Ripken Event 5/29

[rumatt]

I still haven't figured out exactly why :? but I wandered down to the Ripken autox today. :P Good to see you guys.

I'm glad I went because that little course totally kicked my ass. I wasn't even close to comfortable on any of the runs, and I had a hard time choosing what line to take for much of the course. Alex commented that my car wasn't leaning as heavily as in the pictures I posted previously... that's because I was spending most of the time scratching my head trying to figure out what line to take. :mad:

The course had a lot of changing radius turns, which I pretty much suck at. It also did not have obviously defined course "segments", but instead was a continuous flow of transitions from turn to the next. Lots of freedom to choose a line, which I guess makes it a pretty good course.

I was pleased to see a number of NY autox'ers down there. I wasn't the only one :loco: enough to drive down.

[BahnBaum]

Great seeing you too Matt. Even though Nick and Bren beat me by, what, 30 minutes, and my co-driver beat me by a full second, I still had a great time.

Thinking back on my spin, I now believe I saw the whites of your eyes as I was sliding towards you.

I was actually pretty impressed that you made it all the way down here. My wife never would have let me do that.

:)

Alex

[rumatt]

Thinking back on my spin, I now believe I saw the whites of your eyes as I was sliding towards you.

For those not in the loop: Alex spun during his run, and ended up facing me, about 3 feet away from where I was standing working the course.

I wish I had a camera with me to capture that moment on film. You didn't look too happy immediately after the spin. :twisted:


I was actually pretty impressed that you made it all the way down here. My wife never would have let me do that.

:lol:

[Pinecone]

That WAS a cool slow motion spin that Alex did. :)

Nice meeting you in person Matt.

Actually you didn't do badly at all. 7th in a pretty big STX field with some fast people. Others said you looked good out there. My viewpoint for a large part of the course was blocked.

WRT course, welcome to a GOOD course design, fast, flowing, and enough rope to truely hang yourself in fine fashion. :)

[rumatt]

Actually you didn't do badly at all. 7th in a pretty big STX field with some fast people.

Nice meeting you Terry! Yeah, I shouldn't have made it sound like it was a total disaster. I didn't do that horribly. Plus, my car isn't even close to prepped for STX. 205 tires (up against 245's), soft springs, stock sways, etc.

But I've left autox's thinking that I nailed the course pretty well. This certainly wasn't one of them. I left lots of time out there.

[clyde]

I left lots of time out there.

Maybe it's going to get together and make a time baby with the 3 seconds that Nick left at the last event at FedEx. :eeps:

[bren]

It was a fun course today. Nice that it was the first time in recent memory that the course was drastically different.

Matt I think you had the right line...you just needed to go FASTER :)

I especially enjoyed my drive in the M3 race car.

[rumatt]

If there was an award today for "Mr. Smooth" I think it goes to you Bren.

We were out at station 2, and you definitely had the smoothest throttle inputs and steering corrections (or lack thereof) around that right hand sweeper.

[Pinecone]

Matt, you really need to put sways on that car. That will help a lot.

[BahnBaum]

If there was an award today for "Mr. Smooth" I think it goes to you Bren.

Bren, when you buy that new helmet you've been talking about, go up one size.

Alex

[bren]

If there was an award today for "Mr. Smooth" I think it goes to you Bren.

Bren, when you buy that new helmet you've been talking about, go up one size.

Alex
:twisted:

You know, I have noticed that the helmet actually fits a little better now...it took like 2 seasons for it to finally break in. I guess it just takes a good bit of time when it's only worn for 40 second intervals.