12/19 FAST Relay - Post Event

[Loren]

Hey, y'all!

Thanks for coming out and playing with us today (if you did). I won't say it was a flawless event, but things went well enough. We had fun with the relay format, but likely won't be doing another anytime soon.

The course was a lot of fun! Much of it was designed such that you couldn't accelerate through it, which frustrated some. But, if you just maintained your speed and focused on the line, it had a nice flow and rythm to it. If you tried to push the speed faster than you or your tires could keep up with, then it would bite you. The return side was even moderately fast, with some drivers grabbing 3rd gear just before the finish!

Results are here. We even added a sheet of results sorted by time so that you can see how awesome you'd have done if the rest of your team hadn't sucked so much.

Is it 2016 yet?

[nc4me]

50.7 dirty, but I ran a 50.8 clean. https://vimeo.com/149534917

[puncturina]

Well, because I have nothing better to do late at night...

I think there is an error in your spreadsheet. The total cumulative time in the BEST column is identical to the column 4 times for every team. Must have copied a cell wrong? For instance, the BEST time for team one should be 318.171?

Or do I not understand the spreadsheet?

[puncturina]

Oh never mind, I see from the second page that the BEST is the best cumulative score, and not the sum of the best individuals. The results on the second page are not the same as column 4.

[Loren]

Nice run, Chris!

For my own amusement, I just ran a quick analysis of the intial driver ranks used to seed the teams referenced to each driver's best time. The ranks were actually pretty good overall!

All of the 10's (the "ringers") finished in the top 12.
Most of the 7-8's were in the middle, with half of them in the top 20. (as high as 5th, 8th & 9th)
Most of the 5-6's were in the middle, with the highest being 11th.
Most of the 3-4's were below mid-pack between 36-45th with a few outliers as high as 24th.
The few 1-2's outshined expectations and finished 21st, 32nd and 34th. (I knew that was a strong possibility due to the team-driven nature of the event)

Interestingly, the winning team had only one driver in the top 10, and ANY ONE of the "ringers" could have taken that team to victory. The entire team drove beyond their ranked potential. Way to go, guys (and gals)!

Also, there was a last-minute change on Team 8 due to Joe Vance being selected as a ringer on the same team as his co-driver. So, we switched Sara Tinsley and Nino Fajardo. Their difference in times was 4.1 seconds. The difference in time from Ken (ringer on Team 8) to the slowest ringer was 2.1 seconds. A total difference of 6.2 seconds. Team 8 won by a margin of over 9 seconds! So, even if they hadn't lucked out and gotten Sara switched in, and even if they'd not gotten the 2nd fastest ringer... they STILL would have won! It was just meant to be. Dan must just be a strong motivator!

[Loren]

Oh never mind, I see from the second page that the BEST is the best cumulative score, and not the sum of the best individuals. The results on the second page are not the same as column 4.

Fun! 5 of 8 teams did their best team run on run #4. Pushed too hard on run #5?

[Carracer]

Pictures from the event as always, you're free to use them in whatever you want.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskrdGc2x

Ryan and Ben seemed to be in a competition to see who could pull the rear wheel up more.





Fun event but I wish I realized sooner our team need to change our teams grid order, a tweak would have helped us optimize our cars better I feel.

[Native]

Thanks for the pics, Philip, I mean, Capt'n.

I enjoyed the event, and the course, very much. A big part of that was sharing Chris's sweet little Civic SI - very nice drive! Thanks again, Chris. The side-competition is always fun.

Speaking of which, not that it means anything, but I did not go off course on my first run. That's a mistake.

The course was a bit different than what we've often do at the airport. As has been stated, it required a lot of patience, and very careful use of the right foot. It also demanded that one stay ahead of things, as getting behind was mostly impossible to make up for and still salvage a decent run.

Thank you very much to all those who helped out during the day. Not gonna try to name names, but quite a few folks pulled double-duty, and that really helped everyone enjoy a safe and reasonably smooth-running event. We had a couple kinks to work out - try as we do to anticipate, a new format is always a little tricky.

I won't make Jan 2 - see y'all in a about a month! I'll be lookin' to hook up a co-drive...

[Jamie]

I did not go off course...That's a mistake.

Yeah, yeah...how many times have we heard that. He's a pioneer...he makes his own course....

[Carracer]

I reuploaded some of my pictures with some editing done to them ( somewhat heavy handed I'll admit )

https://flic.kr/s/aHsknVFJnu

When I watched my best dirty run I realized it was not the run I remember driving straight into a cone on. I feel a little better now knowing I didn't throw it away like that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSk-ik5fplU

My cars grip level seemed to change every 50 feet ( I'm sure it was in my head ). I never got a good feel for it and my clean times reflected that.

Thanks for the pics, Philip, I mean, Capt'n.

Something I learn from being a "captain" is I can't drive and be a captain at the same time. I was thinking way too much about "why I can't I drive" and not enough how to better our overall time... Or cheat like Dan's team must have done

[ImpostorDan]

Something I learn from being a "captain" is I can't drive and be a captain at the same time. I was thinking way too much about "why I can't I drive" and not enough how to better our overall time... Or cheat like Dan's team must have done

Wow - being captain and being ready to drive was the most challenging aspect with time on the grid. Clearly, I fully balanced my duties by starting a ride-a-long strategy which allowed us to secure the best line early as evidenced here...



As mentioned, Team Clean peaked early with a purposeful strategy to make run #3 a somewhat conservative baseline and it paid off...
https://youtu.be/04854XqcfCY?t=37s

In the end, the real round of applause goes to the drivers of team eight for 1.) re-gridding ~2 times for order's sake 2.) having fun under the immense pressure 3.) and of course... winning - cause I've now cleared a place for a first FAST trophy sticker ever! And as always, a round of applause to the usual suspects for everything that goes into the events, the inbound offset slalom, the post event photo albums, the spicy pepperoni on that pizza and of course, to Loren - for having crafted the talent pool that was team #8!

Great [fun] event, as always.


edits: cause I can't seem to type what I want to say.

[BigBlue]

When I see that photo, all I hear in my head is "ME HUNGRY. MUST EAT."

[ImpostorDan]

When I see that photo, all I hear in my head is "ME HUNGRY. MUST EAT."

I fed the car relatively well Saturday... Unfortunately, that final good clean run eluded me (ya know, for the team). I managed to work out the big offset but tipped a cone on the backside - killed me a bit as this was a place where I was comfortable from the get go.

This event, I made a point to smooth out the steering inputs; I'm still wrestling the car but did better. Also changed up seating position after surely shortening my syncros' life in the last event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFfOmLVn9Jc

[Carracer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFfOmLVn9Jc

That was a great run!

[ImpostorDan]

That was a great run!

Thanks, I finished that run up and I think it was Ron who said I looked a bit slow and hit a cone - I instantly knew I'd at least smoothed out the inputs.

[Loren]

Dan, fess up, that wasn't you driving.

Smooooth!

One comment, just because I saw other people do the same thing (like Ron on his test run). Think about your approach to the finish. Why are you aiming for the center of the finish gate? You pulled the car to the left 2 feet further than necessary. All you have to do is miss the cone on the right! (watch the tail end of Philip's run)

[ImpostorDan]

Dan, fess up, that wasn't you driving.

Smooooth!

One comment, just because I saw other people do the same thing (like Ron on his test run). Think about your approach to the finish. Why are you aiming for the center of the finish gate? You pulled the car to the left 2 feet further than necessary. All you have to do is miss the cone on the right! (watch the tail end of Philip's run)

I'm going to have to store this away for an event or two to catch up. Every one knows I need a couple dozen runs before it sinks in... I finally just recognized the need for a better seat position and that was day one material from June!