Smokies Oct 4

[lcoleman]

I walked once early yesterday, and joked afterwards that I wanted to get my 25 bucks back and to go home. It was much better after modification, but still not great, or as good as an average Pelli course imo. I didnt like sediv either, so its maybe more to do with the lot than the designer.

I'm not really sure where I stand as far as fairness. I like big, open courses. I also HATE slaloms, so I'm probably biased there. People keep telling me I have a power car, which doesnt make sense to me, but maybe I'm biased on that too. I can't think of one course this year that I thought I was at a major advantage or disadvantage, and STM is just about as varied as Pro is.

I will say this: you guys take parking lot racing a little too seriously.

[rocracing2004]

These cars are built for one thing and that's autocross and if these guys didn't take it seriously then I would loose interest in the sport.

[John Brown]

Well... considering your competition in STM, I would agree that comparatively.. you do have a HP car. and better torque AND.. power to weight.. I think your right also, that the lot up there is hard to do much with..
The Pro Class in ETR is one of the deepest talented in the country Id imagine.. therefore besting that Championship is a highly sought after Championship.. I reckon that if tempers didn't flair and opinions didn't get laughed at... we would not be as fast as a group as we are.

[steverife]

I walked once early yesterday, and joked afterwards that I wanted to get my 25 bucks back and to go home. It was much better after modification, but still not great, or as good as an average Pelli course imo. I didnt like sediv either, so its maybe more to do with the lot than the designer.

I'm not really sure where I stand as far as fairness. I like big, open courses. I also HATE slaloms, so I'm probably biased there. People keep telling me I have a power car, which doesnt make sense to me, but maybe I'm biased on that too. I can't think of one course this year that I thought I was at a major advantage or disadvantage, and STM is just about as varied as Pro is.

I will say this: you guys take parking lot racing a little too seriously.

TORK MONSTER!

[onebadbugeye]

Let's be honest fellas, there is always going to be a part of a course that we don't like or even an entire course for that matter. Most of you don't hear me complain because I just do it to whoever I am helping do course that morning. Just like this past event helping JY do course I complained about the sweeper coming off the slalom at the start and the L shaped right hand turn going into the bottom u turn. Both of those elements are a freaking nightmare for my car because it has turbo lag and I might as well get out and push in those really slow turns and such. These elements are things that I have to overcome and learn how to drive them better with what I have. At times that can be painful (like when I plowed through the sharp right hand turn twice much to my passengers laughs) but as the day went on I made corrections and adjustments to these different areas and I ended up having one of the quickest times of the day.

[TedV]

I had fun ... Until I compared times.

.
.Pilson and I were guessing the age of your tires..... the answer is???

Maybe 2 years? I'm still working on figuring out the shifting and smooth running

[mikekoty]

Some of this that I read is more exciting than the race was.lol...

[John Brown]

ETR PRO CLASS... "Entertainment beyond expectations" !!

[thrdeye]

I wasn't there but I'll say this. I got a text the morning of the event from someone not in pro class. "If you thought the last course resulted in a lot power course bitching, wait till this event is over!"

That said, the courses do need to be fun. If you try to analyze what part of what course will benefit one car over another, instead of trying to design for fun, it is likely to be painful for most everyone.

sent from TypoTalk

[John Brown]

And...of course we have Fortune Tellers in the group... nice.

snicker...

[John Brown]

Ill be perfectly honest about my history of course design. Before the Mustang and before Rob had the silver Vette.. course design was pretty much a no brainer.. however Rob and I complained about Marks 15 pace saloms..and eventually got them out to appx 19 paces. It really didn't matter where we were. But as Robs Vette sprang into ETR events.. it became truly apparent that adjustments had to be made to balance the show. Then Colletts Vette came and Berrys Vette, then JY's car got faster.. it became a struggle to balance high and low HP cars. Its not Rocket Science to figure if you have 400-500 ft of combined straights out of diggs.. and add in up hills.... the ONLY place to balance is a salom of a min 4 cones.. where 4 are used..not 3. or some multiple usage of transitions. There is absolutely NO substitute for this balance. You can think otherwise.. and believe it. But without some balance in elements,its not gonna be fair.I have always tried to give the sense of speed as often as I could,mainly by not slowing you down in the corners as much as possible.. corner exit speed is important in small cars.. Chilhowee aside. that place just seems to favor small for some reason.. no run off is my guess.

[dewittpayne]

For anyone who wasn't there and is wondering what the fuss is all about, here's my fastest, but unfortunately not clean, run. If I hadn't hit a cone on the downhill run, I would have had Coatney by 0.04 seconds.

https://youtu.be/FJV_IGFhkYw

[John Brown]

wow.. Iv not watched my videos yet..

lots of clear straight course out there...

[MARKP]

I still have yet to hear a good explanation on why a underprepped, overweight Ford Focus got 3rd in PAX on a horsepower course and beat all these other highly prepped nationally competitive cars. Just sayin...

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[steverife]

Everybody but you and JY sucks?