Ahmet AutoX

[drew1]

How did you do?

I'm not talking about the women.

drew1

[1.2gees]

Well, I've driven a total of less than an hour in 4 months. And the car I drove was on 70 series all season 185 tires. (86 BMW 325), with factory shocks, on 130+K. Infact, this was the second time I ever drove that car, the first being over a month ago, to turn it around at my house, to back it in the garage. On top of that it had an intermittent power cut off problem, at 3700rpm!

I felt really good about my lines, and braking/acceleration points. In my first two runs, I had three other people in the car (four red helmets, in a red older BMW, that looks like a rally car looks pretty funny at an auto-x!) However on my last runs the power cut-off really did bother me. Alan, the car's owner didn't have such a problem, he said it was only slight. I had it happen to me right at the beginning of the two straights (both times), and in 2nd gear. Alan says he was in first gear, and had the problem once, at the hairpin.

As you might've guessed, I didn't do as good as I was hoping. I was 1.2 secs off Alan's best time, and about 3-5 (he says 5, but I didn't see it on the official time records) off my friend's 300zx twin turbo. Knowing that I had to shift into 3rd, from around 3700rpm in second goes a long way to make me feel a little better. However I know that there's a differance between doing bad, but having a good excuse, and doing good.

In comparison, when Alan drove my car (and he'd been driving it for a month when I lost my license last year) at an auto-x, he was about 5.5+ secs off my best time, with the 944, at which race I got 2nd in class. Also, at yesterday's race, Alan had been around the track 3 times before his first run, and his best time was going around the track the 7th time, compared to my 4th, (during the first two, as I mentioned earlier, I had 3 extra people in my car).

As a result, now I'm really dying to take the 944 out, though I'd love to drive different cars (as usual), and may have to again sometime this season, I don't want anymore problems. I haven't felt bad about any other tracks so far, but at VMP, last time I had the honda Accord, and beat a ***** load of cars, that was a noticable victory (but I wasn't happy, as I knew I'd do a lot better in the 944), and this time around I had a BMW I'd never driven before, and an intermittent cutting out problem! On top of that, I have nothing to show for it. Didn't even stay to collect the trophy last year with the Accord (only race I don't have a trophy for), and this year I had bets going. Alan's not going to be asking, as he was with me during one of the runs it happened, and was watching as I shifted into 3rd going really slow on the straights! However Ilkiz (with the 300zx) may ask for it, but the official results aren't up yet, and I may have still beaten them, when PAX is applied. You know a 300zx twin turbo and an 86 BMW 325 aren't exactly in the same class. Time differance was only around 3 secs, on a 60 sec course.

I was very consistent, with my first two times being within .3 secs of each other, and my last two (alone in the car) were 2 secs faster, within .4 secs of each other, last being the best, as it's supposed to be.

So overall I only felt bad cause I had nothing to show for my runs, particularly the last, where I really felt good about car control, my lines through the course etc. (very rarely does one pull into the pits, and say, "wow, that was a good run".)

Hopefully I'll have the 944 out on the 25th, but if not, this time I'll be driving both the 300twin, and the BMW (yesterday I only drove the 300 during an un-timed fun run), and possibly another friend's 944.
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

[This message has been edited by 1.2gees (edited 02-12-2001).]

[drew1]

Sounds like you had a good time.

Don't know much about autoX, but to me you did real good not to be penalized for knocking cones in a strange car. With you in your 944, set up & good tires, your buddy in the 300ZX better be ready to run if he shows on the 25th.

drew1

[1.2gees]

Oh I certainly had a lot of fun!

I've beaten the 300zx in my 944 before, hoping to repeat it, but he's been modifying his car since too, so we shall see.

BTW, don't tell anybody but I did just barely touch a cone, but didn't knock it over

We're all planning to go on the 25th, and I'm still struggling to get a digital camera for some pictures, these auto-xes at VMP seem to draw the weirdest, coolest, most interesting cars all the time. Supercharged/nitroed Panteras to all original early 911 turbos to all out race 914s, to formula mazdas!

Anyway, thanks for asking.

If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability.
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...