mustangs, and such in our right seat - and their grins just do not stop. The Goblin pins the needle on the fun meter. And, yes, unfortunately another 200 plus pounds in the right seat is noticeable!

I tried a new location for the GoPro on the front of the Halo. Good track view, but no driver action in view. Lots of wind noise and no sweet turbo noise.

Coop had a nice spin out. Riley ran surprisingly well for his first autoX - and not really knowing the limits of his Slingshot.

With a 90 degree day comes sticky tires. One of the pics shows the rocks thrown into the seat just from running through the starting grid area. Gonna have to fire up the vac on them.

Goblin on, friends!!!

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Zoom Zoom

Zoom Zoom

Goblin Guru
Lonny said:
You can take a clean soldering iron and place it on the threads long enough for it to soften the lock-tight and they come out easier.

You may even be able to hold a lighter flame over the threads to soften the lock-tight.

Just don't melt anything.
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I took a heat gun and it worked great that way also
 
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