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 Posted June 10th, 2009 at 10:36PM
So I do not have a rational explanation for it, but I signed up at twitter a few months ago, and have been trying to “do it.” The single upshot I suppose is that I’m able to send updates via the phone. But why exactly would I send updates in the first place?
I’m probably going to delete my account. In any case, I twitted about getting perfect scores on the GRE. I was emulating the official ETS PowerPrep software on my Mac, using Q and Win XP, and taking the first practice test. After taking the second one and still receiving a perfect score, I said no way and plugged in garbage answers to which the result was… 800 / 800. So I went into my scheduled appointment last Saturday having no clue as to where I was performing. I must have not been feeling my vocab for the day, as I ended up with a 590 verbal. Math was 740 and I was expecting somewhat the reverse.
I’ll have more time to decide whether or not to try again for better results.
Posted June 6th, 2009 at 10:28AM
So last Sunday was the second local autocross of the season, and I predictably took 3rd in Street Mod out of a field of seven:
- 49.362+DNF — 47.474+DNF — 48.057 — 47.394+1 — 47.482 — 46.956
- 49.636 — 49.303 — 48.870 — 53.135+DNF — 48.589 — 49.310
- 50.242+2 — 49.461+3 — 47.768+1 — 48.475+2 — 52.069+5 — 47.256+2
Last season I placed 3rd at every event, besides one 1st place and a 4th place (the NE Divisionals where competition was hot and heavy). I can take both good and bad away from this past week’s results. Firstly, I was more cone happy than ever, not getting a clean run during the event. That’s always disappointing, but as a consolation, I took two fun runs and ran clean 47s both times, so I believe my times are accurately reflected in the results – ie., those cones I were hitting weren’t giving me optimistic times. So really, I was quicker than number two.
But full disclosure? Number two was running the car that wasn’t competitive last season (his Subie wagon as opposed to his monster STi), and he’s still on street tires. And not just street tires, but Azenis, which are by now obsolete and a good second off of today’s top street tire contenders.
So I still have two competitors who are clearly faster drivers. The Evo is better prepared, while the Subie driver gets closer and closer to better prepared. I can’t wait till he finally breaks down and gets the r-compounds. 
My 47 second times (w/o cone-age) were good for 2nd in raw times; there were only four of us getting sub-48 times out of a field of 51. So considering the ways in which the deck is stacked against me*, I am OK with the results.
June 13-14 is the National Tour stop at Seneca Army Depot, which I’ll be attending. Next local autocross is end of June.
* – I’m still on my V710s that I used all of last season (still plenty of life!!).
- I still have less experience than the people I’m nipping at the heels of.
- The MINI was insanely loose, partly because of the wet conditions in the AM, but mostly because I’ve played with the ride height and I believe I’m probably running random toe out at all four corners. I need to get an alignment soon.
- I’m still down two drive wheels and a few hundred horsies from the people I’m competing against. 
I’m wondering about actually keeping some slight toe out up front, if indeed that was part of the looseness, because DAMN the car was turning in. A lot of the cones I hit were because the car turned in better than expected. But I still want the thing to behave safely on-track, so I’ll probably stick with zero toe up front and slight toe in in the rear. We’ll see.
Posted May 5th, 2009 at 12:57PM
(Photo courtesy of ‘Dannyboy’, full 500 image photoset available here)
April 25th was my first chance to autocross this season, at our old site at Adirondack Community College. We were unable to run there last season because of construction. But most of the lot was repaved, so conditions were better than ever except for a few rough spots.
Saturday the 25th was a test & tune, where I got the chance to see if my Kumho V710s still had life left. Turns out they do…
Sunday the 26th was MoHud’s first points event. Final results for Street Mod following (best times in bold, yours truly italicized):
- 50.561+1 — 49.626+1 — 49.819+1 — 49.576 — 52.753+1
- 51.776+DNF — 53.557 — 52.304 — 51.544 — 51.856
- 53.557+1 — 54.052+DNF — 54.558 — 53.228 — 53.123
- 56.806+1 — 55.736+2 — 55.157+1 — 54.574 — 54.613+1
- 61.098 — 60.068 — 59.121+DNF — 56.165+DNF — 57.106+1
- 65.341+DNF — 59.838 — 59.256 — 60.432 — 60.654
- 83.224+DNF — 63.529 — 62.749+DNF
So I took a class win, off to a good start for the season. But the bigger accomplishment for me was taking FTD (fastest time of the day), by 6/10ths of a second. That’s a decent margin of victory, but of course I can’t take all the credit. Among my usual competition for top time of the day…
- The Evo was having teething issues with it’s new set-up, forcing him back onto street tires
- The STi did not make an appearance
- The green mod mk1 GTI wasn’t there; the driver had his (also prepped) ‘94 Integra (EP class, ended up with the 2nd fastest time of 50.187)
And numerous others (like the CSP CRX Si) were simply off of their top game. And I was on mine. So it was a fun two days with good courses, and I ran well. What more can you ask for? (Stay tuned for the answer to that rhetorical question.)
Posted November 5th, 2008 at 12:11PM
I’m currently sitting in a cafe using their wifi, having coffee and a wrap, and soaking in the positive atmosphere. Even though he led virtually the entire campaign and all indicators pointed toward an Obama win (FiveThirtyEight’s predictions were spot-on) nobody took this result for granted. The full import has yet to fully sink in on my end, but I’m looking forward to these formative years. Ending the occupation of Iraq, reforming our healthcare system, and working toward balancing the budget are the three key issues I’ll be watching develop, in addition of course to the most pressing economic woes. I’m hopeful, and that in itself is something I haven’t been able to say for a long time.
Posted June 25th, 2008 at 5:52PM
For posterity’s sake:
Went to an event on the 8th in Hartford, CT, and placed 2nd in SM out of a field of 5. My best time was a 28.824 which was 0.296 off of first (an Evo, of course). Third place was another SM MINI who had whupped me at the two previous CART events I had made it to, when he had an advantage tire-wise.
I was inconsistent, but had that one good run. Still could have improved a lot. This event in Connecticut was basically preparation for the MoHud points event on 6/15 at Columbia-Green Community College. I think I took 1st at this one, but I’m waiting for official results before posting.
No pictures. No MINI love. But I did have a picture in the latest (July ‘08) edition of the “Knock Off,” MoHud’s monthly newsletter. A small “woot” is warranted, I suppose.
I should create a sub-category solely for autocross…
Posted April 16th, 2008 at 7:14AM
Went to the first autocross of the season last Sunday and nabbed 4th place out of a Street Mod field of 10. I was 2.5 seconds off of first and 1 second off of third, which was a similarly prepped MINI running RA1s. I picked up a set of Azenis, which have proven to be very nice, grippy tires. (And you’ve got to love the tread pattern on them.)
My times listed on the website are a little off (the first run, for instance, was not supposed to count as I got a re-run.):
77.442+OFF
63.882
62.780
60.889
I could have broken 60 if I had a few more runs. As is, I received three re-runs though, so I certainly can’t complain. That 4th place was good for a trophy, but I didn’t stick around since I didn’t realize my last run was that strong. Plus it was a long drive home and I was beat.
But even more exciting than the first autocross, is the fact that I have a set of Kumho V710s coming to me in the mail. They’re 215/40/16 tires which I’ll be mounting to my Kosei K1 wheels. I’m excited as these are my first set of r-comps, and should help me become a wee bit more competitive in SM. They’re used, but only barely scrubbed in, and have a pretty recent production date, so they’re probably fresher than if I ordered new from Tire Rack.
My next priority is getting an alignment before I blow through the Azenis. I’ve found a place nearby that should be just the ticket. Stay tuned, ladies and gents.
Posted September 12th, 2006 at 3:28PM
This autocross (my third this season / ever) was with the Finger Lakes SCCA club, at a parking lot at a Xerox (yes, the photocopying company) compound in Rochester, NY. This group puts on, dare I say, a very polished and well-run event, at least compared to Mo-Hud. I was able to pre-register online weeks before the event, they have a program in place to help novice drivers (including their own class), and everyone got five runs in, despite there being more than 120 cars. I pulled out of Rochester at 4pm. Tight.
Halfway through, someone even hit one of the timing sensors at the finish line. They were able to replace the sensor and get the event back up and running in fifteen or twenty minutes.
As for how I did? Well, like the last two, I feel mixed. My runs were clean for the most part, I ran good lines mostly, and my times steadily improved. I placed #13 in novice class, PAX-adjusted, out of a field of 23. (If I had stuck with G-Stock, I would have placed 2nd out of four…)
Times:
51.843
51.371
50.22
49.9
48.623
The fastest time of the day (FTD) was 40.398. Overall, in raw time, I was #82 out of 124 drivers. The general impression I got this time around, is that I just need to push my car harder. I need to brake much later into the turns, and I need to get on the gas more progressively and sooner. I wasn’t running any of the slaloms as fast as I could, and there were two corners that got me probably three out of five runs. Still, there was improvement, and by the time the day was over, I was content with that 48.6.
Another neat thing about this SCCA chapter, is that they have a dedicated guy taking pictures of every car. Of course, they don’t focus on people who aren’t regulars (and who aren’t likely to even know about this perk), but they got the MINI going around one corner. I re-uploaded the photos onto my flickr:
Notice a few things. First, that astonishing amount of body roll on my MINI. I was totally overcooking this corner, and ploughed pretty bad in this shot (although my line was OK), but jeez. Secondly, the instructor riding shotgun. Finger Lakes SCCA requires those in the novice class to have an instructor riding shotgun for at least the first two runs. He was sort of helpful, with a few tips, but also obstructed my view of the upcoming course around some of the curves. Plus just unnecessary weight.
Anyways, it was fun regardless, and I think I might go to another event this weekend. There’s no such thing as too much seat time.
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