Autocross Notes
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| The car, which I bought new on 12/03/2004, is a 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe with the 6 speed transmission, navigation system and aerodynamics package. I substituted the front lip spoiler for the rear spoiler. Several years back I autocrossed a 1990 IROC-Z. I made the mistake of undertaking a motor and tranny swap that I eventually shelved. Someday I'll put that car back together; however, I learned my lesson and I'll be keeping the G35 close to stock with a short list of simple mods. |
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09/27/2007:
SCCA Nationals The competition was great. Sam Strano in his Shelby GT not only took 1st in FS but also 1st in PAX across 1000+ competitors. I was on fresh Hoosiers and a new Hotchkis front sway bar that I installed the week before. I wish I could have done a few events on this setup before nationals. I was a bit disappointed in my performance. I just wasn't connecting with the course. I felt like I was late on everything. I ended up 17th out of 28 drivers in my class. Top time was 91.049 (Strano 2007 Shelby GT) . Average time was 97.602. My time was 97.845. Slowest time was 109.453 (Christian 2007 Shelby GT). My setup: - weight at nationals 3425 lbs w/o driver - full tank - full oem exhaust - front camber left -1.2 right -0.8 - front caster left 8 right 8.1 - front toe 0.43 degrees out - rear camber left -1.5 right -1.5 - rear toe 0.16 degrees in - tires Hoosier 275/35R18 - wheels Enkei RP02 18x8/+30 (/w spacer) front 18x8/+35 rear - front tire pressure (cold) 36 - rear tire pressure (cold) 34 - OEM shocks - Hotchkis front sway bar set to +129% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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08/17/2007:
SCCA SW Divisional It was great to see some competition come over from Houston and Louisiana. My Hoosiers were on their last leg and all 4 were corded after my first run. I was holding a small lead in my class after the first day, but ended up loosing 1st place by 0.509 s. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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07/28/2007:
North TX S2000 Owners Club This was my first event on the 17x10 V710 combo. I finished 8th out of 42 cars. Here's some video: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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07/22/2007:
Equipe Rapide I did fairly well at this event. I paxed 18th out of 68. The club apparently pays out for pax finishes and I got $5 for mine--not much, but nice nontheless. Here's some video of my 4th run (my fastest): | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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07/15/2007:
Texas Region SCCA This was a slalom heavy course and I failed to get a single clean run. I took 2nd in FS. Here's some video of my first run (my fastest with 2 cones). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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04/22/2007:
Texas Region SCCA I finally got around to doing an SCCA event. I was pretty pleased with how I did at this event. I'm on the same set of Hoosiers. I took 1st in F Stock and beat 3 of 4 ESP cars. The 4th was Madarash in his ESP Firebird and he thoroughly thrashed me (34.38 vs 37.718). Some learning points: when walking the course I numbered critical parts of the course and recited these numbers in my head as I passed them out on course. This allowed me to focus on the important things that required planning and drive the rest reflexively. Overall, I finished 55th out of 138 drivers. Paxed, I was 41st out of 138. Top time was 30.068 (B mod). My best time was 37.718. The average time was 39.083. The slowest time was 46.799 (Kart). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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03/31/2007:
PCA Maverick Region This was another high speed event. I was getting the car up over 100mph on course. The Hoosiers held up pretty well for 12 laps. I finished 7th out of 23 drivers. Top time was 65.566 (Porsche 996). My time was 71.038. Average time was 73.300. The slowest time was 81.644 (Porsche 944). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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02/25/2007:
Equipe Rapide Because of school commitments I was only able to run 1 or 2 events in 2006--hardly worth talking about. Most probably I will not be able to run much this year either, but since this was my first time running R compound tires on this car I thought it might be worth commenting on my experiences. Up until this race I had been running on the OEM tires that came with my car, 225/45R18 f and 245/45R18 r Michelin Pilots. I bought a set of cheap 18x8 Enkei RPO2's and used 275/35R18 Hoosiers. I tried them out for the first time at this race and I was very impressed. I never really got used to having so much grip on tap. I kept underestimating how hard I could push things. Even still I was able to run some relatively faster times despite not having raced in a while. I keep track of how well I do by comparing my times to specific competitors that are faster than me. I had consitently been running between 0.91 and 0.94 of their times. At this event, however, I ran at 0.97 and I felt I was leaving alot of time out on course because I wasn't driving at the limit of the tires. The club has a paxed part to the event. In that I finished 23rd out of 63 cars. The last time I raced with them I finished 40th out of 60 cars. Top time was 66.995 s (B mod). My best time was 78.301 s. The average time was 78.965 s. The slowest time was 100.791 s (90 300ZX). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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11/12/2005:
BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter I tried something new this time. I purposely drove the first run slowly and smoothly. This was somewhat difficult for me, since I always feel like I have to drive the car hard every chance I get. I think this strategy allowed me to find a good line that I could then build on, and it seemed to pay off. I was 10th out of 51 cars. Top time was 85.814 s (2005 Mitsubishi Evo Red). My best time was 91.205 s. The average time was 94.805 s. The worst time was 102.272 (2005 MINI Cooper S convertible Pure Silver). Here's some in-car video:
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10/29/2005:
Equipe Rapide The course was set up like a Pro Solo event. There were 2 mirror imaged courses: a left and right course. 2 cars are lined up next to each other and both launch into a slalom followed by a series of the usual autox turns taking one car to the right and another to the left. It was pretty cool to go head to head with another car through the slalom. There were 4 regular runs followed by 2 paxed runs. The paxed runs are used to compete against members of other classes. This club is more SCCA-like than the other clubs that I race with. There are several nationally competitive drivers in it. I could have competed in 2 classes. I finished 2nd in STX with only 4 cars in the class and 7th in the street tire class with 14 cars. In the paxed part of the event I finished 40th out of 62 cars. In the regular part of the event I was 68th out of 89 cars. Top time was 72.435 s (B mod car). The average time was 87.854 s. My best time was 91.233 s. The worst time was 113.059 s (Geo Metro). Here's some in-car video:
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10/15/2005:
PCA Maverick Region This was certainly different. The course was more like a road course (2nd, 3rd and sometimes 4th gear). I was a little intimidated by the speeds, but a few spin outs cured me of that. I was 21st out of 29 cars. Top time was 79.36 s (Red 911S). The average time was 87.567 s. My best time was 88.862 s. The worst time was 102.488 s (White MR2). Here's some in-car video:
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10/08/2005:
BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter The brakes were pretty mushy. I need to take a look at them when I get time. I was 28th out of 51 cars. Top time was 107.771 s (1998 BMW M3/4 Black). My best time was 117.979 s. The average time was 118 s. The worst time was 139.264 (2004 Mini Cooper S red/white). Here's some in-car video:
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08/27/2005:
North TX S2000 Owners Club Perhaps this was a technical course. My first "take-it-easy" run was my fastest. That's never happened before. I think I need to stop trying to push my car by braking late and instead focus on getting more aggressive with the throttle and line on successive runs. I was 29th out of 57 cars. Top time was 78.101 s (2004 Birel R31 Motorsport). My best time was 89.944 s. The average time was 90.244 s. The worst time was 101.067 (2004 Audi A4 1.8T Quattro). Here's some in-car video:
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08/20/2005:
BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter I felt like I was stuck in a rut all day. I tried a couple of different things, but I couldn't make significant progress with my times. I even did some fun runs, but they were all slower than my best regular runs. I ran 38.5 psi cold all around and couldn't really feel any difference from prior autocrosses. I was 24th out of 47 cars. Top time was 101.509 s (1999 BMW M3). My best time was 111.424 s. The average time was 111.673 s. The worst time was 122.772 s (2004 GTI 1.8T). Here's some in-car video:
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07/23/2005:
North TX S2000 Owners Club I concentrated on finding a good line and tried to keep from overdriving the car. I ran 40 psi cold all around. Hot was around 46 psi--probably too much. The surface we were on was pretty tough on the tires. I was 34th out of 52 cars. Top time was 69.529 s (1994 Mazda RX-7). The average time was 77.572 s. My best time was 78.321 s. The worst time was 91.742 s (1984 Honda CRX). Here's some in-car video:
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07/09/2005:
BMW CCA Lone Star Chapter I was 38th out of 61 cars. Top time was 106.698 s (1994 Mazda RX-7). The average time was 118.111 s. My best time was 119.910 s. The worst time was 139.599 s (1995 BMW e36 318is). Here's some in-car video:
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06/05/2005:
PCA Maverick Region This was my first autoross in the G35. As expected my performance was pretty poor. I was 32nd out of 48 cars. Top time was 85.501 s (Mitsubishi Evolution VIII). The average time was 93.738 s. My best time was 94.637 s. The worst time was 114.782 s (Porsche 944). |