VetteDrmr

Wow, this last weekend's autocross at Mineral Wells was a blast! After a couple of typical tight courses at smaller venues the last two events, the local BMW club put together a road course marked with cones! AND NO SLALOMS!!!

My personal runs weren't as good as they could have been, due to RA-1-shod front tires that were close to dead and way down on grip. That killed my speed through the corners, but I still got into 3rd gear at three different sections of the course. I ended up about 1.5 seconds off of FTD, a '99 FRC with 315 710s at all four corners.

The only real problem was the heat: ambient during the morning heat was around 82, a friend's outside temp gauge during his cooldown (a reasonably straight run about 3/4 miles in length) was 109! There were three Vettes there, and all three of us had to pull out of line to cool down before we could finish our runs. I was seeing coolant temps of 250 and oil temps of 270 (with an external oil cooler).

In any case, the three of us had the top three times of the event, and we all had a ball! Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6BZl6L3OwE

Now I've got to get some new front tires!

Have a good one,
Mike

TedDBere

How long does it take to walk that course?

CHJ In Virginia

All right !! That was an AutoX course for Vettes !!! I have run too many courses on small lots that you had to be a Lotus to get around the turns. Good run - looked like a lot of fun.

VetteDrmr

The course was measured at 1.49 miles. You can't really tell on the video, but the whole lot climbs about 20-30 feet in elevation from the start up to the farthest point away. You can almost get a feel for coming back down the slope on the longest straight stretch.

The last two events were more typical courses, the Elise drivers were even complaining about the tightness about the first one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dILK8wxozoo

This one was a bit more open, but still pretty tight. I can't wait 'til I get some new tires!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFfEP-xPrmQ

Have a good one,
Mike

redazz

looks like a fun course that bmw group lays out a good course without having to use too many cones i hope to get back down there maybe this fall when it cools down a little congrats on a top 3 time
john

BrianCunningham

Love Mineral Wells.

I ran my 1st autocross there!

Mojave

I've been meaning to get back up there. My last event at Mineral Wells was the 06 Pro Solo.

The BMW Club mini-road course events look like a blast.

VetteDrmr

Next month's event is back at the TMS bus lot; in September we'll be back out at Mineral Wells for a full weekend event: we run Saturday night and a normal event on Sunday. It'll be a blast!

Have a good one,
Mike

MikeFleischer

Ah Miserable Wells, that brings back memories... I miss the crazy runs, time trials and AX 101 TT 102 classes I got to instruct for there, but not those long and hot days standing in the Texas sun, or running 1/8th a mile to set a cone back up!

Is Mark Williams still running the AX's for the BMW guys down there? If so tell him Mike F says hi and hopes he keeps the brush fires under control

VetteDrmr

Mitch Williams was my instructor for the TT classes PCA put on, it was great watching him run his red beast (260Z with a 383 in it!)


That's "driver conditioning". We're all aiming for the 24 hours at Daytona.

Will do!

Have a good one,
Mike

MikeFleischer

Mitch still drives that beast? Is it the Red White and Blue one? Man he must be really good now, he was driving that car back in 2000!

Man I do not miss the Texas Summers, but I sure miss the winters! I went through a set of rear GoodYear Supercar tires doing some fun runs at the end of the TT & AX school in my Z06... That surface can be pretty harsh especially out to the left side of the field.

VetteDrmr

No, the beast was put out to pasture several years ago. He's currently running a supercharged Miata (just can't get away from the torque!).

The place has cleaned up a bunch in the last couple of years. Mineral Wells now has a sweeper that clubs can use to vacuum the courses to clean up grass, gravel, etc.

Have a good one,
Mike

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

Man, I remember testing the Trans Am camaro there back in 1990!! I was 7 years old!

On the back section, you cant even see the cars from the pits, its that far down, pretty neat!

Is it still as dusty/rocky, and gravel everywhere?

BrianCunningham

I've got some photos from back in 1998



More here:
http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/f...s%20autocross/

VetteDrmr

It's actually a lot better than it used to be. A few years ago SCCA ran a national meet there, and the owner cleaned up all the grass and swept up literally tons of gravel.

Now we have a sweeper/vacuum that we use on the course before the cars start running. It hasn't eliminated dirty spots completely, but now all we really have to deal with is old asphalt.

Have a good one,
Mike

MikeFleischer

2001 I think this was a TT and AX school with the PCA folks. I know I still have the black T shirt from it at least , James Shoffit bet I could not maintain wheel spin for the entire course... In hindsite the cost of two supercar tires was not worth the beer I won, but they were pretty run down anyhow by the time I ran at that event.

Having a sweeper to clean up the gravel is great! Wish they had that when I was running there! Now all that place is missing is some decent shade!