½mv²

The first Sunday of the month.
Anyone other than me going? It would be nice to see more 8s out there.

And don't give me any of the generic excuses...
"I don't want to hurt my car"
"I don't think my 8 could take it"
"I wouldn't do very good"
"I can't afford it"

It's all crap and you know it.
--It won't hurt your car
If taking a few hard turns at 30mph hurt our cars we all would have sold them by now.

--Your 8 can take it
Renisis lives for revs. The suspension begs for action. I'm sure somewhere in the earlier drafts of the owners manual they recommended autocrossing as a part of good upkeep and regular maintenance.

--You're right - you won't do good.
You aren't supposed to do "good". The whole purpose of an obstacle course is to make people mess up. If you spin out, hit a cone, or get lost, guess what? You did what was expected of you.

--You have enough money.
It's $35 if you show up at the last minute and say "hey, this looks like fun." (only $30 if you register & pay online). If you don't have $35 to spare for fun then you need to re-evalute your budget. If you don't even have enough money lying around to cover a full tank of gas, you shouldn't have bought an 8.

[/Being a dick]




In all seriousness, everyone should come. It's lots of fun, it's not that expensive, and unless you're a helplessly overzealous moron it's really not all that hard on your car.

Keef

I'm going

½mv²

Do you know what class you'll be in? I don't know if all your mods put you above the STB class or not.

I signed up for the morning X class in hopes of being allowed to double enter and run again in the afternoon. If all goes well I'll be there all day, thus, I'll get to watch any of the RX guys who show up.

nolanrob123

I would like to go just to watch but.......where is it? Greyhound/****** track?

½mv²

You all better be gratefull because I'm going through the trouble to spell this all out for you:


Directions and map:
GULF GREYHOUND PARK
One block west of 1-45 south at Exit 15, 30 miles south of Houston and 15 miles north of Galveston in La Marque, Texas.


Additional Info on G.G.P.:
http://www.gulfgreyhound.com/trackinformation.html




You CAN arrive the day of the event, register, pay, be classed, and sign the waiver on site. However, you can save yourself a wait in line and do it all online.

Know your class:
The RX-8 is in the 'B' class. If you have no mods done, you are in class "BS" (B-stock)
If you have mods, you will have to do a bit of research. This is a link to a general information site. Depending on your mods, this site might create more questions than it answers.

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/index.shtml

If you still have questions, the guys on the forums are more than happy to help new recuits (unlike these boards, these guys enjoy answering the same newbie questions over and over).

http://houscca.com/forum/

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE TO REGISTER AN ACCOUNT!! I beleive that since this is such a small forum, the admins activate the accounts manually so it might be a full day before you're able to post/view anything.



Register Online
You will need to create an account with DLB Racing first. As soon as your account is created, you will be allowed to register online. The link below will take you to the offical Houston SCCA section of DLB's website. You can create your account, register for the upcoming autocross, and take care of any other business, all from this URL: (You will need to know your class before registering online)

http://www.dlbracing.com/drivers/log...efault.aspx%3f




Get yourself prepared
Read these starting tips:
http://www.houscca.com/solo/getstarted.asp

The most important thing you can remember to do is empty your car of EVERYTHING before you come to the event. The less crap you bring, the less crap you'll have to leave in a pile outside all day.
Also, bring something to protect your stuff. I didn't think of this before I went my first time, and as a result, all of my CDs, my 2 favorite Car&Driver magazines, and half a box of cigars were drenched and destroyed by heavy rain. My floormats reaked of mildew for a few days. DON'T BE A MORON LIKE ME




Learn the course map
(not updated as of yet)
http://www.houscca.com/solo/courses.asp

Overhead the courses look simple and easy. When you're in them, they look like a cluster of disjointed cones. Learn the track, make some notes, and that way when you're doing the course walkthrough you're "tweaking" notes and not "making" them.





Helmets?
Yes, they have rentals. However, some of them can get nasty. If you don't own or can't find a SNELL-rated helmet or motorcycle helmet, you might want to look for a headsock. While the SCCA guys do take very good care of their rental helmets, nothing can be done if the previous wearer sweat in them. Given the local climate of "Hot as hell with a humidity of a thousand", the odds of you getting a wet helmet are pretty high.





Hope all you Houstonian newbie AutoXers appreciate this

legendkurado

Autocrossing is definitely the best experience you can have with the 8. If many people go, I will definitely try to make it to watch. I definitely encourage people to try ,because it's not just fun, but it really teaches you fundamentals that could save your *** one day.

Crztrtldck

beeep!
dam work
how'd it go nick?

½mv²

It went pretty damn well.

The weather was great, the track was fast & fun, the competition was well balenced (1:1 Newb:Pro ratio), and lots of 8's showed up.


Here are the non-indexed times of all rotary-powered cars & their class

BS
J.C. TAYLOR 04 MAZD RX-8 55.289
JOSE BATISTA 04 MAZD RX-8 56.891
B.C. TAYLOR 04 MAZD RX-8 57.384

CSP
DAVID DUXBURY 85 MAZD RX-7 51.330

STB/X
NICK KELLY 04 MAZD RX-8 53.688

STA
JOSHUA BALLESTEROS 04 MAZD RX-8 56.732
SAHBR BEHIZAD 04 MAZD RX-8 58.710

STB
JEREMY NOLEN 05 MAZD RX-8 58.770



And, here are the PAX indexed times:
DAVID DUXBURY 85 MAZD RX-7 (0.845) 43.374
NICK KELLY 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.836) 44.883
J.C. TAYLOR 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.828) 45.779
JOSE BATISTA 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.828) 47.106
B.C. TAYLOR 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.828) 47.514
JOSHUA BALLESTEROS 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.841) 47.712
JEREMY NOLEN 05 MAZD RX-8 (0.836) 49.132
SAHBR BEHIZAD 04 MAZD RX-8 (0.841) 49.375




(BTW "indexed" times are indended to show where a driver stands if we lived in a world where God created all cars to be equal. Not a perfect system, but it's a pretty accurate guestimate tool.)




Sadly, I didn't get to see David run because he ran during the same heat as me. His 1st gen looked beautiful though, and after seeing how badly he dominated his competition (he won 1st in his class) I regret not having been able to watch him run.


I (Nick) was fortunate to have convinced a friend from San Antonio to come this Sunday and give me some pointers. He's an amazing coach and is the only reason my times were as good as they were. The course was a blast, and I'm pretty proud of my low 53. However, I'm really really really REALLY pissed off at my last run because I FREAKING FORGOT TO TURN TRACTION CONTROL OFF AND RAN THE WHOLE TRACK IN LIMP MODE AAAAHHHHRRRRRRGGGG!!!! D:
Even with the gas pedal not listening 70% of the time, I managed to pull a low 54, which haunts me because I honestly think I had what it took to get a low 52... but shoulda coulda woulda, right?

I recall seeing the Taylors' car - they took turns driving it - but I didn't get a chance to speak with them or watch them run so I really can't say how well they did or didn't do.

I did get a chance to speak with Jose, and I recognize him from last month. I think he said he had an account here, but he did say he barely visits. Last month, despite being stock, he crushed my times, so as concieted as it is, I'm glad to have beat him this time I got to watch his first run and he had excellent control and drove some good lines, he just lacked agression. All-in-all I think he trapped a damn decent time on a high-speed car-straining track for "I don't wanna stress my baby" driving.

Josh (our very own Keef) drove like a bat outta hell. Most newbies are very timid their first time out and don't even begin to push their car until their last run.
Not Josh.
His 1st run was the highlight of many people's day; as exciting as a chase scene in a Hollywood movie - I would have given anything to have had a camera on hand for his first run. Around every turn, every slolam, every bend, he was on tetering on the edge of control - spectator's hearts in their throats, breath held, eyes wide. I was working the cones during his run and around every turn you could hear the workers in unison:
"oohhh!!.....OOOHHH!!!.... OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!.... *hold breath*........... OOOOOOhhhhhh my god hahahahah that was close!"
He only lost control once, and despite "losing it" the recovery was nothing short of epic - he never hit a cone. The only way I can think to describe it is "horse shoe". He was coming sideways at a cone, out of control, and just before impact the front managed to regrip, violently yanking the back of the car away from the cone, sending him into a spin, which he managed to steer out of just in time to avoid catching the cone with the front end, causing a full 360, and managed to finish the course without a DNF or cone penalty.
From overhead, it would have looked like this:
' --
'|
'
|'
-- '
His 2nd run was done with much more finess, which was honestly a disappointment after his first run He had minimal tire noise, drove much cleaner lines, and probably would have had a time in the 54-55's, but he pushed it just a little too hard in the final slolam and spunout just inches from the finish line
3rd run was clean, but he missed his line in the first slolam and in the last 2 turns, which hurt his time pretty bad.

Jeremy was a 2nd or 3rd-timer who was also from out-of-town that I had the breif pleasure of meeting. I didn't get to see any of his runs, but I know he ran in the last heat, and the track conditions are god-awful at that point so his times aren't really that bad given his unfamiliarity.

Sahba (HERO), whose name they spelled incorrectly on all of the official time sheets, seemed afraid to really let loose, which is a shame because his lines improved with each run at almost a frightening pace.
His 1st run was slow and steady, which is expected of a first-timer, as the only goal on your mind (unless your Keef, apparently) is to not get lost. Despite his low speed, he still seemed to be suprised by a few turns and ened up mashing the brakes.
His 2nd run seemed to lack agression as well, but was clean as a whistle and showed lots of promise. I was actually a little worried that he was going to crush my best time in his third run.
Lucky for Keef and myself, HERO took his final run slow'n'steady. Just like his 2nd run, his lines were nearly spot-on, he just didn't seem to have enough lead in his foot to trap a lower time



Hopefully more people will come to next months - it's LOTS of fun.

Keef

hahaha, man was that fun.... I even impressed Andy with my driving, and he drives around with me all day. Sliding around and getting ooooooh so close too hitting a cone is too much fun...

½mv²

so does that mean you're going to show up for December's AX?

HERO

iTrader: (3)

Definately doing this again. I was speaking with Shenoy and he said theres a porche autox coming up in..... a week?....... two weeks?....... something like that where we can participate by entering in the x class.

½mv²

Who's Shenoy? Is it SCCA sponsored? I haven't seen any mention of it on the Houston SCCA forums...



EDIT:
speaking of the Houston SCCA forums, there are rumors of a practice event in December. They're a bit more expensive, but rather than getting 3 to 4 runs, you get more like 30 to 40 :D

HERO

iTrader: (3)

shenoy was that guy in the built E36 M3. He rode with me on my last lap and told me about it. Ill ask him for more info.

Crztrtldck

dang
i hate work
ima skip work to make it to this next one
i cant miss another one!
i got this helmet and car sitting here ready to hit the track
next time for sure. screw work
hahaha