I feel sick about sunday..... ....primarily because I was sick and couldn't go uke: I'm hoping my schedule will allow me to make #5 at DCTC, sounds like it's a fun site.
DCTC may be longer, but it probably won't be much faster. Autocrossing isn't road racing, so the speeds are kept limited, especially when there is a chance of going off course like there is at DCTC. There will most likely be a rule that if two wheels leave the pavement that you are done for the day, so keep in mind that although it is on a road race track it is definitely not a road race. The surface is good, but the course will probably be misleading in the sense that you may want to apply road racing theory to it because of your environment, event hough the same tried and true autocrossing driving methods will be more effective. I thought the mowog 4 course setup was excellent. some people complained that it was complicated in the second half, but its an autocross course, its supposed to have challengeing elements. If it was all really easy to figure out it would be boring and not worth driving in my opinion. I thought that there were clear flowing lines through the last half, they were just more difficult to find and not immediately obvious, which I think is the hallmark of a well designed course. It rewards looking ahead, good car control and well regulated right foot aggression to get a fast time. Its also a very difficult venue to design a good course at, so I give Jonathan credit there as well.
is the DCTC course the one for july 15th? i am heavily thinking of entering the July 15th one (as my first autox).
Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you but the registration is full. You have to register a bit early for events nowadays as they get full very quickly. If you show up the day of there is a chance you can get in on the waiting list, but you should plan on getting there early. I usually work registration so I can assure you that if you get there early there are usually a few no shows but we can't make any promises...
^ ahh.. i was gogn to register, but i wanted to make sure i got all my suspension stuff done before i committed. i knew that registration was filling fast. my loss. when is the next one? perhaps i will come and watch.
Well, let me put it to you this way: we have not turned anyone away in the last three years who showed up the day of to register. usually there are enough no shows to cover the few people who show up. This isnt a promise or anything, I'm sure the day will come that we have to turn people away, but just mentioning. Now i'm apparently the Czar of workers after last nights meeting. huzzah! And we discussed a LOT of safety stuff. The rules for dakota county will be three wheels off and you get dragged out of your car and beaten (no just a talking to and a recommendation for instruction) and if they do it again they are kicked out of the event. Any contact with property (fencing, buildings, people) will be an automatic ejection. This isn't a free pass to wildly spin off once the tone it down from there. The only reason why theyre allowing one off is to keep people from causing worse accidents by tring to "save" a spin off and allowing them the chance to drive controlled off course instead. of course the event master still ahs discretion to whether or not someone is driving dangerously, so if someone tries to "tokyo drift" the course, or is trying to pretend like theyre running le mans they'll probably have a pretty short day as well.
Drive like the yellow-mobile! sorry for the random post, it's the only picture if have uploaded and I like it a lot :laugh: And the only thing I did to it in photoshop was get rid of some spots on the lense and crop it :biggrin: To be honest, I just hope you guys can see it, I haven't linked anything from fotki yet :ugh: I guess you guys are going to have to click the link http://public.fotki.com/snbrd4evr/30d_photos/to_zach.html
Nice picture of Zacks car. I won't be thinking of DCTC as a road course, I was just hoping that with more room we would be driving more of a nationals style course instead of the Miata courses they setup at Central Parking. I think it might be a good idea to have someone design a course who doesn't drive a Miata.
Thanks guys! I have tons of other ones that are really good too. Unfortunately, I'm at my gf's and she has dial-up. So it might be a while until I post all the goodens
I actually prefer the "miata style" courses over the "nationals style" courses which mainly favor cars that transition well over cars that have good power. And most of the reasons why the miatas are fast is becuase miatas are fast. Hop in one sometime and you'll see your lap times drop dramatically. 50/50 weight distribution and no weight and rear wheel drive means you're using 100% of the power you put down and its really easy to steer. Most of the reason why so many top drivers have miatas is becuase they tried one and cut like 5 seconds off their laptimes then went and got one. Ivan austn the top PAX guy was driving an Evo 8 last year, sold it for a miata now he'll probably be a nationally competitive driver.
I have driven Miata's, Corvette's, MR2's, and a very well preped civic that were all fast. My times in my Subaru were not that far off my times in an equally preped Miata on the same course. It was a nationals style course. Designed to not cater to either power or handling, but a good mix of both. If I cut 5 seconds off my lap time at the last event I would have won my class, and had the best PAX. Any top driver who cuts 5 seconds off their time by switching to a Miata was driving a POS to begin with. Miata's are not all that great. They are well classed within the SCCA rules and have a "good" PAX overall. When combined with courses that play to their skills they become very tough to beat. Since the PAX is based on Nationals style courses, having a course that is better for cars that transition well give those cars an advantage in the overall PAX rankings. I'd rather have a long sweeper than a 3 cone slalom. To each his own I guess.
