SCCA SCR AutoCross - Orangeburg, SC 02-16-08

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Orangeburg, SC – the first points-bearing event of the SCCA SCR AutoCross season continued my undefeated streak in class. I have to admit that the class, ASL (A Stock Ladies), was otherwise uncontested, but I will take the 10 points for the win. I experienced a pretty significant learning curve across my four runs, improving my time by the better part of 3.5 seconds, at least a ½ second from run to run. I was quite happy with the duration of even my best run.

All of my runs were clean (I hit no cones), which is more than my driving partner/husband can say. He hit one cone on each of half of his runs. He was freeloading a ride with me; the car we previously shared, our Volvo V70R, is awaiting a new fuel filter. I have mixed thoughts about his take of the situation – he does want to get a set of AutoCross specific slicks for my car (YAY!), but he doesn’t want to return to D-Stock and now wants to continue to freeload my Sky for the ’08 season. Hopefully, some bright, girly autogrrrl.com stickers-turned-magnets will assuage his ambitions.

You can find my YouTubes here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK3WHHG-s9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoZswsLySjA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2_IaB9LErQ

-J

[Sunny Ragtop]

Very COOL! CONGRATS!!
Go Lady Sky Drivers!

I will drive in my first every Autocross this weekend near Charlotte NC with the ccrscca.com. Stock SKY and my daughter in her Chevy S-10 Pickup truck. Hubby out of town fishing so he will miss all the fun.

I love flinging my Sky left to right at slow speeds in any parking lot, so now's my chance to do it on a huge chunk of asphalt, run between cones, and be timed.

We are 1st timmers so PM me with any suggestions, such as...did you up your tire pressure to 35-40?

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Originally Posted by Sunny Ragtop

Very COOL! CONGRATS!!
Go Lady Sky Drivers!
We are 1st timmers so PM me with any suggestions, such as...did you up your tire pressure to 35-40?

Nooooo.

The common wisdom is to pump up your pressure at least 5#, but that doesn’t work for us. We started at about 28# and wound up at ~27 in all but the right rear which was 26#. It was basically a right handed course, but the most loading turn was to the left.

What we do…get some window paint available at Walgreens. Put a dot of paint in 4 or 5 places around your tire, where the tread meets the sidewall. If after your first run, there is still some paint left on your tread, bleed some air out of that tire. If all the paint is removed from that tire and has encroached onto the sidewall, put some air into your tire and reapply the dot. This can be a lot like shampoo… and repeat! J It is not uncommon for all four tires to be at different pressures when the day is done, if you did this right.

Don’t worry about what the actual pressure is (it doesn’t really matter), once you’ve started. We usually take pressure out in 4, 6, or 8 second intervals. (Take off your valve cap. You can use either the stick of your gauge or if your gauge has a nipple on back, use that. Stick that in and count one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, and so on as the air comes out.) If you can have someone working your tire pressure so you don’t have to get out every time you come off-course, it will go much easier.

As you can see in the pic, we got lucky Saturday and hit the pressure just right after the second run. The bright red dots are from that day. The duller ones are from a previous event.

You may want to take you traction control off before you start. Depending on how many runs you get, you may then want to progress with the ESC reduced. I still don't drive with the rear wheels totally unfettered, though my husband is thinking about it. Depending on if you’re looking at actually scoring points and campaigning for the year, just having fun, or want to see where your car’s limit really is will dictate how much control you want to take over your rear wheels.

If you get to do ‘fun-runs’ after competition, this is where the learning can really begin. If you don’t mind looking silly, totally disable the rear wheel controls and learn where the car’s true limit is. It is surprisingly controllable, if you don’t mind looking behind you’re a-pillar to see where you’re going.

Don’t worry about looking silly. Nobody wins their first event (okay, my husband did, but I hate him). Smokey burnouts should be left at the drag strip. They are always cool in the waterbox, there. They are never cool at the autocross.

I never thought I’d be interested in anything like this. I felt very rewarded when I was one of the few girls driving at the drag strip. This is magnitudes better. It’s not just a quick reaction time that makes you look good. Autocrossing has more driver inputs per second than any other motorsport.

-J

[Sunny Ragtop]

I don't have to worry about traction control...I ain't got none! I'm driving a 2007 2.4L.
YeeHa...so looking forward to trying this.
Play/learn day is Saturday at their season open Test-n-Tune day. Line up and run as many times as you like, plus some time put in as a worker. Sunday is the real deal.
Check it out and maybe you can drive up the Knights Stadium for some practice.

[SKY Spy]

I used to Auto-X my 1990 Honda CR-X Si in STS but I have not done many Auto-X's for a long while since they seem to almost always happen on Saturdays and I HAVE to work on Saturdays!!!

They used to have them mostly in the Columbia area and now they are all over the place too... Harder to get to them to boot...

Oh well...

BA...

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Originally Posted by Sunny Ragtop

I don't have to worry about traction control...I ain't got none! I'm driving a 2007 2.4L.
YeeHa...so looking forward to trying this.
Play/learn day is Saturday at their season open Test-n-Tune day. Line up and run as many times as you like, plus some time put in as a worker. Sunday is the real deal.
Check it out and maybe you can drive up the Knights Stadium for some practice.

OK then the entire computer controls issue is moot. The doting is still a good idea.
We would love to grab some of that, but… That is a long drive for us, close to 4 hours. We would have to go up Friday night, and I have to be up for work 5:45a Monday.
That is a rough turnaround. It is hard to commute 4 hours home after you have just been thrashing for 2 days.
We blew off BMW last season because of the distance. Neither of us could advance our position (his car was in an accident the week before, I was locked into 1st).
We also didn’t want to AX our only working car at the time, 200 miles from home. -J

[30notbad]

Congrats RedHeaded RedLine

I think you may have met my husband Bill and our GXP down in Orangeburg this past weekend. I saw the video of the fun run aftewards and the spin out along with some pics, thanks sooooo much I was not able to go and it was great to see some pics of him in action. I will be at the next couple of events in SC, It hope I get to meet you. Glad to see some ladies enjoying this just as much as the men



Sunny Ragtop we both will be at the Test N Tune on Saturday and I think He will be in the event on Sunday so he can get more seat time. Email me and maybe we can meet up

[RedHeaded RedLine]

Originally Posted by 30notbad

Congrats RedHeaded RedLine
I think you may have met my husband Bill and our GXP down in Orangeburg this past weekend. I saw the video of the fun run aftewards and the spin out along with some pics, thanks sooooo much I was not able to go and it was great to see some pics of him in action. I will be at the next couple of events in SC, It hope I get to meet you.

I'd so love to meet you at North Charleston! I know it's a real trek for you both to come on down to some of these more southern SC events in our region, but we have a blast! I was really glad to meet him at Summerville, last month! It's great to have a sister car there! I like hanging out with him at the cross and it's cool to see what it kinda looks like when my car is out there!

Originally Posted by 30notbad

Glad to see some ladies enjoying this just as much as the men

I felt honored instructing at the autocross school on that Saturday in Summerville, last month, to show the girls (and women) who were out for the very first time that it's not just a guy thing. I SO could have benefitted from the same kind of instruction/coaching before my first event, last season. It wasn't the same with my husband's encouragement... I actually needed to get out there and experience it, myself! SO glad that I did (and sorry to my husband for being so initially resistent). Can't wait to see you, next month!

-Joyce

[Daywalker]

Looks like you had a great time out there. I will be at my first autox of the season this weekend at the Dixie Tour. This will be my first National Solo II event and I will be the only sky attending.


My wife is signed up to do her first autox ever on May 3rd. It will be girls/womans only autox if any of you are interested. Here are the details:


Calling all chicks! (and the men who love them and want them to enjoy autocross). The Tarheel Sports Car Club is, once again, hosting the Chicks Only Autocross School at the Danville Regional Airport. AND, in answer to many requests, it's earlier in the season (May 3) and tied to an event the following day at Danville.

For those not familiar with the Chick School, this is a NOVICE autocross school for LADIES ONLY. The target audience is primarily those ladies who have always been curious about autocross but were too afraid/intimidated/bored to try it out. This is a very relaxed environment that will teach the basics of autocross plus provide enough of a foundation that any chick can attend an event (sans man) and know what to do and what to expect.

And, ladies, if you happen to already have some autocross experience, but just want some good, quality seat time, we will have plenty of EXCELLENT instructors to help you hone those skills.

We are NOT anti-men!! But we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to us that it be an all-female environment. Please, men, don't even ask. We'll have plenty of ladies to help with tire changing, pressure setting, etc.

I know it's early, but those of you who have done this school before know that A LOT of planning and preparation going into making this a really outstanding event for the chicks! Having said that - this is an initial call for LADIES who are interested in attending.

Men, please pass the word to all the chicks in your life! If you have any questions or just want further information, please feel free to email chickschool@thscc.com. We'll keep of list of all those who have expressed an interest and send more information as it is available such as when registration opens and when the chick school page on the web will be available.

P.S. Audie Chenery & Donna Marx will be instructing.

Thanks!!

Chris Peterson

Mo Monroe
2008 Chick School Co-Chairs

chickschool@thscc.com

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