Look who's going to Autocross Dubai... because alien aka "Who da man? CudaMan!"

[CudaMan]

I like my 350Z. Super fun. And I think outside of ProSolo, it's as competitive as anything in STU. Until someone builds and develops a Porsche, probably.

What's the other car?

[FaultyMario]

I thought you had two of sane, albeit a newer one.

[Cam]

Keep up the good work, Cuda! :D

[FaultyMario]

Two of same.

[CudaMan]

Ah yes, swapped the go-fast parts from a 2003 to a 2007. +30rwhp and +10rwtq and +900rpm. Also +~30lbs. Worth it. Still have the 2003 which is now stock and makes a more comfy daily driver. Wanting to upgrade to a more practical DD but not until income is secured.

[Godson]

I think the boxster could be damned competitive. I have other plans.


Which may or may not be crazy.

[samoht]

Fingers crossed for some good news soon.

I think you've demonstrated your potential pretty well this year, regardless of the odd mechanical issue, so I hope the people who matter have been paying attention!

[Kchrpm]

The first two race weekends for PWC, at street circuits at St. Petersburg and Long Beach, have been completed sans Nissan entry. The next race is at VIR, and look who the lead sponsor is for that race, at least according to this graphic on their website.

http://files.world-challenge.com/events/2017-04-vira/banner_2017-04-28-vira.png

Fingers crossed!

[Freude am Fahren]

I think JD was in an Aston for St. Pete, so... ?

[IforceV8]

Sanchez gets AE seat teamed with Montecalvo. :( http://sportscar365.com/world-challenge/montecalvo-sanchez-confirmed-in-always-evolving-nissan-for-sprintx/

[The359]

For SprintX though. They still have a second GT-R, or at least they should.

[IforceV8]

They are only doing Sprint X portion of PWC. http://www.racer.com/pwc/item/139657-nissan-confirms-pwc-return-in-sprintx-gt-series

[dodint]

Well that's a really shitty one two punch.

[The359]

Poo

[Tom Servo]

That blows.

[novicius]

Fuuuuck. Would love to know the reasoning behind that decision. :smh: :down:

[CudaMan]

These programs need bucketloads of money to operate. I don't have it (or access to it) this year. Pretty simple. The current driver lineup is bringing money from sources that support them, not me.

[Kchrpm]

*shakes fist at the inevitable*

Edit: *secretly makes plan to Kickstart a customer C7 team for Continental Challenge*

[The359]

These programs need bucketloads of money to operate. I don't have it (or access to it) this year. Pretty simple. The current driver lineup is bringing money from sources that support them, not me.

So Sanchez is bringing money from outside Nissan?

[novicius]

Shmooze those sponsors, Cuda! :rawk:

[IforceV8]

So Sanchez is bringing money from outside Nissan?Nissan Mexico. He has no other sponsors listed on his webpage.

[The359]

That was my other thinking, since GT Academy expanded to Mexico now, they're probably pushing for more advertising there.

[FaultyMario]

No, they're not. But Nissan does enjoy a bigger slice of the pie. The np300 and the nv-whatever (the people mover) sell very well.

And the old tiirsa is stepping up strongly to succeed the tsuru as THE go to subcompact.

[Drachen596]

So, McLaren is looking for a new sim driver. (http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/2017/worlds-fastest-gamer/mclaren-logitech-team-up-for-the-world-fastest-gamer-competition-5134287/)

[Kchrpm]

Look at one of the people involved: Darren Cox (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121572)

[FaultyMario]

Do eeeet!

[FaultyMario]

Look at one of the people involved: Darren Cox (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/121572)

Yeah, well, I was watching the first episode of Racing is Everything and um, how to say it?

Knowing Cuda... He's going to say something nice, he's always too gracious, but... I hope he's given a proper chance.

[FaultyMario]

What has he won now?

:rolleyes:


:hard:

[dodint]

https://youtu.be/zh-RXX-wg6E

Decided to watch this because I thought it was going to be about Newman and Adam Carolla. Turns out it's about Doran. Glimpse of someone's old GT.Academy suit and other stuff.

[The359]

I can't even think of anything off the top of my head, does Doran even compete anywhere anymore? I know they ran the Over 50 Daytona Prototype at the Rolex two years ago, but I don't think I can remember anything since.

[CudaMan]

I haven't been in touch in a while but I believe they do a lot of 'behind the scenes' services for other race teams that don't have the facilities/expertise that Doran has. I'm not that they race anything right now. Kind of sad - Kevin alluded to some of the change in the industry early in the video.

[Tom Servo]

I wouldn't pick against him either.

https://racer.com/2019/08/27/who-will-win-scca-solo-nationals-part-2/

[Crazed_Insanity]

Ha ha, but it’ll be fun to race against him though! ;)

[FaultyMario]

Hey, look somebody's been not wasting his free time. Congrats billi!

[Crazed_Insanity]

No no, I’m speaking for those other folks racing with Cuda! I’ve only raced him in GT and had the pleasure of seeing him push my S2k closer to the limit than I could... haven’t really hit the track for a long long time... maybe when my daughter gets old enough to drive... my 7yr old daughter gets super excited riding in my S2000! Maybe she’ll enjoy tracking or autoXing when she grows up...

[Kchrpm]

Oops I dropped this accidentally

https://www.hyperdrivecasting.com/

[dodint]

:lol:

[Tom Servo]

I had one race in the MX-5 at Lime Rock on iRacing with him where we were doing similar lap times and I had the lead for most of it. The big difference there was that he could do all 25 laps without screwing up at that pace, I could not and threw it off into the grass outside T1 on something like the 22nd lap.

[Godson]

Oops I dropped this accidentally

https://www.hyperdrivecasting.com/


Hmmmmm. What email address should I use....

[GB]

Congrats on the STX win, Bryan. :toast:

[Godson]

Nate, Keith, Russ and I were following aging the live timing.


Excellent work

[Kchrpm]

I sent good vibes and removed bad luck using hand signals and chants from my office. They were super effective.

[FaultyMario]

64.230!

WTFF??

[Crazed_Insanity]

I sent good vibes and removed bad luck using hand signals and chants from my office. They were super effective.
:lol:

[CudaMan]

Thanks dudes! And thanks Keith, after last week I'll take whatever I can get! :lol:

It was one of the stranger, crazier, more memorable Nationals experiences (I've been every year since 2006):

- The air park was supposed to have completed a repaving project in the area we use for paddock, but completion was delayed so half the paddock was on milled down concrete. Two days before my flight left for Nebraska, I learned that milling concrete produces crystalline silica dust which is very harmful to inhale (it can lead to death with enough exposure). People who were there earlier posted pictures of the crazy white dust in the air - like a color-shifted scene out of Mad Max - so I did hours of research and ordered some N100 certified masks overnight. Which, it turns out, are very hard to breathe in.

- Dorian was going from a tropical storm to a hurricane as T was making final preparations to leave Miami. I was in CA at the time. We had to find enclosed storage for her prized M3, find a way to get her 2nd-story hurricane shutters into hurricane position, and send her Mom on vacation to Europe.

- At the ProSolo in the first 2 days of Nationals week, we discovered that the months-discontinued Yokohama A052 had just become available again, and that certain cars appeared to be faster on them compared to the previous known fastest tires (Bridgestone RE71R, BFG Rival S 1.5, Nexen SUR4G). I've had a set of Yokohamas on my MR2 Turbo for months, but that car is such an outlier in autocross these days, and no longer competitive, that I didn't have any reference to know how good the tire was. It's also a car with limited camber and narrow wheels, and as we analyzed the results data and talked with drivers in paddock at Nationals, we learned that the Yokohamas are 'merely' in the mix with the other tires in this situation. It's only when cars get enough camber and enough wheel width for the tire that the A052 comes alive and is faster than the competition. The problem was, only a handful of sets of A052s were released, meaning only some people had access to them. Very bad timing for the largest participant motorsports event in the US (the world?). We checked TireRack and other sources on site and they were already out. We had a sticker set of Rivals, which we had tuned the car around all summer, and T ran them at the ProSolo Finale Saturday/Sunday. After that, we spent a couple days asking around and driving around paddock looking for Yokohamas for our Thursday/Friday Nationals run days. A lot of people had already sold their tires or rented them out for other cars (word had spread quickly!), or wanted to keep them for the rest of their seasons. Late Wednesday night we found someone who had a set they would sell. They had driven in a class that ran Tue/Wed so they were done with them for now, and they were selling their autox car anyway. So Thursday morning we met at one of the tire vendors on site and had the Yokohamas dismounted from their wheels and mounted on our wheels. Our first run on the tires was to be our first competition runs at the National Championship... anyone browsing this subforum will know different tires can have very different feel, pressure ranges that they work best in, different preferences for setup (camber etc), and different heat ranges they work best in. Indications were strong enough that the tire was definitely faster on the right cars, so even if the balance wasn't great we'd still be better off than with running the BFGs we were used to.

- Going into Nationals we already knew a win would be unlikely. T built the car on a modest budget using the minimum number of parts to make it reasonably fast. The most developed cars have lightweight, freer-flowing exhausts, stiffer bushings in the suspension/subframe, clutch-type differentials, adjustable rear control arms to dial in the rear camber, racing seats and AP Racing brakes to reduce weight, adjustable rear sway bar, double-adjustable dampers, and so on. We just had Megan Racing coilovers (so baller :lol:), RaceSeng front camber plates (these are actually kinda baller...), a Perrin front sway bar, a Tomei header and an ECU tune to get rid of the torque dip and increase the rev limiter, a semi-lightweight battery, and medium-weight Konig wheels. Everything else was stock, including almost the entire back of the car (muffler, bushings, rear bar, differential). Knowing all this, my goal was to make it in to the top 5 positions. I realized a few years ago that I had never finished lower than 5th at Nationals, so one of my goals has been to keep that streak alive.

So with all that going on leading up to my first run at Nationals, I was already tired. To make things even more crazy, the site in Lincoln has a unique property whereby driving in the competition area causes hot tires to pick up what we call OPR (Other People's Rubber), but which may at least partially be the tar sealer that they use between concrete slabs. So if you want to have the best shot each time you go out, after every run you have to jack up the car and use a bladed multitool to scrape the OPR off all the tires. T ran 'open' class (as opposed to the Ladies-only class) so we had 2 drivers in the car in the same heat, which meant we only had about 5-7 minutes in grid between each run the car took, alternating drivers each time. I was on OPR duty in grid - T took care of everything else: changing numbers, checking tire pressures, spraying them down to cool them off, changing rear shock settings since we each preferred a different feel to the car. I was hustling the whole time, right up until the grid worker would tell us it was just about our time to go, and then I'd let the car off the jack and either jump in and put my helmet on as I'm pulling towards the line, or close the hood for T while she was getting in. The entire run group took probably an hour, and between the OPR scraping and the actual, you know, driving as fast as possible part, I'm sure my heart rate was well up for the whole time. Too bad the strap on my Garmin watch broke the week prior. :)

It was a voyage of discovery driving that car on the Yokos for the first time. Stiffly sprung cars with sufficient camber can be extra sensitive to small changes in setup. First run out, the tires felt pretty bad. The most vague, mushy tire I'd ever driven on. We decided to raise the tire pressure for next runs. It didn't seem to make much difference. I was pretty happy with my driving, but noted that the tire didn't seem to blend inputs well at the back of the car (accelerating and slaloming -- the back end would swing around past each cone). The tire felt grippy but lazy - nowhere near as sharp as the BFGs that had been on the car (and people say the BFGs are vague - I've never thought so personally). I ended Day 1, Thursday on the West Course, in 2nd place, almost a half second behind the leader. I felt ok, though, because I knew I had a good run that was driven to my potential. That's what I aim for, whatever comes my way on the results sheet. Plus, I was so far well within my top 5 goal. I didn't think the Championship was likely going into the event, and at the end of day 1 with a half second gap to the leader Raymond (who has been driving real well all year - a very confident and consistent driver), I still didn't think it was going to happen.

I mulled over how the car was handling and what we could do, given the limited adjustability of the car, to improve it for Friday. I would have normally tried a rear rebound change, but this car I already knew didn't like that change in general - it brought about other handling foibles. The joys of some budget shocks. :) I had a chat with an engineer friend of mine and as we were working our way through the details, it dawned on me what the shortcoming in the setup was. And I'm going to keep that to myself in case word spreads. :p But it wasn't something we could 'fix' on site with what we had. Since the car wasn't terrible on Thursday (it was good in sweepers), and I knew from past years that the East course area generally tended more towards understeer/stability anyway, I decided to leave it alone and just run it.

[CudaMan]

Friday's first run was pretty good, I thought, but when I came across the finish line and saw my time flash up on the display, I was disappointed with how off pace it was. The 3rd place guy from Day 1, Kyle, had laid down a run that was 7 tenths faster than what I just did. Given people usually improve after first runs, I knew I'd have to dig deep to find more time. Thing was, this course was not so open like the West course was. I like open courses that let you play with the attitude of the car at the limit, that let you define your own line. The East course was tighter (not slower, just more 'restrictive' in terms of line) and so I felt there was less opportunity for a driver to make up time there. Anyway, the rest of the run heat I was too busy to note what other drivers were running. Which is fine by me - I am generally happy not to know. My second run I did find some time: 6 tenths. But I hit a cone. I wasn't sure where. No time to check which one, being so busy with OPR. The good news was this day was producing more confidence from the tire. It was about 15 degrees cooler this day, so I suspect the rubber that had been previously deposited on the concrete was less melty, so the tires could actually grip into the surface more than gummy-slide across it. The Yokohamas were feeling like an actual tire now. :p

Somehow before my last run there was less OPR and so I actually had a little time to check live timing and see where I stood. I was a later driver in the run order, so my main competition had already completed their 3rd and final runs. Raymond had improved another couple of tenths, and he and Kyle (who had set fast time on the day to come back somewhat from the Day 1 deficit) were now about 2 tenths apart with Ray in the lead. Kyle never improved on his first run. I was sitting 3rd with a run to go, and I noticed 4th on back were pretty far back, so I was unlikely to lose 3rd place much less finish outside the top 5. I needed about 9 tenths to take the win, since I was sitting on my first run. My second run scratch time was still a couple tenths off of what I would need to win. I was pretty happy with how that 2nd run went, and didn't think there was much of any improvement to be had on it, so my goal for my final run was to back up that time and do it clean. If I did that, I'd be right in the mix for 2nd. As anyone who has done this National event 3-run format knows, when you have two runs that aren't good enough and you have to both find time *and* clean up for your last run, it isn't easy. I didn't plan on trying anything crazy to go for the win. My mentality is usually to finish as high as I can 'safely' achieve. Unlike a friend of mine who is either win or finish 14th from trying so hard he hits cones or spins out. :) Anyway, I came through the finish lights for my 3rd run fairly confident I didn't hit any cones and that it was a solid run. When I saw the time flash up on the display in the shutdown lane I had a big 'wtf?' moment - it was faster than I was expecting! I turned my head to listen to the announcer and look at grid to find clues about whether it was enough for the win. It took the announcer probably 5 seconds, some of the longest 5 seconds of my life, to announce that I had taken the win. In the moment crossing the line I was too shocked to do the simple mental math to know that that 64.2 was more than enough. :lol: I took the overall win by almost a half second - not bad given the half-second deficit from day 1! This was one of my more emotional wins, in a bit of an underdog car that my gf built, coming from behind on my last run of the event, having scrambled for tires in the 11th hour, and the crazy days leading up to the event.

Motorsport can be crazy sometimes. I would have preferred a simpler week (and more sleep!) leading up to Thursday/Friday, but in the end it makes the victory that much sweeter. It was such a cool moment to pull back into our grid spot and have a cheering crowd awaiting my arrival, including my very happy gf. :) The drama of the final run produced extra excitement. I also got to witness a friend's first National Championship after trying for a few years. How awesome to experience both sides of that joy at the same event.

I wish they had archives of the audio streams these days. They used to broadcast the event on UStream and it was fun to go back later, find some classes that had great battles or good friends in them, and listen to the announcer.

This totally turned TL;DR. :lol:

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, kinda long, but anyways... :up:

[Tom Servo]

That was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Congrats again!

[MR2 Fan]

TL;DR

Bryan took 1st place

[samoht]

Awesome ! and thanks for telling the story too, it's really nice to hear your attitude to these kind of situations, how you approach it.

[XHawkeye]

Awesome ! and thanks for telling the story too, it's really nice to hear your attitude to these kind of situations, how you approach it.

:up: :up:

[dodint]

We were watching the live timing. We were holding our breaths waiting to see if you'd coned or not because we knew the time was solid.

Excellent read, thanks for sharing. :)

Is your friend the spin-out guy a mutual acquaintance? :lol: If you know who I mean he devastated a ton of cones through the week.

[Kchrpm]

Yeah, I never imagined it was that complicated, that's very cool and a great job by you, T, and those that helped and competed against you.

[Ashie]

Congratulations and thank you sharing your thoughts about the day!

[CudaMan]

Thanks Ashie!


Awesome ! and thanks for telling the story too, it's really nice to hear your attitude to these kind of situations, how you approach it.
Thanks. I have, at this point, the luxury of having had a lot of success. I don't feel the need to prove myself to myself so much anymore. It has become easier to accept results that aren't a win by simply focusing on driving to my potential and having fun. I took this more seriously years ago. That said, if I spend a year or two being *too* casual and not winning much, I tend to swing back the other way into being more competitive the next year. :) When I started autocrossing in 1999 and realized how into it I was, I told myself as soon as it stopped being fun I'd find a new hobby. It has rarely not been fun.


Yeah, I never imagined it was that complicated, that's very cool and a great job by you, T, and those that helped and competed against you.
It wasn't always so complicated. For example, in 2006 I drove my teal MR2 from CA to KS with race tires (Hoosiers) and tools in the car, changed tires when I got to the site, drove to the hotel on my race tires, had no need to scrape OPR between runs on that surface, and changed tires again for the drive home. And by winning, I earned a free set of tires. The good old days. :)


Is your friend the spin-out guy a mutual acquaintance? :lol: If you know who I mean he devastated a ton of cones through the week.

I'm not sure who you're talking about. :) I'm referring to Alex in the 997 GT3 in SS. [Side note, a few years ago when his Dad bought this car, his dream car, I was the first to get to drive it at an autox before either of them. I felt so honored. And obviously, what a machine.]

[dodint]

Jon K took down 15 cones throughout the week. :)

[CudaMan]

Impressive. :) There were a lot of cones hit on the East course, from what I saw and heard. Some classes have a penchant for cones more than others!

[Alan P]

Well done Brian!

[Tom Servo]

Thanks!

[Random]

Thanks!

:lol:

[CudaMan]

Well played!

[Tom Servo]

I know, I barely had to do anything!

[CudaMan]

Best Day 1 run (West course):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbi0iuEGV2w


Best Day 2 run (East course):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC23BD8fFQk

[Crazed_Insanity]

Looks so fun!

I don’t like the low revving sound of Subaru’s though, but probably handled great!

[CudaMan]

The BRZ/FR-S engine could use more character. It's hard to get them to sound nice. They don't have much torque, they don't have a VTEC-like surge at higher RPMs, they don't have the turbo torque rush. But the engine is very linear across the powerband with the modest torque it does have (once you get rid of the factory torque dip) and it quietly, efficiently builds speed. The chassis is the real star. Even though the suspension geometry is mediocre (parts bin engineering, yay!), the super low center of gravity and modest curb weight make it dance.

You can see I'm much more confident in my inputs on Day 2 after a few runs on the Yokohamas. They are a very mysterious tire so far. Yesterday we did a local event on them in scorching heat, and as an experiment we did 12 back to back runs with little break in between and we did nothing to cool the tires. Wanted to see if they got greasy when really hot. They didn't. And as the tire got hotter it sharpened up. The first couple runs on the tires, they felt really soft and sloppy. Normally heat makes things *more* pliable... I'm no tire engineer but this goes against what I know from experience and what little I know of materials physics. :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

You can ‘feel’ suspension geometry?!?!

Tires are for sure the trickiest part of a race car. Even Ferrari don’t understand tires very well! :p

[MR2 Fan]

The BRZ/FR-S engine could use more character. It's hard to get them to sound nice. They don't have much torque, they don't have a VTEC-like surge at higher RPMs, they don't have the turbo torque rush. But the engine is very linear across the powerband with the modest torque it does have (once you get rid of the factory torque dip) and it quietly, efficiently builds speed. The chassis is the real star. Even though the suspension geometry is mediocre (parts bin engineering, yay!), the super low center of gravity and modest curb weight make it dance.

You can see I'm much more confident in my inputs on Day 2 after a few runs on the Yokohamas. They are a very mysterious tire so far. Yesterday we did a local event on them in scorching heat, and as an experiment we did 12 back to back runs with little break in between and we did nothing to cool the tires. Wanted to see if they got greasy when really hot. They didn't. And as the tire got hotter it sharpened up. The first couple runs on the tires, they felt really soft and sloppy. Normally heat makes things *more* pliable... I'm no tire engineer but this goes against what I know from experience and what little I know of materials physics. :)

Yeah, I still have my FR-S and the torque dip is definitely an annoyance. The fuel economy isn't great either.....overall I wish it would have had the 2.4 Liter engine in the other Scions like the tC and 2nd gen xB, more torque, slightly less HP but a much more usable powerband IMO.

The other thing that bothers me about that car all the time, is the door never stays open. You know how cars have like 2 opening areas where they will stay open....FR-S has them, they just don't work....so the door is always closing on you unless you prop it open

[CudaMan]

This is true. I forgot about that.

The torque dip can be remedied with a $500 header (maybe even less?) and an off the shelf tune, and it makes a noticeable difference. I'm sure you know that. I think it makes the car much nicer to drive, even though it doesn't add a lot of power. A tune also fixes the punitive stock rev limiter that decelerates rather than holding peak speed.

What kind of fuel economy are you getting? I think they do great for a sports car, especially one that can do the 1/4 mile in easily under 15 seconds. Upper 30s on the highway isn't unheard of.


Billi, I guess suspension geometry can be felt, in a sense. I've never thought about it that way. I just know a bit about the geometry in these cars (and some others) and how that affects grip in various circumstances. If Toyobaru had gone all out on bespoke suspension parts and mounting points on these cars, they could have been extra amazing, but they do pretty well in spite of their cost savings shortcomings. The parts and tuning we've done in STX trim go a long way to making it better, at the cost of some of the comfort and ground clearance Joe Consumer would expect. I personally find moderately stiffly sprung cars with excellent damping curves to often be at least as good in ride quality as regular soft OEM springs with cheap OEM dampers, but I'm probably a bit unique in this respect. I do tend not to drive very much on extremely bad roads. But I digress.

Anyone remember how Toyota specifically (err, Scion...) was marketing the FR-S as the modern generation AE86 at launch? Right down to "it does great drifts if you want!" They did a great job of this, but as I learned later about the suspension parts, particularly at the back, I think this may have been a masterstroke of positive marketing/branding spin on a more mediocre rear suspension design from the Subaru parts bin. The rear suspension comes from Subaru's bread and butter AWD cars, which, like any AWD front-engine car, need help rotating on power. The rear suspension geometry is designed to facilitate this. Put it on a RWD car, add rear LSD, and it'll *really* want to rotate on power rather than put that power to the ground when turning. The way this idea of marketing spin for the FR-S dawned on me was from racing the GT3 GT-R. It had to use stock rear suspension arms and mounting points, yet was converted to RWD instead of the street-car AWD. We struggled a lot to put power down off of corners, even for an FR car in general, even with some of the smartest engineers in North America working to optimize this area within the limitations of FIA homologation.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Very interesting... :up:

[MR2 Fan]

This is true. I forgot about that.

The torque dip can be remedied with a $500 header (maybe even less?) and an off the shelf tune, and it makes a noticeable difference. I'm sure you know that. I think it makes the car much nicer to drive, even though it doesn't add a lot of power. A tune also fixes the punitive stock rev limiter that decelerates rather than holding peak speed.

What kind of fuel economy are you getting? I think they do great for a sports car, especially one that can do the 1/4 mile in easily under 15 seconds. Upper 30s on the highway isn't unheard of.


Billi, I guess suspension geometry can be felt, in a sense. I've never thought about it that way. I just know a bit about the geometry in these cars (and some others) and how that affects grip in various circumstances. If Toyobaru had gone all out on bespoke suspension parts and mounting points on these cars, they could have been extra amazing, but they do pretty well in spite of their cost savings shortcomings. The parts and tuning we've done in STX trim go a long way to making it better, at the cost of some of the comfort and ground clearance Joe Consumer would expect. I personally find moderately stiffly sprung cars with excellent damping curves to often be at least as good in ride quality as regular soft OEM springs with cheap OEM dampers, but I'm probably a bit unique in this respect. I do tend not to drive very much on extremely bad roads. But I digress.

Anyone remember how Toyota specifically (err, Scion...) was marketing the FR-S as the modern generation AE86 at launch? Right down to "it does great drifts if you want!" They did a great job of this, but as I learned later about the suspension parts, particularly at the back, I think this may have been a masterstroke of positive marketing/branding spin on a more mediocre rear suspension design from the Subaru parts bin. The rear suspension comes from Subaru's bread and butter AWD cars, which, like any AWD front-engine car, need help rotating on power. The rear suspension geometry is designed to facilitate this. Put it on a RWD car, add rear LSD, and it'll *really* want to rotate on power rather than put that power to the ground when turning. The way this idea of marketing spin for the FR-S dawned on me was from racing the GT3 GT-R. It had to use stock rear suspension arms and mounting points, yet was converted to RWD instead of the street-car AWD. We struggled a lot to put power down off of corners, even for an FR car in general, even with some of the smartest engineers in North America working to optimize this area within the limitations of FIA homologation.

Yeah I know there's fixes...I'm just not focused on car stuff much right now, it's just a daily driver and I'm going to get something better for my business needs soon as it just can't store much.

[FaultyMario]

I've been following the #WeatherTechRcwy posts on social media, because of this weekend's IndyCar race. And because I know you know the track I wanted to know if the alternate line that Michael Andretti famously used for the corner after the corkscrew during CART's heyday was available to the newer sportscars. I've read that lesser cars (and drivers) of the era lacked the grip to try unconventional lines at Laguna.

[CudaMan]

I'm not familiar with that line. Is there video?

[FaultyMario]

Hope this (https://twitter.com/champwebdotnet/status/1174393902859612160?s=20) works.

[Crazed_Insanity]

What’s so special about what Michael did in that video? I think that’s what I did, or try to do, with my S2k too... am I missing something?

I only know of the the super duper special should be illegal line zanardi used to pass Herta line...

[FaultyMario]

What’s so special about what Michael did in that video? I think that’s what I did, or try to do, with my S2k too... am I missing something?



IIRC by going offline on the left hander he's pushed further down the straight at the exit of the turn and that allows him to "shorten" the straight by a few meters. I can see/hear him finessing the wheel and the throttle thru that turn, as if the car was on the limit even when it appears that he is going "slow".

[CudaMan]

I think I can see why he did that. Two reasons:

1) He's able to use more power since he has the steering less turned between the corkscrew and turn 9. In a car with less power (and/or greater ability to put it all down), you can still accelerate well and steer the car out to the right to set up more for T9.

2) T9 cambers up in the second half. With the downforce these cars made, he probably didn't have to slow much for the apex. A car with less downforce would benefit from entering T9 from the right side of the track ("opening up the corner") so that it could carry more momentum at the apex and exit of T9. Which, btw, goes off camber right at the end.

IIRC I entered T9 more left than I wanted to in the GT-R, since it struggled to put power down. I couldn't keep turning right exiting the corkscrew and still accelerate (much).

Basically Michael got to the apex of T9 sooner, and exited a little bit slower. But the run to T10 is very short, so his technique might have been an overall gain or at least not a net loss.

[FaultyMario]

T9 cambers up in the second half. With the downforce these cars made, he probably didn't have to slow much for the apex. A car with less downforce would benefit from entering T9 from the right side of the track ("opening up the corner") so that it could carry more momentum at the apex and exit of T9. Which, btw, goes off camber right at the end.

IIRC I entered T9 more left than I wanted to in the GT-R, since it struggled to put power down. I couldn't keep turning right exiting the corkscrew and still accelerate (much).


This solves it. For me, at least.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow. Quite a bit of insight which I'd never thought of... no wonder I couldn't catch Cuda! :p

[FaultyMario]

he has the steering less turned between the corkscrew and turn 9. In a car with less power (and/or greater ability to put it all down), you can still accelerate well and steer the car out to the right to set up more for T9.

Totally evident in Rosenqvist's version (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFNalQYBaqc).

[Rare White Ape]

Dab of oppo :up:

[FaultyMario]

Hey B, did you work with Ricardo Divila during your time in the Nismo program? I heard he recently passed away.

[XHawkeye]

Thee boss singing CudaMan praises.

https://youtu.be/o0lokXBz1lM?t=4518

[dodint]

I clicked hoping it was Roger Penske.

[Crazed_Insanity]

:up:

Christian Horner screwed up for not giving Cudaman a shot in one of his RB Infinitys... oh well, it's Christian's loss.

[2ndMoparMan]

Good to see! Shedboi had his first race today as well in the Praga. 6th overall I think.

[CudaMan]

Hey B, did you work with Ricardo Divila during your time in the Nismo program? I heard he recently passed away.
Only briefly. I barely knew him. Sounds like he was full of stories and experience and it would have been a benefit to work with him longer.


Thee boss singing CudaMan praises.

https://youtu.be/o0lokXBz1lM?t=4518
It's been a great thing for me getting connected with Chris this past year. It gave me something positive to focus on during a hard time, plus I'm racing again. :) Most of my racing stuff nowadays is going on Instagram if anyone wants to keep up with that. We're doing Gridlife events, basically grassroots automotive festivals if you're not familiar (the spectator/concert parts of the festival have been on hiatus the past year of course). Here's a pic from COTA earlier this year. The next race is at Gingerman in early June.

3716

Chris has a whole build series for the car on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chrisforsbergracing

It's not as cool as his Altima though. :cool:

[FaultyMario]

It gave me something positive to focus on during a hard time

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uwbfwPIXcWs/WV9VRAe66nI/AAAAAAAAZ8s/xot32bqQOF4WfERvYg2GLpiAehnFWtUNgCLcBGAs/s1600/Sheer%252BMag%252BTina%252BHalladay%252BOnline.jpg

[CudaMan]

I don't get it!

[FaultyMario]

The tattoo on her left arm.

[Rikadyn]

3743

So I ran into this guy yesterday. Perhaps if I had read this before then I would have known instead of at random on the way to the grid.

What happened race 2? Other than the Integra catching on fire in front of my camp site.

[FaultyMario]

look at that guy with the long hair, who does he think he is?

The flying hippie, that's who he is!

[Phil_SS]

Love the flow Cuda!

[Crazed_Insanity]

The orientation of the photo is messing up the flow!

[CudaMan]

What is flow?

[This page of the thread is becoming the "Clueless Cuda" hour :lol:]

Cool running into you Rikadyn! Was so funny having someone walk towards me and say "Cuda?" in real life, that hasn't happened in forever. :lol: How was the view between 2 and 3? Bet you saw a lot of action there especially at the starts and with the drifters.

I started from the back in Race 2 because I passed a lapped car under local yellow in race 1. The yellow flag was half furled and not in its tower, it was 50 feet away and not easily in view, but rules be rules. Before race 2 started we were told Race 3 grid order would be set by fastest lap from Race 2, so I hung way back on the first lap to get 2-3 laps of clear track to set a qualifying lap for Race 3 to try to salvage the weekend. Halfway through that first slow lap we got told we had been mis-informed and the next grid would be set by finishing order of Race 2, so I had to try catch the field. Then the red flag happened, and when we went racing again afterward the drivers in front of me didn't pack up before the green so I was literally halfway around the track when the green flag flew. Pretty frustrating! But I had a ton of fun racing up through the field. From like 50th to 32nd that race, then 32nd to 11th in the next race, and 11th to 5th in the final. It was much harder to make passes once I got into the top 15, all those guys are good.

Did you see the yellow pop up tent near you? That thing kept throwing me for a loop, it was the same color as yellow flags. Same deal with a yellow car that the Turn 5 corner worker was using to drive him/herself out there.

[Rare White Ape]

Those race organisers need a carrot up the bum. And why was that yellow flag waver not in their flag point?

Anyway, looks like your last-to-first challenge was a lot of fun.

[Rikadyn]

Well I know I said I wasn't that great of a view, but yea the Corvette that went backwards up the berm, and the Integra catching fire were both directly in front of me.

3745

The last two races I was up in the spectator area past 3, always forget how good the track view is up there. Got a photo of you dropping a tire off ��

You going to be back for Festival?

[Phil_SS]

What is flow?
.

Your hair! Here is a video that will help to explain.

https://youtu.be/DEWpRjhtHko

[dodint]

Did you see the yellow pop up tent near you? That thing kept throwing me for a loop, it was the same color as yellow flags. Same deal with a yellow car that the Turn 5 corner worker was using to drive him/herself out there.

I was at an SCCA event where it had rained earlier in the day. One of the flaggers hung their yellow rain jacket, you know the kind, on a hook on the front of the stand. Brilliant. :lol:

[Rikadyn]

3746

While we are here, any particular hashtags/tags I should do for your car? I think the whole social media thing is going to be my downfall :p

Also, I don't get why Gingerman has the old flag posts still up but abandoned.

[dodint]

Different organizations use different flag stations. TTNT had to add a flagger at 10b because we had a competitor go off and disappear into the bushes. Literally nobody saw it and knew he was in distress.

He was fine, and we did become very good friends, but from an accountability standpoint it was not a good look for the program.

[Rikadyn]

Car went off there during hpde (I think) Sunday, almost saw 3 cars rear end each other responding to the red flag.

Is there any place there that 10b can even be seen outside the flag post? More talking about the one outside 3, that is just 4 4x4s holding up a pallet. Tried to make some art with it, didn't work lol.

I kinda want to try to get a track media pass to see if they would let me go along the top of the hill outside 7 and 8. I saw the path that leads along it and think it'd be interesting perspective

[CudaMan]

Those race organisers need a carrot up the bum. And why was that yellow flag waver not in their flag point?

Good question! It took him another 2 or 3 races but he got there. It's a local club-level track, not exactly FIA standard, and it's in a very rural part of Michigan. Maybe it's normal there? I'd never ever heard of looking for a yellow flag anywhere within a 100ft radius of a corner tower. When you're in amongst it on track, you gotta be able to know exactly where to glance so you can get right back to business on track if there's no yellow. Can't be spending a lot of time looking anywhere but where you're going in case there's a yellow flag somewhere unknown.


Got a photo of you dropping a tire off ��

You going to be back for Festival?

The cool tire drop where I was making an outside pass, or the lame slow one in qualy where I overshot the limit slightly in 5? :p


Your hair! Here is a video that will help to explain.

https://youtu.be/DEWpRjhtHko
This is great! :lol: "Great place to put the foil on." :lol:


I was at an SCCA event where it had rained earlier in the day. One of the flaggers hung their yellow rain jacket, you know the kind, on a hook on the front of the stand. Brilliant. :lol:

That's a good one. Another one I noticed last weekend was the opening of the flag stand box was facing drivers' vision, so when the yellow flag was in its holder nearest the opening, you could see just as much yellow as when the guy was holding it with no breeze. The opening in the station should be around the back!

I guess I'm learning the ways of club racing.


3746

While we are here, any particular hashtags/tags I should do for your car? I think the whole social media thing is going to be my downfall :p

Also, I don't get why Gingerman has the old flag posts still up but abandoned.
I'm not a social guru either, but you can tag @chrisforsberg64 and/or myself, and our hashtag for the car is #GLTZ.

I figured the extra flag stations were used at other events. The one on drivers left approaching 10 would have been handy.

Seeing 10b was tough if you were in traffic. The sightlines going up the hill aren't great - it's easy for a car in front and to the left to block much of your vision of the area around the stand. It seemed like the easiest way to see the 10b station was to look across the track while going through 9. That's a tough one because there's already one on the outside of 8 to look at, then to also look across for the 10b station while going through the fastest corner on track, one where you can make up a lot of time on other drivers and even set up a pass, again that's a lot of looking away from the track.

Outside of the flagging situation I really enjoyed Gingerman. Super fun track.

[Rare White Ape]

You can report any flagging issues to race control. In my experience being a flaggie they take it very seriously if something’s not right. They’ll get on the radio and request that unwaved flags aren’t visible, etcetera. Hanging a yellow rain jacket on a fence is an obvious one.

Any distractions to the drivers (you know, the meat-heads piloting a couple of tonnes of metal at high speed?) can lead to more problems. Plus reporting issues helps your defence if you inadvertently get pinged for not following flag signals.

It might be a club level event at a rural circuit, but those guys will be doing IMSA and IndyCar events too. You don’t want their bad habits being brought to the bigger events.

[Rikadyn]

Back in my day, when I was there to watch my first event there, there was no 10a/b

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/199931973_107324408250702_7417321846035762644_n.jp g?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-3&_nc_sid=0be424&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_ohc=i3Wc4uulIFcAX_Jq9RI&tn=2eIHmRMjzPat1Zzz&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&tp=14&oh=0b734bb1a78328b1a4445a228bc0ee54&oe=60C857BD

[CudaMan]

Great shot! Looks like Turn 7. And the funny thing is it makes the FR-S look the same size as the 370Z.

[FaultyMario]

Hey, Bryan... was watching the onboards from the IndyCars at Laguna Seca.

Is it me, or are there sections of the track that are driven differently according to the type of car? Or is it driver preference?

Turns 3, 4 and 5 were being apex'd earlier than I would imagine, the rest of the lap was pretty standard for competitive driving. Is it because of the aerodynamics of the cars, or would the surface on that part of the track require a different approach?

[CudaMan]

Speculating because I haven't seen it, but high downforce cars can reward early and fast entries - turning less and reducing your speed less means that the downforce helps more. The theory in my mind being that carrying more speed from entry to apex can sometimes be worth more than sacrificing those sections to get a better exit, depending on the turn, the next straight, and the vehicle's characteristics. Turn 5 makes the most sense because it banks up *and* starts to go uphill mid corner. So you can throw a lot of speed in and it'll catch the car to a degree.