Event #2 in the Books

[ke0ki2k]

I've never been to a course there that I considered a "Power Course"

you were at the Toledo pro solo last year, right?

[eunos735]

Was that held at Pellissippi?

[jcox07]

James is right on the toledo pro, but a sts car won and if not for a cone the sts car would have been beat in the semi round.

[eunos735]

Again. The Toledo Pro wasn't held at Pellissippi. my post stated that I had never been to an event at Pellissippi that I considered a "power course"

[steverife]

I don't think you really understand the power course thing until you are flat through all of the slaloms/offsets and get beat by bigger power.

[jcox07]

Steve, I get what you are saying but I have never seen anyone at pelli be flat footed through the entire slalom or off set maybe the last 2 but I know from data that pilson and I have never even been close to flat footed at pelli except up the hill or down the hill for just a brief time and this past course going down the hill I hit 64 and pilson hit 63 as far as highest speed we recorded where in the past in the chute I have hit mid 70's regularly and 76 as a high, so all the talk about power courses some times they are and sometimes you all think they are when they truly are not.

[John Brown]

Just one event in an STS car.. or anything with 100 ft lb of tq or less, and you will know exactly what a "power course" is. lol

[John Brown]

This last course was not a power course... wasn't set up to be. I felt no "digs" .... if the proper line was taken.
Power courses don't have to have high speeds attained.. in fact.. the higher speeds available... the closer the small cars will be in pax. Its the slow digs onto long sections that kill little cars (take notes here)

you let the momentum be available... and the momentum drivers will win. hands down.

[steverife]

Steve, I get what you are saying but I have never seen anyone at pelli be flat footed through the entire slalom or off set maybe the last 2 but I know from data that pilson and I have never even been close to flat footed at pelli except up the hill or down the hill for just a brief time and this past course going down the hill I hit 64 and pilson hit 63 as far as highest speed we recorded where in the past in the chute I have hit mid 70's regularly and 76 as a high, so all the talk about power courses some times they are and sometimes you all think they are when they truly are not.

Over the years, I'd say that John has been flat more often that not.

Driving the CRX, I really can only recall a handful of events where we had what I felt like was a real slalom. So I was rarely able to maximize the only real advantage that car had.

[onebadbugeye]

I enjoyed racing Sunday even though I was only able to get one good run in on my car. Other than the "s" section at the start I thought the course was good.

[jcox07]

John I agree with you 100% the momentum cars will win and when the momentum is killed by such tight tight corners a big power car stands no chance and we have only had 3 maybe 4 courses in the 5 years I have been autoxing where that was the case and this past week being the worst case. I loose way more than I win and no one has heard me say anything unless the course was not equal in my eyes and with the 7 or 8 courses I have set up on my own I won twice and JB won 3 Carpenter 1 and Pilson 1 and I think James won 1 with no complaints from any one on the course. Just as if the vette took first and second and the mustang took third and fourth, then you all would be saying it was a big car course and favored the power cars but when the little cars took second, third and fourth that was a fair course, in all reality pelli is a very hard place to do courses and John does the best courses of any one I know but we some times over think things to try and make things fair one way or the other. I also agree with JB that a course design by committee will not work at pelli cause JB wants this I want that and Pilson wants this or rife wants this and those names were just for reference by the way.

[ConeEater]

I hit 66 going down the chute and James hit 69.7.

I personally didn't have any issues with how the course drove. Visually, the top end was a little tough, but I've driven tons worse.

We now rejoin "as the cone flies", already in progress....

[John Brown]

James should have been in the Mustang too.. then he would have gotten 1st... and 2nd. lol!

[Gen52SS]

Not knowing as much about how the courses are set up as all of you do....just from my prospective (fairly new to this) and the reason I asked who did the course was I like how it drove. I guess winning my first event could add to my reasons for liking the course but it wasn't. I actually liked the quick hands start. The only challenge for me was the juke just before the chute down the hill...that's where I lost some time... even at that after several runs found out how to make it through without loosing too much speed. I'm guessing the driver and the car must adapt to different venues, course designs, weather conditions, tight or open, flowing or not etc. All I know is the driver better be on top of his or her game the car and tires will only give you so much the rest is up to you on any course design.

[jcox07]

Paul you are correct but the factor most are not getting is the amount of speed through that corner that the smaller cars can carry vs the wider cars. I guess every one should also drive a bigger wider car to feel how painful some elements are in those cars. So all will differ on this opinion and if you drive a bigger car you feel it is unfair and others with smaller cars will say it is fair, just different opionions of drivers who all want to win and win badly.