[edit] JW Houston AutoCross Skool - 06 *DATA*

[RC45]

Originally Posted by oscargarza88 Ok im in! i emailed Rich Tomlin and he made me a spot! i have to be there very early though! so RC whats the fastest way to get there? becaue i dont know my way around over there, or i can just go to mapquest, but whats the full adress? * oh btw, i have 900+miles on the sti so only 100 more, which i could do in the next day or so. but does this mean i dont have to worry about anything? or should i still "baby it", even though i was 1k over in the rpm's quite often... :roll: ?

Gulf Greyhound Park - mapquest

folks from the north side will probably convoy down anyway, but this "convoy" in no way constitues an organized event and joining said convoy is under the condition of accepting all liability and risk and indemnifying anyone else in the convoy (and elsewhere in the State of texas) from any and all liability for anything that happens to anyone - ever.

[Vansquish]

Oohhh...wish I had a car that I would be at ease driving around an autocross course...and that I happened to be in the Houston area, this looks like a really excellent opportunity to get some decent instruction and have quite a lot of track time. I looked up the Michigan chapter of the SCCA and it appears that there are similar events around here, so perhaps a JW autocross meet can be arranged

[TransAm]

I don't think my Dodge Ram would be too good at Autocross so I'll leave it

[nthfinity]

Originally Posted by TransAm I don't think my Dodge Ram would be too good at Autocross so I'll leave it

you know, Eric at the Autozone books +hobbies autocrosses his Dodge Ram regularly

[RC45]

Well - you all ready?

Leet's git id aawwwwwwnnn!

[RC45]

What a freaking blast it was.

And before any one says anything oscar put down a 38s fast run - and I did a 40s...

But consider I was doing my pace runs and was about to make my fast run - but they closed the course before I could get it done - I had 4 runs - he had 5 (the last being his quickest )

On the plus side I did pull 1.4G on the skid pad

Pics and video to follow.

[oscargarza88]

Originally Posted by RC45 What a freaking blast it was. And before any one says anything oscar put down a 38s fast run - and I did a 40s... But consider I was doing my pace runs and was about to make my fast run - but they closed the course before I could get it done - I had 4 runs - he had 5 (the last being his quickest ) On the plus side I did pull 1.4G on the skid pad Pics and video to follow.

yes it was it was a BLAST!!

And thanks 4 recognizing Paul, yet ur data is incorrect lol, my last run was a 39.. i think i hit a cone... my only clean run was my 38... which was my second to last , but we didnt have enough track time to actually try out new lines or tecniques, it all went by soo fast!
And ur 1.4G's was when u spun out!
haha

seriouslly, ur was looked really good out there, a couple more runs,and more throttle would have gotten u in the 37 or 38.
And samero looked good too yet i dont know if its the car but it didnt seem to be at its limit... i know its heavy and all...

oh and i got a few pics, they suk but hey theyr a start till RC post his good pics and his video, i want too see my runs really bad! too bad no one got us in the actual track though... that would have been some good video...


this was a good one xcept 4 the stupid camera strap in the way!

and at the end of the day... resting from a hard day... i wonder whos'e black car that is... lol


just remembering it gets me exited, i wish i could do it again soon! xcept for the fact that my parents still think it was a "Defensinve driving" class thing... .
oh and Paul, i did make it home with just 5 buks of gas the light was on the whole time but i made it

thanks for getting me into this! i woudnt have if i woudnt have read it here!

[ZfrkS62]

sounds like it was a ton of fun. Looking forward to the vid and other pics. Only 3 JW members made it? thought there alot more in TX. I know TA is getting ready to move.. Too bad i couldn't make it out. Would have been fun to humiliate all of you with the Yoda

[sikx5]

Wow that would of been great fun! Looks like a top event! I cant wait to attend a skid pan day here, would be great fun!

All three of your cars look good fellas, very nice! Did anyone get any action shots at all?

[SilviaEvo]

3 insanely nice sensible cars looks like a really fun day

[sameerrao]

I had a blast yesterday.

There were 4 training events and an Autocross to round things up.
- Skidpad (100 ft)
- Slalom
- Braking
- Beans and Beans - small oval course with increasing and decreasing radius turns.

Oscar, RC and me were in the same group. Another friend of RC's who drove a 911 was in another group.

We started with Skidpad exercise where the first thing out of the mouth of the instructor was - "Anyone with BMWs - they are restricted to a max of 5 laps." Apparently some of the Bimmers faced oil starvation issues on the skidpad and suffered seized engines. The skidpad was quite fun, we got to a speed where the wheel was held stationary and the car's attitude was controlled by throttle position. I think AWD made it very, very stable here but RWD allows a little more throttle control. The STi has a cool switch which allows the torque to be sent to the rear. Oscar reported that the car handled much better this way.

On one of my loops on the skidpad, the woman instructor told me to really gas it and when I did so my car lurched a couple feet sideways in a brutal manner. Soon after the check engine light came out. I thought the curse of the BMWs had come upon me. Fortunately, the light went out after some time. It was a few anxious moments though. The Gods of Audi were looking after me today.

We next went to Slalom which was a really fun course. I was a real thrill flinging the car from side to side and I really thought my car did very well - no lurching or swaying unnecessarily - it acquitted itself very well. The slalom teaches you to look ahead and turn well ahead of the cone. I felt I really learned something here.

Then we did the Beans exercise which was the most fun course - taking an increasing radius corner at full power makes you feel that all is right with the world. The decreasing radius corners taught me to be patient on entry - slow in fast out. RC seemed to have a lot of fun playing with the gas pedal teasing the rear end out.

Then we did the braking exercise which made us hit the brake pedals hard enough to trigger the ABS and figure out for ourselves how much we can brake without locking the wheels. I could see RC laying a lot of rubber down on the standing start all the way to the braking point. He seemed to enjoy it.

After a bit of lunch we went to the Autocross - did a walkthru first and then hit the track which had a lot of slaloms, sweepers, etc. Unfortunately our group didn't get as much track time as the last one. I particularly needed it as I DNF'd the first two runs - got confused with the cones . The instructor then made me make a slow lap to learn it properly and then afterwards I finally did a nice clean lap (41s). Unfortunately I couldnt do any more runs. Disappointing as I finally got the hang of the circuit. There were seconds to be made up but I think my fat piggie did a good job on the circuit.

So all in all a great day. I think I learned quite a bit....

[No.1]

Cheers for the write up sameer.
Sounds like fun, and a great opportunity to learn. And it doesn't sound as if a high-performance car is strictly necessary.

I might keep a look outt for similar events happening over this side of the pond that might be able to try over summer :good:

Thanks for the pics, too, Oscar. And congrats on your first (?) tracking experience with your STi (lucky SOB). It sounds like you did well 8)

[RC45]

^^ There was a guy there with a late 1990s Jaguar Van Den Plas, another with a lat 90's BMW 740i and even a chap in a Dodge Dakota long-bed pickup truck - so you really don't need a hi-po car to have fun. But it helps

[ZfrkS62]

oil starvtion on the skidpad??? hmm..who'da thunk it? :bah:

Reading your write up, sameer, i really wish i could have made it

[oscargarza88]

nice write up samerr.
thenumber1- yes it is my first track experience, its my first anything experience! i mean com on it barelly has 1200 miles.. , thanks.

and as RC said you will have fun on matter what car u have, a guy even took a honda pilot, just to play around though...

oh and i forgot to mention that on my way there i got hit by a rock in my windsheld (barelly noticable) and on the way back a bird hit me, yes a bird! it was floppin around and it just came across me and hit me in the right side of the windshield, it jus t left some feathers there... not too bad... just my luck..., specially with my tires, they have som weird cuts on the sides, i found some more today when i cheked them out... and that suks because my parents bave been askin me about it, like was i goin fast.. and what exacfly we were doing? and things like that... :s