Down with the 8s! Oh wait, that's all that is there....

 

finished in same order, John was approx. 0.2 sec off of Keith for the day, sounds like the course was a real blast

1. Keith C.
2. John V.
3. Jeremy C.

 

Fun course, very very technical and tough to get right. I think everyone loved it.

Saturday never dried out at all, it rained continuously all day long. Miserable. Did I mention the mosquitos?

Just got home, gotta pack for a 7am flight tomorrow morning for a business trip.

 

Yep... there was a light rain in the morning... all the way though until everyone left the site that night. Conditions were the same for everyone pretty much all day.

So Mark, as you have told me MANY times... that's what you get for ASSuming things. (Back at ya.)

One of the best things about it tho is that the course design was decent for the rain. It would have been challenging in the dry as it was in the wet without elements in the wet that would have made it painful.

And it was a very nice day on Sunday with just a bit of wind, but good temps.. and a very fun course. A note about the courses this weekend. No elements were shared between the courses over the two days. They were two very different and distinct courses.

Nice meeting some of the new faces to the national scene up at Devens this weekend. Ya'll are welcome back up here any time! I hope those that travelled from afar made it back without incident. I was not so lucky... at least I was right in front of my house when it happened. I arrived home, went to put the tahoe into reverse, hit the gas.... free rev. ?huh? It worked when I pulled out of my paddock spot Devens. After a little research, the Tahoe had the sun gears go... a common occurance on GM/Chevy 1500 trannys that are >100K miles. I now know why they call them 1500s... that's what it is going to cost to have it repaired. I can go forward, just not reverse.

By the way... there's a motion to change the name of NER from New England Region to Never Ending Rain.

Had a blast this weekend... and hope to see you guys at Nats... except John... I can't stand that guy. (Oh... that was supposed to be my inner voice, wasn't it?)

--kC

 

Assuming you're talking to me I didn't assume anything, just reported what I thought I was told

 

It was drier for our third runs than our first. Well, maybe not drier so much as not quite a wet. First runs, it was soaked, and you could see it in the rooster tails/spray, splashes, and nearly non-existant tracks of the car(s) that went ran right before you. By third runs, there was a lot less spray, fewer and smaller splashes, and very distinct tracks of the cars running right before.

The Sunday course was fun. After my first run, my heart was thumping and I had a feeling simlar to that after my first autocross run a few years ago. All I could think was, "Wow." Saturday's course was...uh, I'm not sure. I think it would have been a blast in the dry, but I had a lot of trouble adapting to the conditions. I was too aggressive with the throttle and nearly spun every time I tried to use it. I just totally forget everything that I've learned in the past about driving in the wet. Oh well.

It was nice being able to be packed up and off the site by 1:30 yesterday.

 

Funny how ill-prepared I was when it came to autoxing in the rain. Did the Philly autox school in sandals in 50 dg temp with gust and horizontal rain earlier this year. Saturday at Devens Tour with my waist-down all soaking wet and mosquito-fed by the end of the day.

As for the course, Sat was tricky with standing water in the critical turn sections. 4 out of 5 RX-8 were shot with V710/Ecsta V700 and teamWTF on Hankook Z212. Still calling out my Ecsta SPT in the dream that would have been a lot better than V710. DSC/TCS are a must unless you are kC or Michael Schumacher.

Sun was fun and technical with RX-8 running in slalom heaven. Weather was picture-perfect as the day wore on. It was fast and non-stop as soon as you got off the start with a good mix of slalom/chicago box/offset turn/90 dg right-hander.

Love the comradeship of fellow RX-8 drivers and the intensity of National Tour, my very first. kC/teamWTF just walked away from the rest of us in BS as expected. I want to highlight what a great sportsman kC is with him offering me a co-drive when my car was in the shop and also chuckling at the un-sanctioned trash talk that came to my knowledge only after the event. "I want to be like kC" is my new motto~ (j/k)

Hopefully, the on-board video and field videos will be ready soon. The other thing I regretfully forgot besides missing the Sun morning walk-thru was asking kC/teamWTF for pointers/feedbacks on my driving. Please chime in if you still remember my hacksaw driving or when the videos are posted.

Good meeting all of you!

 

Overall pax result here: http://tinyurl.com/hfkcu
Sat only: http://tinyurl.com/jazvj
Sun only: http://tinyurl.com/jhsmb

 

The mosquitos were annoying. First thing we did on Friday after arriving was get some bug spray. Still wound up with a few bites that I'm finding particularly aggrivating today, though.

I'm not sure we made the right choice on tires. The Hankooks turned and stopped okay, but they did not want to put power down at all without sliding. From what I remember running the 710s in big standing water at the Toledo Tour last year was that stopping and accelerating weren't problems, but they wouldn't turn at all. Oh well, what are gonna do?

Please don't be like kC...one is more than enough.

Aside from the mosquitos, the thing I didn't like about the site was that you really couldn't see much anywhere. Everything was so far away from the grid that you couldn't see much of what anyone else was doing outside of the first section and the kind of the finish.

 

On-board videos here (right-click & save)

http://www.stickypod.com/videos/data...vens_Run_1.mov (52.790+3)
http://www.stickypod.com/videos/data...vens_Run_2.mov*(49.950+2)
http://www.stickypod.com/videos/data...vens_Run_3.mov (49.795)

*WARNING: strong language

PS. Please feel free to critique my driving. Got a lot to learn seeing how I'm behind kC by eternity. My steering wheel movement was definitely not smooth but jerky, and too much throttle play in slalom during midways, and coasting in more than a few places. In my defense, I only got one walk-thru before Heat 3, missing morning walk-thru. Also first time on V710 in dry, in combination with Saturday wet runs. 1st time National Tour newbie and etc...

 

Wow... 61st in PAX on Saturday and 15th in PAX on Sunday.

It was good to meet you, Steve. I'll take a look at your videos when I get home on Thursday night.

I have to say, I was pretty happy to be within 0.2 of Keith on Sunday. I didn't think I was driving particularly well. I never got the opening section right on Sunday. The short slalom after making the right hand 90 degree turn I think I did OK, and then the long slalom afterward I did OK. But I don't think I was ever getting in a good rhythm of dancing the car through that first section - either the car was just a bit loose or I was nervous and overdriving - probably the second option.

Overall I had a great time even though we forgot one of our bags in columbia and I had to wear sandals the entire weekend.

I'll definitely come to Devens again.

 

Can't wait to hear what you have to say! Easy on me.

0.778sec behind our resident smoothest hand on his home turf is no small feat. Gotta give you props seeing how youngsters can take on the giant. It gives me hope.

Funny seeing you in sandals, since I did the exact same thing at Philly autox school. I believe that's the new look for the fast rising RX-8 autoxers.

 

Official write-up by SCCA: http://www.scca.com/News/News.asp?Ref=593

 

I once got screamed, yes screamed, at by an unreasonable regional guy for wearing sandals. It is a rule, I guess, not to wear them. Looks like you all did well. I think CRXMill... did very well for a first national event on used tires.

 

Thanks Cito!

I really appreciate your impartial advice when I had to deal with the tire bead damage in the other thread. Got 1/4 of money refunded as you suggested and bought two more used from a different seller. Can't wait to meet all the nice folks here on the board in real life.