For Autocross fans. Show your stuff!

[2manyturbos]

Sunday 4-28-19 was the second event for the Willamette Motor Club. We had a great turn out. So many entrants I didn't get to run in the afternoon session. That is a first for this club, having to turn away entrants. Anyway, I ran my 2009 BMW 335I with the M spec suspension option. I have been wanting to try this car out to see what it is capable of. I was going to run the Mustang GT, however, it was 31 degrees out when I was supposed to leave at 7:00 AM in order to be to the event on time. Bridgestone has a warning about the RE71R actually cracking if they are driven on at temperatures below 35 degrees. Oh well, a great excuse to throw everything in the BMW and take it. The car performed well. My friend Frank brought his 242 that I mentioned in previous posts and I shot video of his runs and mounted the GoPro on the roof so he could see how he was running the course. This was his first ever event on actual race tires he bought from reeferman on here. They made a huge difference in his approach to the course. He wasn't used to having the car actually do what he wants it to do. By his last run he was hitting his apexes as planned and put down a clean run with a good time. I remembered to get a good shot of the Lotus this time. The Corvette is consistently one of the quickest cars in the club. It is making 550+ hp and running on Hoosiers about 14" wide. It actually pulls the front end off the ground when it really hooks up on the fast courses coming out of a tight turn. It makes so much power he had to go to a solid rear axle. The car was constantly breaking half shafts no matter what he put in it.


My 335I sitting in grid.

The 1973 Lotus Europa.

Frank's 242

My BMW 335I making a run.

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Frank's 5th and best run.

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Frank's 5th run from his perspective, GoPro on the roof.

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Tim's monster 89 Corvette

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[2manyturbos]

Another great day of racing, right in the middle of the week. Bridge City Autosports arranged an event at Portland International Raceway pits area limited to 25 entries. Hooked on Driving was also there conducting an all day performance driving course out on the road race track. A lot of cool cars in attendance for both events. It was raining in the morning, so, wet autocross course and wet road race course. I'm glad I wasn't there for the driving school. 100+ MPH on wet pavement with concrete walls all around does not sound like a fun experience. I may go back for one of their courses later this year when I can run on dry pavement. The GT performed excellently, hanging with the top time vehicles of the day. My best run of the day was a 33.41. The fastest time of the day that was a clean run was a prepared Miata that ran a 32.2.

My first run of the day in the wet.

https://youtu.be/MuZcl9LX9nc

My last run of the day on dry pavement. 33.41 seconds.

https://youtu.be/Cz8UGItfBME

 

[klr142]

100+ MPH on wet pavement with concrete walls all around does not sound like a fun experience.

It?s plenty fun!!

 

[2manyturbos]

It?s plenty fun!!

I need a car I don?t care about its appearance so much. More of a fast beater.

 

[2manyturbos]

I have been to plenty more excellent events this season. Willamette Pass Ski Area. Hoodoo Ski Area. This weekend is going to be Mt Bachelor Ski area with one of the best pieces of pavement in Oregon. I have never run there before. I took the GT to the SCCA Solo National Tour in Packwood, WA July 13-14. That was a great event. If any of you that autocross get a chance to attend one of the Tour events, don't pass it up. The SCCA runs their events like clockwork. If you are a minute late pulling up to the line for your run, you missed it. This was a huge event. 298 drivers in all. The competition was stiff. These guys go prepared to win. The idea of the tour is to give competitors a chance to prepare for the Nationals. I took 1st place in F Street at the Tour. They give out a nice trophy. It beats the heck out of the drink coasters etc my local club gives out. I would have liked to headed to the Nationals this week in Lincoln, NE. It is just wrapping up today. It would have been a 3,400 mile round trip and 10 days to have pulled it off. Maybe, next year. It is on my bucket list to run the Nationals at least once. Here are some pics and videos from the recent events including the National Tour.

Some pics from Packwood. Packwood is at the base of Mt Rainier. It's a beautiful area.

Home base during the event.

Grid and timing with Mt Rainier in the background.

Grid with my run group.

Awards ceremony at the SCCA hosted dinner.

My Trophy from the event.

National Tour GT run.

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My fastest run Saturday

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National Tour Sunday run 3, winning run unedited so you can see what goes on. The course was the same as Saturday, run backwards.

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[2manyturbos]

This event was my local club at Willamette Pass Ski resort. The GT has a larger diameter front sway bar on it and Koni Sport adjustable struts on the front at this event. The car is much more predictable now.

Run 3 on Saturday.

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Run 10 on Sunday. Sunday's course is Saturday's course run backwards.

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[2manyturbos]

This event at Hoodoo Ski Area was put on by ACCO, the same club that is hosting this weekend's event at Bachelor Ski Area. The GT now has Koni Sport adjustable struts and shocks on it. It is driving very nicely now. It has much more input to the steering now. The car used to have almost zero steering feel, kind of like a video game.

Grid at Hoodoo.

The course for both days.

A shot of my GT. Photographers seem to love this car.

Run 4 on Sunday.

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The same run from my perspective.

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[2manyturbos]

I finally have a car that is up to a high speed track day. Although, I need different tires for the sustained high temperatures. This excursion tortured the RE71R tires on my GT. I won't do another track day without having something different on my car. This GT is an amazing turn key performance car. The only changes to it are a larger diameter front sway bar and the Koni Sport adjustable shocks and struts. One of the local clubs rented Oregon Raceway Park for the day and charged $185 to join them for 6 20 minute sessions on the track. Most of my day was spent learning the track. ORP is incredible to drive. There is a 400 foot elevation change in the 2.3 miles of the track. Run out areas everywhere so there is little risk to the car or driver if a major mistake is made. I ran four of the 6 sessions available. My tires got so hot on the last session they were slipping everywhere by the end of my session. I loaded the car up and went home so I would have enough tire left to finish the Autocross season. My buddy Frank brought out his 85 245 and ran in the intermediate group since he has been there twice already. The track has plenty of blind turns and hills that you crest at high speed with no view of what is in store for you. It takes awhile to get it right. Nobody had an off course with our group, however, several marker cones were knocked down. That indicates they almost left the track. There are tire tracks everywhere in the grass where people have run off course. It makes you want to sneak up on the limit of your car. By my last session nobody was keeping up, other than a car that was running on road racing slicks. I backed off mid session to keep from ruining my tires and he overtook me toward the end of the session. With proper tires, it would be fun to go back and see just how fast a lap I can put down.

Frank's 245

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A ride along from inside the car on my last session.

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[redblockpowered]

Here's me losing my cone-dodging virginity in my 944 Turbo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUJwcZ2IYI0

 

[2manyturbos]

Needs more grip. Fun, isn't it? Almost addictive. What a great venue for an event.

 

[redblockpowered]

I had a blast! I'll be back in the spring, after finals. Hopefully with more grip...

 

[2manyturbos]

I had a blast! I'll be back in the spring, after finals. Hopefully with more grip...

I didn't notice a lot of body roll in your video. I'm assuming your 940 isn't stock. A bit more negative camber and a set of sticky tires goes a long way towards much quicker times. It sounds like you have rock hard street tires on your car. Greg Ervin and I used to run his 740 Turbo in Autocross. It started out as a stock 740 T when he bought it and ended up a stripped out streetable race car. He still isn't done modifying it. Maybe, he'll be back racing it by next season. He came out for our clubs last event this year with his 242 GT.

 

[redblockpowered]

It is bone stock, on Kumho all-seasons and 15s. M90 swap means I have to run with the big boys but don't let that fool you. I don't think I'll go that far but certainly there's some margin of error between "couch" and "race car"

In hindsight, maybe asking the people that walked up to me if it looked like I was pushing was a little silly...

 

[2manyturbos]

Lol. That did not show up in your video. I have pics of my 780 Autocrossing that look like the rocker panel is touching the ground. I thought I heard a manual trans take off when you left the line. I could hear your rear tires squealing.

 

[redblockpowered]

Going back for revenge on Sunday. Only upgrades have been to the driver, unfortunately the IPD bars I bought won't be here in time. The body roll only bothered the instructors anyway.

 

[2manyturbos]

Cool. Work on trail braking late into the turns to get that front suspension loaded ahead of time. It will get your 940 to rotate much better. If you can, try left foot braking. I haven't driven a manual trans 7 series in so long I don't remember how the pedal layout works out for left foot braking. If you can do it successfully, it will completely change the way that 940 works on the course. I finally ran on a course big enough and unobstructed course last event to work on left foot braking in my Mustang. It took me about 7 runs to get it right. The difference was significant. I have one more event myself this Sunday. This will be it for all Autocross in the NW until Feb/March. Post up your results. Good luck out there.

 

[redblockpowered]

I had a blast. Car was effectively the same as last time, setup wise so I just focused on improving my driving. I had a lot of success cornering at part throttle to keep from overloading the front suspension, in addition to trying to make smoother inputs. I don't have pictures or video from this time but the course was a lot more open (same venue) which suits the car a lot more. Finished 111th of 125 in raw time which I'm happy with considering what I'm working with (stock 940T except for M90 and boost controller) and the level of experience I have.

http://www.ner.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/teamchallenge_raw.htm

 

[2manyturbos]

Cool. Keep at it. I'm surprised to see 3 Volvos listed in the results. That's practically a Volvo convention considering the venue. How many runs did you get?

 

[redblockpowered]

They were planning on six but due to the excess of cars we only got five. I was pretty surprised to see other Volvos kicking around too.

 

[klr142]

This excursion tortured the RE71R tires on my GT. I won't do another track day without having something different on my car. [...]
Frank's 245

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<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q22X2gXCg6k" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DDY_5pzX8k8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

A ride along from inside the car on my last session.

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ORP is pretty hard on tires in general, and the RE71Rs are also some of the fastest wearing Extreme Performance tires that have the 180TW+ rating that allows us to use them in endurance racing. The RS4s have a much longer lifespan and don't mind the constant abuse nearly as much, but they are typically a little slower.

I need to check out the videos still...

Here's me losing my cone-dodging virginity in my 944 Turbo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUJwcZ2IYI0

w00! I assume you don't have any more events this year? Good job getting out there and learning. Do you feel you went faster this more recent time than the first time in the video? I get to practice trail braking a lot on the street when I'm hustling my wife's old Elantra around at speeds it shouldn't be going to prevent ripping the front tires off the wheels, haha. It definitely helps to ease into corners when there's so much body movement to get the front planted first!

Greg Ervin [...] He came out for our clubs last event this year with his 242 GT.

GREG! I haven't seen him in years. I'm glad to hear he still has the car and I wish he would trailer it up to go drag racing again for fun. He was one of the fast cars years ago even with a basically stock car.