CASOC EVENT - GREAT JOB!!

[Steve Glusman]

What a well run event today. First time in my 3 yr history that an event started EARLY, ran on schedule, was able to pull off this flag color run group thing, FED US LUNCH and great John Edwards Guacamole, let us enjoy another very Berry [Christine this time] course, only made us work once, defied mother nature and kept the heat to tolerable with a breeze........and had only one Historic car breakdown -- sorry John F.

Really nice day, thanks!

And what made it even more special [and priceless] was being joined by son Jeff in his 96 Maxima where he was helped by many and I really appreciated it!

I'm hoping he has been bit by the bug as I was just a few years ago!!

Steve G

[Craig Naylor]

Did the kid karts end up running the big track in the end. I left before lunch was over, but had heard they weren't going to. I ask only because the are listed in the pax'ed results, with some mighty fine times. (for example Robert Ekstrand 10th over all WOW!)

[Randy Chase]

I had a great time at the event. Thanks to all the put it on. And the guacamole rocked!

I liked the color flag thing for the practice, I wish I could have stayed and ran the last group.

[Christine Grice]

Did the kid karts end up running the big track in the end. I left before lunch was over, but had heard they weren't going to. I ask only because the are listed in the pax'ed results, with some mighty fine times. (for example Robert Ekstrand 10th over all WOW!)

The FJA and FJB classes ran on the main course and FJC held their own contest on the kart course. I don't know how long the Kart course was but it looks like they were smoking through it considering how little horse power as they have

[Rick Brown]

Did the kid karts end up running the big track in the end. I left before lunch was over, but had heard they weren't going to. I ask only because the are listed in the pax'ed results, with some mighty fine times. (for example Robert Ekstrand 10th over all WOW!)

FJC shouldn't be in the PAX results since they ran a different course. I'll update it shortly.

[Will Kalman]

FJA & B ran the big course, we kept the FJC'rs on the kids course. The reasoning is that FJA & B are "real" SCCA classes all the way to Nationals and should be included in the official event results. Plus, they run times comparable to full-size cars and the kids are older and a little more trustworthy as far as not deviating wildly from the course.

For the FJC'rs, we told them their first three runs "counted" and Cyan came out with a vengeance cutting a 69-second lap but was nicked by Robert Ekstrand on his final run by a few seconds.

Later in the day Dane and Robert had a battle royale, with Dane taking the Kid's TTD crown with a.... 49 second run! I was out walking course at the time and noticed a couple kid karts out there going flat out for virtually the entire length of the course!

The little ones are really feeling the pressure (in a good way) and stepping it up! At the end of the day, all three got "Winner" medals for participating.

In ten years, this is coming after you....

[Steve Ekstrand]

I ran the kid kart course in a car trying to maintain an exact 20mph through the whole course. I probably slipped under a few times, but not by much. Came out with a 73. Dane's 49 was smokin'!!! Gotta love that he ran like an 81 in "competition", but improved all the way to a 49 (backed up with a 50 and a 51 earlier). Robert went from 65 to 54 and Cyan from 69 to I think 59 or so. Robert lead the first 3, Cyan led the morning and Dane took the TTOD in the afternoon. Each had a moment to shine. And we gave them medals at dinner. I'm not sure any of them have stopped wearing the medals... ;)

Kid Karts make 1.8hp stock with a spec gear. Our motors are blueprinted and make a little more than that (mainly just revving higher than stock). The first 50 feet of acceleration, I can out run them. But if you stay on the gas, they will reach over 30mph. Solid rear axle, so sharp turns act like a trail brake. The difference at the end of the day between Robert and Dane was how Dane got closer to the cones, especially in slaloms. Not only did that decrease distance traveled but it smoothed out the turns and reduced the braking effect. I could clearly see Dane coming out of turns faster than Robert and Cyan. Cyan had little lifts, but Dane and Robert were absolutely FLAT for the course.

Dane has clearly found better lines. Robert is more consistently aggressive. The question for the next event is whether Dane will keep the fearless aggression he had at the end of the day and deliver it in the morning. All three were amazing. We set up two very hard to follow courses and they figured it out quickly (minimal cones and no lining).

On the FJB scene we picked up four new kids. The Mourtikoffs who ran Saturday only, Zak Kiesel, and Issac Wyatt. Zak and Issac look like naturals. Both were really aggressive and showed great car control skills with so little experience. Amazing. In FJA, Max Rahn continued to improve a bunch, making Jon Clements actually look over his shoulder... Or actually straight in front of him at the finish, but that's another story.

[Mike Simanyi]

Very cool! I'm especially impressed by Kiesel's attendance exclusively for the Formula Junior experience.

Mike

[Eric Clements]

In FJA, Max Rahn continued to improve a bunch, making Jon Clements actually look over his shoulder...

I think Jon saw some fast times Saturday and knew he needed to pick it up Sunday. Competition is good, Jon paxed 5th overall.

Yeah, San Diego would benefit from some active involved Fj parents. Oh, wait, they don't like kids down there.

[Steve Ekstrand]

Or at least ONE club doesn't like kids down there.... One club full of old guys who like incident reports and oil downs but couldn't handle getting smoked for TTOD by a 14yo.

[Kurt Rahn]

Very cool! I'm especially impressed by Kiesel's attendance exclusively for the Formula Junior experience.

Mike

I might as well have been there just for the FJ experience. Max smoked me not only on raw time but on PAX. First time he's backed up his smack talk. And emphatically so.

Christine, great course. Clearly not made for my car (lots of evil transitions) but very challenging and I had a blast anyway!

[Rad_ Delgado_]

Food was awesome !!!

The skid pad and slalom where really helpful.

[Mark Duerst]

Or at least ONE club doesn't like kids down there.... One club full of old guys who like incident reports and oil downs but couldn't handle getting smoked for TTOD by a 14yo.

Well it's actually 2 clubs out of the 5.

I personally don't see how a region can keep SCCA approved classes from competing.

[Leticia Montanez]

Wow, good event! I was a newbie to Auto-X, I learned that I need an instructor and that the course was sooo hard! Anyway, hope to see you all on August 22. Hopefully the course will be a little easy so I can figure it out.

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Or at least ONE club doesn't like kids down there.... One club full of old guys who like incident reports and oil downs but couldn't handle getting smoked for TTOD by a 14yo.

Well it's actually 2 clubs out of the 5.

I personally don't see how a region can keep SCCA approved classes from competing.

The wrong people have the votes.

[KJ Christopher]

Wow, good event! I was a newbie to Auto-X, I learned that I need an instructor and that the course was sooo hard! Anyway, hope to see you all on August 22. Hopefully the course will be a little easy so I can figure it out.

Don't forget - lots of practice time on August 8th.

[Joel Payne]

+1 for a great event. I'm learning slowly but surely.

I thought I'd offer a little more detailed feedback for future reference:

Awesome!!!!
-The BBQ and extra ammenities definitely put it over the top. Great job on the grill.
-I was also super thankful for tons of water on hand.
-Definitely got some good use out of the skidpad and slalom. Wished I'd have brought an accelerometer...
-Work group switches went flawlessly so far as I could tell.
-In general, I'm loving the diversity of cars and folks out there. All the folks I've meet autocrossing seem to be an extremely quality lot. (Jerry and Stephan, I gotta get my father in law out to check our your Camaro some time. I think it'd make him happy.)
-Marking runs ensured everyone got a fair share of time out there.
-Great course. Tough but a good diversity of possible lines.
-Definitely appreciate sufficient run off after the finish (that was laking at a former practice I attended.)

Constructive criticism...
-In general the flags worked well but I wished the changes between groups would happen a bit quicker. Four laps per session was a lot when you were waiting in line in the heat, it would almost be nicer to do 2-3 and then go hang out in the pits.
-It would help to know when flag switches were occuring. I couldn't see the flags from my pit nor from the slalom/skidpad so it was hard to know exactly when to get in line. Maybe a white board with the next estimated flag change time?
-I also have mixed feelings about the "expidite" line. On the one hand, it actually helped me because I had a hard time getting enough heat in my damn road race tires. On the other when I was in the normal lanes it was painful to just sit in the heat and wait for a few folks to take all their laps and then go cruise back to the pits. Maybe it'd be better to let folks who need make up laps keep running after their session ends and/or have a dedicated "hot lap" session.
-I missed having the timer guy position scribling lap times on "posts its". For someone who's mostly here to learn that's helpful to have (even at a practice event).

All in all, it was a great event. I just figured if you only hear the good stuff you'd never know the areas that could be made better.

I'm really having a blast out there...

See y'all on the 8th.
-Joel Payne

LS1 RX7