Anyone want to go?
I assume Norm will be there, but I know it's a hike for some of you other guys. phillyscca.com, Northhampton Community College, last time it was 4 runs for $10 (I think), Norm correct me if I'm wrong.
Anyways, there is no real limit on the number of runs, so some of the people that browse this forum, feel free, being a member of SCCA not required.

 

eh...200 miles each way is a little too far for me!

 

Yeah, I knew you coming was a probability near zero. I was just thinking maybe someone who hasn't tried auto-x yet might read this and give it a shot. Despite the whale nature of a max, it's still fun to auto-x.

 

I'm gonna be driving up to NY that saturday, how far off of 81 is it?

 

Depends on where you are coming from, I'll just give you the address of the college.

Northampton Community College . 3835 Green Pond Rd . Bethlehem, PA 18020 . 610-861-5300

They give you directions on the phillyscca.com website with more specifics for campus directions, but it's a fairly small campus.

 

Well I went, and for once I wasn't the only maxima there, I think d00df00d(?) showed up.
Well for those who question weight reduction I have a short story. I invited one of my cousins to come because he had never been to an auto-x before. I gave him a ride for one of my runs, posted a 44.2 or something. Next run I went by myself, posted a 42.3 or something, more importantly I could tell he wasn't in the car. My cousin is 6'3" and 240lb, I have done auto-x with a co-worker riding along who was around 150lb, didn't really notice that except that I was consistently 0.5 sec slower.

I have videos (my wife took) of both runs, will try to get them up. Auto-x looks so slow on video, but I know I was hitting 35-40 in two different spots. But maybe I'm just numb because of the various pro racing I watch and all the stupid car chases in LA that inevitably end up on tv.

 

Yeah, I was there -- barely! Good memory!

I say "barely" cuz I sucked. First time AutoXing my car, a little shaken cuz my bro almost ran me off the highway on the way up, etc. etc..... excuses excuses. Got lost on the first run, sucked on the second (45.4 -- an SCCA member in a Titan posted a 44.8!), improved on the third (43.1), and then by the fourth my front tires were so far gone that I could barely make it around the track.

It was pretty fun though, especially that damn '72 Camaro with the crazy tuned 350 engine and 315-section Hoosier slicks front and rear. Call me a n00b (which is true) but I've never seen that before. Also saw a red S14 240SX from Maryland with a license plate that said "HEEL TOE". I had seen him around U. Penn here and there, so randomly running into him at that event was pretty cool.

 

Everyone gets losts every once in a while, the guy in the Titan actually is a regular and runs a Miata, but he couldn't get it to start that morning, so he said fck it and ran the truck. Personally, that was hilarious, if you didn't know he was an experienced auto-x-er it was probably very deflating. Lots of others didn't do as well as him either.

If you go to more of these things (especially the actual races) that isn't the weirdest thing you will see.
Hope you had fun, and hopefully I will see you whenever next time I am able to go. I'll post when here when I do.

 

Could also be the way your car is set up.. my car actually does better with ~150lb in the passenger seat.. just feels more balanced and left turns come through easier and smoother. soon as I'm driving alone, the car is alllll over the place when I turn left.
don't know exactly how to explain it, but it happens.. you'd think it would be backwards because of the decreased weight on the outside tires.

 

Honestly I just think it was the weight, my cousin is a big boy, he might be more than 240lbs.
When I had the much light co-worker in the car, I didn't notice a big difference.
Also I am running straight stock, except for a K&N pop charger.
My old RX-7 did do what you're saying though, turning right it went from slight understeer to snap oversteer, but turning left was gradual oversteer. Put a passenger in the car and the snap oversteer while turning right seemed to go away. That car was MUCH lighter though.

 

Guess not
I'm glad I didn't invite anyone to the actual auto-x race the next day, apparently after we left the Test and Tune on Saturday bulldozers and other various heavy machinery came and dug up half the course. People were more than a little surprised.
To put that into perspective, take the course that Irish recently posted videos of and cut it at least in half, not too much room.

 

Geez, that would be tight. And I thought the video course was small...

 

Well, where I'm talking about is the smallest place the phillyscca runs, so they ended up actually making it a non-points event and just another test and tune. Most of the big dogs (i.e. not me) all were in D.C. for the regionals anyway, which probably would have allowed some new faces some wins, but c'est la vive.
I can only imagine the more regular members faces showing up that already complain about the size of that small course, and then seeing it cut in half.

 

I guess that Boeing is a little bigger, and at least that lot extends to its full length without any "unpaved interruptions". Seeing lot space at ANY venue lost to unexpected reasons makes people grumble.

I still don't know what NCC feels like to drive and make any other valid comparisons, though. July 30 was when our daughter and her then 3 day old daughter came home from the hospital, and at the earlier NCC event I was the heat stress victim.

Norm

 

Congrats,
forgot it was you that was the heat stress victim, went to that Test and Tune but couldn't go to the event.
I thought Boeing was a bit bigger, am I remembering that wrong? Well hopefully I can go this weekend. At least Boeing doesn't have all that melted sealer all over the place.

 

Longer, yes. But narrower. A 90 out of the start followed by a 180 sweeper is about as much complexity as there is clear room for directly in line with the short direction.

And thanks. Sometimes it's not a bad thing when the automotive fun has to take a back seat.

 

when we arrived at the autocross in the videos, there were 3 dumpsters in the middle of the lot at various places.....so they built the course around the dumpsters. Right before the runs were going to start a truck showed up and moved them off to the side. The previous event at that lot there was a huge pile of dirt on one side, and while we were running there was a front-loader moving dirt around not far from the course. Never know what you're gonna get.....

BEJAY, we here in the DC metro area have um "limited space" ...there are really no big lots anywhere that I know of that aren't peppered with curbs and other obstacles around here. I guess you guys just have more room for big parking lots out in the midwest

As to the weight thing...in 2 out of 4 events this year, my fastest runs of the day were with my wife riding along...go figure. BTW, on the course in the videos on one of the runs I told my wife to watch the speedometer and tell me the fastest speed I reached. She said I hit 44 at one point. I love how autocross seems so much faster when you're in the car

 

that sounds fun, get some 2x4's and plywood and you could make some jumps like Dukes of Hazard!! Yeehaw!!

except right near the cities, there is LOTS of room pretty much from the DC area all the way to California, where it gets crowded again.

I completely agree, the videos I took look SOOO SLOOWW. Unfortuneately I can't post them because I broke the card to link my computer to my camera, was doing something else and my son spit up on it while I was holding him, for some reason it doesn't work now.

 

did you say something about "Hazzard County Autocross???"

(by the way, note how many Nissans, including a Maxima, going around the inside of the traffic circle)

Click here to see Video

 

On second thought I wonder how fast you were really going, from her view the actual speed could have been higher because of the parallax.
Another problem is everyone is used to driving 70-80 on the highway, so 50, although somewhat fast, doesn't seem fast in comparison.

 

dunno, the fastest I see me going on my inside videos is about 40-41mph....

 

finally got around to editing this....enjoy!!!!!!

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/7...47017dc7f4.htm