glass slipper

We had 7 autocrosses yesterday and I set fastest overall time of the day in three of them (the really, really fast guys didn't show up). I missed setting absolute fastest time for all the races by .048 seconds...54.571 to 54.523. Good close racing and good friends/family, it was a fantastic day. My daughter was running my car too and dipped into the 57s after a 1:03 then 1:09 for her first two runs. She was worried about hurting the beast because we were hot lapping it and also wouldn't go back to first after the straight. I coached her on the launch, her braking point at the end of the straight, using first through the rest of the course (and told her she couldn't hurt the beast, this is what it was made for!), and her times dropped like a rock. As you can see from the video, she needs to work on her lines/apexing...not that I'm Mario Andretti or anything. I'm the first run on the video and she's the second run. The car is all stock except for BFG G-Force R1 autocross tires (not slicks like the video says).

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/d...cf014d69fa.htm

The audio quality isn't all that great, too much wind noise but you can still hear the beast roar in certain parts. I bounced off the rev limiter in second at the end of the straight and then the rest of the course was run in first barely getting into the power band (~4500 RPM)...4.10s would have been better for this particular course although I'm not usually a fan of gears for autocrossing. It was definitely not a horsepower course, a '96 CE LT4 was the one .048 seconds faster than me and a couple of C6 Z06s showed up...they weren't even close, my daughter beat them too. I know, I know, the difference was the driver and the tires (they had street tires), but I couldn't help myself.

cadillac531

Pretty sweet course. Looked like a lot of fun. Good job!!!

Goldcylon

looked like a blast gotta love that high revving gearing!!

ZR-71

Very familiar sound.

cv67

Fantastic!! How did you mount the camera?
You could tell the car really pulls along good.

glass slipper

The camera was on a quadpod (??? four legs as opposed to three for a tripod) with suction cups on the legs and mounted on the roof. It was a fun day, I was grinning like a jackass eating briars all day! It was particularly satisfying to see the improvements my daughter is making...see gains one half to one second on me each time she goes out there. I keep telling her she'll never catch me, but I'm starting to get a little worried I may have to eat those words.

Barbara_S

Hey, nice video - and that's an interesting way to do it. We will probably be losing our airport after next year and need another place to race. What kind of property were you using that has winding roads like that and nothing to hit if you run off course?

-Barbara

GTB/ZR-1

Nice job Richard--way to represent the King!

They finally cut the grass @ St Augustine--looks much better--although you were running the new stop signs!

I would have been there, but I was @ Sebring w/ the Evo. FTD (fendered) by a wide margin.

I'm shopping for another NCCC worthy Vette--stay tuned...

LowFlight

Great Stuff

glass slipper

We were at the St Augustine police training grounds which is why you see all the road signs. It's not really a "road" per se. If you look off to the right as I make the first turn at the end of the straight, you can barely make out their skidpad area. We incorporate it into the course sometimes but you can see the big sprinklers flooding the skidpad...there was about 2"-3" of water on it so we had to skip it that day. Don't be fooled by the looks of nothing to hit...there are huge water hazzards right off to the sides which is why the grass is only cut so far off from the pavement. If you look close, you can see the "lakes"/swamp...some are two feet deep. We had a guy go off one time and he was bailing water out of his car for an hour. At the drivers meeting, the event chairman makes it clear if you get off in the water, he'll pull you out but you have to hook up the tow rope to your car...he saw a water moccasin once.

If you lose your place at the airport, you might want to check on the local police driving range. I've raced at 3 different ones now and they're pretty cool about it. Good luck!

glass slipper

Thanks George, congratulations on your FTD. I'd love to see you run in that Evo. We had two Evos show up and both were modded, but neither one of them could break one minute...wish you were there to show them how to drive. With all their HP/light car, a tight course, 4WD, and a damp course, they should have been kicking our butts. The drivers were fairly new...they should have spent their time/money modding the driver first.

I swear officer, I never saw the stop signs!!! The really funny part is, I really never noticed them until you mentioned it and I looked at the video again. I did see the 35 MPH speed limit sign at the end of the straight...but only because it was my braking point going into the first turn.

Looking forward to seeing you at Aaron's next month. Did you know we have an autoX the day after (Nov 18) back at St Augustine? Good luck in your search for another 'Vette, would the ZR1 in NC you posted about recently be a candidate??? I would enjoy the competition in IF in our region, but you're going to have to show some respect for your elders and let me beat you every once in a while. Keep us posted.

GTB/ZR-1

Heck Richard, all I do is go out there & hit that pedal on the right like there's no tomorrow--the car does the rest... Thx for the vote of confidence, though!

I'm looking @ a Stroker C5Z--should be a handful if I get it

There's actually a Dixie Region event on the 18th 45 mins from Aaron's as well @ SGMP: 1800x300' great, new asphalt. I'd love to run there Sun AM with... well...... some sort of Vette. My ZR goes well--in a straight line only, that is