David 2

Good run Ron!

Here is my best TO run of 42.630. This is my first time with SoloStorm, data, and usable video. It is a little eye-opening. I make a lot more errors than I thought.

That looked almost identical to my best run...........kidding! Great run Jason. Thanks for posting it.

Yep, what Stephen says is true. I drive the 2023 version of the car which has a slightly wider wheel. I run the Bridgestones and am very happy with them. But, if you look at the results from any National event for DS class you will rarely find anything other than the Bridgestone RE-71Rs.

Thank you.

So, as it turns out, I am the forgetful soul who left the Milwaukee M12 compressor at the March 9th event. Hopefully it got put into lost and found in one of the storage units. If so, I'll pick it up in April. Thanks

Nice!! I get to slalom again.

There were three observers in D group. I was one of them. There wasn't an issue with observing (yes I am biased). We were down to 2 observers for about 1 mintue when we had a lost child incident but other than that it went smooth. The observers, by design, don't have a time sheet in front of them and they rotate car assignments so they wouldn't know that a driver was pulling a DNF on repeat runs. But, I will say that all DNF's were announced quite clearly over the PA and I think the announcer did that well, to my recollection. However, the speakers are set up to announce towards the grid and a lot of times announcements are made before the driver makes it past the exit gate so another speaker pointed inward toward the course and the exit lane could be very helpul. I think this is probably the best solution. Personally, I don't have my car radio on to the announcer when I'm on the track as I find it a distraction. I do agree that it would be great if someone could have gone to that driver and advised there were multiple DNF's. Maybe that driver knew, maybe not. But, there really isn't a method or time available with the current staffing at the tent to do that. The observers are busy, the announcer is doing their part to announce it (if the driver is hearing it or payng attention), and the timer is busy recording the times. If we need another person under the tent to run out and talk with a driver about their messup, that is another worker needed under the tent. The current workers don't have the available time to go talk to drivers about their mess up. I personally had a similar issue early in my "career" where I had DNF's three times in a row and didn't know where on the course I was screwing up and ran over to ask some people where. I was told and fixed it on run 4. It wasn't their responsibilty to come and tell me, or so I thought. But, that assumes a driver is aware by checking their runs on Live Timing or listening to the announcer. I was listening to the announcer and on my third DNF I got an earful from Dave Schotz over the PA who said something along the lines of "He better go find out where he is missing the course". Dave made it clear on the PA that I was screwing up and it was my responsibility to fix it. Maybe the solution is for the announcer to say something along the lines of "someone go talk to this driver, they need some help as they have three DNF's in a row" or, what Dave told me which was that I needed to figure out how to solve my problem. It was my error and I appreciate Dave making it clear on the PA that I was screwing up and it was my responsibiltiy to fix it. Another question is when do you trigger that disccussion, at two DNF's, at three DNF's, one DNF? On that day we only had four runs, I wouldn't think at 2 DNF's they should be talked to. But, at 3 DNF's, maybe that is when it needs to be announced very clearly on the PA that some consulting would be helpful and someone can intervene. The good news is I suspect that particular driver will be checking Live Timing or listening to the announcer very closly from now on. It is a good lesson to all of us. I lived a similar experience but mine was very fortunately limited to three DNF's (thank you Dave Schotz). I feel for Greg but at least it was only a lack of recorded times and not a car breakdown or a cr.sh (I dare not write the entire word).

Thank you Matt

So many great choices. There is the Mustang Mach 1, Camaro SS 1LE, GR Supra, C7 Z51 Corvette, and the almighty (for me), albeit a bit pricey, 718 Cayman 2.5 GTS...... none of which I know how to drive. Or, go back with a GR86 which seems to work well for me. Plus, I have the opportunity to test drive my cousin's C7 Z51 and expose some new layers of rubber on his tires. I can't pass up that opportunity!

Thanks... my friend might be able to get a windshield before Sunday just to be safe.

I will likely be driving a borrowed C7 Corvette this coming weekend. BUT, it has a cracked windshield. It is a large top to bottom crack but is just a crack, not a shatter, no impact on vision, etc. Is there any problem with passing tech inspection with this issue?

Ok, thank you Lance.

Faith, Is this still the process for registering a guest? The driver needs to list the name of the guest on their registration?

Thank you

Thanks Ron

I'm thinking of getting my plain white helmet wrapped. Are there any local shops anyone has used to do that they might recommend?

My very first job at 16 (not counting the paper route) was as a tire break at Tire Pros in Anaheim, CA. By today's standard the equipment was very crude. But, if one used the tools properly and cared about the customers property you could totally avoid damaging it. How it happens over and over again is a wonder. Though, it was very easy to rip the bead on a tire back then. But the wheel could be protected.

$45 each for 17s mounted on new wheels. Happy with the service. MOBILE TIRES AND BATTERIES 539 W Southern Hills Rd PHOENIX, AZ 602 743 9029

I'll pm you a draft Kim and I have been working on.

Ben, Thank you for your efforts at every event for making it run so well. My comment was not intended to be a criticism. My intent is to help. The timing may not have hit well.

I have too little experience in AX to give that task proper justice on my own and if doing something like this isn't a steering committee priority I'd be wasting their time and my time. Though, if the steering committee is interested in something like this they could call for an ad-hoc committee to get a few like minded participants to work up a recomendation to the steering committe, as you suggested. I'd be happy to be on that ad-hoc committee. Also, there may be other policies from the National SCCA on safety that prohibit chapters from developing their own safety protocols as there may be effects on liability and insurance issues. Or, National may already have a policy prepared. I am not privy to this information. To the point you make on me volunteering my time so willingly..... As is your time, my time is a very precious commodity. Safety is, however, very important and keeping quiet about it on a forum does not serve our chapter well. I did not write my comments with the implied expectation that "others" should use their time to take up the task. I'll leave the volunteering time comment at that.

The new concept recently started of having corner captains is a good start. For safety sake and scoring effectiveness, I think each corner captain should give a 2 minute run-down to their workers each time a group starts. And, that run-down should be standardized with the corner captain having a print-out of what they need to go over with their workers. For instance, I think the holding the cone over the head when a cone is going to count as a penalty and the clear horizontal wave of the hands when it is not needs to be drilled into people's heads. More than once when I've been on the radio I have to call out to a worker and ask them if it's a penalty as I don't want to "assume" either way. And, that distraction/interaction takes our attention off the next car that is coming our way. That can be usafe to the workers on the course and unsafe to drivers as we can be late on a redflag, etc. And, there needs to be a red flag protocol as part of that 2 minute rundown where the flag must be in someones hands at all times and unfurled and ready. We had an issue with this at the AX school where there was need for a redflag and nobody was holding it. That could have turned out poorly. We do NOT need a injury/accident out there from laziness/forgetfullness or lack of having a procedure that is done before each group starts. This can be dangerous business if practices to make is safe are not followed.

What a great event AZsolo just held for the autocross school! A big thank you is owed to Kei and all of the instructors and volunteers who gave up their Saturday to teach us up and comers and novices how to be better drivers. And, I owe a an extra thank you to Mark Shrivastava and Brian Peters who gave me great instruction today. And, while I wasn't able to put what you told me today into practice during the school event, I'll do my best to put those pearls of wisdom into practice soon. THANK YOU ALL.

I've gone both routes of using both Longacre alignment plates and a professional alignment. Regarding the plates, I agree with Scott. The algnment plates are all roughly the same. I bought Longacre to do the "buy the best and buy it once" routine as there has been too many times in my life when I've bought a cheap tool/part only to have to buy the good one later. With the alignement plates, I don't see how the less expensive ones will give you different satisfaction from the more expensive ones. Though, do check to confirm your tape measures are 100% the same. I'd suggest measuring first, swap the tapes, and then measure a second time to confirm that you are not picking up a difference between the tape measures. You only need to do that trick once but it is well worth it. My tapes were about 1/32nd different. It was not enough to affect things much but enough to tell me it is worthwhile to confirm your tapes are the same since it could have been more. However, with the alignment plates I find that the plates will get you within 1/16th of what a professional with a good alignement rack will give you. And, that is close enough for fun stuff. Though, I have found that with rear toe, that 1/16th borders on having a discernable affect on AX performance. 1/8th inch will REALLY make the car perform differently. On the front, I don't notice much difference with up to 1/8th inch. More than that and it seems to affect the car. But, each car/driver will be different.