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Showing posts from April, 2017

Autocross 6: Philly SCCA Event #1 4/23/17

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This was my 6th event so far and it was still in April.. Anyway, I registered for novice class. 23 people competing in novice. Finally I got 2nd place, I was quite happy but could have been faster. My fastest time was 41.5, but if I did correct my mistakes in my last run, I could do at least 40.5 I think. Here are the videos, my 3rd, 4th (fastest) run and instructor run (Jon): Jon did 39.0 in my car, which was 2.5 seconds faster. There's still much room for progress. I did better in small corrections but still need to practice this more. One thing is that I need to react more quickly (quick hands). The main focus is still these below points: 1) Heads up and look ahead. Mike told me I was not turning my head enough. 2) Keep driving at the limit. Get back on gas sooner. 3) Countersteering faster The main reason why I was 2,5 seconds slower than Jon was that I was still not on top speed on the course everywhere. Just push it harder a bit more

BMW Ultimate Driving Experience Autocross

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I attended BMW UDE Autocross event on Sun morning 9 o'clock. I have to admit, bmw is so different from my s2000. I was driving a latest 540i model. The traction control was on so I felt like weird behaviors all over the run. Also the turbo lag was quite obvious, and I was annoyed by that lol. In addition, the pedal feel was huge difference too. I really need to press hard on the gas pedal (compared to my s2000 driving style) to give it gas after apex.. And no need to modulate too much at all! That being said, I liked the handling and steering on this heavy 3800 pound 5 series car. It was quite nimble for such a heavy car! Here is the clip: I was 3rd in 13 people I think. Almost missed the podium. We were given only one run and I did it pretty conservatively because I didn't want some 2-second penalty. Well it turned out that I was not pushing the car hard enough to make the 1st place. In fact I checked out above video, my fastest run in practice and my time att

Autocross 5: FCSCC Event #1 4/15/17

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First time with FCSCC. We ran in the north lot. The lot was small so the course was composed of two overlapping ones.. which was confusing! But... the main reason that I went off course for my 1st and 2nd run was that I was not looking ahead and running at random speed that I was comfortable with.. Here are the videos: The 2nd run, still off course. 3rd run (38.6xx), much faster simply because I stayed close to the cones and didn't go off course. 7th run, last run also the fastest one. And the comparison (I was saving time by turning early with a better line and getting back on gas sooner.) Note that I was running all-season tires today. The event location is bit far from home, 1-hour drive.. In summary, there are really these things below to focus on first: 1. Look ahead. As always. Only in this way could I know how fast should I do throughout the course. 2. Drive at the limit.  This is also the topic mentioned in one of the Race

Autocross 4: SCCA NNJR Test n Tune 4/2/17

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I did my first Test and Tune event last weekend. I picked it over Evo school, MSNE and PCA because of the price and the seat time. I did 17 runs in total. I didn't look ahead for my first 3 runs. For the rest runs I tried to be faster. I've unlinked the rear sway bar today. I still spun out once at the exit. I lifted off cuz I felt like I was running into the green cones! Things I've learned are: 1. Look ahead! Not only because you want to stay on course and pick the best line, but also you need to look ahead to know how fast (how much gas or brake) you should do everywhere. 2. Stay close to the cones and turn in early! Check out Hez's turn in at this last turn vs mine: https://youtu.be/JgZpsZENEe8?t=43s vs https://youtu.be/OcIU5o0RF_I?t=1m But more importantly and the main reason I was so slow, was that: I was turning too late at this cone so I ended up accelerating from 25mph through the turn. Hez was already at 35mph at turn in an