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BMW TMS event, April 1
The LSC region of the BMWCCA club again managed to have an 85 sec (avg) course layout at the TMS bus lot for the 75 entrants that showed. So yes, it was silly tight, overly busy, and had the signature LSC "dangerous finish pouring right into the starting grid" feature. Oiy, these guys need some course designers! But when anyone offers, they are told that the "autocross committee" has final say on course design. Don't even get me into that whole mess....
I got to today's event very late due to a tractor injury that made for one-handed trailer loading in the dark. Sprained the hell out of my wrist falling into a moon crater sized hole covered in waist high grass. Mowing for 3 hours right after spending all day outside at a teen driving school = not smart. Add to that another sunny day autocrossing today and my skin has the hue of a Maine lobster. "Red like robster!"
With both of my normal M3 co-drivers disabled by various stomach ailments, I forged out to TMS late, alone, and extremely sleepy. Luckily SeanT was there and helped me load up afterwards (thanks Sean!). I missed the entire walk-thru time period and tech, but they gave me a sticker and let me run. The course map was confusing ("which way is up?") and didn't remotely match what they laid out, so I rode through with SeanT on his first 2 runs - causing some sort of navigational interference that he quickly sorted out once I got my butt out of the car. "What gate!?"
It still helped me find my way.
The course itself was insanely tight with two slaloms that were "walking speed" and 3 "pirouette-cone sized" 180° corners. There were also some ultra tight 90s followed by decently sized straights - something a more powerful AWD car tends to do well out of.
I kept hearing others mentioning the course being a "clusterf**k", which I may have repeated myself...
My outlook was dire, as the AWD buggies we like to compare to there looked brutally fast when they ran early during my run group. My first runs were on ice cold brakes and tires, since I trailered the car out and didn't pre-heat anything on the way to grid. Doh! Mike V's fairly well sorted (and essentially STU prepped w/ boost) STi on Kumhos and Jim's BSP-prepped EVO had a good 1+ second on me after the morning runs, and our G class nemesis Doug had a few tenths on me as well. Everyone fast seemed to get re-run after re-run (I wasn't so fortunate), another LSC trademark.
I had cone trouble on my best run, but that was still a second behind the boost boys.
The weather warmed considerably after lunch, and I knew the times would drop with hot asphalt and my now warmed VictoRacers and brakes. On my first run I had fuel starvation on a few turns but I had dropped 1.2 seconds and was scant .03 sec out of first. Hmm... that felt GOOD. The Kumhos like the heat! I made a mad dash to the pits for a quick 2 gallon splash, and made it back in line in under a minute! I then managed to drop more time (about 2 sec from my morning runs) with a string of fast, clean, noob passenger filled runs that put me out front of the (edit) 8 car G class by .7 sec... and even ahead of the fast AWD turbos! I am still baffled by that - luckily the Cone Gods were not kind to the turbos today and they both stood on their morning runs.
Sean had a solid lead on D class all day and came out on top of the 8 car field with an easy 1/2 second margin of victory. He managed to beat two M3s and a gaggle of prepped Minis - on those pre-historic Falken 215s! These had a layer of crust since his last competitive event in July 2006. Apparently there was no crust on Sean's driving, since he put the smack down on the 2nd biggest BMW class of the event after a 8+ month racing hiatus. Booya!
Of course some damn F Prepared Porsche on slicks dashed my FTD dreams with a 0.6 sec lead on his last run. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
So another F'd up course and another solid win - maybe I'll complain less next time I see these jacked up courses at BMW events? Umm, nahh... I will complain and nag until these guys start making "real" courses with a bit more safety.
I got to today's event very late due to a tractor injury that made for one-handed trailer loading in the dark. Sprained the hell out of my wrist falling into a moon crater sized hole covered in waist high grass. Mowing for 3 hours right after spending all day outside at a teen driving school = not smart. Add to that another sunny day autocrossing today and my skin has the hue of a Maine lobster. "Red like robster!"
With both of my normal M3 co-drivers disabled by various stomach ailments, I forged out to TMS late, alone, and extremely sleepy. Luckily SeanT was there and helped me load up afterwards (thanks Sean!). I missed the entire walk-thru time period and tech, but they gave me a sticker and let me run. The course map was confusing ("which way is up?") and didn't remotely match what they laid out, so I rode through with SeanT on his first 2 runs - causing some sort of navigational interference that he quickly sorted out once I got my butt out of the car. "What gate!?"
It still helped me find my way.The course itself was insanely tight with two slaloms that were "walking speed" and 3 "pirouette-cone sized" 180° corners. There were also some ultra tight 90s followed by decently sized straights - something a more powerful AWD car tends to do well out of.
I kept hearing others mentioning the course being a "clusterf**k", which I may have repeated myself...My outlook was dire, as the AWD buggies we like to compare to there looked brutally fast when they ran early during my run group. My first runs were on ice cold brakes and tires, since I trailered the car out and didn't pre-heat anything on the way to grid. Doh! Mike V's fairly well sorted (and essentially STU prepped w/ boost) STi on Kumhos and Jim's BSP-prepped EVO had a good 1+ second on me after the morning runs, and our G class nemesis Doug had a few tenths on me as well. Everyone fast seemed to get re-run after re-run (I wasn't so fortunate), another LSC trademark.
I had cone trouble on my best run, but that was still a second behind the boost boys.The weather warmed considerably after lunch, and I knew the times would drop with hot asphalt and my now warmed VictoRacers and brakes. On my first run I had fuel starvation on a few turns but I had dropped 1.2 seconds and was scant .03 sec out of first. Hmm... that felt GOOD. The Kumhos like the heat! I made a mad dash to the pits for a quick 2 gallon splash, and made it back in line in under a minute! I then managed to drop more time (about 2 sec from my morning runs) with a string of fast, clean, noob passenger filled runs that put me out front of the (edit) 8 car G class by .7 sec... and even ahead of the fast AWD turbos! I am still baffled by that - luckily the Cone Gods were not kind to the turbos today and they both stood on their morning runs.
Sean had a solid lead on D class all day and came out on top of the 8 car field with an easy 1/2 second margin of victory. He managed to beat two M3s and a gaggle of prepped Minis - on those pre-historic Falken 215s! These had a layer of crust since his last competitive event in July 2006. Apparently there was no crust on Sean's driving, since he put the smack down on the 2nd biggest BMW class of the event after a 8+ month racing hiatus. Booya!
Of course some damn F Prepared Porsche on slicks dashed my FTD dreams with a 0.6 sec lead on his last run. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
So another F'd up course and another solid win - maybe I'll complain less next time I see these jacked up courses at BMW events? Umm, nahh... I will complain and nag until these guys start making "real" courses with a bit more safety.
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