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Old 03-26-2010, 12:22 AM   #252
Butt Dyno
Street's closed, pizza boy
 
Member#: 17301
Join Date: Apr 2002
Chapter/Region: MAIC
Location: NoVA
Vehicle:
2018 Focus RS
2006 Evo #17 STU

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Friday: day 2

My goal for Nats was pretty much to have runs where I looked at them afterwards and said "hey, that was a good run!" Really, that's my goal for most events. If I have a good run I'm pretty much happy, even if other folks have better runs.

I didn't get there on Thursday. I would have needed to nail the sweeper at least once to have said that. They were OK runs only, definitely not good. So, yeah, let's try for "good" today!

My first run I got behind early, in the top right hand corner of the course. I then proceeded to dive into the wall too fast, and take out two cones. This was one of my problems all year - going into braking zones too hot and not giving myself a chance. This is the #1 thing I want to work on next year. Better to take a little off the top speed and have some room for error in braking - easier to add the speed back later. From the end of my first run on day 1, when I felt good but my time was way off the pace, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to be all-out EVERYWHERE thinking "ZOMG, it's concrete and I am not taking advantage of it and everyone else is and I totally need to try really hard". Not the ideal mindset Final time was 66.2, +2 cones.

Shane's first raw was good - 62.3 - but with a cone.

My second run I just went out trying to fix some stuff. I fixed a lot of stuff - dropped almost two seconds and was clean. But I was still off the pace by a bit. Here's the run:

YouTube- project:BDR: John W: #7 STX: 2009 SCCA Solo Nationals, Lincoln NE
And the MaxQData comparison of the two runs:



As you can see looking at the red speed line vs the blue speed line, I made up a ton of "area under the curve" in the fast slalom (the bottom of the graph). I took two very different lines through the sweeper, but that was actually a wash despite all the extra distance on my 2nd run. Not good considering my 2nd run was clean and my first run wasn't! I came out of the tight corner in the middle (about 50% of the way through the course) a lot better and gained a lot of time there. The third quadrant of the run was roughly a wash. But I made up another .3 by staying close in the last lefthander.

So, I had a clean run to sit on at least, but I still hadn't taken the first 1/3 of the course very well.

Shane went out and ran a 61.8... +1 again though. So he went into his 3rd run needing to stay clean.

For my 3rd run I was looking to clean up a couple specific spots: the first hard left hander (getting behind the key cone), the sweeper, and the uber slow pinch cone. I did not do any of that I was late on the first left hander, and then blew my run in the same way I blew my 1st run, overcooking the braking zone trying to push too hard. I was pretty frustrated at the time, enough that I don't feel comfortable posting the video Just take my word for it.

Shane backed off a little bit and still came in with a 62.5, clean.

After 10 minutes or so of being emo annoyed John I returned to "hey, this is mostly fun" John. (thanks to Shane, Justin and Edwin for talking me off the ledge)

I ended up 33rd, and slid up to 31st later when one of the BMW's failed its emission test. Shane finished 17th, but had the raws to be riiight there for the last trophy spot. His 61.8 raw was also only .4 off Ron Bauer and stimpy's best time (61.4) and they were the fastest two WRX drivers. Shane = fast in anything. Me, ehh, not there yet. But it is good to know the car has the goods. Also nice to know that we could load it full of gear, drive it 1200 miles to Nebraska, put 30 runs on it, and drive it back, with no drama. It has been an awesome car to own.

I definitely have a lot of improving to do before I come back to Nationals. The vast majority of it is mental... staying "zen" and just focusing on improving versus trying to use 101% of the car's grip all the time. I also need a little more time on concrete. The car is quite good but will have a few small tweaks next year.

Two events to go...
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