December 2010

[nc4me]

Great event Ron and everyone else. Loved the course to who ever designed it, Loren I think.

Warning rant starting now!!

My only complaint is that I have never seen so much garbage left behind by people at a FAST event. I thought it was ridiculous that adults had to clean up after other adults. There were coke cans and water bottles all along both sides of the runway that people left behind. Please remember to through away your trash before leaving. We DO NOT have a work assignment for picking up YOUR garbage. It is hard enough to find new sites and we surely do not want to be kicked out of sites for being known as a group that's going to leave a site in disarray. Please make sure to clean up after yourself! Rant over.

[Solar]

Another fine and fun day at a FAST event ! Really starting to enjoy the new ride, and with help from Mr. Z4 aka Loren I was able to fine tune my driving and get "first" place, although Loren would've had the class if it wasn't for a cone or two. 8)

Really liked the course layout more than I thought I would've, (I think Jamie designed it) the course really made you think in about 3 spots, and if you didn't get them just right it made for a ugly run.

Have to thank Ron for stepping up and chairing the event in Jamie's absence; he did a great job, and I think it was one of the faster turn arounds between run groups I've seen in a while. Using the truck to cart the course workers out seemed to work well. So here's to Ron for a great event !

Mirroring Chris's comments: Yes it would be nice if some people would pick up after themselves after they're runs are complete, we just need to make it a point at the drivers meetings in the future. Though I'll admit, I've been guilty myself for leaving a water bottle behind on the grid after my runs were done in a past event or two.

[Loren]

The course design was Jamie's. My courses flow better. That said, I didn't hate this course like I thought I would. RIDING with people on this course was a bit much after a while, but it wasn't bad to drive as long as you looked way ahead and didn't try to drive the slow parts fast.

I've mentioned the trash issue before. I think this is something we need to add to our (already lengthy) driver's meeting notes. We just need to remind people (especially the sizable number of newbs that we always get) that this isn't like a festival or something where there is a paid clean-up crew who comes in at the end to clean up. It's just us. None of us get paid (other than reimbursing whoever tows the trailer), and we do this for fun. Picking up your trash is NOT fun!

I also saw some folks (I will kindly not mention what they were driving) goofing off over near the motorcycle course during the event. This is expressly NOT allowed for a number of reasons. Just DON'T do it. We drive fast on our approved course and NOWHERE else. 'Nuff said.

[nc4me]

Results are up!

[Loren]

Oh, by the way, the RESULTS are posted.

Congrats to all the class winners. (even Brian... grumble, grumble)

And congrats to Eva for totally kicking Doug's butt in their Z4M! I don't know about you guys, but I was pretty impressed with my Z4 today. My two ham-fisted runs in it gave me a time of 52.9. It's gonna be fun when I get some better tires on it and figure out how to drive it!

[Solar]

Congrats to all the class winners. (even Brian... grumble, grumble)

MMMMMM BBQ ! Yellow_Colorz_PDT_02

Thanks again Loren ! I have a funny feeling I'll be on the other side of the bill really soon.

[yamaha731]

What a fun time today even though I hated the course it still made for some close racing. Drew's rain of terror continuous with another win in E2 congrats.

[BigBlue]

Thanks to everyone for helping to make this another great FAST event!

A big thanks to Jamie for all that he did, including designing the course, and so much more. Also, a big thanks to the ‘Old Timers’ that were always there to answer my questions, and all the folks that were so eager to jump in and lend a hand when I asked. We have a truly great group of enthusiasts here at FAST.

As a little piece of housekeeping, there were a couple of items found on the table by trailer that are looking for there rightful owners. If you are missing an Accu-Gauge pressure gauge or a blue thermal coffee cup, they are safely secured in the trailer and will be available at the next event.

Here are a couple of links to video of my runs. Please don’t mind the shaky camera (or the curse word).

First run- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLawOrUY55A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A middle run- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h198GM05N48" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Last run- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdxmJk8L4zE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks again everyone and I will see you at another event soon.

[Loren]

MMMMMM BBQ ! Yellow_Colorz_PDT_02

Indeed!

Thanks again Loren ! I have a funny feeling I'll be on the other side of the bill really soon.

I have to keep this in perspective. (sort of like the bag of excuses that I keep handy) If I win, it means... well, I won! If I lose, it means I've taught you well! I can't lose, even if I don't win. Of course, if I win, I get free food!

(for those not in the know: I'm co-driving the rest of this season with Brian in his 240 and we have a running bet: "Loser buys dinner")

[Native]

What a fantastic day. F'in cold in the morning, but really turned out great! Seemed like a lot of folks were really willing to help out today, which was great. Thanks very much! and in particular Mark Georgiades - loaned his pickup out numerous times, carted courseworkers and was not even driving - thanks man! and Charles and Scott for splitting up the trailer tow - no event without youse guyz...

I'll agree with the trash issue, too. C'mon people...

I also saw some folks (I will kindly not mention what they were driving) goofing off over near the motorcycle course during the event. This is expressly NOT allowed for a number of reasons. Just DON'T do it. We drive fast on our approved course and NOWHERE else. 'Nuff said.

I spoke to them about that, politely. They responded accordingly. There was a reason behind the antics. Regardless, it won't happen again.

Bob Tamandli stole my mojo and transmogrified it into a red S2k. E2 is tough...well driven Drew, Chris and Chris. 17th overall (10th on street tires) and still only 4th in class. Dang. Still, it's all good!

[Loren]

I also saw some folks (I will kindly not mention what they were driving) goofing off over near the motorcycle course during the event. This is expressly NOT allowed for a number of reasons. Just DON'T do it. We drive fast on our approved course and NOWHERE else. 'Nuff said.

I spoke to them about that, politely. They responded accordingly. There was a reason behind the antics. Regardless, it won't happen again.

Cool. Still worth mentioning here. Wouldn't want anyone who saw that to think that it was okay. It's probably worth mentioning, too, that the motorcycle training folks carry MUCH more clout there than we do. (just like at SPC) They have a lot of time, energy and probably money in putting the markings on their cycle course and they DO NOT want us marking it up in any way... that includes tire marks. So, again, I plead... "just don't do it".

[Jamie]

I didn't hate this course like I thought I would...it wasn't bad to drive as long as you looked way ahead and didn't try to drive the slow parts fast.

That is the point, isn't it? I was rather looking forward to running this course, and it looked like a great day for an event, but we had a veterinary problem to deal with. Fortunately, Ron is an able co-chair, so I didn't worry about things after a quick hand-off this morning.

Since I gave Bob Tamandli this one today, I'll have to figure out a way to neutralize his mojo next month....

[Jeremy]

http://www.vimeo.com/17483509" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wasn't really happy with this run, but it was my fastest. I guess increasing temps throughout the morning had something to do with that.

[garage west]

Great Job, Ron!

Devilish course, Jamie.

Good times!

[PaboShon]

Great job running the show, Ron! Congratulations to William Beers for his first win in H class. Nice driving buddy!

I found this course to be a lot more challenging behind the wheel than it looked on paper. I never really got the second half of the course dialed in and I had a real hard time staying clean. But I think I learned something!

While I was out there today I kept thinking that I was taking the return side of the course too fast and that was what was giving me trouble. While a great deal of that is true...looking back I realize something else. It wasn't just my speed that was a problem. I think I was entering the first corner after the crossover all wrong which was putting me in a bad position for the next three. I think this is the first time the I ever really "got behind" on a course and should have focused more on looking ahead.

I will get some vids up soon.

[Loren]

Good observation, Shon. A LOT of people were doing just that.

Remember:

Position first, then speed.

[yamaha731]

Jamie you designed a great course very.....very challenging. If I could of shaved 0.013 off my time I would of loved it.

[Jeremy]

I thought it was too slow before the first crossover. If a couple of those gates disappeared then it would have been perfect.

I think a lot of the DNF's were just because with Timing being all screwed up no one had the time to pay attention to Novice's going off course. People kept coming up to Timing and asking questions but we had to be sort of rude and just blow them off.

I am usually good for a couple cones and I didn't hit any. Well at least none made it to the final results.

[mltavana]

I also saw some folks (I will kindly not mention what they were driving) goofing off over near the motorcycle course during the event. This is expressly NOT allowed for a number of reasons. Just DON'T do it. We drive fast on our approved course and NOWHERE else. 'Nuff said.

I'll address this issue just to explain ourselves as well as to apologize for any misunderstandings.

Mike had just repaired his right rear suspension on the way to the event that morning and he wanted to make sure it wouldn't break in the middle of a run and hold everyone up. We asked safety if we could test it out and we were told we could as long as we stayed off the motorcycle course and kept it at a reasonable speed. So we went to the far end on the other side of the course, did some laps under 30-40mph and I followed Mike for a stretch where he went back and forth to load the suspension. This may be the part where it looked as if we were goofing off. At one point he cut it hard left to max the load on the right rear suspension and turned it a bit. Mike stopped after this and I continued to do a couple laps to get some heat into my engine. Max speed during this all was 30-40 mph.

I admit that we didn't think what it would LOOK like despite what we THOUGHT we were doing, and that a bystander would think we were goofing off and we could get everybody in trouble.

We both apologize and it won't happen again.

[Loren]

We both apologize and it won't happen again.

Yeah, sounds like a misunderstanding miscommunication more than anything else. I was driving during that time and while I was up looking at my times, someone pointed the two cars out to me that were out there where they shouldn't be. I didn't even take the time to look to see WHAT you were doing out there, just asked them to forward that info to Steve, who wasn't driving at the time, so that he could check it out.

To give you an idea of how picky the Cycle guys are, we did a test & tune event out there once (no more than a dozen cars total) and put a 75' diameter skidpad "near" their cycle pad. There was a minimum of 50' between the skidpad and their coned-off area, and another 50' or so beyond that before any of their markings. They complained and asked us to move our skidpad. So, we just try to stay away from there. Heaven forbid we should leave a skidmark somewhere!