Autocross June 6, 2004 Impressions
06-07-2004, 03:06 AM
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Well, it's great to be back after a long absence and my co-driver and I suffered major autocross withdrawls while we were in Thailand so it's a good feeling to be back with the team and back to representing the cars we're so proud to drive.
IMHO, the track layout was too "coo coo for coco puffs" compared to any of the events I've ever participated in, making all others pale in comparison in regards to speed and sheer excitement. If you've read Steve's autocross review for the month of May (last weekend), you'd know that the track was setup to go counter-clockwise. Well, the course for this weekend was setup exactly the same way but instead the start and finish points were reversed so we drove clockwise this time around. It got me so excited and scared, I forgot to turn on my in-car camcorder 3 out of my 4 runs. After driving the course a couple of times, I didn't care if I drove fast as long as my brakes didn't give out, that's how fast this layout was.
This was no ordinary setup since it was filled with gates and had very minimal in terms of slaloms. The track was about 5-10 seconds faster than any track and was a very long track filled with many sections where you could stay on the gas much longer, favoring cars with serious horsepower and definitely catered to drivers with little or no fear. This was a "balls to the walls" event, combining a narrow autocross track and Solo-1. (You know it's fast when you need 3rd gear with speeds well exceeding 65mph) I for one couldn't believe how open the track was and if you've driven Hawaii Raceway Park before, you'd know that if you go off the track, you're in for trouble as the "escape zones" are minimal and getting involved in a bad crash is a serious reality.
Well, a first generation Toyota MR2 was doing incredibly well, making times in the 50 second range when the car lost it near the end of the drag strip during his 3rd run and got stuck halfway up the hill, crushing the underside of the front and bending the control arms so bad where the wheel was touching the chassis forward of the doors. Being Team S2000's spin-King, I too spun it (but managed to keep it on the asphalt) on my 1st run, then spun it again in the exact same place but got close and personal with the bushes during my 2nd run. If you weren't careful as a driver, it was very simple to drive too fast and go into the corners too hot resulting in a hairy condition or a spinout.
IMHO, the track layout was too "coo coo for coco puffs" compared to any of the events I've ever participated in, making all others pale in comparison in regards to speed and sheer excitement. If you've read Steve's autocross review for the month of May (last weekend), you'd know that the track was setup to go counter-clockwise. Well, the course for this weekend was setup exactly the same way but instead the start and finish points were reversed so we drove clockwise this time around. It got me so excited and scared, I forgot to turn on my in-car camcorder 3 out of my 4 runs. After driving the course a couple of times, I didn't care if I drove fast as long as my brakes didn't give out, that's how fast this layout was.
This was no ordinary setup since it was filled with gates and had very minimal in terms of slaloms. The track was about 5-10 seconds faster than any track and was a very long track filled with many sections where you could stay on the gas much longer, favoring cars with serious horsepower and definitely catered to drivers with little or no fear. This was a "balls to the walls" event, combining a narrow autocross track and Solo-1. (You know it's fast when you need 3rd gear with speeds well exceeding 65mph) I for one couldn't believe how open the track was and if you've driven Hawaii Raceway Park before, you'd know that if you go off the track, you're in for trouble as the "escape zones" are minimal and getting involved in a bad crash is a serious reality.
Well, a first generation Toyota MR2 was doing incredibly well, making times in the 50 second range when the car lost it near the end of the drag strip during his 3rd run and got stuck halfway up the hill, crushing the underside of the front and bending the control arms so bad where the wheel was touching the chassis forward of the doors. Being Team S2000's spin-King, I too spun it (but managed to keep it on the asphalt) on my 1st run, then spun it again in the exact same place but got close and personal with the bushes during my 2nd run. If you weren't careful as a driver, it was very simple to drive too fast and go into the corners too hot resulting in a hairy condition or a spinout.
06-07-2004, 03:19 AM
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Nice recap Jimmy. It's like you said, fast and exciting. Of course, with fast and exciting come more off-road incidents, like the white MR2. Last week it was Jon Matsushige, though he managed to avoid any serious damage.
Congratulations to Colin and Jimmy for running awesome times in today's event. We achieved the goal of putting all 3 S2000's in the top 10 overall times (excluding Elton).
Congratulations to Colin and Jimmy for running awesome times in today's event. We achieved the goal of putting all 3 S2000's in the top 10 overall times (excluding Elton).
06-07-2004, 04:19 AM
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As I've mentioned before, the track layout for this month was the same course for last weekend with the start and finish points reversed. Well the course wasn't the only thing that was reversed as the Mugen S2000's driver positions were also reversed having Steve taking the back seat to Colin who finished with an incredible 48.489 second run which was good for 5th place overall and a micro-second behind the 4th place finisher Gene "Old-Man" Van Orman in his E46 M3 who finished with a 48.481 best time. To sum things up, Colin was "booking-it" making use of every inch of the track going into corners and shooting out of them like a loaded gun.
Ace-McCurry finished right behind Colin for the 6th fastest time at 49.239 during his awesome 3rd run. If you've never witnessed Team S2000's performance at HRP, you'll easily notice how each of our driving styles differ like the colors on a rainbow, however everytime I see Steve drive, it's like he's chasing down the dude who stole his wallet! The pattern shows that everytime Colin manages to best Steve, he comes back the following month and whoops on everybody. The elite crew for this month were all members of the 40-second club.
My ASP S2000 was the first to run in the morning and I recall being concerned about a certain Z3 which managed to edge me out the last time we faced off. After my first 2 comical runs mostly filled with swearing, laughing and spinning (don't forget the bushes), I've finally managed to get in a clean spin-less run during my 3rd attempt but the clock didn't produce a time for me, so I got to have an extra run which proved the most important of all the runs I've made, allowing me to finish with my first top-ten standing for 9th overall resulting with a 50.283 second run. From an in-car impression, it was like I was trying to balance the "see-saw" between under and oversteer at 8000 rpms in 2nd gear.
Elton Fujii (my co-driver) is still adjusting to the car since he's more familiar with a FWD layout and finished with a 54.088 good for 40th overall. He used to compete in his '96 Toyota Camry 4 cylinder automatic and he never finished last in one of the more competetive classes in STS, filled with Mini Coopers and WRX's. The S2000 IMHO is a tricky car to drive since it uses hi-cams and the VTEC kick can make the car hairy to control at the wrong times.
Overall this was a super fast course that allowed many of the cars and their drivers to open it up and show off their high-speed driving skills. I'm proud to say that all of Team S2000's cars (well all of 2 cars) all finished in the top 10 standings, and the first 9 positions were all occupied by NA cars, plus we all won our respective classes! If you see Colin or Steve around, make sure you congratulate them on their outstanding performance this month, and if you want to know how many mosquitos hang out in the bushes, give me a holler and I'll fill you in with all the details.
Ace-McCurry finished right behind Colin for the 6th fastest time at 49.239 during his awesome 3rd run. If you've never witnessed Team S2000's performance at HRP, you'll easily notice how each of our driving styles differ like the colors on a rainbow, however everytime I see Steve drive, it's like he's chasing down the dude who stole his wallet! The pattern shows that everytime Colin manages to best Steve, he comes back the following month and whoops on everybody. The elite crew for this month were all members of the 40-second club.
My ASP S2000 was the first to run in the morning and I recall being concerned about a certain Z3 which managed to edge me out the last time we faced off. After my first 2 comical runs mostly filled with swearing, laughing and spinning (don't forget the bushes), I've finally managed to get in a clean spin-less run during my 3rd attempt but the clock didn't produce a time for me, so I got to have an extra run which proved the most important of all the runs I've made, allowing me to finish with my first top-ten standing for 9th overall resulting with a 50.283 second run. From an in-car impression, it was like I was trying to balance the "see-saw" between under and oversteer at 8000 rpms in 2nd gear.
Elton Fujii (my co-driver) is still adjusting to the car since he's more familiar with a FWD layout and finished with a 54.088 good for 40th overall. He used to compete in his '96 Toyota Camry 4 cylinder automatic and he never finished last in one of the more competetive classes in STS, filled with Mini Coopers and WRX's. The S2000 IMHO is a tricky car to drive since it uses hi-cams and the VTEC kick can make the car hairy to control at the wrong times.
Overall this was a super fast course that allowed many of the cars and their drivers to open it up and show off their high-speed driving skills. I'm proud to say that all of Team S2000's cars (well all of 2 cars) all finished in the top 10 standings, and the first 9 positions were all occupied by NA cars, plus we all won our respective classes! If you see Colin or Steve around, make sure you congratulate them on their outstanding performance this month, and if you want to know how many mosquitos hang out in the bushes, give me a holler and I'll fill you in with all the details.
06-07-2004, 04:25 AM
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by smccurry
Nice recap Jimmy. It's like you said, fast and exciting. Of course, with fast and exciting come more off-road incidents, like the white MR2. Last week it was Jon Matsushige, though he managed to avoid any serious damage.
Nice recap Jimmy. It's like you said, fast and exciting. Of course, with fast and exciting come more off-road incidents, like the white MR2. Last week it was Jon Matsushige, though he managed to avoid any serious damage.
06-07-2004, 04:02 PM
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Well. this weeks race was great! I liked the fact that it was so close to last weeks and I still remembered most of the track. It was different "thinking" in reverse, but once we hit the track, it seemed pretty natural. Because Steve had to leave, we didn't really review the runs in great detail to see where we were making time or losing it. I do notice that when I beat Steve, it's by a smaller margin than when he beats me.
Close examination of the points to date shows a slim 1 point lead for me, this was due to Dan Lil'booty getting between us back in April. I can't believe I lost to GVO by .008 seconds! Damn. We'll need to review the videos again to examine our two runs to compare. Maybe this weekend if we're watching the Canadian GP. Overall, good job by everyone including Elton who had to drive an unfamilar car, on a damp track with two house of sleep!
Close examination of the points to date shows a slim 1 point lead for me, this was due to Dan Lil'booty getting between us back in April. I can't believe I lost to GVO by .008 seconds! Damn. We'll need to review the videos again to examine our two runs to compare. Maybe this weekend if we're watching the Canadian GP. Overall, good job by everyone including Elton who had to drive an unfamilar car, on a damp track with two house of sleep!
06-07-2004, 08:41 PM
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Elton was doing well for 2 hours of sleep, but I also didn't get a good rest since I was very anxious to get to the track, however the fast pace of the course woke me up real quick!
I have to make sure to capture the DV tape and review it more carefully and see if I can improve on minimizing mistakes and capitalizing more on my strengths. I'll be sure to make a copy for you Colin and could you capture my runs (or any other S2000 runs) for me?
It's a great feeling when we finally achieved our goal to all be in the top 10, so now we need to get Elton in the mix and get him involved in our team goals. I still can't believe how nuts Ken Van Orman can drive, I mean he's fast in the slower technical stuff and almost scary to watch in the fast stuff, I mean does he have any weaknesses or what?
06-07-2004, 10:41 PM
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Regarding Ken, I can't think of any weaknesses we could exploit. I mean, if he has a fondness for transvestite prostitutes in Waikiki, I'd consider that a "weakness" but I can't see how we could use that to our advantage on the track.
