ETR #2 done!

[Austin Lanz]

with 700 hp and 740 lbs of torq

Very jealous

[TennTechMan]

I've driven courses that were more fun, and I've driven courses that were less fun. The course yesterday was an exercise in patience and arm strength (for those of us without power steering). That lot is probably the most difficult of all the sites we use to set up a good, safe course. At Pellissippi, the lot sorts out a lot of the course for you because of curbs and lightpoles. WSCC is wide open, so there's more to think about and predict when designing a course there.

Something we've generally done in the past, is test run the course prior to starting the event. I don't know that it would have changed anything since that is usually a safety check, but it would have been an opportunity to make some changes before chalking it.


My GoPro fell off of the CRX yesterday. I'm pretty sure it fell off due to the car being dirty where I attached it. After reviewing the video, it didn't fall off until Steve hit a cone. So, I'm blaming him for it needing a new case lens. For anyone curious, you can get a new lens at Best Buy for $20 per pair. The camera still works perfectly.

[TennTechMan]

Oh, I forgot to mention, I thought the course was generally fun. I would have prefered something faster and more open, but I did have fun driving. There have been a few events I've been to that I couldn't even say that much.

[thrdeye]

One thing that the course taught very well was unwinding the steering wheel. It was very tempting to use too much steering input on a few sections of the course. You can see that I caught on to this as I generally got faster toward the end.

[GaryM]

What I am talking about Chris is I think Gary won pro without getting out of first gear...

Actually, on my winning run, I shifted 7 times. That's a shift every 4.4 seconds! I'm pretty sure that's a record for me.

[thrdeye]

What I am talking about Chris is I think Gary won pro without getting out of first gear...

Actually, on my winning run, I shifted 7 times. That's a shift every 4.4 seconds! I'm pretty sure that's a record for me.

Antoher fast stock S2000 driver shifted a lot too. His name is Jason Collett. Roll with it.

[01badz28]

with 700 hp and 740 lbs of torq

So autocrossing it is sort of like trying to swat mosquitoes with a .44 Magnum?

I've got to ride shotgun in that car at some point. 400 rwhp is hard enough some times - your car seems like it would be nuts.

[steverife]

The course also probably would have been more fun if it wasn't so dirty/gritty. What I thought was the ideal line through the esse was in the grit.

I think I learned a few things, didn't get rained on, saw friends, and ate a steak, so it was a good day.

[NEVRLIFTLIN]

One thing that the course taught very well was unwinding the steering wheel. It was very tempting to use too much steering input on a few sections of the course. You can see that I caught on to this as I generally got faster toward the end.

I found myself unwinding the steering wheel once or twice.....You really get faster when you do that...snicker Now if I can just stop hitting cones! 1 clean run....but thats all it takes to win!

It was great to see alot of new faces !!!!! And it was great to see Curt again!

[thrdeye]

I think I learned a few things, didn't get rained on, saw friends, and ate a steak, so it was a good day.

werd. and we got to use the new trailer. Going to be awesome with just a little bit more work.

[NEVRLIFTLIN]

Ya'll pick a date in April to work on the trailer.....I will make sure I have beer and can get some pizza. I guess we can discuss this @ the April meeting DuH!

[Wheelman_13]

That trailer is pretty baller. I imagine that'll take a lot of work out of set-up/tear-down vs. the tent & tables once it's fully equipped.

[thewelder]

I don't know how bad or good the coarse was I just wish I had a chance to find out. Chad

[John Brown]

I don't know how bad or good the coarse was I just wish I had a chance to find out. Chad

yep... you win the worst day of all award Dude..

[MARKP]

Well, I am glad that at least my course got some people talking. It was getting a little quiet around here.

Without trying to sound like Col. Jessup from the movie “A Few Good Men”, let me try to explain a number of things that went into the course you did or did not like yesterday.

Most of the courses over the past year or so seem to be designed by the same core group of people. We are constantly asking for new people to run the events and design courses. Things get pretty quiet when that happens. Some of those that had issues with the course should give it a shot, seriously.

Your event charipersons and course designers typically get to the site, regardless of location or weather, at 7am. On the special events, we get there the day before. I was there at 6:45 yesterday, in the dark, trying to set up the course alone. I got a bunch of help from Chad Summey marking the course and sweeping and from Michael, a guy that had never attended an autocross before. Other than that, the only help I got was some variation of “this course sucks”, as they were walking the already completed course. Thanks.

Before you get your panties in a wad about that paragraph, read the rest. I didn’t really like the course either. There were elements that did what I wanted to do. There were other areas that didn’t. After driving it, I would have changed the offset in the first slalom to make it straight and opened the turn following it to make it more of a sweeper. After that, I would have changed the angle of the three walls to make things line up correctly with the 180 at the other end. From the 180 back to the finish, the course was the way I intended.

Someone mentioned driving the course to test it before turning everyone loose on it. I used to try to do that in a car that was completely different from whatever I was driving that day, typically a Mustang or Camaro with as much HP as possible. I think some of my competition frowned on that so I didn’t do it this time around. I probably won’t be designing any more courses this year because that is the only event I am chairing this year but I will try to do that in the future if I get to chair another event.

I know this probably sounds like I am griping but I’m really just trying to explain things. As some have said, it is not as easy as it looks. I would like to see more step up and give it a shot. More perspectives will typically get more variations on courses and we all learn from each other.