first autocross complete (kinda long)......

[bell]

well we had our first autocross of the year yesterday (sunday) and the weather couldn't have cooperated more. sunny all day and got up to 55, the coldest was 40ish early in the morning.
my "tune up" was REALLY noticed here (valve adjust/plugs/cap/rotor). i was really suprised at the amount of available torque trough the corners compared to the last autocross of last season when i first got the car.
i placed second to a boxter by about 2 seconds and met a guy who lives a few blocks from me with an absolutely gorgeous 85' carrera s in guards red he had a little trouble with the course, but he mainly runs pca club races (late braked alot through the cones) but much fun was had by all.
my 2 spins over "the hill" were fun and dramatic and i recieved many style point for them . i hate making the same mistakes twice but i was trying to catch the boxter.
i also made some connections with some other p-car owners so i may be getting a full used exhaust system sonner than i thought.
i'll have pics from the event to post once they're developed.

[bb]

I stopped out and saw part of it, I did get a chance to see your run after the boxter went. You had a good run when I was there. You are right the '85 was a nice car. I did not get in to walk around because I had the dogs in the truck, maybe next time. It turns out that I live 5 minutes from where you were running, I live in Portage Lakes. I'm hoping to have my motor back in the car ,after a 6 month long complete rebuild, next weekend. We will see how it runs. I have never done a full rebuild but it didn't look that hard.

Oscar
76' 2.7 Tubo

[Brian993]

Do you know what year boxster? Was at an S? Trying to see what motor it was. I am not trying to break'em, but why do you think you could'nt get him?

[bell]

i'm pretty sure it was a 2000, it wasn't an "s", it had the 204 hp engine in it.
i couldn't catch him mainly due to the fact that i need new back tires (they're pretty worn) and break away easily. this was also my second autocross with the 911 (the first one was the last event last season) so i'm still learning the characteristics of it under heavy breaking and off camber turns. i'm sure i could've caught him if we had more than 4 runs, up until my spin on the last run i was on fire (not literally) which is how i ended up entering the offcamber right way too hot. it was fun though and my last "excuse" is until i got my 911 i've always autocrossed front drive/front engine cars it's an interesting learning curve but i'm picking it up pretty well.
i can't wait to do a couple of "fun days" at nelsons ledges in the next couple of months.
i'd love to check out your 76' when it's ready oscar, if you need some extra hands and my schedule permits it, i'd love to give you a hand. lemme know
soyburner@yahoo.com

[bell]

the neohio page ( http://www.neohio-scca.org/ ) already has pics up, unfortunately none of us moving

[Jack Olsen]

Do you know what year boxster? Was at an S? Trying to see what motor it was. I am not trying to break'em, but why do you think you could'nt get him?

This is not a dig against BigB, but there's a line that you can draw between people who drive their cars on the street, and those who have regularly driven them on tracks and/or autocrossed them. When you just street your car, the biggest factor in a streetlight race is horsepower. It's pretty simple. You push the loud pedal and try to not mess up a shift. Accordingly, the thing that divides any two competitors is the specs on the cars they're driving.

But on the track, the thing that makes a difference in times is almost never horsepower. In fact, I'd go so far as to break it down like this:

Driver's skill and experience: 70%
Suspension and tires: 25%
Those SSI's and fancy cams giving you and extra 40 hp: 5%

A really skilled driver can beat me under most circumstances in a Fiesta (or heck, even an SC!). And with a race suspension and tires on that Fiesta, he's going to leave me far, far behind -- even if I do something reckless to my 73 like put a 3.6 in it.

You could give most autocross beginners their pick of all the cars at the event, and they'd still probably have a so-so time (Tyson excepted -- he's good). The difference is in learning to do it. Honestly, Boxster or Boxster S is a very minor consideration.

And in fact, BigB, let me make this clear that it's a dig on me. I went to the track for the first time, and immediately fell into a rookie's upgrade fever -- new engine, brakes, suspension, when I should have left the car stock for a year or two -- so that I'd actually have nothing to save me except my skill.

Not that I regret the improvements (I like 'em, in fact!), but I think I would be learning faster if I'd saved most of them for later.

Okay. End of small rant (against self).

[Brian993]

I felt skill level was involved when I first read the thread. I was trying to get more info on the way the boxster performed, or if it was sooped up. I intend to try a track this spring and I am sure if theres a skilled driver in a dodge neon i'll be trying to catch him all day myself. Unless of course this 993 thing happens.

[bell]

jackolsen.......great response, i couldn't have said it better myself.
i actually have had LOTS of seat time, both autocrossing and track days and testing for our team. in 2000 i took the series for the neohio region in sts, i was going to goto topeka but had some financial problems at the time.
this is also the first time i've autocrossed the car with the suspension set properly.
so although i have the experience needed to succeed, i am still getting used to the limits on the car, this is a different beast than a 180hp civic or my 200+hp turbo omni
there's an autocross every 2 weeks from now until october so i'll be able to get everything dialed in, the car and me.
oh well, enough excuses, i know what i have to do.

[turbo dave]

Yeah, Jack I would like to think it is seat time, but my seat doesn't seem to be catching the quick boys any time! Of your 70% skill & experience, I would say 35% is practise/learning, and 35% is genetic. Its the only way I can accept watching Kimi Raikkonen qualifying within a tenth of David Coulthard after only about 25 races-lifetime! while I seem to languish 3-6 seconds or so behind the top in my class at auto-x, event after event. I haven't run against Tyson yet, but I don't have many illusions about beating him... or Randy Wells. Well, its fun, no matter your speed-

[tobluforu]

I'm w\jack and turbo dave. My 1st a-x 6 yrs. ago I thought I did pretty good until my instructor drove my car and beat me by almost 3 secs. What a let down that was, but what a learning experience also-(seat time and experience). My best friend who's been building cars and engines since he was 12 can get in any car and drive the piss out of it. His dad is this way also-(genetics).

[bb]

I will bring it up to one of the next few autocrosses. We are putting the motor in it tomorow night, (hope it starts). If you are ever in Portage Lakes on a Fri. or Sat. night we are usually in the garage at night, I'll give you adress if you want to stop out for a beer.

Any suggestions on starting it after the rebuild. I have heard that the CIS is hard to start after it's put together.


Oscar

2.7 Turbo