mohud-scca.org

[britdog]

[britdog]

Here are Arn's first 3 runs on Sunday (I know it was August 9, not 10)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wiF-nYUy_0

And one of mine from Saturday and one from Sunday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FpxSQa9Z6g
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#43 Firebird Formula
The only time I ever need a shampoo bottle is when I autocross
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[EJEvo]

So I pack up at the end of the event after my Heat 1 is done on Sunday, then decide to head up to the grid and root on my fellow HoMudders as they finish out their heats. A course designer walks up to me and says "I've got to help Sara, so can you start the camera for Bruce?"

"Sure!" I exclaim. I don't know a thing about it, but it's small, looks friendly, and seems to be pretty popular, so how difficult can it be? I walk up and start taking a look at it. Bruce is strapped in and ready to go - he has that look in his eyes that let's you know he's ready to battle (or maybe he's trying to figure out how to seque from the moment into one of his favorite stories), so I ask him if he knows anything about this camera mounted to his side window. He tells me "front button is power on, top button is stop/start." Seems pretty simple. Bruce gets motioned to the starting line, so I lean in front of the camera, press the top button, notice nothing changes on the display, shrug, and give Bruce the thumbs up. Bruce takes his run and comes back, so with the precision of a DTM pit crewman, I diligently press the top button, and thus logically stop the video. Again, I notice nothing has changed on the camera's tiny, mysterious-icon'd display.

Bert, apparently having had time to break free from helping Sara, says "You should move the camera up on the top of the car and get a shot from there." The course designer then melts back into the crowd. OK, seems pretty simple. How hard can a suction mount be? So I look at the mount, notice a black button with "PRESS" molded into it, a swing lever, and the suction cup under this setup. I take the swing arm and tentatively move it about, notice it seems to relieve some pressure on the mount, but when poking at the edges of the suction cup it doesn't seem to move. Bruce points to a little tab you use to peel it off, and we successfully remove it from the window.

OK, now time to find a spot on the roof. It needs to be mounted near the leading edge of the roof, but not so far forward as to make it impossible for the suction cup to follow the contour, but not so far back as to project the camera's view too far upwards. There's also the primer overspray and sealant used to cover the old moon roof, so I find a nice spot between those two areas and place the camera there. I press the big "PRESS" button, let go of it, and then swing the lever to lock it down. I then adjust the camera angle using the adjustment levers on the arm, and step back to admire my handiwork. Looks good. I wiggle it a bit to test the setup, and I notice it shakes a little, but the suction cup doesn't move. "Must be due to the curvature of the roof that the hard plastic base doesn't fit snug on the suction cup" I surmise. Hmm - I don't see the course designer anywhere to verify this theory, so it's going to have to do.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at this display and trying to figure out if we're capturing any video or not. I power the camera off and back on, and notice the display doesn't change: an upside down camera icon and the number "12" are shown, along with an SD card outline. Nothing blinking, no other info. I'm guess this "12" is a counter that probably should be incrementing/decrementing, but who knows? The course designer is nowhere to be seen, so Tater and I discuss it a bit, but figure all we can do is what we know and hope it's working as planned. Pretty soon Bruce is waved up to the starting line again, so I reach over, press that top button for a count of 5, release it, and tell Bruce he's all set.

A few cars later, I see the white 320i take off. I peer hard at the car as it leaves the start, but I can't see the camera on his roof. "It must be small enough and with that clear case it just blends into the foliage behind it" I rationalize. Bruce tears down the course and disappears into the distance. He's now headed back towards the finish, and as he crosses the finish line and approaches the time giver, I can clearly see there's no camera on the roof. "Uh oh" I mumble.

Bruce pulls back into his grid spot and I say nonchalantly "Hey, um, the camera isn't on the roof." Tater says "Yeah, it's up at start." And he then tells a tale of such improbable feats of performance, I'm stunned.

Tater Kosakoski is a humble man, but one who carries a secret. He does his best to keep it hidden, but this time it was revealed. Tater's car can generate nearly 10g's with a simple tap of the brakes. "I sat in line, waiting for the car to leave the start ahead of me. When the starter told me to stop, I tapped the brakes and I hear a 'thud', and then the camera slides down the windshield and lands at the base of it" Tater offers - it's all he has to say. "Well, I'll go retrieve it." I take the opportunity to gather my thoughts while I walk up to the start trailer at the opposite end of the grid. The starter is there, and I ask him about a camera, half expecting to be scolded. He simply says "Yep - here it is." No warnings, no lectures, nothing. That's when it becomes more apparent. He doesn't believe what he saw, either.

As I start making the long walk back to Tater's grid spot, it all starts making sense, the pieces falling together. Those "glasses" Bruce wears? They aren't for sight correction, they are to literally hold his eyeballs in his head when he applies the force of God via his brake pedal.

So don't blame me - even if the camera had been properly mounted, say, by holding the PRESS button down while simultaneously flicking the lever, it wouldn't have helped. The 10g's of braking force would have shed it like so much beaded water on a newly waxed hood.

Not wanting to let on that I now knew, we tried mounting it again, and I pressed the button and flicked the lever like we should, knowing it was folly, but the Bruce brought the camera back, intact, and right where it had been placed. I knew then he hadn't touched the brakes for his entire run.
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EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[Jim Garry]

Yeah ... I sold my Go Pro. Piece of crap.
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Jim

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; but in practice, there always is a difference. - Yogi Berra

[britdog]

I was working the course during The Bruce's heat and was surprised to see the camera strapped on the white 23 FSP Bimmer as it existed the back slalom for it's first run.
My first thought was "oh good, they got it off Arn's car and figured out how to re-attach it to Bruce's car".
Second thought was "I wonder if there's any room left on the memory card..."
Final thought was "I wonder if they knew to PRESS the button for the suction cup AND lift up the lockdown lever..."
I hadn't even considered that the mount had to handle 10g of braking force.
Fortunately, the Bruce didn't knock any cones, because I was a bit distracted for the moment.

Second run, I saw the camera whiz by attached to the side window, so was feeling pretty relieved..."they must've figured it out."

Third run...no camera. "Uh oh!" I had visions of it flying off and skittering across the tarmac on one of the really fast sections..."Probably not a survivable event for the GoPro."

Fourth run...the camera's back on, mounted on the roof..."OK, I'm lost".

I'm just imagining the great footage that would've been captured in grid, at the start and on the course, had the memory card not filled up. Bummer!
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#43 Firebird Formula
The only time I ever need a shampoo bottle is when I autocross
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[EJEvo]

You could have had a montage of my 'wft?' expressions while staring at the camera, interspersed with the dramatic footage of the camera sliding down the windshield.
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EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[EJEvo]

Alex:


Andy:


Jim:


Bruce:


Ken:


Arn:


EJ:


Bert:


John:


Kevin:


Brendan:


photos courtesy of Drew84 on Flickr.com
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EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[EJEvo]

Hey John, they caught it on camera:

"Mother&#$!!, F**#& C*%# Sh!!!!%# !!!!"

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EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[green vws]

Unfortunately I did not bring a camera or take any video so I can't share in this fun.

I'm glad I went, had a good time, went not particularly quickly. I ended up #95 on index, woo hoo! Saturday I felt like I was overdriving or something and simply could not seem to pick up any time and finally went a few 10ths faster on my fourth run. I was discussing it with Brian Levesque, ep CRX, while we were in impound and he said it looked like my car was "wicked loose". That made sense to me as when I thought about it as I was basically just trying to keep the pointy end at the front.

I changed the rear bar from med stiff to min for Sunday and turned the rear shocks down to min rebound, only about 1/4 turn. The car was much more driveable and I was able to go faster on each run. I did just catch the last cone before the finish on my last, and fastest, run but felt much better about both the car and my driving. I think the shorter length and slower speeds of the courses we have been running this year masked just how loose the car has been.

Saturday as I was in line to get weighed after the fourth run, the general guess was the car would be around 2100lbs. With about 5 gal of gas, no passenger seat or belts and the mirrors removed, it was 2330lbs. Min weight with the 8" wheels is 1873, so it was about 450lbs over, oops. It was also 838lbs over what Brian's CRX weighed. Apparently having a 13" longer wheelbase, 55% more weight, a bit more power, greater width, and a bit less tire is not the way to make a fast ep car. Who knew?

Here's hoping I can take care of the whole unemployment thing eventually and be able to run the Rabbit next year, in all its flourescent green glory. Oh yeah, and have it running at its full capability with either properly tuned carbs or finally doing the fuel injection thing.

See everyone Sunday,
Andy

[EJEvo]

Where are you seeing index on results? My Evo buddy mentioned it to me, and I can't find it.
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EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[green vws]

http://www.ner.org/sites/ner.org/files/event%2010%20-%20nedivs_pax.htm

It is in the results on the NER site not the divisional site. Pretty sneaky, huh? It is due to the event being a points event for them, same as we did last year.

Andy

[EJEvo]

Gracias.
_________________
EJ Smith - SM 10
Mod/Jr. Admin
Solo Timing & Scoring Chief

[Jim Garry]

Fixed it for you Andy

[Jim Garry]

Well, having had so much trouble with my GoPro, i sold it (as previously mentioned) and so I have no vid to post. However, it's of interest to note that the data from my DL1 showed some good stuff. I never got in a really fast run on Saturday. Saturday night the data showed that in the fast bits I was doing some serious security lifting off the throttle. AND, it also showed that I was backing out before even braking. If you had waterboarded me I would have insisted that I was flat out in those places. My Saturday RTP times were OK but not anything to brag about.

So for Sunday I concentrated on being aware of my throttle position and sure enough I could feel the need to lift in fast sections. So I worked hard, pushed past what I hadn't realized was a comfort zone, and on my last run I turned a really nice time. Sunday's RTP was much better.

Interesting stuff you get from this data. But I'd still like to have had some video to share.

EDIT: I looked over the NER factored results and I was about the same time off from the factor leader on both days. That's odd because i turned my best time on my first run Saturday and know I could have gone faster, whereas my best time Sunday was on my fourth run and I felt I drove much better.


Jim

[britdog]