Subaru Enthusiasts Car Club of the Sierras - View Single Post - SCCA Sacramento Region Enduro Auto-X Nov. 15/16

AtomicLabMonkey · 2003-11-17, 07:57 AM

It was pretty good; I don't like the fairgrounds site in Stockton as well as the (former) Sacramento sites like McClellan/Cal Expo/Mather though. It's smaller and a lot bumpier. I only went out on Sunday since it was raining on Saturday... I didn't really feel like driving out to slog around in the rain. I met up with another Mustang owner in SM who had in-car video of Saturday's runs and there was standing water all over the course, everyone was sliding around and taking out cones right & left.

Even on Sunday it was dry but still a little hairy out there... there was loose stuff all over the course just slightly off-line, so if you missed the line by a foot at most there was no grip to be had. It was fairly cool too, in the 50s or 60s, and the race tires didn't have any grip when cold. I gave the car maybe half-throttle off the starting line and just sat there spinning the tires. Let way off and finally got it to hook up, wound it up to the top of first gear, grabbed second gear & let it out, and whoaaaaa-baby... I almost went for a serious ride off-course, cause the back end slid out at probably a 45* yaw angle... it almost got away from me. I'm sure it was very entertaining to watch for the spectators standing along the front stretch. After some serious counter-steering and cramming my heart back down out of my throat, it was somewhat back under control and off to the races. The whole first lap it was really sliding around since the tires were cold... 2nd lap I could get on it a little better... 3rd lap, now I can tell the tires are warm, it's sticking pretty well... 4th & 5th lap they're hot and the car is planted to the ground. It's pretty crazy how much the tire temps affect the overall grip level with the Kumhos.

I finished 4th out of 8 in SM (dammit... only missed a 3rd place trophy by a second!). I think the top three spots were all BMW M3's (rich bastards

).

Once the tires warmed up the car felt pretty good, no major handling issues... I think to compete with the M3's the car just needs more tire, more power & less weight. And me not almost spinning coming out of the starting gates.

2003-11-17, 07:57 AM	#6
AtomicLabMonkey Nightwalker Real Name: Austin Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Oshkosh, WI Posts: 4,063 Car: '13 WRX YGBSM	It was pretty good; I don't like the fairgrounds site in Stockton as well as the (former) Sacramento sites like McClellan/Cal Expo/Mather though. It's smaller and a lot bumpier. I only went out on Sunday since it was raining on Saturday... I didn't really feel like driving out to slog around in the rain. I met up with another Mustang owner in SM who had in-car video of Saturday's runs and there was standing water all over the course, everyone was sliding around and taking out cones right & left. Even on Sunday it was dry but still a little hairy out there... there was loose stuff all over the course just slightly off-line, so if you missed the line by a foot at most there was no grip to be had. It was fairly cool too, in the 50s or 60s, and the race tires didn't have any grip when cold. I gave the car maybe half-throttle off the starting line and just sat there spinning the tires. Let way off and finally got it to hook up, wound it up to the top of first gear, grabbed second gear & let it out, and whoaaaaa-baby... I almost went for a serious ride off-course, cause the back end slid out at probably a 45* yaw angle... it almost got away from me. I'm sure it was very entertaining to watch for the spectators standing along the front stretch. After some serious counter-steering and cramming my heart back down out of my throat, it was somewhat back under control and off to the races. The whole first lap it was really sliding around since the tires were cold... 2nd lap I could get on it a little better... 3rd lap, now I can tell the tires are warm, it's sticking pretty well... 4th & 5th lap they're hot and the car is planted to the ground. It's pretty crazy how much the tire temps affect the overall grip level with the Kumhos. I finished 4th out of 8 in SM (dammit... only missed a 3rd place trophy by a second!). I think the top three spots were all BMW M3's (rich bastards ). Once the tires warmed up the car felt pretty good, no major handling issues... I think to compete with the M3's the car just needs more tire, more power & less weight. And me not almost spinning coming out of the starting gates. __________________ "None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you.. you're locked in here with me."