WDMS Chapter 177

13 March 2011

DFW SCCA REGIONAL AUTOCROSS

Trying to teach the pony to carve the cones!!

Amy, Terry, and Costas driving...

This was the first autocross in the Mustang and sadly it was pretty horrible. The car had seen enough track days to glaze up the front rotors and the car simply would not stop well. At the top of second gear (all three of us were into the rev limiter in second) when you quickly applied the brakes they did....nothing. I could push for all I was worth and NOT get ABS and get horrible stopping. We quickly adapted driving styles to make up for the lack of brakes by getting into the brakes sooner, using more lateral grip and trying NOT to drive it on the nose...which is what I've done pretty much my entire autocrossing life. Fair and I ended up less than a tenth away from each other, but interestingly enough, I put nearly a half second on him on one half the course and he put it back on me the second half (since the region here does segment times). We played a bit with tire pressures but the big battle was the lack of brakes. Even just looking at the car from the side, the front rotors were a vastly different color than the rears. Magyar was there in his '11 GT also and could just BURY the nose with the brakes, but our red steed was having none of it. The second battle was the factory seat. It is about as supportive as an aluminum bleacher seat. Also, we were still learning how to disable all the electronics. Halfway through my first run the big screen lights up and tell me that the bluetooth is enabled and it has found Amy's phone quite loudly in the dolbyTHXsurroundsoundBoseWhatever speakers. WhatTheHeck?

So we've got work to do. Matt (from Vorshlag) showed up in his white Miata for his first autocross in it. He did great, improving nicely throughout the day. Chris Ledbetter was there (another Vorshlag Tester with a proven E36 running STX with ASTs) and runs most events and his car is a good gauge for us. He was in front, but not by so much that we are ready to give up. Time to improve and come back for more!! We will have fresh brakes and rotors cut for the next event!!!

Results: http://autocross.com/tr/2011_1_final.html

Eagle-eyed readers will spot a white 3rd gen by the helmet....