New to AutoX Progress

[dave2278]

Bill, Let's be honest here, those tires are only worthless if you try to use them...

Lol, hilarious!

One step closer tonight, got most of the welding done, just have to flip it over and weld the bottom, weld on some D rings and run some conduit for the wiring to live in, then install the fenders and it's ready to paint!

Thought I had 4 straps, but only had 2 so I need to pick up 2 more.

 

[dave2278]

Nearly finished, only things left is wiring and bolting down the toolbox. the chains are a little overkill, may have to shorten them, I'll see when I can hook it up to car.

Hopefully get a break in the rain tomorrow so I can turn the car around, then time to clean up the shop LOL

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Great little red wagon -----that is a " Radio Flyer " for grownups!!

 

[dave2278]

Great little red wagon -----that is a " Radio Flyer " for grownups!!

Haha love it, may have to track down decals!

 

[GAR944]

Nearly finished, only things left is wiring and bolting down the toolbox. the chains are a little overkill, may have to shorten them, I'll see when I can hook it up to car.

Hopefully get a break in the rain tomorrow so I can turn the car around, then time to clean up the shop LOL

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As much as i find towing behind a Mustang hilarious, mainly caus we wouldn't get away with down here in Australia, see nanny state, that looks awesome. Nice job.
Only thing i noticed was you might want to cut down the threads on the front eye bolts if you haven't already. Guaranteed they are going to catch on something at the worst possible time.
+1 @Bill Pemberton about the Radio Flyer. The Mustang can be the Radio Flyer Express.
On a side note would kill for your amount of garage space. Now get stuck into that project truck.

 

[dave2278]

Perfectly level, it matches just how I wanted!

 

[dave2278]

Took the trailer for a little spin today, the looks you get are gold!

Anyhow, it tows awesome, took it on the highway up to 75 mph, tracks perfectly, couldn't ask for more!

 

[dave2278]

Had a fantastic weekend with THSCC and TSCC at NCCAR!

I finally feel like I am making progress with my driving, finishing 4th in CAMC yesterday and 2nd today. Still have a lot of room for improvement, any tip or advice from the videos is appreciated.
My major take away from watching them is to stay in the throttle longer and brake later, also carry more speed in the sweepers.

This is my fastest run from day 1

 

[dave2278]

This is my fastest run from today, day 2

 

[GAR944]

Had a fantastic weekend with THSCC and TSCC at NCCAR!

I finally feel like I am making progress with my driving, finishing 4th in CAMC yesterday and 2nd today. Still have a lot of room for improvement, any tip or advice from the videos is appreciated.
My major take away from watching them is to stay in the throttle longer and brake later, also carry more speed in the sweepers.

This is my fastest run from day 1

Smooth runs in the videos.
My take from trying to listen to the engine, you appears to be missing out on stomping on the gas in a few sections where the slalom stops and you get a constant open radius section. Possibly its from not knowing what coming up next as cones aren't exactly huge but also keeping your vision far enough forward. If anything was drummed into me was look ahead, no further ahead. Any chance you see an opening up of the track you should have mashed the throttle because it wont respond till you have probably got there anyway. If you can move your camera further back and get to see what you are doing in the car as well would be beneficial also. I tended to sit a bit closer to the wheel in this style of event compared to track days. You have to man handle the car back and forwards so a bit more leverage on the wheel helps. I found i was trying to get the car to "dance" between cones, read oversteer on throttle and walk that line of oversteer to get it turned early allowing a short straight line blast before dropping the nose under brakes, turned in and repeat. Of course this will be very dependent on the setup of your car.

Went back to rewatch and hadn't seen the first video. You seemed more aggressive with the throttle on the first day like you had more confidence where the track was going.

When i have talked to people about learning to drive on track, i have always said that learning from "motorkhanas" and "khanacross" was the best starting point. The motorkhana is a very tight course around cones and the khanacross is more like your event in case the terms don't transfer from one side of the globe to the other. Fundamentally you learn to overdrive the car by doing all the things you don't want to do on the track. You are trying to provoke large amounts of weight transfer and sudden "controlled" oversteer. It brings out your inner juvenile delinquent let loose in dads car in the Mcdonalds car park.

Trying to pull time on these courses is done by working the grip level EVERYWHERE. Just as you have mentioned, how long can you stay on the throttle, how late can you brake. If the car feels settled they why didn't i push harder. How close to the line can you walk without falling over it.
The best part is just getting to events and doing them, as everyone here has mention many time, seat time over car mods to start with.
And more videos for us to watch. It cold and wet here in Melbourne Australia and doesn't look like its going to stop for a while so i'm living via everyone on the other side of the globe.

 

[dave2278]

Smooth runs in the videos.
My take from trying to listen to the engine, you appears to be missing out on stomping on the gas in a few sections where the slalom stops and you get a constant open radius section. Possibly its from not knowing what coming up next as cones aren't exactly huge but also keeping your vision far enough forward. If anything was drummed into me was look ahead, no further ahead. Any chance you see an opening up of the track you should have mashed the throttle because it wont respond till you have probably got there anyway. If you can move your camera further back and get to see what you are doing in the car as well would be beneficial also. I tended to sit a bit closer to the wheel in this style of event compared to track days. You have to man handle the car back and forwards so a bit more leverage on the wheel helps. I found i was trying to get the car to "dance" between cones, read oversteer on throttle and walk that line of oversteer to get it turned early allowing a short straight line blast before dropping the nose under brakes, turned in and repeat. Of course this will be very dependent on the setup of your car.

I have a few mental notes in my head when I start each run, however they don't always translate to follow through when driving!
Those things are look father ahead, way farther ahead, hold throttle as long as possible and brake as late as possible.
This weekend I also tried to turn a bit earlier in the slalom, which actually seemed to help me maintain speed through those sections.
I do move my seat back more upright when I am on the track, I feel like I have more leverage over the wheel this way.
The camera is my phone, I haven't spent anything on a formal camera, I may down the road, but for now it's my phone.

Went back to rewatch and hadn't seen the first video. You seemed more aggressive with the throttle on the first day like you had more confidence where the track was going.

Funny, I felt more aggressive on the second day, I was certainly faster when compared to my class competition. However listening to the video, I do agree that I was heavier on the throttle.

When i have talked to people about learning to drive on track, i have always said that learning from "motorkhanas" and "khanacross" was the best starting point. The motorkhana is a very tight course around cones and the khanacross is more like your event in case the terms don't transfer from one side of the globe to the other. Fundamentally you learn to overdrive the car by doing all the things you don't want to do on the track. You are trying to provoke large amounts of weight transfer and sudden "controlled" oversteer. It brings out your inner juvenile delinquent let loose in dads car in the Mcdonalds car park.

I like this explanation, it puts you in a good frame of mind

Trying to pull time on these courses is done by working the grip level EVERYWHERE. Just as you have mentioned, how long can you stay on the throttle, how late can you brake. If the car feels settled they why didn't i push harder. How close to the line can you walk without falling over it.
The best part is just getting to events and doing them, as everyone here has mention many time, seat time over car mods to start with.
And more videos for us to watch. It cold and wet here in Melbourne Australia and doesn't look like its going to stop for a while so i'm living via everyone on the other side of the globe.

This is exactly how I feel after every run, however during the run I am so focused on track I am not really thinking about pushing harder. After every run I think I should have pushed harder, I never really heard my tires talking to me, so I know I was nowhere near the limit of grip, hence I need to push harder, much harder!

 

[GAR944]

I have a few mental notes in my head when I start each run, however they don't always translate to follow through when driving!
Those things are look father ahead, way farther ahead, hold throttle as long as possible and brake as late as possible.
This weekend I also tried to turn a bit earlier in the slalom, which actually seemed to help me maintain speed through those sections.
I do move my seat back more upright when I am on the track, I feel like I have more leverage over the wheel this way.
The camera is my phone, I haven't spent anything on a formal camera, I may down the road, but for now it's my phone.

Funny, I felt more aggressive on the second day, I was certainly faster when compared to my class competition. However listening to the video, I do agree that I was heavier on the throttle.

I like this explanation, it puts you in a good frame of mind

This is exactly how I feel after every run, however during the run I am so focused on track I am not really thinking about pushing harder. After every run I think I should have pushed harder, I never really heard my tires talking to me, so I know I was nowhere near the limit of grip, hence I need to push harder, much hard

Sounds like you are well underway in the thought process which is more than half the job.
If you can get to ride with someone else who is quick it may enlighten you to what level of intensity is required to be that bit faster.
I say this caus i started this type of competition young and stupid. Later got to take older friends for passenger rides when they asked how i was quicker than them. The usual comment was, "i have to drive it that hard". It goes from Driving Miss Daisy to hands and feet constantly going nuts. I remember an article in a major motor mag here in Aus where the writer was going through this process. Trying to understand how one of his competitors was always quicker. He went for a ride with him and described it as the guy having size 19 boots filled with cement being smashed through the floor every chance possible.
Enjoy the learning your car experience. Find a carpark you wont get arrested in and play with overdriving it. See how hard you can be with steering and throttle inputs before it gets to out of control. You might be surprised it very high when the speeds are relatively low.

 

[dave2278]

@Bill Pemberton check it out

 

[dave2278]

Checking over the car after last weekend I noticed some oil on the front shocks, then a small puddle under the passenger side, the old Eibachs were toast!
To be fair, the car is 19 years old with 52000 miles, and these shocks have atleast 51000 of those, so they held up well.
Swapped them out with some Bilstein B6, I wanted a monotone shock, I didn't really care about adjustability, I may regret that, but I don't think so.

Took it out for a quick drive this afternoon and wow what a difference! the car feels planted like it hasn't before.
I have a stretch of road by my place that is 2 lane and generally empty, so I did some slolams at 60 mph, even with street tires it didn't miss a beat.
there was always a cluck when the car transitioned, that is gone as well as some of the minor rattles that older cars have.

I am really stoked for next weekend, I have my first parking lot autocross, it's going to be a blast!