MOWOG 5

[weidnerpaul]

Thanks, to all the volunteers who helped.

We got in our 6 runs and buck runs too, all on a course about 8-12 seconds longer than usual at Henn Tech.

Chuck and Jerry came out just to do the registration, even tho they couldn't stay...
Darrell W, a new member who came early to help as well.
Their help allowed me to be the EM as I usually do registration.

Drew and his crew did their usual great job of teching, and Mike/Josh did their usual miracles---NO timing problems this time, I think the new T&S purchase looks better all the time...

This was my first time as EM, I couldn't have done it without:

Jeremy E---from helping design & refine the course to helping run the event, he did what was needed to make the day work---and also brought my MINI so I could run two cars :) :) :)

Dwight(AKA the KING) our waiver/preregistration/all time resource...

Everyone who shelled out the bux to "play" today---The changeovers went well, people volunteered fast at the drivers meeting, they worked their positions---from my view anyway I thought things ran well.

Thanks again to all,

Paul

[Drew]

I'd like to add my thanks to all those who stepped up and helped in Tech. I think this was the fastest we've gotten cars through Tech in a long time.

And thank you Paul for your course, even if I was saying *#*^$@!& as I was trying to drive it. It was a challenge. :D

Drew Baumbach

[Jeremy Engel]

I would also like to thank Paul for stepping upto the plate, its great having new faces and new ideas with course design... and Paul did have some new Ideas.

I really want to also thank Brian Mc Cullough for haulling my poor mister two home.... He is out for the rest of the season and probably won't be back until next spring. :(

For those who don't know, I will take this time to whine/cry some more...... The main accessory pully came loose and got hosed, while that was going on the end of the crank also got mangled... so it is now time to pull the engine... So I am taking donation for the "rebuild the "2" fund." With any luck dad and I will have the Esprit back out for the rest of the season.

And as a second hit to my ego, dad beat me today as well. He did get in three good runs to my one run though, so I am using that as my excuse... I haven't lost to him in well over 2-3 years, so hats off to him, job well done.

I am going to go caress the car and tell him its ok... and yes make motor noises.

[DCM]

Yes it did run well yesterday. Sure got hotter than was predicted though. We could have used a lot more to drink as well.
However, the pylons demons were out to get me. I have NEVER hit that many pylons in one day for at least 7-8 years. So hats off to Joel [thanks for letting me USE your car] and Steve Hendrickson for doing well, and to the EP guy, [don't know your name] for being bumped into DP and beating us all.
DCM

[Spinne]

Thanks for the great event, every thing seemed to go very smooth and I was impressed with the organization.

Also, a big thanks to all who helped me with my first autox experience. After my first cone-happy run (+4) I calmed down and really had a great time. I hope to make both of the MOWAG's that remain this year. You all were very friendly and happy to answer all of my questions. What a stellar group!

Jeff
2001 Toyota MR-S
mr2@truthbrew.com

[phile]

It did run well overall.

There were some things from which we can learn for the future.

Some of the problems we had in cone-chasing were inevitable with a crossover. There was a delay after the cone was hit before the worker could safely reset the cone.

Several people had problems with course-following. On about six occasions I witnessed folks driving reverse-direction on the course after the second crossover.

I do want to thank the eventmasters for being responsive to the requests to move the finish lights upstream. I know the Lotus was moving right along in the finish area, and I was grateful for the extra space to get it hauled down.

As for my own performance: What can I say? I sucked. I put down a pretty good first run, just tracking. When I turned up the wick, all hell broke loose. I double-DNFed my second run. I put together a decent third run, about 1.5 faster then my first, but later found I had tagged a cone with the back wheel on the starting turn. The second run group was one bit of foolishness after another. The R1 tires from 1996 have not aged gracefully, and they allowed what is left of the LSD to overpower the fronts. (Friends don't let friends put LSD units into cars that don't need them or want them, but apparently some previous owner didn't have any smart friends. A dose of Slick-50 Man Tran has helped to neuter the thing, but maybe it's time for another dose.) I was not patient enough to accept that and had some moments of terminal understeer, sometimes involving the assassination of pylons, but always losing time. I had to stand on my first run.

This pushing business is a lot less fun to watch than wild oversteer, so I didn't even put on a good show while being slow. Lessons? Don't try to fight the car while fighting a virus. And do something about tires. I wonder if Formula Vee can still bring them back?

Still in all it was good to get Grace N. Violence back to the autocrosses. My trophy runs at the VTR nationals were almost too easy. I was sitting way up high (yes, a TR4 is "way up high" compared to the Formula-car vantage point of Grace) where I could actually see the course ahead, and things happen a lot slower.

The good news is that Grace is still as responsive as ever. She handles offsets and slaloms just fine. It's these tight sustained corners that are the problem. With tires that actually stick and some driver re-education about the size of the car and dealing with understeer, I might actually get back to turning decent times one day.

Thanks to everyone for your efforts to preserve our sport. See you at Midway!

[Tim Engel]

Jeremy (son who should be sucking-up about now...) wrote:
"And as a second hit to my ego, dad beat me today as well. He did get in three good runs to my one run though, so I am using that as my excuse... I haven't lost to him in well over 2-3 years, so hats off to him, job well done."

Thanks... I guess... ?
So, why is it I feel like I've been clubbed with a sweet-stick.
;-)

Tim