507 replies to this topic

[5X Racing]

Sorry to drive a spike in the youtube video chain, but...

Was following this thread for runoffs info, and I watched the race on speedcast.com last night and must say that it was one hell of an exciting race to watch! The battle for the lead was tense in the last few laps, I was on the edge of my seat watching it! Elivan made some awesome moves and I was inspired to say the least. As Ali G would say: "Respect"

Ok, resume with the videos...

[Brian Ghidinelli]

Thought I'd share my experience as a first-timer at the Runoffs. National racing is not very popular here on the West Coast and I was the lone entrant from NorPac and one of two from SoPac. San Francisco Region puts on its own 7-weekend, 13-race championship each season with 50+ car fields so few people see a reason to race out of region. I personally got into Spec Miata because I wanted to see how I stacked up as a driver and competing at the Runoffs was the next measuring stick for me. And oh was there a lot of stick!

It turns out we never quite put 2+2 together last week and while we finished 9th, there was more in our car + driver combination than we displayed. I'm disappointed with the result but I had a good time at the event despite the man drama. I put a lot of faces to names (Danny Steyn, Tom Sager, Pat Slattery, the rest of the East Street crew and others) and had lots of laughs during my week-long bromance with former west coast co-conspirator Jason Hoover.

Road America is totally unlike the tracks that we have in the San Francisco area which are more driver-focused than strategy/drafting focused. We had a couple of shots during the week to put together a good draft but never quite found the timing and people to work together to earn that full ~1.2s/lap.

As referenced earlier in this thread, there was contact between my #12 and the #17 of Coello. We had a really good car for Q4 and after our first flier, I was involved in an incident with Coello at the kink, protested and subsequently lost my appeal. Coming out of the Carousel, I had a bit of a run on Coello and about halfway to the kink I lifted to equalize the gap so I could run with him down to Canada corner. I had been behind him several times over the course of the week and had a pretty good lap together at that point so I wanted to try and work together down to T12. As Tony turned in, he appeared to check up and I backed out of the gas but ultimately touched him about 2/3rds of the way to the exit berm causing him to go into a slow clockwise spin towards the center of the track. In my mind, I was thinking . I slammed on my brakes and as Tony was going track center/right with his tires locked up, I dodged left. He let off the brakes and shot backwards track left and our Right Rears hit. I was able to continue (albeit with 1/4" toe out in the RR) and Coello came into the pits with a flat. He protested me for hitting him twice before the session was over so my car went to impound and I went to the stewards. I pulled my video only to find that the battery died going into T8 on that same lap. I couldn't believe it - how bad does that look?? Seemed to be sort of par for the week on the luck scale. There was track video from T12 which the stewards reviewed and they told me that was an accordion effect where the car ahead of Coello (Berry) slowed, Coello slowed and I didn't. I appealed and obtained Berry's video (thanks Craig!) which had some rear-mirror view. I also pulled my data which showed, having seen Coello slow, I was 100% off the throttle at turn-in to the kink for 1.7 seconds (some ~300+ feet) before making contact with his bumper. He told the stewards that he was flat out and Berry's video did not show any accordion effect as the original SOM had believed. I was left trying to explain how I hit him when I was off the gas and he was flat! Defending myself in front of the (6!!) stewards for my first time at the Runoffs was probably not the best place to learn and I was stripped of my Q4 times and given 2 points on my license. That pushed me back from ~10th to 19th for the race start.

I found Coello after Q4 to discuss. I indicated that he appeared to slow and he told me he was flat. He said his subframe was bent and his diff was making ugly noises and he didn't think he could repair it in the 36 hours before the race. I offered him my spare diff and anything else we could do to help get him back out. I take responsibility for the contact although based upon the available data and my recollection, I do not feel at fault. Call me a wanker if you will. Lifting at the kink is scary enough, I can't really picture trying to brake at the apex. I suspect had Coello seen my data that he may not have protested me but who knows? All I can say is, when you spin, two feet in!

The race was fun but frustrating. Like Danny, I was too tentative from the kink to Canada after seeing Bednarz wreck in my rear view mirror and getting a bit loose myself. While the car aligned ok, it wasn't the same as in Q4 pre-contact and we picked up a pretty serious push. Combined with one notable mistake under braking in T5 where I gave up 3 positions, we finished 9th when it was all said and done. It was fun to race with a lot of talented drivers and overall the week was a positive one for me even if the result was below my expectations.

I want to give a shout out to Chip Van Vurst who bumped me so hard after the restart that I think my rear wheels came off the ground. If he would qualify better, I think those guys at the front would have been in trouble. We haven't met, but very nice drive both at the Sprints and the Runoffs.

Aside from all of the man drama, I think this is still one of the best classes in amateur racing. This is one of the most competitive classes anywhere and if you want to measure yourself against the best, this is the event to do it. I'd like it to be about 4 days shorter and at a track that would reduce the importance of drafting. That's not to take away from Drago and Gorrarian who often set their fastest laps on their own; they drove great all week. Was the time and expense worth it? I'm going to wait a month or two until I think about it and then decide. It was great to meet new folks and see new tracks, so maybe I will pick and choose a few long-distance races for 2012 to do the same. Hoover is trying to convince me to run the ARRC since my car is in Atlanta but my credit card melted from overuse last week.

Thanks to Charlie James and SafeRacer for their support and for the opportunity to meet face-to-face finally at the big show. He's a business man first and racer second and that makes working with him a pleasure. Jason Hoover from Atlanta Motorsports Group provided me trackside support and advice. Jason's team has won the MX-5 Cup three years in a row so if you want to step up a level to escape old miata drama in favor of new miata drama, he's the guy to talk to! Thanks to RacingVinyl.com for the graphics work this year and last. If my cross-country transport would be more gentle, I wouldn't go through so many door panels! Finally, thanks to Mazdaspeed for the at-track parts support and the dinner on Thursday night. They run a great program and it was nice to meet them in person.

PS - you might have noticed that Coello's sponsors were identical to mine. I don't know how that happened but you couldn't script better irony!

[Craig Berry]

http://http://www.yo...h?v=Pfa-q2wvOwM

The Kink with a wet track out curb! Danny, I know how you feel!

Very frustrating race week, after a year of working twards this one race. Unloaded Sunday and felt pretty good, 44.2 without draft, and right behind my very fast team mates. That was my highpoint....the first dry qualifying session earned a repectable P6 but something flew out of another car, went thru the radiator and melted my first Really great engine. After that it was never the same...just alot of hard work by J.B. and the E.Street crew.
THANKS Jim for everything you have done for me all year. And thanks to Jim, Pat, RL, and my dad for making this fun, even when things go wrong.
I also cannot overstate how Inspirational Chip V's drive was....He is really an amazing racer, and amazing person!

[Craig Berry]

[Danny Steyn]

Great save Craig!!!!

[Gatoratty]

I am thinking that Andrew is Dennis Hopper.....

[Tom Sager]

I am thinking that Andrew is Dennis Hopper.....

I think he might be this guy's half brother.

http://www.google.co...s:0&tx=44&ty=64

[Bench Racer]

I think he might be this guy's half brother.

could vey well be.

[Andrew Charbonneau]

I am thinking that Andrew is Dennis Hopper.....

It must place the lotion in the bascket paul

[Andrew Charbonneau]

has anybody seen paul drive its like watching paint dry

[Gatoratty]

Paint dries quicker...

[Nsparks]

Let's see some video from the weekend!

[Danny Steyn]

Nate
so far the only two are the SpeedcastTV coverage and my in-car camera. Would also love to see more!

http://speedcasttv.c...cca/#/races/258

[Dave Metz]

Nate
so far the only two are the SpeedcastTV coverage and my in-car camera. Would also love to see more!

http://speedcasttv.c...cca/#/races/258

Your video looked pretty sharp. What setup are you running for video/data, Danny?

[suck fumes]

Why was the monkey putting his hand out the window after elivan made that awesome pass under braking toward the beginning of the video?

[Ron Alan]

I want to give a shout out to Chip Van Vurst who bumped me so hard after the restart that I think my rear wheels came off the ground. If he would qualify better, I think those guys at the front would have been in trouble. We haven't met, but very nice drive both at the Sprints and the Runoffs.

Exactly why you have a spare diff around for those "taps" Never know when you might find the "bump" limit

Thanks for the write up Brian. Make sure you add "full camera battery" to your check list...better yet hard wire!

[Danny Steyn]

Your video looked pretty sharp. What setup are you running for video/data, Danny?

Hi Dave

CAMERA

I run a pro Sony HXR-MC1 Bullet cam complete with remote monitor. The lightweight bullet cam is connected to the monitor by a fixed cable. it is automatically started and synched with my Traqmate data system. That keeps the weight off the camera, and it never misses a recording. You still have to remember to tighten the camera mounting screw every now and then . This is a really quality HDef camera and is used by network channels as well as Speed for all its remote in car camera sequences when they do car tests.

I have it hard wired to the battery so I never have to worry about charging batteries. It records AVCHD fromat at full HD at 5 data levels directly to the Sony media stick. I normally record at the mid level to reduce file size, but for the Runoffs I went to the full bandwidth. Unfortunately compressing the video to wmv format reduces the clarity drastically. In the full hi res HiDef version you can read all the numbers on the new traqdash in the video clearly

DATA

I recently switched to the absolutely fabulous Traqdash display recording to the Traqmate system. The new Traqdash is a HUGE improvement over the old display, specifically

• Very readable display
• VERY fast update of the predictive timer which immediately lets you know in real time how you are doing, and if the change in approach you are making in a turn is paying dividends. I will post a video when I get a chance to show you just how dynamic and helpful this new predictive timer is.
• it now also features a MIN SPEED hold - it holds the minimum speed that you held through a corner and displays it until the next braking section, so you can instanly see if the new approach to the turn is working.

Glenn at Traqmate is working on further enhancements and it is great to have access to the developers who listen to us racers and incorporate the changes we request. I seriously doubt that I would have had any of my success without the Traqmate data system.

And if you want to know how seriously some guys take their data, the new SM Runoffs champ also has throttle position feedback and braking pressure data capture feeding to his data system.

If you get a chance take a look at Elivans car. Seldom have I seen a car so beautifully put together. "RESPECT"

[Dave Metz]

Thanks for the info Danny.

[FTodaro]

Hi Dave

CAMERA

I run a pro Sony HXR-MC1 Bullet cam complete with remote monitor. The lightweight bullet cam is connected to the monitor by a fixed cable. it is automatically started and synched with my Traqmate data system. That keeps the weight off the camera, and it never misses a recording. You still have to remember to tighten the camera mounting screw every now and then . This is a really quality HDef camera and is used by network channels as well as Speed for all its remote in car camera sequences when they do car tests.

I have it hard wired to the battery so I never have to worry about charging batteries. It records AVCHD fromat at full HD at 5 data levels directly to the Sony media stick. I normally record at the mid level to reduce file size, but for the Runoffs I went to the full bandwidth. Unfortunately compressing the video to wmv format reduces the clarity drastically. In the full hi res HiDef version you can read all the numbers on the new traqdash in the video clearly

DATA

I recently switched to the absolutely fabulous Traqdash display recording to the Traqmate system. The new Traqdash is a HUGE improvement over the old display, specifically

• Very readable display
• VERY fast update of the predictive timer which immediately lets you know in real time how you are doing, and if the change in approach you are making in a turn is paying dividends. I will post a video when I get a chance to show you just how dynamic and helpful this new predictive timer is.
• it now also features a MIN SPEED hold - it holds the minimum speed that you held through a corner and displays it until the next braking section, so you can instanly see if the new approach to the turn is working.

Glenn at Traqmate is working on further enhancements and it is great to have access to the developers who listen to us racers and incorporate the changes we request. I seriously doubt that I would have had any of my success without the Traqmate data system.

And if you want to know how seriously some guys take their data, the new SM Runoffs champ also has throttle position feedback and braking pressure data capture feeding to his data system.

If you get a chance take a look at Elivans car. Seldom have I seen a car so beautifully put together. "RESPECT"

Does the new TM display work with the old TM System and just swap out the dispay?

[steve]

Does the new TM display work with the old TM System and just swap out the dispay?

Yes, but you do need the locking cable. If you don't already have it, there's an adapter that doesn't cost too much.