2/22 Autocross

[coolnsx]

Just got back from the most fun and competitive day I've ever enjoyed with my NSX. The job John and Tina did was remarkable. We had a great group that motored up together from Orange and San Diego County and were treated to a first class event that I WILL NOT miss in the future. Everybody could not do enough to help and I thank everyone that put this together. Craig you are the MAN! But the traffic back sucked! Next time lets all have dinner and spend the night, take the twisties on the long route home? And Paul your car is no longer stock, the go-fast crack pipe has got you.

------------------

• 1997 NSX-T
• 1994 Legend LS Coupe
• 1983 El Camino
• 1972 VW Bug

 

[ANYTIME]

Gil,
I'm glad you had such a good time! The autocross went perfectly on schedule and was very fun for my wife and myself(even our baby was having a good time!). We met some new faces and found that everyone who owns an NSX are nice people(must be a prerequisite). Craig was king of the hill, winning both the modified class and the coveted CalCoastalNSX Cup. Comptech SC + Race tires + Great Driver = Craig. I have a ton of video of the course. Some runs with the camera on the windsheild, back glass(facing forwards and reverse) and some on foot. Mark Stepp is doing some editing on it and it will be posted here soon.
Thanks to everyone who showed up, all of you made this event so great. We left at 6:30 and it was like a cemetary compared to earlier.
Sincerely,
John, Tina AND Shelby Richards
PS, I want to thank Cobalt Friction Technologies and Science of Speed for the great raffle gifts. Events would not be as special without these contributions.

 

[CDub]

Sorry for the double post on the other thread! I didn't see this one when I start to bang away on the keyboard.

Just got back from the autoX in Camarillo and it was an amazing event! At 6:30 6 NSXes and an RX7 headed out from Irvine. On our way, we picked up a couple more in Seal Beach area. Then we made a stop off Santa Monica Blvd to pick up another 5, 6 more NSXes and a Jag. We had a pretty big group arriving at the same time. The drive was a lot of fun.
I just want to thank John and Ross for running the event on time and without a single incident. These cars are amazingly reliable. The only things were the smell of burn rubber and the smell of clutch was in the air. An old song came to mind…

Clutch is in the air, anywhere you look around.

Craig, thanks for the instruction. In the afternoon, I felt a lot more comfortable pushing it safely and yet staying on course. Of course, congrats on your win!

We had over 30 cars there, I believe over 20 were signed up for the autoX. Most of us were first timer. I think we all became better drivers after we ate. What did you put in the food John?

We had a wide variety of mods. We only had 3 CTSCs and no other FI cars. When it comes to exhausts, the Tubis sounded so smooth (Chris from SoS, you may want to get another Tubis group buy going. I think we found you a few potential customers at the event) and the Taitec JGTC certainly made its present. Not sure what Marc S has, but his sounded really good too. The RMs are throaty and aggressive. Even the stock exhausts sounded so silky smooth and stealthy.

With 3 hours sleep, I was exhausted at the end of the event. Then we got stuck on 101 and 405 for what seemed to be eternity. Good to be back to OC! I think I'm going to catch some Zs and get up early tomorrow to clean my car.

It was great seeing some new faces, Sam, Troy, Leo, Vince, Ross, Mr. LAPD (sorry! I forgot your name) and some familiar faces, Ed, Gil, Ryan, Paul, Chad, …..

SilverOne took some nice pics and video also.

Once again, thank you John R for a great event!

 

[Craig]

Thanks to everyone for the terrific day! Also for all the congrat's....I'm taking up a collection for a new set of tires

John and Tina what a tremendous effort, everything was perfect...you guys really pulled out all the stops. The morning bagels, coffee, Lunch, sodas, generators, trailers, and all the little stuff to make everyone comfortable is much appreciated.

Also, a BIG THANKS to Ross Olney and his boys for organizing the day's events, keeping everything running perfectly on schedule and for standing between the start and finish gates ALL DAY LONG!!!! Ross, YOU are a STUD.

Until Ross sends me the final spread sheet to post online, Here's all the top spots. Note: In Touring and Modified classes the three lowest times are combined:

Touring Class: (anything but F/I or R compound & otherwise under 300hp)
Bryan Selby
Marc Sthrul
Rob ?? ( sorry Rob, forgot the last name

)

Modified Class: (anything goes baby)
Yours truly
Lloyd Wright
John Richards

Cal Coastal Cup: (single lowest time of the day)
Me again

Big Raffel Winner: (bought a crapload of tickets...the NSXCA thanks you)
Marc Step (Marc, I want to go to Vegas with you!)

 

[Darkcyd]

Just wanted to chime in here as well to thank John and Tina for once again organizing my favorite event of the year. =) It was great meeting so many new people too! And getting better acquainted with others. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize until after lunch that there was a gate at the apex of the turnaround at the very back... and didn't realize until the end of the day that the cones at the end of course counted on our scores as well. =P Oh well, Death To The Cones!!!

I was so tired by the end of the day that I crashed upon arrival at home 6:00 ish, and didn't wake up until 9:00 the next morning. =) But hell, I'd go do it again today if I had the chance. Can't wait till next year!

 

[ANYTIME]

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[This message has been edited by ANYTIME (edited 23 February 2003).]

 

[SpeedDemon]

John, Tina, and Ross & Crew, thanks so much for putting together such an amazing event! It was simply top notch. Every angle was covered, everything ran like clockwork, and it was a fantastic experience from start to finish both on and off the course.

Thanks also to Cobalt Friction & Science of Speed.

I wish we could do these twice a year

Had a great time seeing everyone there and meeting new people. This is the only event I've been to where people are competing for times (and we had a lot of people after lunch who were making great laps and were close in the running) yet are still trying to help everyone out around them to improve their times.. Truly the best in "friendly competition".

I say next year we put Brian Selby in his own class, so he can spend the rest of the sessions in our passenger seats giving us driving tips

Anyways, congrats to all the drivers (And to Craig and Bryan who won their classes) and thanks again for a great event.

Best,
Marc

 

[SilverOne]

John, Tina, Russ & Crew, thank you all for a great event. I got to do a 360 on the course (might've been 180, but can't really tell when you're holding on to the wheel and all you can think of is "Oh S***") and learned more about what the nsx is all about. Thanks to Craig for the helpful tips and lessons on weight shifting, but it took some great lasagna and whole morning before the lesson sunk in

Below are few pics that I had from the day. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[SilverOne]

Morning Starbuck meet in Irvine.

OC Caravan

Arriving at Camarillo airport

Staging Area

 

[SilverOne]

Ready to head back home

Traffic on 101

Topping off before gas price goes up again

 

[ANYTIME]

I especially like this one. Wow, I didn't even notice how beautiful the sky was that day. I must look higher than NSX level next time.

If anyone has other pics(I saw alot of cameras that day, please email them to me or Lud for hosting, and then we can create a picture gallery of the event.

 

[NSX-Ster]

Autocross Rocked!!! Great people, great fun, great weather. Is the runway available next week? I'll start posting vid clips when I get a minute!!! Gotta go clean the cone marks off my car.
Mark Stepp

 

[CDub]

The day after: 6 a.m. laying in bed thinking how I could have shaved off a couple of seconds. I have a question for the top runners.

1> Did you shift to first before you make your way around the turn at the end of the runway? As I was working at station 3, I noticed some cars were upshifting twice after the turn before the slalom. May be they have short gear or something.

2> At the end, did you brake or just maneuver right through the curves with your foot on the gas?

3>As I floored it coming out of the end of both slaloms heading towards to the gates on the left side, my right rear tire felt really "mushy" for a lack of a better term. But the car was still came out without losing control. I have Dali street sways and Eibachs springs with OEM shocks. Is it normal? How can I get rid of that mushy feeling?

Well,OK! I had 3 questions.

Got out of bed and headed down to the garage to apologize for mistreating her yesterday. She was just siting in the garage gracefully with cone marks on the passenger side.

I washed her off, ran a clean soapy clothe slowly through her mid section. Those beautiful curves! I popped her big headlights out and washed it carefully. Then I moved down to her intake to make sure to wipe off any moisture outside of the AIS air scoop. Finally, I kneeled down and wiped off her rear valance and made sure the Tubi is free of water spots.

After the tentalizing wash, I polished off all the cone marks and it was glistening like a brand new car. Now she is sleeping comfortably under the cover. Next week is Zaino time to finish up the job.

I just need to do more fwy driving to even out the additional wear of the outsides of the SO3s. I love these tires!

Once again, a great big thanks to the organizers! Till next time!



[This message has been edited by CDube (edited 24 February 2003).]

 

[Paul65K]

Originally posted by CDube:
Got out of bed and headed down to the garage to apologize for mistreating her yesterday. She was just siting in the garage gracefully with cone marks on the passenger side.

I washed her off, ran a clean soapy clothe slowly through her mid section. Those beautiful curves! I popped her big headlights out and washed it carefully. Then I moved down to her intake to make sure to wipe off any moisture outside of the AIS air scoop. Finally, I kneeled down and wiped off her rear valance and made sure the Tubi is free of water spots.

After the tentalizing wash, I polished off all the cone marks and it was glistening like a brand new car. Now she is sleeping comfortably under the cover. Next week is Zaino time to finish up the job.

I just need to do more fwy driving to even out the additional wear of the outsides of the SO3s. I love these tires!

Geez Chris,

The way you were going on about your car I thought I had mistakenly logged onto the porno version of NSXPrime!

It was pretty cool yesterday and I would be lying if I didn't admit that my day was almost a carbon copy of yours!

See you next time.
Paul

 

[JSMDMD]

That was a fun day! Thanks to John and Tina for all the work... Dianne and I had a great time!
We tried to take a nap after we had gotten home, but when we closed our eyes, we kept running the course.... over.. and over...
So much for the nap!
Joel

"]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid52/p2b7382c951e0628991bc8a91711cf634/fc979217.jpg[/img][/url]

 

[JSMDMD]

One more picture of Dianne....

 

[JSMDMD]

OK..let's try that again...

 

[coolnsx]

I don't know if anyone else checked but I filled up in Lake Forest before joining the group in Irvine, drove near the speed of light trying to keep up with Chris heading north, both Ryan and I drove the Autocross and returned to Irvine in bumper to bumper traffic. Total trip 248 miles. Refilled in Irvine, and used 12.462 gallons=19.9 miles per gallon! I thought that was amazing, I love this car even more. Anyone else check? Gil

 

[CDub]

Joel and Diane,

I was working station 3 for the 3rd run group and noticed on your car (8,27)that during acceleration after the big 180 turn, the rpm doesn't match the speed of the car. You may want to check your clutch. Or may be you have noticed already.

Anyone nice enough to answer my previous driving questions on how to run the course better?

I'd be willing to buy a CD if someone would compile all the video and pics of the event on a CD.

Paul, the car wash was that good!

[This message has been edited by CDube (edited 24 February 2003).]

 

[SilverOne]

Originally posted by CDube:

I washed her off, ran a clean soapy clothe slowly through her mid section. Those beautiful curves! I popped her big headlights out and washed it carefully. Then I moved down to her intake to make sure to wipe off any moisture outside of the AIS air scoop. Finally, I kneeled down and wiped off her rear valance and made sure the Tubi is free of water spots.

After the tentalizing wash, I polished off all the cone marks and it was glistening like a brand new car. Now she is sleeping comfortably under the cover. Next week is Zaino time to finish up the job.
(edited 24 February 2003).]

CDube,

save some of that TLC for the wife, so she'll be on the bandwagon for the supercharger

Or even a 2nd NSX for track use

 

[akira3d]

Damn! Sounds like you guys had an awesome time! Sorry I couldn't be there this year...even more so that I didn't get to directly compete against Mr. Struhl in the Touring Class (will that opportunity ever present itself again?)

------------------
--akira3D
'00 Acura NSX-T (red/black), '01 Lexus IS300 (black/black), '03 Honda Pilot EX-L (silver/gray), '97 Honda Civic HX (but not for long)
"Reality is better than the dream..."

akira3d.com/nsx

 

[NSX-Ster]

Originally posted by CDube:

I'd be willing to buy a CD if someone would compile all the video and pics of the event on a CD.

[This message has been edited by CDube (edited 24 February 2003).][/B]

CDube-
I'm a film editor by trade and will be making a video of the entire event. ANYONE can email me pics and/or video of the day. make the pics 720X486 pixels if you can. Still send them if you can't! I will make a quick trailer this week , then will have a complete video available next month. Wish I had more time right now. I will work as fast as everyone drove on Sat. Right now I have the pics posted here and 2hrs. of DV that John n and I shot.Email anything you want to: [email protected] or call me at:
310-393-3555 if you need to mail stuff to me.

[This message has been edited by NSX-Ster (edited 24 February 2003).]

 

[Craig]

Originally posted by CDube:
I have a question for the top runners.

1> Did you shift to first before you make your way around the turn at the end of the runway?

Yes, but you'd need to heel/toe to get it done. (brake hard with your right toes while bringing up the rpms with your right heel)

2> At the end, did you brake or just maneuver right through the curves with your foot on the gas?

Flat out all the way through the right hand jog, I was able to grab 3rd then heel/toe back to 2nd while hard on the brakes in a straight line before the left curve at the timing lights, then back on the gas hard through the exit.

3>As I floored it coming out of the end of both slaloms heading towards to the gates on the left side, my right rear tire felt really "mushy" for a lack of a better term. But the car was still came out without losing control. I have Dali street sways and Eibachs with OEM springs. Is it normal? How can I get rid of that mushy feeling?

Stay on the gas....as you load the left side of the car and get on the throttle after your last left around the cone, the car may unsettle a little, this is what your probably feeling. If your forward momentum is greater than your lateral momentum you may get a little "tail wiggle" but you will go straight...if you lift at this point you will swap ends. Either that or your RR tire pressure was low

BTW did you mean to say that you are running on OEM Shocks? Eibachs are springs.

Hope that helps.

[This message has been edited by Craig (edited 24 February 2003).]

 

[CDub]

Thanks Craig! that's what I meant. I went back and made the correction. My tire pressure was 34 front and 38 rear.

I should have asked you to ride with me in the afternoon when I had some idea of the course. As you can see from my time, I had no clue what I was doing in the morning. Not that 41.2 was that impressive, but at least I was feeling a lot more comfortable with the course but with some unanswered questions.

Heel/toeing is so ackward for me. How to aim for the turn, heel/toe, clutch and shift at the same time. I'll bet drummers will do well at auto racing. I just wish that I have a third leg ....well I do, but I need one that works like a foot. I'd be a pro on and off the course.

Thanks very much for the pointers, Craig! It was a sight to see you "danced" through the course.


[This message has been edited by CDube (edited 24 February 2003).]

 

[Craig]

Depending on the tires your running you probably had too much of a difference in Front to Rear tire pressure. This may be why your tail end was "gettin jiggy"

Next time out try playing with your tire pressure a little. Remember you won't get much of an increase in pressure from heat expansion because it's pretty hard to get em hot in 40 sec's at an autocross event.