Yeah, I am highly anticipating pictures, hopefully ones of Das Mini tripoding into the first garage.

Oh yeah, and I had the fastest time for any MINI today.

Autox

 

Even though I didn't run it was nice to come out and put some names with faces. If I didn't say hi, I apologize, there were a lot of S2ki folk there. For those who I missed I was the grey haired guy in the black fleece.

Maywood is stupid close to my house but I'm such a course snob that I don't often actually drive there, but if the s2ki numbers continue to be good I just might have to reconsider.

 

lol you were the only mini today

 

Learning Curve was a blast although my opinion might be slightly skewed because I finished 1st in PAX among the students. I was 2nd among the students in raw.

The only hiccup was the catered lunch, that arrived late and turned a 20 minute lunch break into about an hour and cost us a 6th run. We only got 5 runs.

Saturday we had so many runs I was almost to the point of saying "enough, I need a rest". On Saturday the course was cut in half. Lots of shorter runs, but lots of repetition to tweak each maneuver. Exactly what I wanted.

My best run:[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9srAFaUPpQQ [/media]

I'm going to enjoy this small victory, because next time out the competition will be much tougher!

 

Thanks to all who gave me advice and made my first AutoX experience a memorable one. I am looking forward to the next one in my UnPimped ride. I got a lot of comments on my selection of track wheels.

 

Video of my fastest run (.1 seconds slower than mikes IIRC).[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbXdjsjntw [/media]

The video quality is pretty good, but it has that jello-effect that I hear is caused by a rolling shutter. It was recorded at 1080p 30fps. I'm going to try setting it to 720p @ 60 fps. Maybe the faster refresh rate will smooth that out. If not, i think not having the cockpit/dash in frame will help (like a hood mounted location). Part of the problem might be the background (course) is constantly moving while the foreground (cockpit) is staying stationary relative to the camera. Maybe that messes up with the compression and focus or something (obviously I don't know how camera's work and I just make up theories based on how I think they work and what the interwebz have told me).

 

Matt - not surprised you did so well Still definitely one of the best beginner's I've seen. I would love to hear your thoughts on the instruction as well. Every year I try to recommend Learning Curve here, but I personally haven't been. It would be good to be able to better explain to people why it's so great for beginners

Phil (nsx) - the car looked great out there. I'm glad that you had a good time and hope that autox can be the balance between life and racing you're looking for.

Pete - glad you could make it out. Always good to put a face/car with a screen name. Look forward to talking more with you and I hope to see you more at Maywood and other autox sites.

For those of you that missed it or are looking for more - Milwaukee region is having a drivers school (assuming it's like Chicago Region's learning curve) on Saturday and an Autocross on Sunday.

 

Excellent turnout everyone.

I left after the morning session, wish I could have stayed later and improved my time.

Pat - Thanks for introducing yourself and showing me around. I'm sure I'll be seeing you at more auto-x's in the area. Let me know which ones your going to also. It's always more fun to auto-x's with multiple s2k's.

 

No problem man. Thanks for making the drive out. Sorry we couldn't talk more. There will be a lot more autox/track days I'll be at this summer in addition to meets and group drives so I'm sure I'll see you around.

 

Where do they post results, and how quickly are they up usually?