Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track SVTSTS's Students Moving Up!

Hey hey!

It was a great day to drive yesterday after the
Novice school on Saturday. Jerry and I had Andy
as our instructor.

We had one other guy, John, in a Mazda MP3.

Bottom Line, John took 2nd in STS, I was 6th with a
53.8xx. We had a dozen in STS. Jerry had a 52.9xx
but finished further down in a bigger and probably
more competative G-Stock.

I was 35th in index of over 100, so Jerry should be
even higher with a similar index.

This stuff is a blast!

TB

It was great to have students who paid attention and LISTENED to what I was trying to say.
I will say that they all learned what I meant when I said BRAKE HARD after I took one run in
their cars. That is one of the biggest thing an experienced autocrosser can show most novices.
Most people don't really know how hard their car can brake. The other three things I stressed
was: be early in a slalom (it is much easier that way), you never COAST, one of the two rightmost pedals better be doing something and be smooth with your inputs.

Respectfully,
Andy Hohl

Indexed Results: http://wcsllc.net/stlsolo/E4INDEX.TXT

Class Results:
http://wcsllc.net/stlsolo/E4TROPHY.TXT

Whoo Hooo! My first class point!

TB

Great job, Tony. There you go again...beating your instructor. Of course, he did have a cone. G stock is humongous there! Nearly upper third of the PAX! Just think what you could do with mods...or race tires in G Stock. I see they let Grainger have his well-deserved FTD for a change. We'll show em at SZ that us old folks ain't ready to be put out to pasture just yet!!
What's the deal with that Honda Integra that won H Stock and was first in PAX. Never heard of that model!

As Paul Harvey like to say, "the rest of the story"

By the luck of the draw, Jerry and I picked the best time of day to run, third heat. First heat, the course was still wet. (However, Grainger still managed FTD on the course.) Second heat, things were drying out with some actual sunshine, third heat, we had sun for two of the three runs, temps dropped during the last run.

Andy ran fourth heat. While it didn't rain, temps were dropping.

I think he was sorting out his new tires, as the first two runs included a 360 panorama of the course.

It never rained again, and we were all bemoaning the fact we shut down so early. However, it looked like it could pour at any time, and no-one relished picking up the course in a monsoon, as was forecast.

All in all, still a fun day.

Thanks Andy!
TB

We had a great school on Saturday and event on Sunday here in KC. 67 more people showed up for the school! I drove some cool cars to boot. I took a skeptical Miata driver (skeptical that I, a 5.0-driving power fiend, could speak knoweldegeably about the prospect of autocrossing a Miata) and made a believer out of him. He was doing the entire high-30's course in first gear and was convinced he was getting everything out of the car. I was pointing out his positives but telling him to dial it up, he had more in it, deeper and harder on the brakes, when in doubt brake a little more before turning, etc. Then we swapped seats and by the entry to the first major corner I had him flinched into a death grip...that's when I knew I was doing it just right. After the run he said "Wow...I guess I do have a lot left in this"

I got a ride in a 427 Cobra continuation model, the real SHelby chassis numbers assembled in an old MiG factory in poland. I felt like a giant in a clown car. Brutal.

Got a ride in a Caterham 7. Very cool. Very small. Drove an Integra whose enthusiastic driver said "It's OK if you break it" and "drive it like it's yours". I said I didn't like breaking my own stuff so I didn't think it would be an issue.

A Ferrari Testarossa was there both days too. All kinds of cool cars and enthusiastic students whose progress was fun to watch.

Ramble ramble blah blah...point is it sounds like a banner autocross weekend here in the midwest, hooking a ton of new people into the sport. Cool.

This is the one that leaves you scratching your head:

Class: E-STREET PREPARED -------------------------------------------------------
1t BOB PLOOF 96 IMPALA 51.155 50.064 49.596 49.596
2t ROBERT HOFFMAN 99 MUSTANG 52.543 51.090 50.837 50.837
3t DREW FERGUSON 00 S-10 52.660 52.589 51.669 51.669
4. CARL HOFFMAN 99 MUSTANG 56.197 52.022 51.714+1 52.022
5. RICHARD STOUT 00 TRANS A 54.287 57.412+5 52.710 52.710
6. BRAM SETIAWAN 96 MUSTANG 56.458 56.092 54.266 54.266
7. WALTER FLORETTA 89 TAURUS 56.231 56.035 56.150 56.035
8. DAN HAMEL 78 FAIRMON 63.156 60.882 58.940 58.940

That's right, an Impala SS wins ESP by nearly 1.5 seconds. It is a pretty sight to watch this guy run. IIRC, he was a novice last year.

Andy, can you teach me to drive like him? It was pretty to watch him dance that large car around the course.

And dance it was, it looked effortless and smooth. There was a rythym to his ride, and the clock kept time in an agreeable fashion.

TB

I've been out of town and am just now catching up...

Andy was a GREAT instructor and I had a blast both days last weekend. I'm hoping to do even better with my race tires, which I didn't bring along because it was storming that morning when I left. I wanted to drive them to the event to heat them up since they're a bit old and crusty. But I'll use them next time for sure (unless it's raining yet again)!