A couple weeks ago I went down to OG Racing in VA to buy my first helmet. Amy got me a gift card for Christmas and with autocross season fast approaching, it was time to get down there and buy. I was a little hesitant to buy an SA2010 with the SA2015s coming out next Winter, but Amy convinced me to go ahead and buy one now. Since it's my first helmet, I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two about what I need in a helmet and what things I might do differently for my next helmet purchase.
I ended up getting a white Bell M4 SA2010 in medium. The M4, compared to some other more karting-focused helmets I looked at, had a nice large eyeport that should be better for looking at gauges and things when racing in my car. The size was the biggest question mark and I'm still not 100% positive that medium was best choice. The helmet is pretty snug. It's hard to get my ears into the thing without them folding up in the helmet, and I really have to jam the helmet down on my head to feel like it's far enough down around my chin. But, supposedly as I use it more the cushioning is supposed to compress a little and the helmet will loosen up a little. I don't think it's quite tight enough to be painful, but boy it's close.
Tonight I got to try the helmet out for the first time at Autobahn with a couple friends from work. The place was super busy and it took forever to actually get on the track. And then on track, some of the traffic was really slow and others were spinning out so frequently that they'd have to slow all the cars down to get people pointed in the right direction. I need to stick with weeknights and mid-day trips to avoid the big crowds in the future.
Still despite the crowds, some of the racing was definitely fun. I managed to get some clean laps here and there and post the 31st best time of the week on one track and the 37th best time of the week on the other. Not stellar, but okay for having been away from the track for so long. I also finished with the best time in all three of my races, so that's always fun. My friends from work were also faster than most of the rest of the random drivers we were with, so that was fun too.
It was great using my new helmet for the first time. No loaner helmet or mandatory head sock. The helmet still feels just a little on the tight side. I never noticed it on track, but by the end of the afternoon, as we were sitting on the grid waiting to race, I was starting to feel the pressure of the helmet around my head. If it turns out the helmet is too tight and doesn't break in, then I'll be shopping for an SA2015 next winter. :-)
Friday, April 3, 2015
Saturday, October 18, 2014
10/11 BMW CCA Autocross
Last weekend I participated in my third autocross event and my second with BMW CCA. It was a rainy day but that just made the driving that much more fun.
Greg came again this time, but instead of running his miata he drove my car. This time I got there early enough to walk the track a couple times. Having been to the Porsche event with it's wide sweeping curves, the BMW CCA course seemed extra tight and narrow, although still more open than the last BMW event I was at. On the plus side, all the cones made it a lot easier to keep track of where the course was and avoid DNFs.
Since Greg and I were sharing a car, we were in separate groups so I ran first and worked second, and he worked the course first and drove second. There weren't a ton of people there, so we got to do five runs each instead of this group's usual four runs.
My first run I just used to feel out the track and the wet conditions and finished with a 52.7s. My second run I felt the limit a lot more through the curves which was fun, and resulted in a 48.7s. For my third run, a 48.8s lap, I concentrated on getting harder on the gas through some of the straighter sections, but in a couple spots that took me too deep into turns or left the car too unsettled when braking that hard just before the corner.
In the fourth run I concentrated on smoothing everything out a bit more - going as fast as possible through the straight-ish sections but still making sure I was slowed down enough for the tight turns. I shaved nearly a second off my time, coming down to a 47.9s. My fifth run was more of the same, plus I think by then the rain had stopped and the rivers across the track were starting to go away. I still overcooked it coming out of the last turn and got all squirrely though, which I'm sure cost me a little bit. Even with that though, my time dropped to a 47.5s.
Greg's runs during the second part of the morning were 51.7s, 51.3s, 49.6s, 50.0s, and 47.4s. He just barely pipped me on his very last run of the day! Actually, his last run almost didn't count because of some kind of timing issue. Greg had to check with the time keepers to see why his time didn't get posted, and they had to go back to the raw timing data to get his time.
Given all of the racing we've done together, we know just how well-matched we are with each other and it was no surprise that we'd finish the day less than a tenth apart. It's great having someone to run with where we're so closely matched.
Overall I finished 59th out of 87 for the day in raw times, but 17th overall in the performance-adjusted index, which I'm pretty happy with.
It looks like this event will be my last autocross of the year. I had a lot of fun getting into autocross this year for the first time. It's not exactly the same as racing on a full-sized race course with more traditional brake-turn in-apex-track out corners. But it's still a blast to hustle a car around the cones and feel the limits of what the car can do. I'm looking forward to getting out for more events next year!
Greg came again this time, but instead of running his miata he drove my car. This time I got there early enough to walk the track a couple times. Having been to the Porsche event with it's wide sweeping curves, the BMW CCA course seemed extra tight and narrow, although still more open than the last BMW event I was at. On the plus side, all the cones made it a lot easier to keep track of where the course was and avoid DNFs.
Since Greg and I were sharing a car, we were in separate groups so I ran first and worked second, and he worked the course first and drove second. There weren't a ton of people there, so we got to do five runs each instead of this group's usual four runs.
My first run I just used to feel out the track and the wet conditions and finished with a 52.7s. My second run I felt the limit a lot more through the curves which was fun, and resulted in a 48.7s. For my third run, a 48.8s lap, I concentrated on getting harder on the gas through some of the straighter sections, but in a couple spots that took me too deep into turns or left the car too unsettled when braking that hard just before the corner.
In the fourth run I concentrated on smoothing everything out a bit more - going as fast as possible through the straight-ish sections but still making sure I was slowed down enough for the tight turns. I shaved nearly a second off my time, coming down to a 47.9s. My fifth run was more of the same, plus I think by then the rain had stopped and the rivers across the track were starting to go away. I still overcooked it coming out of the last turn and got all squirrely though, which I'm sure cost me a little bit. Even with that though, my time dropped to a 47.5s.
Greg's runs during the second part of the morning were 51.7s, 51.3s, 49.6s, 50.0s, and 47.4s. He just barely pipped me on his very last run of the day! Actually, his last run almost didn't count because of some kind of timing issue. Greg had to check with the time keepers to see why his time didn't get posted, and they had to go back to the raw timing data to get his time.
Given all of the racing we've done together, we know just how well-matched we are with each other and it was no surprise that we'd finish the day less than a tenth apart. It's great having someone to run with where we're so closely matched.
Overall I finished 59th out of 87 for the day in raw times, but 17th overall in the performance-adjusted index, which I'm pretty happy with.
It looks like this event will be my last autocross of the year. I had a lot of fun getting into autocross this year for the first time. It's not exactly the same as racing on a full-sized race course with more traditional brake-turn in-apex-track out corners. But it's still a blast to hustle a car around the cones and feel the limits of what the car can do. I'm looking forward to getting out for more events next year!
Sunday, September 28, 2014
9/21 PCA Autocross
Last Saturday I participated in my 2nd autocross event (3rd if you count the school). This time it was in a lot near BWI with the Chesapeake chapter of the Porsche Club of America. My buddy Greg came and ran his Miata, and my wife and daughter came to cheer me on.
I got there late and only had a chance for one walk-through on the course. The map looked simple enough, but when you get out there it feels like there's just a ton of open space with not a whole lot of cones indicating the route. I think this was my biggest complaint of the day. With two different spots on the course that you go through twice and so much distance between turns, it would have been really nice to have more cones to make it clearer what the course was.
For my first run, I had an instructor ride along since I was pretty nervous about staying on course, having only had the one walk-through. It was a fine first run, and I stayed on course which was the real goal.
My second run (as with all of the rest of them) I didn't have an instructor with me. I stayed on course and pushed a lot harder. The course had a lot of sweeping turns and a nice fast straight section, and it was a lot of fun to play with the car right at the limit. Lots of squealing tires and sliding around. :-)
The next run felt even faster, but then when I went and checked my time I had a DNF. The worst part was that nobody could tell me where I went off course. With no feedback on my mistake, I went out and did the same thing again in the 4th run too. Finally after that run, Greg was able to tell me where I went off course so I could correct it.
My 5th run was relatively quick, considering I was worried so much about going off course again. This time, instead of playing with the car at the limit all the way through and out of the turns, I tried keeping the car a little more collected through the turns and getting on the gas quicker. Not quite as fun as feeling the car on the ragged edge in the turns, but probably faster overall.
A week later and the Chesapeake PCA still hasn't posted the official results, so I'm not sure if that's normal for them or what the hold-up is. I thought Greg got me by about half a second on his last run, but he says he hit a cone and lost a second for it, which would give me the win and our little office trophy. Still waiting on the official results to collect though. :-)
Overall I liked the autocross setup. They seemed well organized and got everyone through their five runs pretty quickly. The lot seemed like a nice enough place to run and the course was pretty fast and flowing for an autocross course, unlike the stop-and-go tight course of the BMW event I went to. It was also nice that the lot was less than 15 minutes from my house. Plus, compared to watching BMWs run around the track, seeing these beautiful Porsches from many different generations was a nice little bonus of the PCA event. I could definitely see myself doing more events with them in the future.
I got there late and only had a chance for one walk-through on the course. The map looked simple enough, but when you get out there it feels like there's just a ton of open space with not a whole lot of cones indicating the route. I think this was my biggest complaint of the day. With two different spots on the course that you go through twice and so much distance between turns, it would have been really nice to have more cones to make it clearer what the course was.
For my first run, I had an instructor ride along since I was pretty nervous about staying on course, having only had the one walk-through. It was a fine first run, and I stayed on course which was the real goal.
My second run (as with all of the rest of them) I didn't have an instructor with me. I stayed on course and pushed a lot harder. The course had a lot of sweeping turns and a nice fast straight section, and it was a lot of fun to play with the car right at the limit. Lots of squealing tires and sliding around. :-)
The next run felt even faster, but then when I went and checked my time I had a DNF. The worst part was that nobody could tell me where I went off course. With no feedback on my mistake, I went out and did the same thing again in the 4th run too. Finally after that run, Greg was able to tell me where I went off course so I could correct it.
My 5th run was relatively quick, considering I was worried so much about going off course again. This time, instead of playing with the car at the limit all the way through and out of the turns, I tried keeping the car a little more collected through the turns and getting on the gas quicker. Not quite as fun as feeling the car on the ragged edge in the turns, but probably faster overall.
A week later and the Chesapeake PCA still hasn't posted the official results, so I'm not sure if that's normal for them or what the hold-up is. I thought Greg got me by about half a second on his last run, but he says he hit a cone and lost a second for it, which would give me the win and our little office trophy. Still waiting on the official results to collect though. :-)
Overall I liked the autocross setup. They seemed well organized and got everyone through their five runs pretty quickly. The lot seemed like a nice enough place to run and the course was pretty fast and flowing for an autocross course, unlike the stop-and-go tight course of the BMW event I went to. It was also nice that the lot was less than 15 minutes from my house. Plus, compared to watching BMWs run around the track, seeing these beautiful Porsches from many different generations was a nice little bonus of the PCA event. I could definitely see myself doing more events with them in the future.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Company Party at Autobahn
Tonight my company rented the Le Mans track at Autobahn for three hours for our 7th Anniversary Party. I ended up doing a total of eight races. I had some pretty stiff competition, and it was a lot of fun. I'm pretty sore from racing so much though. Hopefully I can still move when I wake up tomorrow morning.
One of the fun things about going to Autobahn with (non-racer) buddies/co-workers is getting to expose so many new people to racing and going fast. I'm guessing we had about 25 people there tonight. It seemed like everyone was having a great time trying it out. Some of the races (coincidentally, the ones with the company owner) involved a ton of bumping and black flags, which was fun to watch. The downside of all the newbies is having to navigate the slow traffic out there on track. It can get pretty crowded, and finding clean laps to post good times can be a challenge. But, it's worth it to be able to share the fun of karting with that many more people.
The big surprise of the night was that another guy at the company did have some experience at Autobahn and was every bit as fast as I was (which is to say, faster than I was). I was feeling pretty good about myself after my first heat, being a full second faster than the next guy in my group. Then I see Jacob post a lap time six tenths faster in the next heat! I spent the rest of the night trying (mostly failing) to catch up to Jacob's lap times.
Between heats, I talked to Jacob about how he was taking certain turns on the track. I also caught a couple brief glimpses of how he was taking certain turns, before he sped off into the distance. I gradually brought the gap down from one second to 3 tenths, then finally with the aide of traffic and kart luck I managed to beat Jacob in a heat.
Then as the evening was winding down, we got out there with a fast group, I had a great kart, and we got tons of green-flag racing with very little traffic issues. I managed to post the 6th fastest time of the week, besting Jacob's fast time of the day by seven thousandths of a second!
It was a great evening of racing, even though I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. It was fun karting with so many friends from work. It was fun meeting new people in the company. It was fun having some other fast people there to race with. And it was great digging deep, putting some fast laps together, and somehow miraculously coming out with the fast lap of the day.
One of the fun things about going to Autobahn with (non-racer) buddies/co-workers is getting to expose so many new people to racing and going fast. I'm guessing we had about 25 people there tonight. It seemed like everyone was having a great time trying it out. Some of the races (coincidentally, the ones with the company owner) involved a ton of bumping and black flags, which was fun to watch. The downside of all the newbies is having to navigate the slow traffic out there on track. It can get pretty crowded, and finding clean laps to post good times can be a challenge. But, it's worth it to be able to share the fun of karting with that many more people.
The big surprise of the night was that another guy at the company did have some experience at Autobahn and was every bit as fast as I was (which is to say, faster than I was). I was feeling pretty good about myself after my first heat, being a full second faster than the next guy in my group. Then I see Jacob post a lap time six tenths faster in the next heat! I spent the rest of the night trying (mostly failing) to catch up to Jacob's lap times.
Between heats, I talked to Jacob about how he was taking certain turns on the track. I also caught a couple brief glimpses of how he was taking certain turns, before he sped off into the distance. I gradually brought the gap down from one second to 3 tenths, then finally with the aide of traffic and kart luck I managed to beat Jacob in a heat.
Then as the evening was winding down, we got out there with a fast group, I had a great kart, and we got tons of green-flag racing with very little traffic issues. I managed to post the 6th fastest time of the week, besting Jacob's fast time of the day by seven thousandths of a second!
It was a great evening of racing, even though I'm going to be pretty sore tomorrow. It was fun karting with so many friends from work. It was fun meeting new people in the company. It was fun having some other fast people there to race with. And it was great digging deep, putting some fast laps together, and somehow miraculously coming out with the fast lap of the day.
Gotham Dream Car Sprint
This past Sunday, I got to do something I've dreamt about since I was a little kid: Drive a Ferrari! And boy did I drive it. And a Lamborghini too! And it was even better than I imagined.
For Valentine's Day, my wife got me a groupon for $125 for the "Dream Car Sprint" from Gotham Dream Cars. From their website, it's described as an "autocross event" where you can "open [the car] up for the thrill of a lifetime." Sounds totally awesome, and I was excited, but part of me was worried that "open it up" would really translate to "no wait don't go too fast" when it came to the reality of the event. I also had no idea what cars would be there, or what the track would be like. Luckily I had done a little bit of autocross this year (just for this reason!) so I at least knew a little bit about driving around cones. Otherwise though, I really wasn't sure what to expect.
My appointment was at 10am, and when I got there I saw a beautiful gray Ferrari 430 and an even more gorgeous bright orange Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Only one problem - they were going so slow! Whoever was driving them was really crawling around the track. This was not a good sign.
I got registered, which was super smooth and easy. The guy said my groupon included 4 laps in the car of my choice. Or, I could add another 4 laps, in either car, for $75 extra. Well that's a no-brainer! I'm already taking the time out of my busy schedule to get all the way up to Aberdeen, and you're telling me I can drive both cars for an extra $75? Sold.
I was essentially in the Ferrari and Lamborghini line at the same time (you get little cards with numbers on them), and the Ferrari came up first. My wife and 2-year old daughter told me to have fun and go fast, and I hopped in the drivers seat. As we waited for the Lamborghini to finish on track, the instructor and I got to talking about similar experiences, and I said I had done a little bit of autocross and some Skip Barber Racing School back in the day. I told him I would go as fast as he'd let me. Luckily, he had the perfect response - as long as I'm in control, I can go as fast as I want.
As the Lamborghini exited the track, the instructor gave me the green light. On the gas, and I'm actually driving a Ferrari!!! Oh man it sounded wonderful. Up through 1st, to 2nd, to turn 1, hard on the brakes, tires squealing with great brake feel. A long right-hander follows. I'm still getting used to the car, but as I give it more and more speed, the handling just feels wonderful. The right hand turn tightens up, and switches quickly to a tightish left-hander, but then it's a little bit of a straightaway, then hard on the brakes again and into a long right hander leading back on to the main straight.
After getting used to the car that first lap, I really cranked it up for the rest of the four laps. I was getting it up to third gear by the end of the straight before jamming the brakes and getting back into second. And through the turns, I was getting the car right up to the limit of adhesion. It felt so light and nimble, and so responsive to the steering and throttle inputs. Just amazing.
On the last lap in the Ferrari, I went a little wide through turn one and ran over a few cones. The instructor didn't seem too upset about it, which was good. When I got back to the pit, it became clear that I took the cones with me, and the people had to spend a few minutes fishing cones out of the front of the car. :-) Oops.
Next up was the Lamborghini. Just sitting there waiting, blipping the throttle and hearing that growl, was super cool on its own. On track, I started pushing earlier in the Lamborghini session since I already knew the track. It was pretty nimble too, and was certainly great, but compared to the Ferrari it had a little bit less steering feel. On the exit of one of the corners, as I got onto the gas, the back end got out a little bit. It was a pretty small moment - just a quick steering correction and everything was back in line. When we pulled back into the pits though, the instructor said it was the first time all day that he had a little heart attack. :-)
My wife said you could see the two of us with huge grins on our faces, as we brought the car back in at the end of the run. I'm sure it was pretty funny to the spectators too, hearing the car squealing all over the track after seeing most of the people just poke around the track slowly.
The whole experience was amazing. The only downside was that I didn't do much "soaking in" of the fact that I was actually driving these awesome cars. I was just spending all my time concentrating on going fast. I don't really mind it, because pushing the cards that hard was awesome. It was great that they let me go that fast. Both cars, particularly the Ferrari, were just so outstanding at the limit. So much better than I expected, which is actually kind of funny because what else would you want out of a supercar? It opened my eyes to what makes these cars so great though. I'm hoping I'm now on some kind of e-mail list for deals from Gotham Dream Cars, cause I'd love to do it again in the future.
For Valentine's Day, my wife got me a groupon for $125 for the "Dream Car Sprint" from Gotham Dream Cars. From their website, it's described as an "autocross event" where you can "open [the car] up for the thrill of a lifetime." Sounds totally awesome, and I was excited, but part of me was worried that "open it up" would really translate to "no wait don't go too fast" when it came to the reality of the event. I also had no idea what cars would be there, or what the track would be like. Luckily I had done a little bit of autocross this year (just for this reason!) so I at least knew a little bit about driving around cones. Otherwise though, I really wasn't sure what to expect.
My appointment was at 10am, and when I got there I saw a beautiful gray Ferrari 430 and an even more gorgeous bright orange Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Only one problem - they were going so slow! Whoever was driving them was really crawling around the track. This was not a good sign.
I got registered, which was super smooth and easy. The guy said my groupon included 4 laps in the car of my choice. Or, I could add another 4 laps, in either car, for $75 extra. Well that's a no-brainer! I'm already taking the time out of my busy schedule to get all the way up to Aberdeen, and you're telling me I can drive both cars for an extra $75? Sold.
I was essentially in the Ferrari and Lamborghini line at the same time (you get little cards with numbers on them), and the Ferrari came up first. My wife and 2-year old daughter told me to have fun and go fast, and I hopped in the drivers seat. As we waited for the Lamborghini to finish on track, the instructor and I got to talking about similar experiences, and I said I had done a little bit of autocross and some Skip Barber Racing School back in the day. I told him I would go as fast as he'd let me. Luckily, he had the perfect response - as long as I'm in control, I can go as fast as I want.
As the Lamborghini exited the track, the instructor gave me the green light. On the gas, and I'm actually driving a Ferrari!!! Oh man it sounded wonderful. Up through 1st, to 2nd, to turn 1, hard on the brakes, tires squealing with great brake feel. A long right-hander follows. I'm still getting used to the car, but as I give it more and more speed, the handling just feels wonderful. The right hand turn tightens up, and switches quickly to a tightish left-hander, but then it's a little bit of a straightaway, then hard on the brakes again and into a long right hander leading back on to the main straight.
After getting used to the car that first lap, I really cranked it up for the rest of the four laps. I was getting it up to third gear by the end of the straight before jamming the brakes and getting back into second. And through the turns, I was getting the car right up to the limit of adhesion. It felt so light and nimble, and so responsive to the steering and throttle inputs. Just amazing.
On the last lap in the Ferrari, I went a little wide through turn one and ran over a few cones. The instructor didn't seem too upset about it, which was good. When I got back to the pit, it became clear that I took the cones with me, and the people had to spend a few minutes fishing cones out of the front of the car. :-) Oops.
Next up was the Lamborghini. Just sitting there waiting, blipping the throttle and hearing that growl, was super cool on its own. On track, I started pushing earlier in the Lamborghini session since I already knew the track. It was pretty nimble too, and was certainly great, but compared to the Ferrari it had a little bit less steering feel. On the exit of one of the corners, as I got onto the gas, the back end got out a little bit. It was a pretty small moment - just a quick steering correction and everything was back in line. When we pulled back into the pits though, the instructor said it was the first time all day that he had a little heart attack. :-)
My wife said you could see the two of us with huge grins on our faces, as we brought the car back in at the end of the run. I'm sure it was pretty funny to the spectators too, hearing the car squealing all over the track after seeing most of the people just poke around the track slowly.
The whole experience was amazing. The only downside was that I didn't do much "soaking in" of the fact that I was actually driving these awesome cars. I was just spending all my time concentrating on going fast. I don't really mind it, because pushing the cards that hard was awesome. It was great that they let me go that fast. Both cars, particularly the Ferrari, were just so outstanding at the limit. So much better than I expected, which is actually kind of funny because what else would you want out of a supercar? It opened my eyes to what makes these cars so great though. I'm hoping I'm now on some kind of e-mail list for deals from Gotham Dream Cars, cause I'd love to do it again in the future.
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