Hello again, race fans! I hope the summer has been treating you well and that your air conditioning is working. For those of you who are in RI, this is our best time of year! Except for early Fall when its even better weather and the tourists from the country of CT go back home.
We've got an exciting weekend ahead of autocross at Quonset Point once again. It's been an interesting season so far. Track changes have forced us to look at things from a fresh perspective. The level of instruction has risen to meet our needs. And the cars showing up for the event are numerous, competitive, and pretty amazing. What has been consistent is how nice the people are and how friendly an atmosphere we have down there. If you haven't been yet, what is stopping you?
I'm drafting up some thoughts to send to Anthony, proprietor of ADSI, so if you have any input on what you'd like to see send it over and I'll make sure it gets to him or send it directly. He has been nothing but responsive and really wants us to get as much out of it as we can. That's quite rare so take him up on it!
For my suggestions, I'm thinking that a bit of warm-up to get the brain in gear would be nice. I'm going to tech-up a bit for this one and run a camera with data acquisition for the external view and also an interior camera to try to catch my steering, shifting, and footwork. One of our brethren, Sean, has inspired me to try some left-foot-braking lately (allows you to get on the gas earlier out of a turn) so I've been trying it out. Downshifting is the current Achilles heel of the idea so far, but my brake feel with the wrong foot is getting better. I once test drove a car with an automatic transmission and tried to hit the clutch with my left foot - only it was the brake. And the reaction to the car slowing down in that situation is to push the clutch (brake) even harder. At least the brakes got a good test. I'm no longer driving like that anymore now... Although I haven't tested the lefty out on a track yet. Could make things interesting this time out.
I very much love the shoestring drill - as you can tell from my video. So it would be great to do that even more. Beyond drifting and giggling, it's actually pretty hard to get it just right. Drifting is not the fast way around, I can tell you. I'm also going to try to get the measurements for that course and plot out the theoretical fastest way through for my car versus my actual performance. Maybe I'll make an instructor give it a go in my car too so I can get some good tips and comparisons.
The 4-cone drill from last time was great fun and very instructive. It would be good to see if I can more quickly get my eyes up and get through it quickly and cleanly. There is talk of doing it blindfolded too - pretty scary sounding...but where else could you do something like that safely? It feels like a must-do at some point.
I know you're getting sick of going to the beach, relaxing by the pool, and all that summer monotony. So come liven things up and give it a go out on the track! Course begins at 8am. Open autocross afternoon starts at noon. Come on down.