V1 BAustin's Extended Track - 06 SS/SC Donor - #157 Registered

[Rttoys]

That first run was not a dnf, unless they have different rules. That should have been a 1 cone penalty.

Fun runs tough.

 

[Rttoys]

You did kill the cone though.

 

[baustin]

You did kill the cone though.

Oh definitely, I got it good. You can even see it rotated my headlight downward in the image you included. I didn't notice that detail till I got home and checked video (wasn't dark on my way home, only was on my way there in the morning and my lights were fine then).

Their rules include any of the big cones (they use them beside the timing boxes at start and finish) are automatic DNF. No worries, I also had multiple cones on that run, but the timing screen is just the raw time so I could still compare how I did.

 

[Rauq]

Looks good! What kind of feedback did you get on the car itself? What else was out there that was running similar times to you?

 

[Rttoys]

I missed the headlight smash.

no worries. The auto dnf on those, I assume is to help protect their equipment. Not a bad thing.

 

[KSLunsfo]

I want to eventually get into some autocross. This helps confirm a gut feeling I've had for a while that I may want to pull the hood, headlights and anything else I care about off the front of the car when doing so... but then the radiator will just be hanging out there in the open...

 

[Brett]

Awesome seeing you progress from the first run to the last run.

I was in your shoes a month ago and one of instructors told me to drive with more anger. Basically, I wasn't using the throttle and brakes as hard as they thought I should. Might apply in your case. Granted, the next run I spun out.

Good job. Looks like you had a blast.

 

[Rttoys]

I want to eventually get into some autocross. This helps confirm a gut feeling I've had for a while that I may want to pull the hood, headlights and anything else I care about off the front of the car when doing so... but then the radiator will just be hanging out there in the open...

The first scratch is the hardest, then you don’t worry about it anymore (mostly).

I have some permanent marks on the side of my frame, but I have a light colored frame. Darker ones hide it well.

 

[baustin]

Looks good! What kind of feedback did you get on the car itself? What else was out there that was running similar times to you?

There were some folks that knew a little about Goblins, I think @ccannx may have run with THSCC at Danville sometime in the past so some may have seen one before. The folks I talked with really liked it. I wasn't anywhere close to the fastest for the RAW times. I haven't dealt with PAX times before but they don't seem to apply to novices very well, probably better for veterans that can truly push their car to the car's limits. My best time (4th run since 5th run had a cone +2 sec penalty) was good for 25th (PAX scoring, fastest novice was 2.2 seconds faster than me excluding cones) in the novice category. 110 drivers there for this autocross.

results link

Awesome seeing you progress from the first run to the last run.

I was in your shoes a month ago and one of instructors told me to drive with more anger. Basically, I wasn't using the throttle and brakes as hard as they thought I should. Might apply in your case. Granted, the next run I spun out.

Good job. Looks like you had a blast.

My goal for the day was to have fun and maybe push the car hard and get better near it's limits, I was successful with those goals. Spinning across the finish acutally helped me know where the limit of too much actually was, it was learning through mistakes. My instructor told me to dial back the agression a bit after the first run, I think I had him pretty worried after I was describing that I would try to take it easy... I tend to overdo my first attempt at things, ie swing the hammer too hard and break things without meaning too. After the 2nd run he wanted me to add the aggression back in, a little bit at a time.

 

[Brett]

My goal for the day was to have fun and maybe push the car hard and get better near it's limits, I was successful with those goals. Spinning across the finish acutally helped me know where the limit of too much actually was, it was learning through mistakes. My instructor told me to dial back the agression a bit after the first run, I think I had him pretty worried after I was describing that I would try to take it easy... I tend to overdo my first attempt at things, ie swing the hammer too hard and break things without meaning too. After the 2nd run he wanted me to add the aggression back in, a little bit at a time.

I know what you mean. I have a tendency to be all in or off in lala land.

Ill have to remember "add the aggression back in a little bit at a time". Incremental improvements will add up.

 

[baustin]

I want to eventually get into some autocross. This helps confirm a gut feeling I've had for a while that I may want to pull the hood, headlights and anything else I care about off the front of the car when doing so... but then the radiator will just be hanging out there in the open...

I just checked my light, the LED low/high beam works fine and the incandescent parking light works fine, nothing messed up about the light. It just pivoted on the side mounting bolts, no problem to just loosen/rotate it back up. I figure if I get scratches from cones then it just shows I drive the car, I didn't build mine to keep it perfect, it sure didn't start out perfect anyways with my build skills. I hope to keep any damage to just scratches from the cones though if at all. I don't actually see any marks from the cone on the control arms.

Only the guy that parked his BMW into the shed shown below had damage that mattered. Didn't catch if he spun but it appeared the oversized turbo kicked in and launched him towards the blue impact area. Even had the head instructor riding with him but didn't get it stopped in time. Red line would've been his target. At least he didn't hit the snow plow front just beyond the shed.

 

[baustin]

I'm currently registered to go to the next THSCC autocross, it's at Rockingham, at the Little Rock course on April 10. Danville's a 1:45 drive for me, Rockingham should be a 2:00 drive.

Link if anyone is interested in going:
https://www.motorsportreg.com/event...motor-speedway-tarheel-sports-car-club-288443

 

[JBINTX]

Enjoyed reading that autoX thread. Keep ‘‘em coming!
Finding the edge of the operating envelop is so exhilarating. Then finding subtle things to change on the car and in your technique and seeing positive results just makes it even more addicting.

 

[Lndshrk Steve]

Just a couple of thoughts I had while reading these articles.
If you are planning on autocrossing and haven't been to one I would recommend you spectate or even better work one. See how registration is handled, see how tech is done. Get comfortable so when you show up with your car SOME on the nerves are calmed. You will know a little of what to expect.
If you are planning on autocrossing your Goblin and haven't autocrossed yet, do so. Take your current street car. Get the mistakes out of the way. I started autocrossing in 1972 and have been doing competitive driving ever since.
Did we mention it's habit forming!
When I was building my formula car in the late 70's, before it was complete, I attended SCCA driving schools as a SPECTATOR. I saw how things went and I saw a lot of drivers not ready for it. I saw what mistakes NOT to make.
Any exposure is good. Any seat time (time behind the wheel) is GREAT, no matter in what.

 

[KSLunsfo]

I just checked my light, the LED low/high beam works fine and the incandescent parking light works fine, nothing messed up about the light. It just pivoted on the side mounting bolts, no problem to just loosen/rotate it back up. I figure if I get scratches from cones then it just shows I drive the car, I didn't build mine to keep it perfect, it sure didn't start out perfect anyways with my build skills. I hope to keep any damage to just scratches from the cones though if at all. I don't actually see any marks from the cone on the control arms.

Only the guy that parked his BMW into the shed shown below had damage that mattered. Didn't catch if he spun but it appeared the oversized turbo kicked in and launched him towards the blue impact area. Even had the head instructor riding with him but didn't get it stopped in time. Red line would've been his target. At least he didn't hit the snow plow front just beyond the shed.

I gotcha, I'd mainly be worried about sending a cone into/up under the hood and busting fiberglass, paid a decent bit for wrapping it...

Unfortunate there's a solid structure like that building that close to the track area, that snowplow though...

Still looks like a blast!

 

[baustin]

One comment from the only other E Mod class car was that my spring rate seemed high but then they looked at the 400/300 lb springs, which could still be high. But I'm going to give it quite a few autocross events before I try to determine that, I'm not a good enough driver to suddenly feel like it's too high or low till I can get somewhere close to consistent and therefore would know the difference.

Here's the gas gauge levels I found for my 06 SC with a brand new Delphi fuel pump/sensor:

The other day when I filled up the tank again, it took just as much as my gauge was expecting. So far it's being consistent: I was just about at 3/4 and the gas station pump shut off when I added 4.4 gallons. Full mark basically represents anything from 6 gallons to full tank (approx 9.5 gallon size). Again, not sure this applies to the SS/TC version fuel pump sensor but should be close for any SS/SC build and maybe any '05-'06 or '05-'07.

 

[baustin]

I gotcha, I'd mainly be worried about sending a cone into/up under the hood and busting fiberglass, paid a decent bit for wrapping it...

Unfortunate there's a solid structure like that building that close to the track area, that snowplow though...

Still looks like a blast!

Makes sense, I have the benefit of being the one that wrapped my hood so it kept the cost down.

It'll be interesting to see if/how future events get handled at the Danville airport. The autocross area is only the retired runway so in theory it shouldn't matter much but the instructor that rode with me was mentioning that the shed didn't use to be there and the airport is always saying to stay away from it. From what I've heard, THSCC isn't the only group that uses it for autocross, I think I hear there's a Triad area group that also does and I would guess a Virginia group would too.

 

[Rauq]

One comment from the only other E Mod class car was that my spring rate seeme

WHAT DID THEY SEEME DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING!!1!1!!

actually curious though haha

 

[baustin]

WHAT DID THEY SEEME DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING!!1!1!!

actually curious though haha

Ha, I just went back and finished that thought. Didn't realize I started typing and then didn't finish it, whoops.

The other E Mod car was a Miata, I didn't check into how modified it actually was. 2 drivers, a dad and college son I think. My best time (excluding cones) was just faster than their fastest but not sure about how much recent experience they had.

 

[Rttoys]

One comment from the only other E Mod class car was that my spring rate seemed high but then they looked at the 400/300 lb springs, which could still be high. But I'm going to give it quite a few autocross events before I try to determine that, I'm not a good enough driver to suddenly feel like it's too high or low till I can get somewhere close to consistent and therefore would know the difference.

I'm about to try higher on the front. Im currently running the dual rate 275/450 on the front and absolutely love them. turn down the adjusters and run smooth on the street, turn them up for track.

I'm about to try 500 front at next autocross, as per DellE‘s suggestion.

lower your tire pressure and raise your rebound/compression adjusters. Once you get those dialed into you driving style, then we can talk alignment and other suspension setups.