[SECC] Autocross

[BEllison at bbafiberweb.com]

Dang, Donnie, beat me to it.  :-(

 

I concur - it was a blast.  Kind of different though.  While working the
course, it's hard to see where to put the pylon back.

 

I felt sorry for the fiero.  It sounded pretty ugly when it hit.  They
pushed it out of the way so the autocross could continue.  It sounded mean
with that v8.  I DNF'ed my first run down near there, so I went by where he
hit.  He crushed a metal trashcan into a cement based light pole AFTER he
jumped the curb about 4'.  Trash can was flattened.

 

Once I found my mistake, I had a great 2nd run, and my 3rd run wasn't quite
as good.

 

At first, we didn't think it was a Corvair friendly course.  In fact, we
thought it was a Corvair angry course.  If the little ricer cars had trouble
with the tight curves, we figured it would be even harder on us.  I stayed
in 1st for the 1st 3 curves, up to 2nd, and never came back.  I barely had
enough power in 2nd, but I just couldn't get up the nerve to shove it down
to 1st, then back up again, and I figured back down again, too.  

 

The other 4 races will be the exact same course, so I've got some
modifications to make.  There's a huge left hand sweeper, some off camber,
about middle way thru the course.  Add to that 3 turns that are <90, and 1
complete 180 up a slight hill, all with tight radii.  Although my dipstick
showed ½ way between add and full, my oil light came on 4 times during the
2nd run during those tight turns.  Must have been all those G-forces.  I
topped it off for the 3rd, and no light.  But, I'll be installing a baffle,
DEFINITELY before the next run.  I've had enough engine trouble.  I sure am
glad I replaced that oil pressure switch after the oil filter blowout in St
Augustine.

 

Thanks to Donnie, for letting me know about it.  Tony went to watch.  I
think he's got the bug now, too.

 

Can't wait til the next one.

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

  _____  

From: J&D Bird [mailto:ddabirds at charter.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:29 AM
To: SECC; Janey
Subject: [SECC] Autocross

 

I had a blast tonight autocrossing with my headlights on. A local club has a
night series that runs at night on Tuesday nights that end close to
midnight. This club is not afraid to put pylons out and crisscross a course
which is a lot of fun in the dark. I think the course had two turns that
were almost 90 degrees which is not fun in a Corvair or any long wheel base
car. It is at an Ag Center across from the airport so we do not have to
worry about noise being a problem. Do not have the official times yet but in
the class Barry Ellison and raced in I think Barry won it. In that class
there was a Z-28, 5-Series BMW and a Mustang that definitely had a V-8.
There WAS cool looking Fiero running in another class that the guy had a
dropped a small block V-8 in it and it sounded so good. It was a good
looking car until he did not make a turn and centered a light pole.

 

It was a lot of fun running an autocross at night and I kind of think it
helped me since I could not see all of the pylons to over whelm me. I will
let you know the official times when they are posted.

 

Donnie Bird


Please note: This message may contain information which is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.vv.corvair.org/pipermail/secc/attachments/20050525/24e19859/attachment.htm