Autocross Adventure w/ the 1LE

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

That is some great data! I always love the Larry Park Memorial event and the higher speeds.
Congrats, sounds like you did really well

Thanks, John! Waiting for the official results to see where I placed in Street 1 (SS, AS, BS, FS combined class)

The Camaro's tall gearing was definitely an advantage this weekend. I got close to the top of 2nd gear several times on Sunday. I didn't make the Saturday event that was supposed to be even faster.

I probably placed 3rd on Sunday between other FS cars: Sean & Rich in the M3, another 1LE and at least 2 guys in mustangs.

Was about 1 second behind Sean & Rich. Getting RE-71R tires would have closed that gap. Looking forward to August when those tires are finally available!

[nilfinite]

Installed some weight to the rear of my car today.



Planning on using the hitch to tow a tire trailer/tire tail with my autocross wheel and tire setup.

The wheels are going to be...

Forgeline GA3Rs!!!!

Front: 19x10 ET16
Rear: 19x11 ET36

Saving 6lbs of unsprung weight per corner from the Forgelines. The extra 20lbs of sprung weight from the hitch should be negligible considering the weight of the car and it's location low and rear of the car.

Most looking forward to the rigidity/stiffness of the Forgelines. They should arrive shortly after the RE-71R tires arrive.

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by nilfinite

Thanks, John! Waiting for the official results to see where I placed in Street 1 (SS, AS, BS, FS combined class)

The Camaro's tall gearing was definitely an advantage this weekend. I got close to the top of 2nd gear several times on Sunday. I didn't make the Saturday event that was supposed to be even faster.

I probably placed 3rd on Sunday between other FS cars: Sean & Rich in the M3, another 1LE and at least 2 guys in mustangs.

Was about 1 second behind Sean & Rich. Getting RE-71R tires would have closed that gap. Looking forward to August when those tires are finally available!

Those are some fast dudes! Congrats. Gonna be a sweet setup with RE71r and those wheels

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

Those are some fast dudes! Congrats. Gonna be a sweet setup with RE71r and those wheels

Ha, thanks John! Loving the 1LE. It's an amazing car to learn on. It's really well-suited for the national-style courses @ Crows Landing. Looking forward to meeting you in person in August.

[nilfinite]

Results are out for AAS. Luckily still got #3 in FS even though I hit a cone on my last and fastest run. Don't remember hitting that cone and it wasn't on my time slip so that was a surprise.

Choosing to ignore the phantom cone :P. I got 1.7 seconds behind Sean and 0.3 seconds behind Rich.

The range was 60-61 for Sean & Rich, 62-63 for me then 64-65 for the remaining 1LE and 2 Mustangs. Also did better than a couple of Corvettes and Porsches.

Since so much of racing is mental. Another lesson learned comparing this weekend to last weekend: You get the course or you don't. If you get the course, you can work on improving your time before, during and after every run. If you don't, 4 runs will never be enough.

That's why seat time is critical to better understanding the course and your car. With those two ingredients, you can visualize the run and take a couple of mental runs even before you start.

At Marina the weekend before, I wasn't happy with 4 runs because I:
- Under-estimated the course's tightness (the line I mentally mapped out during the course walk was not physically possible to drive)
- Couldn't get the tire temp up (~40 second course + 60 degrees ambient; RS-3 tires need heat; should get a co-driver @ Marina when on RS-3 tires)
- Didn't re-calibrate my right foot for the conditions (too much power-on oversteer due to the slippery surface)

[nilfinite]

That's soon. Going to another weekend of autocross @ Marina this weekend. Luckily both groups (Lotus Club & Lockheed Martin) this weekend will have 6+ runs a day so more seat time to improve my Marina skills.

[JusticePete]

When I walk a course, I look for the fast lines, just like everyone else. When I get to the end of a line I turn around and walk it backwards, I sometimes see things very differently looking back at my 'fast line'. How many of you walk the course forward and backward?

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

When I walk a course, I look for the fast lines, just like everyone else. When I get to the end of a line I turn around and walk it backwards, I sometimes see things very differently looking back at my 'fast line'. How many of you walk the course forward and backward?

That's a great suggestion. Going to try it out this weekend. 1) Walk it forwards, 2) mark the start and stop using Harry's Lap Timer and 3) then walk backwards. 4) Maybe walk it forwards again if the course is not obvious.

I've gotten weird looks in the past when walking backwards. It's certainly memorable to see someone walking the wrong way lol.

[nilfinite]

Spent more than a couple of hours looking in Forgeline wheels last week. There are just so many options and the wheels are not inexpensive

Initially wanted the GA3R in all a dark shade of Transparent Smoke. Like so:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...0Z06&car_make=

But was informed that the transparent smoke finish wouldn't do so great with heavy track use.

Decided to get the GA3R in all Graphite instead. I could not find an example online of all graphite GA3Rs! These are close though:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...y=87&offset=20

Was tempted more than once to get Satin Black centers with Gloss Black outers like these:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...product_key=87

[Burt]

Well this is a fascinating thread! I must admit, I'm a little jealous that you have so many comparable cars to run against. My home region runs simplified classes, and in the other region I've run with there was only one other ESP car. I have to be content chasing Miatas for now.

I'll be very interested to see what you do with your sway bars. I'm running the stock 23mm SS front bar with a 28mm 1LE rear bar. For autox, we want the most front end grip possible, but there isn't really an aftermarket for small front bars on these cars. If only someone made a small, lightweight bar that was designed to rotate in poly bushings, and could work with their adjustable front endlinks...

My home region is confined to small lots that require us to use part of the course twice, often times backwards. The course does look a lot different the other way around! Another tip I've heard is to find the "key" cones on course to focus on, so to speak. If you've got a decreasing radius cornere, there will be cones on the inside leading down to the apex, and cones marking the outside of the corner. Find your turn in point and your apex cone, and ignore the rest. The pros say there are only five or six cones on a course worth paying attention to, and if you can figure those out, you're set.

[JRL1LE]

Originally Posted by nilfinite

Spent more than a couple of hours looking in Forgeline wheels last week. There are just so many options and the wheels are not inexpensive

Initially wanted the GA3R in all a dark shade of Transparent Smoke. Like so:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...0Z06&car_make=

But was informed that the transparent smoke finish wouldn't do so great with heavy track use.

Decided to get the GA3R in all Graphite instead. I could not find an example online of all graphite GA3Rs! These are close though:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...y=87&offset=20

Was tempted more than once to get Satin Black centers with Gloss Black outers like these:

http://www.forgeline.com/customer_ga...product_key=87

Gotta go with the black to match splitter/spoiler/hood

[nilfinite]

Originally Posted by Burt

Well this is a fascinating thread! I must admit, I'm a little jealous that you have so many comparable cars to run against. My home region runs simplified classes, and in the other region I've run with there was only one other ESP car. I have to be content chasing Miatas for now.

I'll be very interested to see what you do with your sway bars. I'm running the stock 23mm SS front bar with a 28mm 1LE rear bar. For autox, we want the most front end grip possible, but there isn't really an aftermarket for small front bars on these cars. If only someone made a small, lightweight bar that was designed to rotate in poly bushings, and could work with their adjustable front endlinks...

My home region is confined to small lots that require us to use part of the course twice, often times backwards. The course does look a lot different the other way around! Another tip I've heard is to find the "key" cones on course to focus on, so to speak. If you've got a decreasing radius cornere, there will be cones on the inside leading down to the apex, and cones marking the outside of the corner. Find your turn in point and your apex cone, and ignore the rest. The pros say there are only five or six cones on a course worth paying attention to, and if you can figure those out, you're set.

This is some good advice. In the Evo School that I took, the teachers (all national champs) also encouraged us to do the same thing. Look for key cones. Focus on being early and aggressive. I do a mix of key cone and thinking about the line. Still learning the car so my butt doesn't naturally know the best way around those key cones like those national champs' butts do. Furiously looking at data, times and lines through to help calibrate the butt ASAP.

Originally Posted by JRL1LE

Gotta go with the black to match splitter/spoiler/hood

Oh crap now you are making me think again. Only reason I could convince myself to avoid the black wheels is because they are so common. All of the Camaros on the Forgeline website have black wheels. Getting them in black should make them easier to sell years from now though. Although Graphite shouldn't be too hard either. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[nilfinite]

Case in point on black wheels being the most popular color for Forgeline wheels on Camaros. lol

Gen5 Camaro's w/ black wheels:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10

Race Gold:
#1

Titanium/Gunmetal:
#1
#2

Silver:
#1
#2
#3

Bronze:
#1 - I think these are for sale in classifieds
#2

Red:
#1

[nilfinite]

GGLC posts the course map online before the event. Giving me the opportunity to be a nerd like so.



The Lotus Club certainly likes tight courses. Go figure!

The turnaround near station #5 is much too narrow, planning on pitching the car there.

Probably going to jump into 2nd gear ASAP on the first run. Get a sense of the course speed and go from there. Since top of 1st gear is so high, might not need to shift until the slalom. Any guesses?