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NCC BMW CCA HPDE Summit Point, Oct 10
After an extended summer break I’ve finally gotten back to the track for a few days. In September it was for one day on the main circuit at Summit Point instructing for the Colonial Challenge Cup charity event, then three days this past weekend instructing with the BMW club.
Here’s a picture of my car at the skidpad.
(My car is the blue one…)
The CCC events are fun if a bit chaotic, but I really like the BMW events. This time I was instructing on the skidpad. I had forgotten what it was like to work with beginning students and how much fun it is to see when they start to get it: you really can’t add more steering when in understeer…
I had an interesting moment under heavy breaking in turn one when I ran through some anti-freeze just as I started to turn in. In the first part of the video, you can see my normal line through this corner. In the last part, you see the fluid-induced lane change. If you pause it, you can see me pointed about 15 degrees to the right at 80 MPH.
I ran the GeorgeCo 325is Powered by Beano on Friday, but have a front wheel bearing starting to go so chose to run the MINI for the rest of the weekend. For the most part I could hang with the E36 and E46 M3s. I lose about five car lengths on the front straight to the higher horsepower cars and the make it up under braking into turn one. I’d have to be careful through the chute not to run up too quickly on the heavier cars. I think the larger JCW brakes made a huge difference to how late I could brake.
Here’s an interesting video comparing the MINI to the E30 on the track. They are remarkably similar. May take a few moments to load. Here’s more video from Saturday.
NCC BMW CCA HPDE Jefferson Circuit, July 10
Here’s a video of the last few laps from this past weekend’s Driver’s School at the Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point. This is from the A Run Group, last session on Sunday. I was signed-off to solo so the only voices in my head this time were my own. Quite a different experience not having a passenger to balance (slow) the car.
NCC BMW CCA HPDE Shenandoah, May 10
This past weekend was the Spring Driver’s School for the local BMW club. Friday and Saturday were warm and sunny. Sunday was mostly cloudy with light rain. It was a good lesson in car control, but not as much fun as pushing it in the dry. The best thing about the rain is that it equalizes the horsepower advantage of the M-cars. The video shows a lap of the skid pad at large-angle oversteer. This club really emphasizes car control on the skidpad. Being able to maintain a full lap in oversteer is one of my last obstacles to finally making it out of the instructor program.
SCCA Event 1 and CCC for 2010
It was a busy week here at GeorgeCo, with three events in five days. Saturday started it off with half a day with some of the BMW club instructors on the skidpad at Summit Point. About a dozen drivers, three at a time on the skidpad for four hours. Very helpful in finally mastering a full-lap with the tail out in oversteer. I also mastered the 360 degree spin. I spun so much that my radiator cap came undone.
Sunday was the first championship event for the SCCA. It was a fairly simple course on a very slicked repaved surface at FEDEX field. I drove the MINI which was probably the right choice for the surface. I had a bad tire bead on one of my racing tires so I tried slicks up front, street tires in the rear. Sort of a tire mullet. It really helped to get the car to rotate, but you couldn’t get the power down because the temperature was so cold.
Finally Wednesday was the Colonial Challenge Cup at Summit Point. This is a fun charity event with loads of track time. For the second year I instructed basic and intermediate students. I usually try to pick front-wheel drive or low horse-power cars, but this year I got a Corvette and an Audi S4 with a V8. Fun, but more power in the wrong hands is not always a good thing. The video has a couple of good recoveries in the wet, especially towards the end. Below is a screen capture of my finest moment: passing a Ford GT coming out of turn 10 onto the main straight, in the rain….
End of Autocross Season, 2009
The autocross season drew to a close on October 24th with the final event for the NCC at Baysox stadium. I had one chance to win my class for the season: I had to beat my closest rival in the championship by two places. It was close, but in the end, the weather voted against me. The other two ran in the dry and my heat ran in a monsoon.
In the end the GeorgeCo BMW powered by Beano finished the season in a solid second place in the Modified 3 class. Here’s a little life lesson: Be sure to read the class rules carefully. You had to run 6 of 8 events to compete for a class win for the season, best 7 of 8 events counted for points. The previous year it had been best 6 of 8. GeorgeCo only ran 6 of 8 events in a best of 7 series, we lost on total points despite 4 class wins; 1 second place; and 1 third — the most wins in the class. We could have showed up for the event 7, came in last, and walked away with the title. D’oh!
Time to start planning for next season. Next year this will be the only series we’ll run so we won’t come up short on total points again. The car needs a few repairs: new clutch slave cylinder and a new final drive. It’s also time to start working on more power with new injectors, a header, free flow exhaust and a custom ECU tune. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. It’s also time to bite the bullet and buy some Hoosier A6 tires.
