Who is in? Usual suspects?

How about Demick, Trekkor, Randal, BillP, BillD....Grant, Rob?

Lots of fun like this

Depends on if I get my rear wing built and installed...



KT

Just kidding...

It's ten year anniversary weekend and I don't know if that would be such a good idea.



KT

I wil be there co-driving Fritz.

Should be fun!

Bill P.

Would that be with Doris or Randal

Hopefully we will get a nice 914 course

I dont care what kind of course it is as long as it is wider than my car this time!

Grant, I should be there for set up so I will make sure it is at least the GGR min...if not a tad bit wider

I'm working the angles...


KT

I don't know... who designed this course? I am still a little tweeked about that debacle in June...

??????

Sea of cones when cones were not needed, few cones when they were, way tight on the back side before the end of the course. At least 25% of the first runs were DNF including me and I don't even appear in the results. (not an exageration. Check the results) I thought the course was unsafe as cars were just losing the track and course workers were running. I am not even sure the course met GGR guidelines. Eventmaster said when asked, that the course had been chalked that morning and that it had all blown away. I just packed up and went home. 100 miles down, 100 miles back $35 and one DNF. I registered for the SCCA Shriners event the same day so it wasn't a total lost weekend. To add insult to that, after I politely informed the trailer that I was withdrawing, someone came to tell me that I needed to be out on the course with my work group while I was packing up.

Eventmaster even had the stones to tell everyone at the drivers meeting that "if you like the course..." Well, you know the rest.

Sorry... But you did put 6 question marks. I will get over it. I am just more careful about what events I choose now.

Sorry you had a bad experience....
Hopefully GGR can make it up to you in the future...

That may have been the event where my motor mount started to let go.

Let's face it, some courses are just garbage.

I don't like a "forced" course. The track should be easy to learn, no tricks, no fake outs. Smooth driving should always be rewarded.

When I encounter a course that chokes , I know that it is hard for everyone. I just try my best and look foward to better times.

It's amazing to me that some designers have such a concept in mind when laying out the course, but don't realize that the course is going to be a flop.

Rob, let's ride together at the next a/x.

KT

I agree. While GGR events offer great competition often the courses are setup in a confusing style with lots of cones. However I now just look at that as an extra challenge.

That is one way of looking at it Grant, and I appreciate that perspective. I think that the fault lies with me. If I didn't have to drive 100 miles to their autocrosses my expectations might be lower. But given that 200 mile commute, I come expecting the "big boys of Zone 7" to put on a good show. It also might not be so tender about it if more GGR guys showed up at SVR events. Someone in SVR was disscussing this with me and they put it best. "GGR has the best venues, they have a ton of local autocrossers, but the new guys are not yet up to the reputation guys like Larry Sharp built".

The statement by the eventmaster was particularly disturbing given this state of affairs. "If you like the course, tell me. If you don't, keep it to yourself".
I am a teacher, albeit of complex medical subject matter. When I have a new student interning with me I tell them this, "assume everything I say is bull. Try to prove me wrong, and if in trying to prove me wrong you prove me right you have learned more than if you just accept what I say". Believe me when I say some have proven me wrong. I learn from them as well.
I would have been much more likely to come back even the next week if he had said, Hey, we learn something new everytime we do this...

Dan this is in no way personal. I can see that you make an effort to go to and help at as many events as your other obligations allow. I can see you love it the way I do.

At any rate, your question was about who is going to Alameda. My plans are fluid. I am on vacation but my current plan is to try and get someone to go with me to GAF in Ventura. That plan is fading. So it is possible...

No one likes the courses you described. I hated them so much that I volunteered to start designing courses, and then spent a lot of time studying the "masters" of autox so that my courses would have all the best characteristics.

I also try to give feedback to the GGR Autox chairperson after running each course. I always remind them of the materials available and ask whether or not they are suggesting this documentation, as required reading, to new course designers.

This does seem to help, but as usual some of the designers always do a good job and others struggle.

On the other hand I’m really sorry that the event you decided to attended ended up being a NFC (no fun course). Most events are really pretty good, but we do get those NFC’s stinkers from time to time.

On a higher note I know Bill Daly has read all the base documentation and is reviewing all course designs before they are implemented. Bill does pay attention and can cite verse for verse the good design principals….so maybe we will see less of the NFC’s.

Yeah, I remember the June Alameda AX. The course was very tough for me to read. And for others as well. 26 out of the 107 drivers DNF'd on their first run. 23 out of the 107 DNF'd on their second run and 9 DNF'd on their third run. That's a pretty high DNF rate if you ask me.

I just thought I was having a bad days since I DNF'd on 3 of my runs, sucked on 2 runs, put down a decent 7th run that got me 4th overall for the day, then sat out my final run with a flat tire.

Overall, that course was close to my least favorite ever at Alameda. It was just too right angle for my tastes and didn't flow at all.

It's always tough on the course designers. I know that this year, there have been more courses designed by a diverse number of people, so there probably is a learning curve. And I do know that early on, a few of the course were not wide enough in certain spots. And it's not just because of I have a wide ass 911. I like the courses that flow and allow you the opportunity to interpret and take different lines, not the courses that lead you by the nose with a sea of tightly spaced cones.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to devote to learning and designing courses (not yet anyway) so I just show up and run what's there. And I do know that people put a ton of effort into putting the AX's on, so I try not to give them too bad of a time.

I'm glad to hear the AX chairs are educating themselves on course design reviews.

That being said....I sure hope it's a 911 course this Saturday!

Bill P.

Count me in on that!

I'm in...No wing, but I am in!


KT

Actually that is much worse than I thought. I only ran the stats on the first run for the 107.... Add mine, and that is 27 out of 108. Roughly < 25%. Way beyond acceptable. Not that I can't tolerate a DNF on my own part, it was the scattering course workers that scared me.

I just went to the GGR website and checked results for the other events this year. OK, I admit it. I went down for the bad event of the year. Other results don't show that kind of DNF rate.

Nuff bad mouthing GGR... I am probably in. 6 cylinder if I am feeling sassy!

Sea of Cones = Dark Side Designing (DSD).

The designer is either totally not educated in course design, or simply as the English say, bloody minded. In the latter case these designers really become very annoying as they are simply trying to trick people into failure; again not an objective of good course design.

We want people to learn to drive better; this isn't about getting people to fail.

I also think changing a course during the lunch hour is grounds for the designer to be T&F'd. This gets even worse when the changes aren’t communicated to all people driving, i.e., this non-communication is really dangerous as drivers will be expecting to see one road and surprise surprise there is another. THIS IS REALLY REALLY unsafe.

Not to mention it becomes 2 AXs in one day. Definitely a protestable situation....

I would not be too happy if I was only at an AX for the AM sessions and left with a nice time cushion and then found the course had been changed...yielding a simpler (read faster) course for the PM.

Once the course is changed in any way....it becomes a different course, negating all runs and times on the old course...

Right.

Good news I will have the 914-6, but still be on those crappy old ice skates called Victoracers. Those tires piss me off because they are huge but dont grip in AX due to their size (cant get heat in them in one lap). I think I have this AX left on the Victoracers before I mount the Kuhmo 710's. This will mean I have big fat new 710's for Laguna Seca! I can only imagine what having a fresh 265/45/16 710 will be like coming down the cork screw.

This is good news, as I thought you would have fresh rubber and therefore be untouchable.

I may bring my 710's for the afternoon runs


KT

i'm meeting Grant later that day, but I might swing out to spectate/wrench/take tire temps if I have the time. Would also be happy to deliver FRESH NEW HOOSIERS mounted on 15x6.5" 3-PIECE rims to any AXers...

n

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=59999

We need more bench racing


KT

I am going to beat you really bad on Saturday Trekkor!

A very tired type IV is going to whip your fancy 911 motored car.

There, how's that?

Does Trekkor have a new fancy 911 engine? Last I knew he was drivning an old tired high strung 2.0 six that is terrible for AX.

I'm thinking if I pull a plug wire off each bank, I'll still getcha both.


KT

I am going to smoke all of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Actually, I should explain that. I took the 4 cylinder out for a drive this evening after installing the Tangerine Headers. Even though I carefully tied the starter cables from the battery out of the way, I still smoked my positive cable from the battery. Smoke pouring out of the engine lid, small amount of flame by the starter. Martin & Alison Baker came out to keep me company while I waited on my Roadside Assistance Tow Truck. Got it home and the only apparent damage besides all of the fire extinguisher powder is the battery cable.

So Yea! I am going to smoke all of you!

How's this.....

Leave your 914's for the street...If you really want to be a racer, buy a 911...they are sooooo much faster! Watch me lay waste to the mid-engined crowd!



Bill P.

good news for all you guys: my car is still on jackstands!


Andy

Andy,

I'd lower the jackstands another inch. I hear you get less rollover when diving into the corners......

Hey...let me know when you want to pick up the oil tank....

When we have another breakfast, I can bring it there as well.

Bill P.

actually, i'm going to need this pretty soon, it's almost mockup time!

i could schwing by next week and pick it up ...
Andy

Andy,

If you want to stop by the Alameda AX on Saturday, I can bring it with me in the trailer.

Otherwise, we can figure out a time to meet.

Thanks,

Bill P.

I made the setup crew.

Who else is going early up 880?

I'm on the tech crew.....

Bill P.

gud plan! i'll stop by before i head up north to napa to on my car ...

Andy

Cool....I'll bring it with me.

Bill P.

I'll be there early...I am in charge of workers this Saturday.

I'll be leaving Almaden Valley ~5:45am.

Up 17-880

I'll be at 880/237 at 6:00AM and will look for you.

"In charge of workers".... Oh no, another new boss

Just make sure the course is 40 feet wide

I will be driving the 914, and I plan on walking the course as it is being set up....I want it a bit wider too....nice to be able to pick your own line on straights as well as corners.

This will be an interesting course with 3 slaloms....just depends on how far the cones are spaced....doesn't look to be "tricked up"

It looks fun, especially the various lines through the boxes.

Who designed the course?

I'm trailered up and ready to roll...


See you bright and early.


KT

car is ready, everything is loaded...just need to hook up to 'Burb in the morning.

see you all early.

Great day...exept the part when I ran out of gas mid-run

Our group did very well today.


KT

I wasn't going to tell on you Trekkor, really.

The street legal 914s did pretty well today.

three of us in the 59s for a course that was tough on Boxsters and 911s unless they were very well prepared.

There were also 3 or 4 C5 Corvettes in attendance today, one of which was a Z06.
They were having a tough time of it as well. The high speed transitions were not well accepted by the drivers or their cars

Looks like Andrew in the Smurfmobile is back on the top of the heap after a little hiccup at Marina a couple of weeks ago.

Too bad the sun never came out....to heat up those race tires, Bill and Randal

It was interesting seeing both of you slowing down to go faster in Fritz.

I couldn't take the chance...


KT