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AutoCross-Foci Representing at Helena Top Gun Challenge

4K views 20 replies 10 participants last post by  focusedaddiction 
#1 ·
Foci in formation...ready for battle.
It's our annual Top Gun Challenge.
All the Montana SCCA Regions show up for the mega-blowout event and put their skills to test.
The winning Region goes home with a "travelling" trophy.

From left to right:
FF members WD40 and focusedaddiction, and "Magic" from Great Falls.
^^^All hailing from Montana Region 105-NORPAC.

The black STI on the far left is focusedaddiction's brother's car.
 

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#3 ·
Results so far...after just the first day...anything can happen on day two.
BTW,
Your's truly, doing double duty as the event's official Solo Safety Steward. [;)]

My class, STS. 4 cars.
1) Myself: 2:28.633
(With one cone...This is the first time ever that I've hit cones every friggin run [?|] )
2) SVT Contour: 2:31.XXX
3) Nicely prepared Rabbit: 2:33.XXX
4) "Magic" in the other SVTF: 2:41.XXX
^^^Yes, that's 2 as in TWO minutes and another 30 seconds. [eek]
Killer course!

focusedaddiction is off in mega-mod SM class.
IIRC, he's in the 2:38.XXX times at the moment, with 5-6 cars in his class.

Looks like 82 cars with 90 drivers showed up.
Not a big event nationally wise, but for us, it's HUGE.

Will have vids when I get to a better connection. [:D]

Have a good evening everyone.
I'm going out to dial in just a hair more toe-out in the front, and hit the sack...hard...been a long day.
 
#4 ·
Whew! What a couple LONG days.
Yep. [:D] I pulled off 1st in STS out of 5 cars today.
A few more cars showed up to run the 2nd day, and we ended up with 102 drivers total.

I'd love to ramble on about how nice the new rear bar is working out,
but I've got to unload the car, feed the animals, water the lawn, water the plants, get some grub, take a shower...
Hope to get ya some vids soon.
I think you'll like em. [thumb]
 
#7 ·
that's awesome Doug, congrats on another 1st place finish. i just did my first auto cross last weekend and it was awesome. i can't imagine running a course that took over 2 mins to complete, i thought 30 seconds in the car was a lot of work!
 
#9 ·
bigjordan said:
^^^i was thinkin first gen audi a4
you got it
[thumb] audi A4
whoe, long 2 days! finished 4th or 5th. man am I under modded for this class[:)~]
i'm the only one on street tires[ohcrap] one more points event! must drive faster! lol
will still make 2nd in sm at season end though! barely[eek]
thanks to WD40 i dropped a bunch of sec.s wow! last run my focus thought it was in the WRC & went offroading.....ooops! a little hot on that one[;)] lots of fun this weekend.
STI finished in 3rd. in BSP [thumb]
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the compliments folks!
The video is loading up on the computer as I'm writting this. [:D]

thanks to WD40 i dropped a bunch of sec.s wow!
Ah man, I'm most humbled. It was my pleasure.
Amazing how much time you can pick up with just a couple "tweaks" in your technique isn't it?
Like...almost 10 seconds was it?? [;)]

TWO MINUTES PER RUN!
GOOD LORD! I want to see a video of that course!

Two and a half minutes! [eek]
We shortened it a bit on the 2nd day, which did get it right at 2 minutes and some change for most folks.

That first day, there were a lot of people coming in and commenting that they were entirely exhausted after their run.
It was suggested we put in a Rest Stop about 1/2 way around the course. [:p]

I just hope our webmaster gets the results posted in a timely manner.
I wasn't able to get a printout last night. [:(]
 
#11 ·
Here's the vids.

(Please “save as” versus directly opening the files. They’re between 12-15Mb.)

Day 1:
Event 9-10_Helena-Top Gun_Day1-Run2:
This run was my fastest adjusted time of the day at 2:28.633.
My raw time was a 2:26.633 plus (1) 2 second cone penalty.

Event 9-10_Helena-Top Gun_Day1-Run3:
Here’s a good one.
Zan (runs an Audi TT) was along for the ride on this one.
This was (believe it or not) my fastest raw time of the day…even with that little “off”. [eek]
Adjusted time of 2:31.238.
Raw time of 2:25.238 plus (3) X 2 second cone penalty.

Where I went off, I thought I had been braking too early.
You can clearly see, I thought….wrong. [confused]

And, yes. That’s 5…count em…5 – 90° boxes in the infield portion.
^^^ My idea. [:D]

Day 2:
Event 9-10_Helena-Top Gun_Day2-Run1:
That’s focusedaddiction riding in the co-pilot seat on this one.
Me; “That start sucks”. Yep…damnable TC. [?|]
focusedaddiction; "Wo, that was close". as we came into the 1st slalom. [:D]

Note the shorter infield, and the “figure 8” was reversed.
And, check the speed comin’ out of the figure 8 and into the only remaining 90° box in the infield.
Holy Cripes!
I hadn’t quite got my braking point set yet, as it was the 1st run. Woops.
Check out the unedited conversation after the finish.
Ya think we got some adrenalin flowing at the moment? LOL!

Oh…I ran a 1:59.555 with 2 cones, for a raw time of 1:54.555.

Event 9-10_Helena-Top Gun_Day2-Run3:
All right! I finally got in a clean run!
After the 2nd run of the day, and mashing 3 cones on that one, I sat down and had a talk with the car, and the track, and my head.
I’ve never/ever run 5 runs in a row with cones. So, we all came to the same conclusion.
I took things a bit wider (I was hitting a LOT of apex cones, a few slalom cones, and the last cone on the 90° boxes).
I think the car was the one that suggested I step down my aggressive button by a notch or two as well.
It worked. I Finished up this one at a 1:58.303 raw time with NO penalties.
But…check at about 11 seconds into the run.
I reach over with my left hand to roll up the passenger window, then the right hand starts to go up to check the moonroof.
Forgot to do that at the line, as the microphone on my camera picks up way to much wind noise.
I’m thinkin’ I’m going to tape a “pre-run check list” on the dash somewhere, so I’m not screwing with things when I’m on the track.

Epilogue
I don’t care how long you’ve done this, “rookie” mistakes get made all the time,
and I made more than my share this weekend.
I’m going to concentrate on getting back my nickname of “Mr Consistent”.
I’ve been all over the place lately.
 
#13 ·
Good Lawd man... That's a heck of a course! Felt like I was watching "Targa Montana".
 
#14 ·
WD40 said:
thanks to WD40 i dropped a bunch of sec.s wow!
Ah man, I'm most humbled. It was my pleasure.
Amazing how much time you can pick up with just a couple "tweaks" in your technique isn't it?
Like...almost 10 seconds was it?? [;)]
sometimes a fresh point of view on the correct line through the course can make all the differance. I should have done it sooner![thumb] always more to learn!
my very next run picked up a hair under 14 sec.s, unreal!

I can't emphasize enough on how important seat time is, there is always more to learn just in technique alone & finding the fastest line around the coarse![:D]

so get out there and start REALLY DRIVINGyour car like it was ment to be driven!![driving] [race] [race] best time you can have with your clothes still on![thumb]
 
#17 ·
focusonthefocus said:
I want to autox. :(

Do people ever get lost because they missed the pointer cone?
Well, we did have to give out a "wrong way" award this year. [eek]
But, don't fret, part of the design of an AutoCross course is to make it easy to follow...
^^^Provided, you look ahead...
Which was something the aforementioned award winner neglected to pay enough attention to. LOL!!!

See Carrera26's sig...pretty much explains my sentiments to a tee. [;)]
 
#20 ·
^^^ That's a good idea. I need some more commentary! [:D]

And, it's about time...[:(]
Compiled (2 day) results are finally posted:
http://www.mtscca.com/index_files/Page442.html

WD40 - 1st out of 5 in STS
focusedaddiction - 5th out of 6 in SM
Magic, the "rogue" SVT (not a forum member) - 4th in STS.

But...here's the results I like to pay attention to.
Special thanks to the SouthWest Montana Region 52 for putting the PAX results together:
http://www.rockinmicro.com/racing/eventresultstgpax.htm
Out of 84 drivers that ran both days:
(100 drivers total, but the one day only cars didn't show up in the PAX results)
WD40 - 16th
focusedaddiction - 68

I just wish I had put together more than just 1 clean run, but then again, it taught me a few things.....
Cause....wait till you see where I finished in PAX this last weekend (09-17). [:D]
Thread to follow when I get some time...
 
#21 ·
I ate the big one that weekend,[?|] hopefully I have enough points to keep second place[paranoid] that would be cool! Fun year, can't wait for next year[woot] [race]
Gonna have to give those hondas[whip] something to chase next year. lol[;)]
 
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