AutoX videos from FL 'Vette racing club, April 4
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First off, a big thanks to SixShooter for convincing me to drag my *** out of bed at 4:30am for the drive to Tampa, and then sneaking me onto the list after registration was closed. It was an absolute blast. Got to meet a lot of cool folks, including Gary, a friend of Steve's, who brought his >700 HP RHD Skyline and spent some time recalibrating people's understanding of the word "fast" doing a couple of impromptu drag runs at the end of the day.
Compared to past events I've been to, the layout here resembled the Top Gear track more than a typical AutoX course. Relatively few cones, damn fast, and a couple of really cruel turns that sent more than one Corvette into the weeds and spun several folks towards the finish, one of whom annihilated the timing light in a Solstice. (Fortunately there was plenty of safe runoff space at all the critical points. And also fortunately, they had a spare timing light.) I hit the rev limiter in 3'rd at one point, which means we had to be doing close to 90mph on the straight section after the second pass through the slalom.
By mid-afternoon, after running 57s and 58s, I finally made a good (though not great) run and pulled a 56.974. I turned in too late on the very first turn and lost some time getting set up for the hard left after it, and then did the same on the green cone on the way back, but apart from that I was pretty pleased.
(Click through to the main Youtube Site and then hit the HQ button for larger size and maximum awesomeness)
After that, SixShooter asked for a ride in my car. Feeling cocky and wanting to show off a bit, I proceeded to murder the second cone in the slalom, and then exited the course into the grass coming out of the turnaround. Mysteriously, the video from that run seems to be missing.
After that we switched places, and in his first outing in a turbocharged Miata, he proceeded to best my best time by nearly .8 sec, pulling a 56.205. That, friends, is talent. Also, I'm pretty sure he's now fully sold on the idea of turboing his car.
Compared to past events I've been to, the layout here resembled the Top Gear track more than a typical AutoX course. Relatively few cones, damn fast, and a couple of really cruel turns that sent more than one Corvette into the weeds and spun several folks towards the finish, one of whom annihilated the timing light in a Solstice. (Fortunately there was plenty of safe runoff space at all the critical points. And also fortunately, they had a spare timing light.) I hit the rev limiter in 3'rd at one point, which means we had to be doing close to 90mph on the straight section after the second pass through the slalom.
By mid-afternoon, after running 57s and 58s, I finally made a good (though not great) run and pulled a 56.974. I turned in too late on the very first turn and lost some time getting set up for the hard left after it, and then did the same on the green cone on the way back, but apart from that I was pretty pleased.
(Click through to the main Youtube Site and then hit the HQ button for larger size and maximum awesomeness)
After that, SixShooter asked for a ride in my car. Feeling cocky and wanting to show off a bit, I proceeded to murder the second cone in the slalom, and then exited the course into the grass coming out of the turnaround. Mysteriously, the video from that run seems to be missing.
After that we switched places, and in his first outing in a turbocharged Miata, he proceeded to best my best time by nearly .8 sec, pulling a 56.205. That, friends, is talent. Also, I'm pretty sure he's now fully sold on the idea of turboing his car.
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hehe, he best your time with a passenger. Nice course, looks nice and fast.
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Joe,
You are killing me! I didn't know you were recording that run! I would have done much worse if I knew just because of nerves.
You are too kind. I'm certainly not the best driver in the club, but I do enjoy it quite a bit.
Your car has a lot more grip than mine and I believe had more corner speed left in it. What tires did you say you were running? They were much stickier than my RS2's. Have you done sways, springs, or shocks to it?
That video doesn't capture the sensation of speed in the same way I remember it. It always looks slower and smoother than it feels. Lets see if we can roust a few of these other guys to go out next time.
Thanks Joe.
You are killing me! I didn't know you were recording that run! I would have done much worse if I knew just because of nerves.
You are too kind. I'm certainly not the best driver in the club, but I do enjoy it quite a bit.
Your car has a lot more grip than mine and I believe had more corner speed left in it. What tires did you say you were running? They were much stickier than my RS2's. Have you done sways, springs, or shocks to it?
That video doesn't capture the sensation of speed in the same way I remember it. It always looks slower and smoother than it feels. Lets see if we can roust a few of these other guys to go out next time.
Thanks Joe.
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I'm glad you liked it. Even if I'm not a driving god, at least I can take some joy in having built a decently fast car.
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Lets see if we can roust a few of these other guys to go out next time.
Are you in with the Miata guys who meet in Sarasota every week? Gotta entice those folks to come out and amplify our numbers.
Honestly, I really liked the layout. The way they set it up, with long straights and a couple of insane turns, I think they inadvertently handed an advantage to the small, light F/I cars. We got to watch a number of 'Vettes and Mustangs run amok all over the place, but most of the turbocharged compacts (except for one dude who kept spinning his Integra all morning) did pretty darn well.
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Even though it's a 'Vette club the competition director is just as likely to be seen driving his Mazdaspeed 3 on autox day.
One of the guy rented a Ford Taurus from Avis and brought it to the autox a while back. $17.99 unlimited miles.
We created the Taurus Cup Challenge right there on the spot. You put $5 in the pot and you get to make a run in the Taurus. Fastest time at the end of the day gets half the pot and the guy who rented the car gets the other half. There is a picture floating around somewhere of four guys in helmets riding in the car while it is plowing through a corner. We had to rotate the tires on the car halfway through the day because the fronts were bald from the front end plowing. Good times.
One of the guy rented a Ford Taurus from Avis and brought it to the autox a while back. $17.99 unlimited miles.
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Likes like you had fun Joe. I'll be heading out to a few auto-x's after I get the tuning sorted out properly with the '92 and building from there (back from ATL BTW). Need to hit that dyno as well down here as I progress too. Talk w/ Kim and Derek, there's another one coming up later this month iirc that I was going to run. I'm always down for a road trip and some fun w/ cars.
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