SCCA EMod MGB GT V12 Build

alfadriver said:

In reply to loosecannon :

I'm glad you commented about the course layout- I'm thinking the exact same thing while watching you drive the course.  Instead of using so many straight, dense, cone lines, they could do a lot better with the flow layout, and then flour the entire outline.  If I were the designer, and saw that more than 5% went off course, I'd seriously look at the design.  It's not an obstacle course, it's a race course.

I was the chief course designer for several years and know how hard it is to design a different, challenging course that checks all the boxes but I also know it can be done. I used to design the course a week in advance and then stare at it, looking for potential problems. I would consider it a fail if there were more than a couple of dnf's or if too many cones were hit. I couldn't get a read on either course and couldn't attack or even get a good flow going. I think I would have won the afternoon event if I hadn't run wide on the 180 degree turn at the far end. You can see in the video starting at the 3:39 mark The moment I lost the event

Yeah, I'd be lost on most of that course, especially if I was new at it. Unfortunately people tend to take constructive criticism poorly, so hopefully there is a way to address this without much issue.

loosecannon said:

alfadriver said:

In reply to loosecannon :

I'm glad you commented about the course layout- I'm thinking the exact same thing while watching you drive the course.  Instead of using so many straight, dense, cone lines, they could do a lot better with the flow layout, and then flour the entire outline.  If I were the designer, and saw that more than 5% went off course, I'd seriously look at the design.  It's not an obstacle course, it's a race course.

I was the chief course designer for several years and know how hard it is to design a different, challenging course that checks all the boxes but I also know it can be done. I used to design the course a week in advance and then stare at it, looking for potential problems. I would consider it a fail if there were more than a couple of dnf's or if too many cones were hit. I couldn't get a read on either course and couldn't attack or even get a good flow going. I think I would have won the afternoon event if I hadn't run wide on the 180 degree turn at the far end. You can see in the video starting at the 3:39 mark The moment I lost the event

Back when, I used to design courses, too.  Since we had a lot of new drivers, I did my best to make it easy to follow.  Which is tough.  Even more tough to consistently make an interesting course when the layout forces you to make some huge compromises.  You have a narrow strip of concrete, we had some lots where there was so much damage that we could not run in big areas.  Still....

Since I don't race anymore, I'll stop "ranting" about it.

For the morning event, I posted a few clips of each of my runs but that doesn't give you an idea of what one run was like, so I made a video that is each of my four runs, from different angles.

All 4 runs from the morning event

Just got my August GRM!!!

Cool!

The Pink Panther is back in the cage, getting some updates before Nationals

Ok, lots has happened. I changed the gears so I can hit 80 mph in 2nd gear, I smoothed out the body, reduced the panel gaps, filled a bunch of holes in the floor then Briget hit it with a fresh coat (or 3) of flourescent pink.  It's never looked better. I have a new Instagram page for the car, too. Check it out Pink Panther Instagram page

The Pink Panther gets PINK!

Watching your car get onto the flatbed truck, it seems as if the car has a slight list to the drivers side....  Was the truck not level, or my eyes wrong?

In reply to alfadriver :

It sits level with me in it and it's been corner balanced. Tire pressures were not checked before it was loaded, though

In reply to loosecannon :

Cool.  And it looks great.  I can't imagine how it looks in the sunlight live.

How is it that a downdraft paint booth resides in such a picturesque locale? Watching the 'goils' spray the P was pure poetry in motion.....many thanks to Emily for sharing.....oh and the late sixties mopar is not a bad backdrop either

Do you ever actually hit 80 mph in second gear? What do you figure that your average speed is overall during a run, considering the slow start and tight turns and all that braking and such? Wondering . . .  ! ? ! ? ! ? !

alfadriver said:

In reply to loosecannon :

Cool.  And it looks great.  I can't imagine how it looks in the sunlight live.

Yeh, it's much brighter in person. Sort of how you can look at a video of welding and not get welding flash but seeing welding in person can blind you. 

notsafeforwork said:

Do you ever actually hit 80 mph in second gear? What do you figure that your average speed is overall during a run, considering the slow start and tight turns and all that braking and such? Wondering . . .  ! ? ! ? ! ? !

At Nationals last year and Springnationals this year, we were bouncing against the rev limiter (74 mph) for long periods of time. I know we lost time because of it so now we can do 79 mph in 2nd. Curiously, I can now do 54 mph in reverse but have no plans to test that out

Thanks for the info ! The autocross courses around here seem to be short and complicated, rarely do the cars ever get out of second and "at speed" I doubt that anyone exceeds 45/50 mph if that. Lots of tight turns, switch-backs and chicanes, only one slightly long straight after the last turn towards the finish. Makes things challenging, but not very fast. I can't imagine the fun of hitting close to 80 mph in a car like yours ! !

Oh, and that pink is blinding; LOVE it ! ! You should place a few static cling "stickers" in a few strategic places that can be easily removed on occasion, just to check how much the new coat fades out over time. Would a UV resistant clear coat over all help with the fading "problem?" We live in a coastal town and many of the boats with custom paint (the off shore go-fast-boats all seem to have flames on them again this year) have this sort of UV protective top coat, seems to really work well.

notsafeforwork said:

Thanks for the info ! The autocross courses around here seem to be short and complicated, rarely do the cars ever get out of second and "at speed" I doubt that anyone exceeds 45/50 mph if that. Lots of tight turns, switch-backs and chicanes, only one slightly long straight after the last turn towards the finish. Makes things challenging, but not very fast. I can't imagine the fun of hitting close to 80 mph in a car like yours ! !

Oh, and that pink is blinding; LOVE it ! ! You should place a few static cling "stickers" in a few strategic places that can be easily removed on occasion, just to check how much the new coat fades out over time. Would a UV resistant clear coat over all help with the fading "problem?" We live in a coastal town and many of the boats with custom paint (the off shore go-fast-boats all seem to have flames on them again this year) have this sort of UV protective top coat, seems to really work well.

That’s been my experience with Autocross.  Tight courses laid out by people who’s goal is to limit power advantages.  I’ve gone to a few events, watched cones flying and never bothered running.  

loosecannon said:

notsafeforwork said:

Do you ever actually hit 80 mph in second gear? What do you figure that your average speed is overall during a run, considering the slow start and tight turns and all that braking and such? Wondering . . .  ! ? ! ? ! ? !

 Curiously, I can now do 54 mph in reverse but have no plans to test that out

Now  that  would be fun autocross to watch.

notsafeforwork said:

Thanks for the info ! The autocross courses around here seem to be short and complicated, rarely do the cars ever get out of second and "at speed" I doubt that anyone exceeds 45/50 mph if that. Lots of tight turns, switch-backs and chicanes, only one slightly long straight after the last turn towards the finish. Makes things challenging, but not very fast. I can't imagine the fun of hitting close to 80 mph in a car like yours ! !

Oh, and that pink is blinding; LOVE it ! ! You should place a few static cling "stickers" in a few strategic places that can be easily removed on occasion, just to check how much the new coat fades out over time. Would a UV resistant clear coat over all help with the fading "problem?" We live in a coastal town and many of the boats with custom paint (the off shore go-fast-boats all seem to have flames on them again this year) have this sort of UV protective top coat, seems to really work well.

I used to do all the course designs and set up for my local club and I took it very seriously. Roger Johnson, a course designer and engineer for the SCCA, wrote a book on course design Download and Print here and I actually went to a seminar put on by him and helped him set up the courses at Nationals. I don't think a course needs to be fast to be fun but a course set up to intentionally slow cars down by putting in really sharp turns or really tight slaloms is no fun at all. A course needs to have good flow and give you enough room to hang yourself. I considered it a failure if too many cones were knocked down or if too many people got lost on course. Aiming for a top speed of 65 mph for the quickest stock class car means that the quickest Mod class car will hit around 80 mph. I no longer do our local courses and it sounds like ours are just like yours. I usually don't get over 60 mph on our courses. My car is fun to drive because it's a loyal companion, it does nothing untoward, goes where you point it, as quickly as you want it and stops when you want it to stop.

We love the PINK! and the car looks smoother and better than ever but Briget made some mistakes and inevitably will hit cones at a high rate of speed so it will eventually need a respray. It should be easier next time because the bodywork is good now. We put top quality UV resistant clear on it and some high impact areas are getting XPel PPF on them.

In reply to RevRico :

The 10th anniversary lemons race at gingerman had a reverse slalom to determine pole. After our hotshoe demolished the course(in the bad way) somebody asks, "aren't your worried about the shear pin in reverse?" Glad we didn't know about that in our transmission.

Reverse racing sounds fun and I want to take part. Yes.

I do believe you BOTH have hit some cones at one point or another...

No sense in throwing Briget under the bus now that she can match your times.

Just sayin'     I got your back girl!

Samebutdifferent said:

I do believe you BOTH have hit some cones at one point or another...

No sense in throwing Briget under the bus now that she can match your times.

Just sayin'     I got your back girl!

Sorry, I should have said “Briget made some mistakes with the paint and we will inevitably hit cones at a high rate of speed “

loosecannon said:

Yeh, it's much brighter in person. Sort of how you can look at a video of welding and not get welding flash but seeing welding in person can blind you. 

My legs are the same way when I wear shorts.

"when I wear shorts"

Off topic, so delete if necessary, don't want to ruin your thread. Last time I was welding and wearing shorts was while doing a quick and dirty exhaust on the Mustang. I was on my back underneath holding the pipe in position with my raised knees. Some red hot welding slag found it's way down my shorts and joined up with "the boys" at the bottom. Still have the scar on my forehead where I whacked a seat bolt trying to get out from under and over to the garden hose . . . 

I put it all back together after the fresh paint It's beautiful!