The shame, the shame!

So uh, you ever have any embarrassing moments? I didn't do so hot at the autocross yesterday, but the pic was too funny not to share.

I think it's time to paint shark teeth around the front grill hole. Omnomnom!

I think I once managed to do the exact same thing, only I hit 5 cones instead of just one. That's harder than it sounds, Miatas just aren't that big. Usually, though, I'm buffing cone marks out of the doors.

Here's my first fast lap in the V8 Miata on Saturday. The car is about 45 degrees to the preferred heading at this point. Ooops.

"Hey LOOK! That little Japanese kids trying to hump a cone!"

While rallycrossing I lost a MAJOR portion of my exhaust, no one flagged me... I ended up knocking over more cones (with the pipe) than were left standing at the end of the run.

Maroon92 was there that day ;)

And they say first gens over steer...

Limit of adhesion.....reached and surpassed....

I were there that day...that was a fun day. as I recall, you came awefully close to smashing the chainlink fence, and probably had snot bubbles coming out of your nose from the "innocuous comment" coming from the passenger side of the vehicle.

Keith wrote: Here's my first fast lap in the V8 Miata on Saturday. The car is about 45 degrees to the preferred heading at this point. Ooops.

The important question is "did ya catch it??" Or did you perform a nice, lurid slide instead?

That's the end of the lurid slide - see the rubber on the pavement? I couldn't lift or it would have spun for sure, so I had to ride it out and use the slide to burn off some speed. The corner is a decreasing radius downhill one and it loves to cross you up if you take the wrong line like I did. I caught it (not that I would have put any money on it as this was happening) and actually broke the lap record for Miatas on that lap. Which then got demolished further when I managed to put together a lap that did not involve all available opposite lock. Why was this embarassing? Because I was the trackday organizer, it was the first lap in a fairly anticipated car and I'd just given my "no drifting" speech.

It was a great example of Your Friction Circle At Work - the rear wheels didn't feel like they were spinning, they were just being asked to do a bit too much with all the cornering and torque and weight transfer.

I'm trying to picture John's rallycross run with the exhaust pipe mowing down every cone in reach. Kinda like a game of crack the whip.

P71 wrote: So uh, you ever have any embarrassing moments? I didn't do so hot at the autocross yesterday, but the pic was too funny not to share. I think it's time to paint shark teeth around the front grill hole. Omnomnom!

Once the tires are locked up, you won't turn no matter how hard you turn the wheel... :)

Yeah, but this way it's so much more exciting when you do release the brakes!

It was weird one for me. I hardly ever hit cones, mostly because the FB RX-7 tucks "in" at the bottom and so there's nothing to touch them with. The times that I do hit I usually nip them with either front wheel or misjudge my line and wack it with the butt. This is the first time the car ever dead slid with no response. That turn/gate was at the end of a long straight (for autocross) and it locked the brakes (PIR has horrible pavement in the autocross/pits). Usually when I let off they will unlock and I can continue on. This time they just wouldn't let go and even turning did nothing (see the air under the passenger front?!?!!).

The really interesting part is that when you hit a cone with an FB it sounds and feels like smacking a concrete barricade! It makes so much noise that you swear the engine fell out or something similarly horrible.

Keith wrote:

That picture is better than porn.

P71 wrote: The really interesting part is that when you hit a cone with an FB it sounds and feels like smacking a concrete barricade! It makes so much noise that you swear the engine fell out or something similarly horrible.

That's nothing. When you hit a cone with a kart, you spin out because it picks one end up.

I can top that!

most recent autocross weekend involved a rainy sunday

car stats- 1997 mustang cobra, STIFF setup, auburn road racers diff, 245 azenis 215 "rain tires" down to wearbars. 57% front weight. ...

last turn before the finish was a really tight 90* left hander.

3 out of 5 runs i crossed the finish line backwards

i wont be living that one down for awhile..

So, was it faster forwards or backwards?

5 cones and 1 timing light it one blow...

Keith wrote: So, was it faster forwards or backwards?

fastest run was backwards

I manged to get my mom's Cooper S sideways and nail a few cones after promising her nothing would happen to her car.

pinchvalve wrote:

Keith wrote:

That picture is better than porn.

Now that I look more closely at the picture, is the front tire rubbing on the inner fender? It looks like there is zero clearance.

Nice slide though!

Apexcarver wrote:

Keith wrote: So, was it faster forwards or backwards?

fastest run was backwards

So then you're the one laughing at them! Watch, next time they'll all try it...

The tire's not rubbing on Elvis. I spent a lot of time with the suspension and the fender roller to make sure we had room for those tall tires. It's close, but it's not touching. Not really a nice slide, more like "uhhh ooooohhhh, I don't think I can catch this and everyone is watching"!

I had a lot of embarrassing moments last year, my first full autocross season with my then new-to-me Miata. As my very first responsive, RWD sports car, I just couldn't figure out how to drive it.

I was rewarded for my exceptionally terrible driving at the car club's year end awards banquet: I handily won the Bowling Award for killing the most cones--I had more than 50--and several "special" awards from other competitors recognizing my two dozen spins for the year.

Here's a nice picture of one such spin that my friend was able to catch on camera.

Here's the video of the same spin [youtube.com].

I don't have pics, but at the last autocross I was showing a newbie who had showed up in a VERY nicely prepped Saleen (full Griggs GR40 suspension including the SLA front, R888s on all 4 corners, etc, etc) how to push the car, I finally got through this one double chicane setup without lifting..... only to carry WAY too much speed into the following decreasing radius corner where I took out 4 cones on the outside, launching one of them and taking out 2 others with it.

Showing off is fun, but man does it hurt your lap times!

EDIT: I was in MY car doing this, not his. I realized after I read what I wrote it could come across as if I was trying to show him up in his own car, lol.

I once watched an estock miata set the fastest time of its runs tripping the timing lights dead sideways. It spun 360 degrees without touching a single stop box cone. Don't ask me how. Don't ask me how it even managed to get that sideways at the end of a course like that, come to think about it.

One of our guys at the club meeting mentioned this idea:

"Why not just make a really sharp edge on your airdam, I mean really sharp? Cut the cone off at the base! If the base is in the box it's not counted right?"

I once took out almost an entire C-box, one of the guys on that station was an ass and I wanted to make him run

It was so worth it.

Shawn

Jamesc2123 wrote: I once watched an estock miata set the fastest time of its runs tripping the timing lights dead sideways. It spun 360 degrees without touching a single stop box cone. Don't ask me how. Don't ask me how it even managed to get that sideways at the end of a course like that, come to think about it.

take that and make it the consistent 3rd place (and perpetually underprepped) 1990 miata in STS in St. Louis, and you have me! hehehehehehe, I ALWAYS manage to recover!

If you never did that, you wouldn't get any smarter....

I did it with my last 914, 'cept there was a curb where your cone is. Luckily the wife was out of town on business and I had it all straghtened out before she got home.

Dan