Sept 27 thanks...

[Mike Simanyi]

Wow! That's all I can say about today's Championship.

Pete Loney set up the best course I think we've seen at AAA Speedway in at least a year. Pete, thank you for taking on the task late in the game and running it so well. The course was Tour quality.

Rick and Mari, thank you for keeping timing and scoring moving forward, especially with the challenge remapping the afternoon work groups.

Mako, Lisa Severy, Tom Tanquary, Sebastian and Shauna Rios, Gayle and Maggie Jardine, Theo Osifeso, Lily Liu, Kurt Rahn, Stacey Miller and Steve Ekstrand, and of course Max and KJ - the event wouldn't have happened without all your effort. Thank you for teaming up and hosting a fantastic event. I'm sure I've missed some behind-the-scenes players - thanks to all of you for joining in.

Mike Simanyi

[Max Hayter]

Thanks also to Brian Peters who, although was just in town to sell his car to Karen, spent the weekend as a roving Evo instructor to many people, without charging a penny.

Someone should persuade him that Arizona is full of weird desert people like Doug Rowse and Dave Webb, and he should relocate here!

[Steve Ekstrand]

Thanks Mike for chairing this! I always look forward to your calm relaxed smooth make it happen attitude.

Great course Pete! I should have driven it in something else...

Small FJ field, but they did really well.

Miserable heat, but great times. As Stacey kept saying.... Mike's only failing was the weather.

Yeah and plus 1 for Brian coming out here!

[Charley Hoyt]

Thank you to everyone that helped make this weekend possible. I had a great time. I loved the course!!!

[Mako Koiwai]

Lots of cool slo mo videos ... stuck watching them instead of posting them! Experimented with some 600 frame per second shots. Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

Brian P is the :king: for helping so many of us out. We're exhausted but Karen can hardly get the grin off her face. She thought she could/would DD the Vette ... but those stiff Penske's might convenience her otherwise. ;)

[Marshall Grice]

Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

control arm bushings.

[Mako Koiwai]

Pete and a bunch of helpers spent a LOT of time on Friday refining that course (during the hottest part of the last few days) ... it didn't just happen. We learned to make it right from the likes of Tom B, Reijo and Mike and it sounds like it paid off. :gpower:

Thank You Art for Driving our Miata home ... possible because he had Marcus pick him up this morning.

[Mako Koiwai]

Steve replaced the locating arm bushing with Poly and it helped ... needs to do all of them.

[Steve Glusman]

Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

control arm bushings.

The control arm bushings were replaced with VERY stiff polyurethane ones....

any other ideas?

[Bill Schenker]

Lots of cool slo mo videos ... stuck watching them instead of posting them! Experimented with some 600 frame per second shots. Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

Brian P is the :king: for helping so many of us out. We're exhausted but Karen can hardly get the grin off her face. She thought she could/would DD the Vette ... but those stiff Penske's might convenience her otherwise. ;)

I wanna see mine! I wanna see mine!
-------------------------------------
Great course (and told Pete so)! Completely national level - wish first day of Vail were like today's course!! Nice way to come back to regional racing!!!

[Mako Koiwai]

Not sure you want to see your first lap!

I'm trying to do this more organized this time. Last time was a mess with it being difficult for people to find their clips.

[Bill Schenker]

Not sure you want to see your first lap!...

Yes, that was pretty ugly w/all the O.P.R. from Lincoln!

Thanks!

[Mako Koiwai]

A smattering of slo mo clips loading up now on Blip.TV ... see separate thread

[Tom Tanquary]

I have to say this was as smooth an event as I have ever been to. Great course, almost no delays, and as SSS, I had nothing to do - as it should be. A complete lack of drama except while driving, and there was plenty of that. Again, great course, Pete. Everything seemed to allow maximum attention to course and nothing else, which means you got to just drive. The lion's share of the kudos has to go to Mike for his steady hand, but I think that everyone that helped out in any way played a big part as well.

If only every event could be like this.

Thanks

t

[Andrew Bingham]

Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

control arm bushings.

The control arm bushings were replaced with VERY stiff polyurethane ones....

any other ideas?

I bet we could build a test rig of some kind to apply different forces to your wheel and try and replicate the issue! ;)

[Marshall Grice]

Steve G's wheel is still wobbling, but not nearly as bad.

control arm bushings.

The control arm bushings were replaced with VERY stiff polyurethane ones....

any other ideas?

poly is too soft.

need delrin bushings. unless you're in GP, then use spherical bearings.

it could also be actual control arm flex, in which case you'd need to fab up some new ones.

[Sebastian Rios]

Pete's best course to date, hands down. I really liked the symmetry and Nationals style. I needed at least one more competition run though there were three corners that I could not get right on the same run.

[Steve Ekstrand]

You got a corner right? Damn, couldn't manage that.

[Pete Loney]

I doubly agree with the previous comments about Mike S's demeanor when responsibilities called upon you.
You did a great job as event master.

Popsicles in the afternoon on Sat. was genius for the workers.

I just wanted to acknowledge all the hard work of my setup crew. Mike, Matt, Mako, Brian Peters, Steve, Joe C., Karen, Mike S.
Fri. was even hotter than Sat. for the initial setup.

The collaboration of all created this course.
Hats off to you all.

Thanks to all for the positive feedback.

Personally, I had the most fun of any weekend of autocrossing myself.
Found the best setup to date for my car and on a very fun course. Great timing.

[Curt Luther]

Our fearless leader relaxing after a hard day's work (WARNING, WARNING! THE FOLLOWING LINK IS RATED "R" FOR OBSCENE LANGUAGE):

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn27 ... C36431.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mako Koiwai]

No wonder he's so relaxed ... I was wondering about that extra cooler IN the motorhome!

[Mako Koiwai]

Shade was at a premium on Saturday ... everyone tucked in ...

[Tom Berry]

And a special thanks to Pete Loney for letting me drive his car in the Pax class. Its great fun.
I aggree with Seb... your best course yet!

[Brian Peters]

Thanks to everybody for a great weekend. As a former Region Solo Director, I was amazed at the level of dedication Mike gives to ensure a smooth event (the workload outside event day can be overwhelming in itself). The club-supplied water and ice cream were awesome on Saturday and iirc, all provided by Mike.

I also thought Pete's courses were fantastic, with Sunday's even proving to be too much for me. You guys are very lucky to have such a dedicated core group of people donating the hours so the rest of us can all go out there and have a good time.

I was more than happy to help people out on Saturday. This sport is all about experience and I have no problem sharing what little I've learned.

Thanks to Karen (and Mako? for offering her new car up for me on Sunday. I hope she continues to enjoy it.

[Mark DeShon]

I came and checked it out on Sunday and the course looked awesome! I'm bummed that the old beater wasn't up to running this weekend, but I've gotta throw out a special thanks to Hi Ly for taking me out in the GT3! Best 60 seconds I've had in a long time! Maybe next time we can switch seats. haha... fat chance.
Everyone was super nice and seemed to be truckin' through the heat and havin' tons of fun. Hope to join you guys for real next month!
Mark D.