shomesomesho
G-force addict
There comes a time when you need to know where you stand. The itch had arrived and would not go away.
So here we embarked, dragging the Mustang up to Packwood, a little town outside Mt. Rainier, for 3 days of fun and games with the Northwest's best. They came from every corner of the region - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and even a few stragglers from California.
The mega-course at Packwood was simply astounding. Never had I seen such a profound expanse of asphalt before in my life. It was like Disneyland real estate before they stuck Disneyland on it.
Right half (the sea of cones extends all the way back to the tree line; damn pictures don't do it justice!!):
Left half (look at the size of the course in comparison to the car and peoples):
Arrived Friday and was greeted with a sultry 98 degrees with not a cloud in sight. One older gentleman actually passed out from the heat.
Here is some of the CP delegation (the class I compete in). Looking at them and hearing those cammed, unmuffled V8's rev is enough to make your sister wet her pants twice.
My work-in-progress Mustang, cooling off in the pit building; definitely won't win any beauty contests, but underneath the flaking paint it's all business:
Pic of the timing van, where data is processed and made "official":
Bunch of Z06's in grid:
The rest of the Friday were test-n-tune sessions on a mini-course. The Mustang felt good and tight, crisp and responsive. Times were actually ~1 sec faster than anyone else in CP. But this was just practice, so you try not to read into it too much.
Saturday was the first of 2 days competition amongst the 249 entrants. SCCA does a 3-run format at these National level events, so you had better get your @ss in gear right away. (At the local level, we usually do 4 or 5 runs, which gives you some leeway to fart around.)
An autocrosser usually has some idea of how fast he'll be before hitting the course. There's a handful of other drivers you are usually on par with. Observing their times, I was expecting to be in the 55 to 56 second range.
And so came my turn.
The tension and inertia that built up over the past several days broke as I launched the pony hard off the starting line. The scream of the 350 horses, the breakneck lateral G's, and the relentless cycle of maximum braking and acceleration - all of this elevates the mind to an indescribable sensory plateau. Heart rate and respiratory rate climb as hands, feet, and eyes work together in a multitasking frenzy that mimics a panic situation.
Run 1 was in the 59's with 1 cone killed. No biggee. Just getting to know the the course. Mustang seemed more sluggish than yesterday, or was it just the 104 degree heat getting to me?
Stepped out of the car, beads of sweat pouring down every crevice. Thank God for Gatorade. Need to get one of those Gatorade stickers..
Run 2: The pony gets pushed a little harder. Got down to the 58's. Beginning to get a little worried here. Why is the damn thing so slow? Seemed like the car did not want to turn left.
Run 3: The balls-out, make-it-or-break-it run. Now the car felt really sluggish and was pushing (understeering) hard in left turns. . . definitely not my imagination. Didn't **** any cones, but still only low 58's?? The leader was in the 56's.
Something was profoundly wrong here.
I sat there dumbfounded, disappointed, frustrated, empty . . . .
Pull yourself together! I stepped out of the car and inspected it. The right front tire appeared to have positive camber. I grabbed and shook it back and forth. Damn thing was wobbly.
One of the camber bolts had come loose. Seems that Loctite is not 100%. Torqued it down and re-set the alignment that evening. I kept kicking myself for not checking this yesterday.
Wound up 5th place at the end of Day 1. That was 2 seconds behind the leader, and 2 seconds behind my expected personal pace. 2 seconds in absolute terms seems trivial, but at this level, it is practically eternity. Basically, I was getting my ass kicked.
Day 2 (Sunday) was a little cooler in the mid 70's to 80's. With the repair, the car felt real tight like her old self. All my runs were clean, and as expected got down into the 56's. Probably could have hit 55's if I'd been more aggressive in the slaloms. . .
I was just 0.16 sec behind the leader for that day. Time which could be made up by shifting a little quicker, or letting out the clutch a little sooner. Basically, within the realm of chance. The 2 second hole could not be mended. I did however manage to move up to 4th place.
What's done is done. Be a good sport. Go congragulate the winner.
Nevertheless, the thought kept nagging me on the treck home - if the camber bolt had not come loose yesterday, and I had driven on par like today, I could have finished 1st or 2nd.
At least I know the Mustang and I are fully capable of hanging with the big boys. A win was certainly within reach, barring the camber bolt fiasco.
The next National Tour is only 362 days away. That gives me some time to develop the car (and the driver) a little bit more. And more than enough time to implement a checklist of things to verify before hitting the course. Things like camber bolts, steering rack bolts, lug nuts, hose clamps, motor mounts, fan belt, and so forth.
You live and you learn, and then you move on. Here's to the 2009 NT.
So here we embarked, dragging the Mustang up to Packwood, a little town outside Mt. Rainier, for 3 days of fun and games with the Northwest's best. They came from every corner of the region - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and even a few stragglers from California.
The mega-course at Packwood was simply astounding. Never had I seen such a profound expanse of asphalt before in my life. It was like Disneyland real estate before they stuck Disneyland on it.
Right half (the sea of cones extends all the way back to the tree line; damn pictures don't do it justice!!):
Left half (look at the size of the course in comparison to the car and peoples):
Arrived Friday and was greeted with a sultry 98 degrees with not a cloud in sight. One older gentleman actually passed out from the heat.
Here is some of the CP delegation (the class I compete in). Looking at them and hearing those cammed, unmuffled V8's rev is enough to make your sister wet her pants twice.
My work-in-progress Mustang, cooling off in the pit building; definitely won't win any beauty contests, but underneath the flaking paint it's all business:
Pic of the timing van, where data is processed and made "official":
Bunch of Z06's in grid:
The rest of the Friday were test-n-tune sessions on a mini-course. The Mustang felt good and tight, crisp and responsive. Times were actually ~1 sec faster than anyone else in CP. But this was just practice, so you try not to read into it too much.
Saturday was the first of 2 days competition amongst the 249 entrants. SCCA does a 3-run format at these National level events, so you had better get your @ss in gear right away. (At the local level, we usually do 4 or 5 runs, which gives you some leeway to fart around.)
An autocrosser usually has some idea of how fast he'll be before hitting the course. There's a handful of other drivers you are usually on par with. Observing their times, I was expecting to be in the 55 to 56 second range.
And so came my turn.
The tension and inertia that built up over the past several days broke as I launched the pony hard off the starting line. The scream of the 350 horses, the breakneck lateral G's, and the relentless cycle of maximum braking and acceleration - all of this elevates the mind to an indescribable sensory plateau. Heart rate and respiratory rate climb as hands, feet, and eyes work together in a multitasking frenzy that mimics a panic situation.
Run 1 was in the 59's with 1 cone killed. No biggee. Just getting to know the the course. Mustang seemed more sluggish than yesterday, or was it just the 104 degree heat getting to me?
Stepped out of the car, beads of sweat pouring down every crevice. Thank God for Gatorade. Need to get one of those Gatorade stickers..
Run 2: The pony gets pushed a little harder. Got down to the 58's. Beginning to get a little worried here. Why is the damn thing so slow? Seemed like the car did not want to turn left.
Run 3: The balls-out, make-it-or-break-it run. Now the car felt really sluggish and was pushing (understeering) hard in left turns. . . definitely not my imagination. Didn't **** any cones, but still only low 58's?? The leader was in the 56's.
Something was profoundly wrong here.
I sat there dumbfounded, disappointed, frustrated, empty . . . .
Pull yourself together! I stepped out of the car and inspected it. The right front tire appeared to have positive camber. I grabbed and shook it back and forth. Damn thing was wobbly.
One of the camber bolts had come loose. Seems that Loctite is not 100%. Torqued it down and re-set the alignment that evening. I kept kicking myself for not checking this yesterday.
Wound up 5th place at the end of Day 1. That was 2 seconds behind the leader, and 2 seconds behind my expected personal pace. 2 seconds in absolute terms seems trivial, but at this level, it is practically eternity. Basically, I was getting my ass kicked.
Day 2 (Sunday) was a little cooler in the mid 70's to 80's. With the repair, the car felt real tight like her old self. All my runs were clean, and as expected got down into the 56's. Probably could have hit 55's if I'd been more aggressive in the slaloms. . .
I was just 0.16 sec behind the leader for that day. Time which could be made up by shifting a little quicker, or letting out the clutch a little sooner. Basically, within the realm of chance. The 2 second hole could not be mended. I did however manage to move up to 4th place.
What's done is done. Be a good sport. Go congragulate the winner.
Nevertheless, the thought kept nagging me on the treck home - if the camber bolt had not come loose yesterday, and I had driven on par like today, I could have finished 1st or 2nd.
At least I know the Mustang and I are fully capable of hanging with the big boys. A win was certainly within reach, barring the camber bolt fiasco.
The next National Tour is only 362 days away. That gives me some time to develop the car (and the driver) a little bit more. And more than enough time to implement a checklist of things to verify before hitting the course. Things like camber bolts, steering rack bolts, lug nuts, hose clamps, motor mounts, fan belt, and so forth.
You live and you learn, and then you move on. Here's to the 2009 NT.
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